Elevator for the Subway:

We have been working with our Councilman Brad Lander and Assemblyman Robert Carroll to help organize and participate in activities that advocate for these issues. We inform our members of upcoming activities that we feel would be useful for us to participate in. Interested members have spoken at press conferences and other meetings to promote these ideas.

In 2019 we mobilized our membership to vote for the “downpayment” project for an elevator at 7th Ave which won in this year's Participatory Budgeting, which means that Councilman Lander will be matching that $250,000 with another $250,000. This project is a long way down the road, but helps to keep us on the list of the next 50 subway stations to be made accessible. 

NOTE 7/27/20: Thanks to our combined efforts, the 9th St. F/G subway station was approved for an elevator as part of the next 40+ stations to be made accessible. However, due to the COVID crisis this project is currently frozen. We will keep you posted on any developments as and when funding is freed up.

Pedestrian/ Street Safety:

See our Summary of Responses GNPS Pedestrian Street Safety Survey

We are working on issues related to street/ sidewalk safety, issues with broken sidewalks, bluestones and how to remedy this.

Bench success! We submitted requests for 9 new benches along Seventh Avenue and 5 were approved and installed! 

Try the new benches: 

100B 7th Ave (Union-President)

147 7th Ave (Garfield-Carroll)

160 7th Ave (Garfield-1St) 

274 7th Ave (6-7 Streets) 

365 7th Ave (10-11 Streets) 

Bikes, Electric Bikes and Micromobility isssues:

We participate in the Bike Safety Group which includes the 78th Pct, NY Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, the 5th Av BID and other community groups. To help understand the issues of E-Bike’s we researched and presented a report in Winter, 2020, on the Micromobility/Electric Bikes for Pedestrian Populations in NYC & other Municipalities. We recommend several actions that are needed.

Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE)

We have been instrumental in spreading the word about Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) through community outreach events. We were able to help 75 community residents to obtain SCRIE. There are now several organizations working on this but we will help again if needed.

Meetings with Department of Aging

We have been meeting with Department of Aging of NYC –DFTA to develop better transportation services in our neighborhood; to expand In-Home Services for the Elderly Program (EISEP); to explore developing a Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NNORC); to find free or low-cost space for large meetings that is nearby, and accessible.

Census 2020

Voter Registration

Senior Town Hall with Comptroller Scott Stringer

Community Support during 2020 Covid 19 Pandemic

  Senior shopping and delivery of groceries

  Support for NY Presbyterian/ Brooklyn Methodist Hospital workers

We have a GNPS member, Jasmine Melzer, on the Prospect Park Alliance Community Committee to represent the needs of older adults at monthly meetings. For more information about this committee click here.

Senior Fitness Area in Prospect Park

In 2017 Jasmine Melzer joined the annual Participatory Budgeting project sponsored by Councilmember Brad Lander and proposed a community project: a Senior Fitness Area in Prospect Park. This idea was put on the ballot, and our members helped to successfully vote it in! It is now in process and expected to open in 2021.

In June, 2019 GNPS sent a letter to the City Council Committee on Finance while they were accepting public testimony about the FY20 City Budget, in support of New Yorkers for Parks and stating the need to add money to the city budget for Parks. This city-wide effort to support our parks was successful and resulted in an additional $43 million in the budget starting July 1 for Parks, which will include the hiring of 150 additional gardeners and maintenance workers. 

NOTE 7/27/20: Due to the COVID crisis the Parks Department has experienced an $83 million cut in funding, with more cuts to come. Many of our members have been impressed with the care that has been given to Prospect Park under trying conditions. But trash collection has been a problem. Consequently, despite the poor esthetics, Prospect Park Alliance will be ordering large dumpsters to help with this.

There are several initiatives taking place in the Park to hopefully help with the trash problem including encouraging people to Carry In/Carry Out. Volunteers are needed for these initiatives so if you are able to help you can visit ProspectPark/Volunteer.

The Participatory Budget project that was approved — a Senior Fitness Area at 9th Street — is currently frozen.

As a matter of interest: the Alliance was afraid it would not be able to run its Woodland Youth Crew program this year. This usually provides a summer job to 15 students attending alternative High Schools. NY Presbyterian/Methodist Hospital stepped up to fund 30 youths this summer: 15 from alternative High Schools and 15 children of front-line healthcare workers.

GNPS Statement on Black Lives Matter

As a result of discussions with our members, the Board of Directors of GNPS has understood the depth of our shared commitment to the principles of equal justice and equal access that the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted. We wanted to go beyond making a simple statement of support and have sought concrete actions we could take. 

For those who wish to help, the GNPS Advocacy Committee has suggested volunteering with a project of the Center for Common Ground called Reclaim Our Vote (ROV), to directly address the issue of Black voter suppression. ROV is dedicated to empowering under-represented voters in communities of color by increasing voter registration and reducing the barriers to voting. Reclaim Our Vote is a non-partisan effort, and they provide online training and supporting materials. 

For more information, view the Reclaim Our Vote website.

Other Opportunities to Work on Voter Suppression

If you are interested in volunteering with other local organizations working to register new or disenfranchised voters please check out:

The NYC chapter of League of Women Voters: https://my.lwv.org/new-york/city-new-york, and click on their volunteer activities link.

Water for Grassroots: https://getorganizedbk.org/water-for-grassroots/ which is a group of our own Get Organized Brooklyn organization.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Board of Directors

Good Neighbors of Park Slope