Community Board 8, covering the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Weeksville, held its meeting for the month of December at the Weeksville Heritage Center on Thursday, December 8.
Some of the top-line items of discussion included upcoming holiday events, legal resources, the Pearl Harbor Memorial event at Borough Hall, the potential closing of Rikers Island, assistance to senior citizens and more.
Among the exciting, upcoming holiday events include:
- The Holiday Shops at Weeksville. This event will host an array of local vendors, arts and crafts on Saturday, December 10, from 1:00pm-6:00pm. There also will be tours of historic houses at this event.
- The Crown Heights North Association will be hosting a tree-lighting at Brower Park on Sunday December 11, starting at 5:00pm.
- On December 21, there will be a "Flatfoot Flatbush" event, inspired by Appalachian music. There, participants will go through districts with Santa while playing fiddles, guitars and banjos, beginning at 354 Flatbush Avenue at 4pm.
The Crown Heights Jewish Community Council made an announcement in regards to its free services, including assistance with Food Stamps, Medicare, Access-A-Ride and other programs for Seniors.
Council Member Darlene Mealy also made an announcement to remind residents of free legal services available, specifically real estate, wills and immigration. Immigration legal services are available at her office every Thursday.
Also, Mealy raised concerns around the potential closing of Riker's Island. There already are two detention centers in the 41st district and if Riker's closes, a third one likely will be on its way. "They have to go somewhere, and they're looking to come right here. So please never get comfortable, and go to the meetings where they are making those decisions," said Mealy.
With the recent anniversary of Pearl Harbor, community board members shed light on this year's annual Pearl Harbor Memorial Ceremony at Borough Hall. This is held to honor the service of Brooklyn's World War Two veterans. Darlene Mealy encouraged everyone to attend next year, saying "it will be bigger and better than ever."
There will be a college fair on March 4th, 2017, location to be announced. Boy Scouts Troop 263 will assist with youth outreach for this event.
"Council members from the 35th and the 36th districts are actively engaging our youth in participatory budgeting," said Sharon Wedderburn, chair of the Youth and Education Committee. "This means they will actually see how money is spent in our community, this allows them to be an advocate in something that will make our community better."
Community Board 8 meets the second Thursday of every month. The next CB 8 meeting will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2017, at Union United Methodist Church.
