Brooklyn Block Associations - Updates
Care Collective
Crown Heights Care Collective January 10 Meeting
The Crown Heights Care Collective met at Another World located at 629 Nostrand Avenue at 12:30 on Saturday. I picked up a coffee from Cotton Bean and found two doughnuts at table in Another World about half way down the space. Next I found a comfortable seat in a couch facing away from the front window. An agenda was passed around listing updates from five working groups as well as a session of political eduation based on the book “Abolish Rent” by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchi. I had read this book and even written a book review. It is about the activities of the Los Angles Tenants Union and also contains a grandiose proposal for a nation wide rent strike which could result in everyone controlling their own home. A passage from it was to be read and then discussed.
Soon it was time to get started. The facilitator at this meeing was Emma Steele who had run a meeting back in November that I reported on. She got everyone to gather around and take a seat. We began by introducing ourselves. The agenda asked for our name, pronoun, access needs and then we were to tell of a moment in the past that we would like to observe. No one seemed to have access needs and many people wanted to go deep into the past to observe dinosaurs, volcanoes, the Americas before they were colonized, though one person wanted to recall what a friend had told her three days before.
First came up June Balloon. A committee meets every Saturday at 11am planning what to do on this occasion when this old celebration is revived for children and their families. It died out in the early 2000's after a shooting incident. It is to be held on June 27 this year in Brower Park and the committee is planning what should be included. I was hoping Matthew Gilbertson was being included as he has done a lot of reseach into this event, looking through records in the Children's Museum and interviewing older residents about their memories of the event in the distant past. I was assured he was part of the planning process.
8.1 Photo from the old June Balloon
The next item was about creating care kits for homeless people which were to include warm clothing, some first aid, toiletries, all these items to help those trying to survive the winter withou a fixed place to live. Many such kits are being assembled and will be distributed from Another World and other places where the homeless can be found.
The next item was childcare. These events will be held on Sundays at Another World at 11am. They are designed for children up to 7 years old. There will be books, games and acitivities, and parents and caregivers must stay with their charges.
A report on Block Power, the effort to enlist block associations in accomplishing joint goals came next. Garon told about a dispute between Caribbean people and Lubbavitchers on President Street about noise that the latter group was making. The Care Collective was hoping to mediate a solution but this had not worked. In fact the two groups had become abusive and the Caribbean group stopped communicating with the Care Collective people. I expressed the hope that the next meeting of the Block Summit might take up the issue of helping to create a new merchant association on Nostrand Avenue. I pointed out the many problems that existed and that the old merchant association was essentially defunct.
Next came up the issue of having the following meeting at Bedford Library when there will be a distribution of winter coats and warm clothing. It was agreed that this should happen on January 17 at 12:30.
8.2 Photo of a rack of winter coats
At this point there was a break to prepare for the next part of the program. People broke into groups to talk about bad experiences they had had with landlords. I told about being locked out of my apartment before I had moved out when I still had belongings in the place and my lease had not yet run out. The young woman I was talking with told about having bed bugs during the Covid epidemic and being forced sit outside for month on end to avoid being bitten.
Finally a passage was read from Abolish Rent. When that was finished I had to leave to attend another event, so I did not hear the discussion that ensued.
– John DeWind
