A reality show at the CCBB

Last week started off well and sort of went into a lull by Friday. Missy and I stayed after class on Monday to talk about our mutual projects and how to keep the clean up days going well as well her future interview with Chip. Even though I won’t be doing the interview with her we discussed the kind of questions she should ask that aren’t negative towards the rough neighborhood, yet still get a well rounded assortment of responses. I think that is one of the toughest things about working in Brooklyn, trying to reach the people without making them feel that you are looking down on their hardships or that you are going to jump right in and “fix” everything. As with the clean up days, we have to encourage the kids to want to help keep things clean all the time, not just when we are there. Chip seems good about cleaning up her front yard on a regular basis and picking up trash whenever she can. So far, she is the only one on the block that has really spoken to me about maintaining the block.

Missy and I went to the CCBB meeting, which was amazing! Amazing in the way that I felt like I was on a reality show, there was suspense, and yelling, and no opinion was left unturned. The first part of the night was devoted to Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld. I must say that this past Monday had the best turn out for a CCBB meeting to date! The Commissioner was really nice and he was very down to earth and personable with the locals. I found out that his mother was one of the first residents of the Brooklyn Homes and that he had lived in Brooklyn at one time with his family. He definitely had a connection to the area and you could tell this mean a lot to residents. The main area he talked about was the murders, he told a story of going to Israel and having those who lived there ask him if Baltimore was really like The Wire. He said that Baltimore is often judged the most on its homicides and he is trying to change that stereotype. 2008 marked a 30-year low in homicides; he said that we finished 2008 with 4,000 robberies! Sounds like a lot to me.

He also talked about the gun trials we have here in comparison with New York. If a person in NY is found with a gun on them, they go to jail. This is the case in LA as well, while here you can be set free. Changing this law is one the Commissioner’s number one goals in the coming years. People in the room discussed a recent shooting near Patapsco road and 9th street. The person show was in the hospital, but the shooting represents a problem that won’t seem to go away. Bealefeld let people in the audience ask questions, discussions over kids riding dirt backs was a big to do! They ride the bikes right in front of cars or people walking, don’t wear helmets, and don’t get penalized even though dirt backs residing on home property is illegal. People were very worked up. One of the best things about Bealefeld was that he was going to COP walk the next day, Tuesday, which I think is a great way to let a community know you really do want to be involved, make your presence known.

The second part of the night was super reality show! Carol had told Missy and I about port contractors trying to build a holding area in the Brooklyn area to transport scrap metal and similar products. The port would be located on the tip of the Fairfield Industrial Peninsula, close to a 50 ft channel with deep waters. There would be a storage unit built for the temporary housing of dry-bulk, break-bulk, and liquid bulk. While the guys were giving their presentation it was stopped every few minutes with locals yelling out questions and calling the guys out on what they were saying. I would have to say that the community is not in favor of this proposed plan. One of their main concerns being that the site would just end up being a junk yard of sorts and that trucks would be driving hazardous materials through the neighborhoods. It was stop/start for the next thirty minutes and I must say; the locals knew their info. When the guys presenting would list specifics, someone would call out and counter them with info on the negative impact such a plan could cause. It was pretty amazing to see the community come together in this way.
One of the pros of the plan would be job opportunities, but only if people living in the Brooklyn area had access to such jobs. There was even a lawyer for the contractors present and she was not shy. When locals would yell out their opinion, she lashed right back with her super professional lawyer talk, as I would call it! Missy and I just looked at each other and Carol shot me a few interesting glances too. Can’t wait to see what happens!

Other than that, the week was a bit of a bust. We did tell Gail that we would have a donation box for the firehouse at our Healthy Holiday event. I felt this was a good compromise since we couldn’t take the firehouse as one of our main projects.

Chip didn’t want to do the block clean up and no one came to my running group, again! I was feeling a bit down and just focused on my vegetarian outline most of the week. I want to present the most realistic information possible that is interesting without being overwhelming. Speaking of the class, I stood up and talked about it at the meeting and left fliers for people to pick up. A couple people told Missy they would go and apparently one of the CCBB members is vegetarian.

I did get a hopeful e-mail today though; Sarah told me that we would be doing an interview this Friday at 9:00 a.m. I will take some photos and do some transcribing. I am thrilled. She also gave me a list of five locations to photograph, finally! I have wanted this information so that I can at least get some work done on my own without continually hounding everyone. I am feeling better having some legitimate plans for the week.

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