Why You Should Join Your Local Neighborhood Association

Neighbor Glenn Wolin writes in to share his experiences with, and to encourage others to join, our local neighborhood associations:

Many of us are fortunate enough to live in one of the beautiful Victorian Flatbush neighborhoods. It doesn’t matter if we own or rent, we all benefit from the beauty, cohesiveness, and friendliness of these neighborhoods that are more like living in a suburb or a park than in the major urban center of New York City. We are close to Manhattan by subway or car and we can park with ease in our driveways or the local streets. If you take a walk on Cortelyou Road, there is a good chance that you will meet people you know, or pass people who will be happy to smile and say hello.

Here are just a few of the many ways our local neighborhood associations help make this such a great neighborhood to live in.

The neighborhoods are great because many people with a sense of community have organized into neighborhood associations to protect the things we love and continue to improve our quality of life. Many of you may not know that the city zoning in Victorian Flatbush would have allowed for hundreds of our beautiful homes to be knocked down and replaced with six-story apartment buildings. Can you imagine what that would do to the quality of life if it happened on your block?

Many people, working through their local neighborhood associations and Community Board 14, managed to get the zoning changed so our neighborhoods can never again be threatened by developers. That took dedicated people, associations, letters, phone calls, meetings, and four and a half years to accomplish.

There is now a group of people working with the local neighborhood associations and the Flatbush Development Corporation trying to get landmark status for six neighborhoods that haven’t been landmarked yet. If you want to know why that is important, go look at the house on Argyle Road between Ditmas and Dorchester. The house that bricked up the front from the ground to the third floor. How would you like to walk out of your house and look at that every day? What do you think that did to the values of the houses nearby?

Many things get accomplished by neighbors getting together and recognizing the problems, forming a plan of action, and working to solve them. We are fortunate to have these neighborhood associations so we have an opportunity to affect change. How about personal safety? Most neighborhoods have Security Patrols to help keep us safe.

We have a Greenmarket on Cortelyou Road also brought to you by neighbors working through their neighborhood associations. The general upgrading of Cortelyou Road was a cooperative effort of the Flatbush Development Corporation, Council Member Mathieu Eugene, the Cortelyou Road Merchants Association, and local neighborhood associations. Traffic calming, traffic lights, and speed bumps –Mathieu Eugene and neighborhood associations. Historic street lights — Marty Markowitz and neighborhood associations. Social events to meet your neighbors like block parties, wine tasting, progressive dinners, ice cream socials, arbor days, and much more are brought to you by your local neighborhood associations. The list is quite long and glorious but it takes new people getting involved all the time to continue the trend.

Most people don’t realize that when neighborhoods crumble around them, it is their lack of involvement that allowed it to happen. Most people also don’t realize that when their neighborhood is improving, it is only because some of their neighbors are getting involved.

It is now time for you to get involved, for yourself, your family, and your neighbors. You can start small — just show up at your local neighborhood association meetings. Find out what’s going on, bring your concerns, if you have any, but mostly, meet your neighbors. Find out about educational activities, or how to get paid for using your house for a film shoot, or maybe how to get a new street light like the one on Cortelyou and Westminister. There is a world of knowledge and information easily available to you, just come to a few meetings. You might even enjoy yourself or make new friends.

About the author: Glenn Wolin is a Member at Large of the Beverley Square West Neighborhood Association.

To find out more about your local neighborhood association, you can find info about some here. If you have questions about how to contact yours, or if you’ve got a local issue you’d like to write about and share on the blog, let us know at editor@ditmasparkcorner.com.