December 31, 2009December 31, 2009 by iwillers

Dean Street Block Association Wins Grant!

Dean Street Block Association, 6th Avenue to Vanderbilt, has been awarded a Love Your (NYC) Block award from the Citizens Committee for New York City in the amount of $500 to support our group’s block transformation efforts!

The grant will be applied to our continuing campaign to clean, green and make more safe Dean and Pacific Streets in our area. As part of the grant application process, the block association outlined a set of do-able concerns we would like addressed by City agencies in the future. To read the details of the block association’s application follow this link:

https://deanstreet11217.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/dean-street-application.doc

The grant will support a joint cleaning and greening event in late spring for Dean Street between 6th Avenue and Vanderbilt and Pacific Street between 6th and Carlton. The $500 grant will finance planters, window boxes, soil and plantings, a promotional flyer and garbage bags. The block association also identified a long term goal of putting in place tree pit guards.

As part of the grant, the block association will also be attending a workshop in which we will meet and discuss with representatives of City Agencies the services we have requested for our blocks.

At the next several block association meetings we will be discussing further ideas for the grant and our campaign to clean, green and make more safe our area. Please come to the meetings and join us in this conversation.

Pacifc Dean shelter to close January 15 for demolition; PHNDC establishes relief fund for affected families

As part of the Atlantic Yards project, Forest City Ratner plans to demolish the Pacific Dean Annex family shelter, located in the section of the footprint to be developed during the project’s second phase. There is no committed date for the construction of the residential buildings or open space proposed for the second phase, so in the meantime FCR plans to use the site for construction staging and, later, a surface parking lot for its arena.

The 88 families occupying the facility were recently told that they are required to leave by January 15. Shelter operators and the NYC Department of Homeless Services are working to find permanent housing for these families. Families unable to find permanent housing by the deadline will be transferred to another shelter. Some resident families have lived in the shelter for a year and a half or more. According to shelter management, the displaced families are receiving no assistance from the developer.

The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council has established a fund to accept donations for relocation assistance to the shelter families. PHNDC will work with DHS to distribute all money raised to needy families. Community members can donate through this online form. When completing the form, please indicate you’d like your donation to be used for the “Pacific Dean Shelter Family Relocation Fund”. Your donation is tax deductible, so be sure to contribute before December 31!

Thank you for your generous contribution, and happy holidays from PHNDC.