Dear John
Please note! We are in the formal “communications blackout” period, less than 90 days from the November general election. To comply with election law, we are restricted with what we can discuss in mass communications until election day. We will continue to send out a weekly newsletter to keep our community updated but bear with us as we pare down and change content to comply with election law. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Curbside composting is coming to Brooklyn on 10/2! To get ready, be sure to order your free Brown Bin while supplies last before 10/13.
Our office has launched Cycle 13 of Participatory Budgeting! This initiative allocates $1.5 million in capital funding and $50,000 in expense funding to projects submitted and voted on by our neighbors. Join our office at our Arts & Culture, Environment, and Economic Justice Idea collection events to meet your neighbors and share ideas to improve District 39.
Go Green, But Don’t Break The Bank
Going green, whether by composting or insulating your home, is essential to helping our City become more resilient as climate change becomes a greater threat. While individual actions will never successfully address climate change (we need government and mass action to do that on a global scale), recent incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) can help you go green on a personal level. Check some of them out below!
Office Intros Take 3
Hi District 39! My name is Mia Perez, and I have the privilege of being the Education and Land Use Director at Council Member Hanif’s Office. In my role, I serve as the Council Member’s education liaison, advocating on behalf of the school community to City agencies. I also cover land use and housing matters, including working with the Gowanus Oversight Task Force to ensure the City is held accountable for the $450 million in commitments made to invest in housing, infrastructure, and the broader Gowanus community as part of the Gowanus Rezoning.
My roots have given my work in Gowanus additional meaning, as my family immigrated from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the 60s to work in the industrial sector in Passaic, New Jersey. Like Gowanus, the neighborhood where I grew up is a mixed-use industrial and adjacent to the Passaic River, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site undergoing environmental remediation due to the centuries-long negligence of polluting companies. In other words, the fight for an equitable, sustainable, resilient Gowanus is close to home! From digging into the weeds of land use and housing policy to working alongside the school community for equitable, fully funded schools, I feel incredibly lucky to be able to work in local government, where the impact of my daily work is tangible and energizing. I’m also an avid cyclist and advocate for safe streets. My absolute favorite bike ride includes taking the Ocean Parkway bike lane (the first bike lane in the country!) to Coney Island, especially when it ends with fireworks at the beach on summer Fridays!
