Things We May Have Neglected To Mention

Our apologies for not updating for a while...

Town Hall

Last night, Council Member Letitia James held a Town Hall to address infrastructure in Clinton Hill following the Myrtle Avenue building collapse at St. Luke's Church on Washington Avenue between Willoughby and DeKalb Avs. Representatives from City Agencies were present, and were able to speak about what's happening at this point, as well as how to report structure-damage that is potentially dangerous. There will be additional communication after the appropriate City agencies have completed the necessary investigations into these matters. You can see more on NY1's report here.

Infrastructure in a majority-historic district is always a concern, but we urge people not to be unduly alarmed by these events. Responsibility for the care of property lies with the property owner. We encourage renters to sign legal leases, and attain renters insurance when possible.

Donating Money/Items

Our office has the donation list that can be accessed on the Chez Lola website. If you have items or goods to donate, please complete the form on the website. We are sending this information to the displaced residents, who can follow-up on the items they are interested in. There was a similar list set-up for Anh Nguyen and Andrew Schneider here: http://itpedia.nyu.edu/wiki/Myrtle_Avenue_Collapse_Benefit_page. Unfortunately, there is no general place to hold your donated items at this time. The search for housing remains the main concern for displaced residents.

Additionally, we are strongly encouraging monetary donations. Here are some individual donation sites:

To donate to the Diaz/Nunez family, see our post here- http://teamtish.blogspot.com/2009/06/attention-building-collapse-on-myrtle.html
Andrew Schneider's donation information can be found here- http://greylockarts.net/andrews-home
Anh Nguyen's donation information can be found here- http://savemang.org/
Jess Banning's donation information can be found here- http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2009-06-22.8270203664

Our office has collaborated with the Myrtle Avenue Revilatization Project (MARP), a registered non-profit, to collect donations for all the 491 & 493 Myrtle Avenue residents. Donations will be evenly distributed to all families affected. If you are donating funds, please make checks/money orders out to MARP. Specify “491 & 493 Myrtle Emergency Fund” in the memo field-

472 Myrtle Avenue, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11205

A Tree Falls On Cambridge...Yikes!

A tree limb fell on Cambridge Place (where your blogger happens to reside), which we noticed last night around 9:00PM. The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation have been notified, and they should be out there as soon as possible. If you still see that thing hanging around, please call our office at (212) 788-7081.

Update: Following-up On Building Collapse on Myrtle Avenue/Fundraising & Donating Info

We have some important info concerning fundraising activities for the Myrtle Avenue displaced residents.

First of all, for all the wonderful residents who emailed us concerning Caitlyn Nunez, we were made aware yesterday that her principal was kind enough to offer to buy her graduation attire. The family is still collecting donations for their additional needs, and again that information can be found here. As spotted on the NYT- Local blog, a local resident noted the various individual fundraising/donation activities planned for displaced residents in the community, so please check that out.

This community has really shown an incredible amount of support towards our neighbors, and we ask that you join our office and community this Sunday:

Let’s Lend a Heart & Helping Hand
To 491 & 493 Myrtle Avenue…

SUNDAY, June, 28 2009
5PM – 7PM
Chez Lola
387 Myrtle Avenue (by Vanderbilt)
Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Chez Lola will be hosting a fundraiser for the tenants of 491 and 493 Myrtle Avenue.

If you have services to provide, clothes to spare, furniture that is collecting dust, come on by to Chez Lola on Sunday and let us know. Please do not bring it. We can take down your contact info and approximate location and help coordinate the transfer of goods. You can also go online to www.bistrolola.com as of Thursday (June 25, 2009) to post any services/materials you'd like to provide.

The Office of Council Member James will be assisting Chez Lola in these activities, and will be on-hand at this Sunday's event.

Chez Lola will be serving light food and refreshments.

Please bring your check book, wallet, donating spirit and helpful hand to give our neighbors get their lives back together!

Please make checks/money orders out to Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project.

Specify “491 & 493 Myrtle emergency fund” in the memo field. MARP has offered to temporarily hold your donations until they can be disbursed to the affected tenants.

For more information concerning the event and fundraising, please call at 718-858-1484 and ask for Edit.

Team Tish can be reached for any other purposes at teamtish@gmail.com