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Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition Meeting -- Saturday Nov. 2, 10:30 am at Ryan Visitor Center Floyd Bennett Field

Sat, 2013-11-02 09:32 — debbiefook

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Canarsie,

I hope you are all well. I am happy to invite you to the next Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition meeting, which will be held on November 2, 10:30 am at the Ryan Visitor's Center. This will be a very special coalition meeting because as Alice Friedman (from NYCDOT Greenways Department) will join us to introduce DOT's Jamaica Bay Greenway Implementation project and planning process. This is an amazing first step to begin to address some of the greenway issues that have been discussed in previous meetings and workshops. Also, during this meeting we wanted to focus sometime to defining our role(s) in this process as well as how we all mutually benefit from coming together.

As was discussed in the last meeting, we ask that you think about the following and come prepared to discuss:

o Your interests & goals for being part of this project & Coalition

o How you feel the Coalition can help your goals

o What you can do to contribute to the Coalition

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Food stamp recipients face cuts for the Holidays

Sat, 2013-11-02 09:04 — debbiefook

Benefit cuts to food stamp recipients kick in Friday, a move by Congress that will siphon $5 billion off a program that helps one in seven Americans put breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table.

As president of the Food Bank for New York City, Margaret Purvis expects those cuts will draw even more people to organizations that already provide 400,000 meals a day to hungry city folks.

"Our members are panicking," she said as time wound down before the benefit decreases go into effect. "We're telling everyone to make sure that you are prepared for longer lines."

Needy Americans who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are expected to suffer an average loss of $36 a month from a $275.13 per household benefit. There are a near-record 47.6 million Americans, representing 23.1 million households, on the program. The cost of the program will hit $63.4 billion in 2013.

SNAP allocations built into President Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill are coming to an end, leading to the cuts. Over the past few years, a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans have voted in favor of the cuts in exchange for increased education funding and school nutrition programs.

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Food stamp recipients face cuts for the Holidays

Sat, 2013-11-02 09:04 — debbiefook

Benefit cuts to food stamp recipients kick in Friday, a move by Congress that will siphon $5 billion off a program that helps one in seven Americans put breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table.

As president of the Food Bank for New York City, Margaret Purvis expects those cuts will draw even more people to organizations that already provide 400,000 meals a day to hungry city folks.

"Our members are panicking," she said as time wound down before the benefit decreases go into effect. "We're telling everyone to make sure that you are prepared for longer lines."

Needy Americans who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are expected to suffer an average loss of $36 a month from a $275.13 per household benefit. There are a near-record 47.6 million Americans, representing 23.1 million households, on the program. The cost of the program will hit $63.4 billion in 2013.

SNAP allocations built into President Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill are coming to an end, leading to the cuts. Over the past few years, a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans have voted in favor of the cuts in exchange for increased education funding and school nutrition programs.

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Canarsie Meeting _ Green Jobs, Organic farming and Eco-Community Building

Tue, 2013-10-29 16:40 — debbiefook

Community Meeting - Eco Communities

Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Place: Congregation AAA Sfard

1385 E 94th St, Brooklyn, NY 11236

(Bet. Avenue K & L)

(718) 272-6933

Agenda:

Special Guest Mr. Seabert Harper,

Horticulturist, and Environmental Educator
Alpha Assessment
Green Job Training
Green Business Development & Sustainability
Planting Natural Organic Community Gardens
Going Green: Engaging Seniors and Students
Funding & Budgeting for a Greener, Resilient Canarsie

Soft Refreshments Will Be Served

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The Hard Math of Flood Insurance in a Warming World

Sat, 2013-10-26 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A man walks through flooded streets in Hoboken, New Jersey, after Superstorm Sandy | Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As subsidized rates of federal flood insurance rise, property owners along the coasts get angry. But we need insurance that reflects the risks of a changing planet

time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 1, 2013

Thousands of homeowners in flood-prone parts of the country are going to be in for a rude awakening. On Oct. 1, new changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which offers government-subsidized policies for households and businesses threatened by floods, mean that businesses in flood zones and homes that have been severely or repeatedly flooded will start going up 25% a year until rates reach levels that would reflect the actual risk from flooding. (Higher rates for second or vacation homes went into effect at the start of 2013.) That means that property owners in flood-prone areas who might have once been paying around $500 a year—rates that were well below what the market would charge, given the threat from flooding—will go up by thousands of dollars over the next decade.

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Welcome to Flood Zone NYC

Fri, 2013-10-18 11:25 — debbiefook

follow this link to flood zone maps
http://www.floodzonenyc.com/

Flood Zone NYC was born out of a frustration with the official NYC hurricane evacuation zone tool by Dr. Hanley. The official tool takes too many steps to find the most important information and difficult to know what to do with information if you are in a flood zone.

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In Canarsie, a Flood Map Is Seen as Long Overdue

Tue, 2013-09-24 17:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Stefan Leon, 19, whose Canarsie home was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, said of the new flood map, “It’s good for future reference, but it’s too late for what’s already happened." Michael Nagle for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Cara Buckley - January 30, 2013

When the federal government introduced new maps this week showing a marked increase in flood-prone areas near New York City’s coast, the general sentiment in Canarsie, Brooklyn — much of which is newly in a flood zone — was, “What took them so long?”

The neighborhood is scant blocks from Jamaica Bay, pancake flat and a stone’s throw from the auspiciously titled Fresh Creek. It’s where, the story goes, local residents once beseeched the city to erect a wall to guard them from a tidal surge. And it’s where, as Hurricane Sandy hit, floodwaters raced through the streets, beat down doors to fill basements and chased inhabitants clutching computers, clothes and rescued pets to upper floors.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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US - NorthEast

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