The Day: Backer Steps Down, Tennis Meetings and Author Lectures

Good morning, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

You’ll need to break out the umbrella and rain boots this weekend, locals – as the saying goes, (almost) April showers bring May flowers, and it’s going to rain all weekend, according to the National Weather Service. If the weather has you feeling down, we have a wrap of things to do in the nabe while staying dry.

• Michael Blaise Backer announced on Thursday that he will step down from his post as executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership at the end of April. He’s leaving to serve as the deputy commissioner at the Department of Small Business Services, where he will oversee the Neighborhood Development Division. Blaise will also step down as the co-chair of the New York City BID Association, a membership association of 69 business improvement districts in New York City. Under his 11 years of leadership, MARP became one the leading community-based development corporations in the city, expanding its budget from $255,000 to $1.2 million.
• The Fort Greene Tennis Association will host a preseason get-together on Saturday to talk about the upcoming tennis season and what community members would like to see happen at the Fort Greene Park tennis courts this year. They’ll meet at Splitty Bar, 415 Myrtle Avenue, from 6 to 8 p.m. for happy hour drinks after a long offseason.
• Greenlight Bookstore has partnered with St. Joseph’s College Brooklyn to present Deborah Feldman during the Brooklyn Voices lecture series tonight. Feldman will talk about her memoir “Exodus,” which follows her decision to leave her family and loveless marriage, while rejecting her Hasidic roots and life amongst Brooklyn’s orthodox community. She’ll speak at the St. Joseph’s College Tuohy Auditorium, located at 245 Clinton Avenue. Her talk begins at 7:30 p.m. and it is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.