Council Member Gale Brewer Round Up From Harlem And Uptown

Friends,

It’s Monday, April 25, 2022. This week’s events are below these three timely paragraphs:

Applications open today (4/25) for “Summer Rising”, the academic enrichment program run by the Dept. of Education for students K – 8.  Some locations have limited capacity, so apply soonest for your preferred location.

The May edition of my monthly housing clinic (in partnership with the Goddard Riverside Law Project and TakeRoot Justice) is taking place NEXT Wednesday, 5/4, at 6 pm (click that link to register). This month’s presentation is on ”DHCR complaints: Overcharges and Failure to Provide Lease.”  After the presentation, you may meet briefly with an attorney who can try to answer specific questions. (In case you can’t make May’s meeting, register here for June’s session.)

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 4/26, is the first of two hearings of the NYC Rent Guidelines Board’s proposal for rent hikes on renewed leases at which the Board will hear testimony from tenant and owner groups. View the 9:45 am – 12:15 pm session here and/or the 1 – 3:30 pm session here. (A week from Thursday, on 5/5, the Board will meet and conduct a preliminary vote. View that meeting’s livestream here starting at 7 pm.)

Events.

Tuesday, 4/26, from 9:30 – 11 am: the Friends of Morningside Park will host a walking tour of Morningside Park, “an often overlooked gem in Frederick Law Olmsted’s NYC design legacy.”

Tuesday, 4/26, is the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, the genius park designer of Central, Morningside and Prospect Parks. On that day join us for a virtual Tree Stewardship Training with Sam Bishop of Trees New York to learn about tree bed clean up and soil cultivation, watering, mulching and gardening—how to play an active role in caring for our city’s “urban forest.” Adults and kids are welcome! Click here to register.

Tuesday, 4/26 & Wednesday, 4/27: the NYS Division of Human Rights is hosting two Fair Housing 101 webinars:

• 4/26, 5:30 pm: “A Guide for Home Buyers in New York State.”
• 4/27, 2:00 pm: “Fair Housing 101 for Real Estate Professionals.”

Wednesday, 4/27, 6:30 pm: The Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group is hosting “More than Cherries: The Flowering Trees of Riverside Park,” a webinar with Margaret Bracken, Landscape Architect for Riverside Park. Hear all about the crabapple and cherry trees in Riverside Park and Morningside Heights’s Sakura Park. Click here to join the Zoom webinar.

Wednesday, 4/27, the New York Mortgage Coalition begins its next series of free Homebuyer Education Workshops. The series meets Wednesday nights at 7 pm for five weeks. Click the link to register and learn more.

Thursday, 4/28, 6:45 pm: National Action Network Legal Night with Attorney Royce Russell on Immigration and Temporary Protective Status. Join on Zoom. Meeting ID: 836 4846 5548. Passcode: legalnight. For more information call 877-626-4651.

Sunday, 5/1, 10 am – 3 pm (register by 4/28): Mount Morris Park Historic District Stoop Sale Day (116th – 125th Street from Madison to Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.). Click her to register as a stoop sale home/building.

Wednesday, 5/4, 6 pm: my office is hosting our monthly housing clinic with the Goddard Riverside Law Project and TakeRoot Justice. Register here for the presentation on “DHCR complaints: overcharges and failure to provide lease” and to get connected with a lawyer following the clinic.

Wednesday, 5/4, 5/5, and 5/6: 7:30 pm, The Grinnell Community Room, 800 Riverside Dr.: “Colored Silk: A Civil War Odyssey,” a play based on the life of Elizabeth Keckley, written and performed by Tami Tyree. Free with RSVP to tyreemarsh@yahoo.com.

Jane’s Walk is back! For the first time since 2019, the Municipal Arts Society will offer this fabulous three-day festival, 5/ 6 – 5/8, of free guided walking tours through iconic New York City neighborhoods including walks through four historic districts in Harlem: the Mount Morris Park Historic District, the Central Harlem Historic District, Striver’s Row, and the Dorrance Brooks Historic District (designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission last June).

The next NYPD 24th Precinct Community Council Meeting is Wednesday, 5/18, at 7 pm, at the Bloomingdale Public Library (150 W. 100th St).

Stay Safe

Gale Brewer

P.S. If you were forwarded this newsletter by a friend, sign up for your own subscription here!

P.P.S. If you have a problem or concern going forward, please contact me at gbrewer@council.nyc.gov, or call (917) 685-8657, or contact my Council district office at (212) 873-0282 and District6@council.nyc.gov.

Photo credit: I stopped by the West Side Community Garden on W. 89th St. and saw Eric Thirer and others Saturday (4/23) during the last weekend of their tulip festival. They do such a great job!