block parties.

young snitch · September 2006

considering the chasm in communication between new and old residents, block parties seem to have the potential for casual yet meaningful interaction. but they always suck. is there any way to make them something better than a blocked-off street with a bunch of little kids riding bikes around in circles? does anyone know about getting permits and the attendant restrictions on cooking, drinking and noise?

neene · September 2006

great snap
great question
people on my block have been talking about how great it would be to have (a really fun) one
i just emailed community board 8, maybe we'll get an answer or a lead from them

dailyheights · September 2006

have you not seen the annual block party on St. Johns between Underhill and Washington? They have a DJ and pretty much every building has a barbeque going on.

Somebody could search and find the threads from the past few block parties there.

dailyheights · September 2006

I also have to disagree with you, the block party pictured above looks like a lot of fun... or is that the example of the block party you want to see?

homeowner · September 2006

This is the little I've gleaned about the process from our block's attempts

You need to get approval from both the community board and the precinct. There are a limited number of block parties that can go on each weekend, so you need to get the paperwork in early to get a date. The precinct has the authority to deny the request and has done so in situations where they believe there is the possibility for trouble to occur at the block parties. It is also possible that the police can limit the length of the block party by only granting it for a limited period of time rather than the normal 10am to sundown affairs.

Rules for drinking are the same as they would normally be. No open containers, alchol must be in cups. I think you can have bottles inside your gates but not on the sidewalks. No overly loud amplified music, music must be off by 8:30-9:00pm and by 9:00 the street must be cleaned up and open to traffic.

Music is permitted although you do need to get approval for that as well. If you do not have approval for amplified music the police may come along and confiscate the speakers etc, even if it is just a little crummy portable rack system, so its important that the block association communicate with everyone about how amplified music will be handled.

There are a number of community groups that are willing to participate in more targeted events that involve closing streets. We had a health fair a few years ago. People came from ChildHealth Plus to sign up families that did not have medical insurance for their children. They did facepainting for kids and gave out ballons. There was also blood pressure screenings, a portable dental van that did brief dental exams, as well as some other limted health care booths. You could get more elaborate a la Dave Chapelle's Block Party, but anything that may draw a lot of people may become difficult to get approved as the police might need to devote resources to do things like crowd control.

There are also some community groups that will participate in block parties like the Bed-Stuy voluntary ambulance corps, the black cowboys, some local drum and bugle corps etc.

I'd start at the community board and see what directions they give you. Also reach out to the community policing liasons at the 77th for their input early on in the process.

shishkab · September 2006

we had a really great one this year, so i'll just tell ya what we did here on windsor place and maybe something will inspire you. just to let you know, most of the families on the block here participate in the festivities.

each family on the block that wanted to participate in the block party had to contribute $30. if the family also invited "outsiders", the price went up to $60. i'd say about half the money was received before the party, the other half on the day of. here's what that bought us:

one house hosted a big continental breakfast at 9 AM. coffee, tea, OJ, muffins, pastries, croissants, bagels, butter, cream cheese, preserves. i'm pretty sure they picked up the platters from Costco.

we've got a LOT of kids on our block. 10 AM - 12 PM were children's games. egg toss, potato on a spoon race, musical chairs, that sort of thing. each kid won a prize and the winner won a bigger prize. prizes bought were like $1 or $1.50 apiece. nothing expensive, but the kids were thrilled. like bubbles, crayons, little balsa wood planes.

while the kids were playing, most of the houses set up staging areas outside their houses with tables, chairs, a tent or two. set up in your front yard, people may stop by but not assume they can just grab a seat unless invited. set up on the sidewalk in front of your house, and the whole world is welcome.

12 PM - 1 PM, the ponies (yep, the ponies) came from Kensington Stables for an hour. there were two of them, and all the little kids got to ride. i personally thought that the money should have gone to something else, but when i saw the expressions on these kids faces i changed my mind.

we also got a dunk tank for 3 hours. this is an awesome block party rental for a summer day. we usually start out by putting our own resident "characters" in the tank first, and then later pretty much anyone who wants to get dunked can go in. we've done this a few years in a row, and it's always been a blast.

we had a book swap table in the center of the block. bring out the books you don't want anymore, take books from the table you'd like to read. you just had to promise to take your unclaimed books back at the end. this was a free and huge success. we had so many books added to the table that the house we hosted it was able to organize by topic! and jeez, they were flying off the table as fast as they were put on.

there were the adult games, which were pretty much the same as kid's games. musical chairs was different in that it was the women who walked around, and guys who sat in the chairs. then switched. funny!

one of the residents on the block is a photographer, so he set a makeshift studio up in his garage, and took photos of everyone for free.

the booze, she was aflowin'! one house was making mango margaritas. my house was mojitos and bourbon tastings. another house was red sangria. there were also the requisite beer runs, of course.

at 6 PM, we had a potluck sides dinner. big table in the center of the block. everyone who wanted to contribute brought out large side side dishes for people to enjoy. i saw veggie salads, bean salads, slaws, spinach pies, tomato tarts, couscous, homemade guacamole. the entrees were your own responsibility, so that if you were a burger person, a chicken person, a vegetarian person you weren't locked in to one particular food and made what you wanted for yourself. we had communal tables to sit at, or you could go back to your own house to eat.

we've got a handful of really good musicians on the block, so the rest of the evening was a giant jam session. this was fantastic.

block party was finished by midnight.

i know this was a long post. sorry.

young snitch · September 2006

the picture is from the spring street block party two years ago. it was fantastic. that reminds me, harold hunter r.i.p.

apollonia666 · September 2006

This is a great topic, Young Snitch!

There was a party on my block (Bergen between Grand and Classon) a month or so back that typified what you were talking about: not much going on aside from kids on bikes. Some people were having barbecues, but they were all so focused on hanging out with people they already knew that I felt too uncomfortable to approach anyone to introduce myself. I realize that's partially my fault for not trying but I couldn't even get anyone to make eye contact and there was definitely a vibe that didn't feel very welcoming. The only other thing that was going on was that one of the auto body shops on my block, one right across the street from my building, set up huge speakers and blared music all day and into the night. That would have been fine, except that they kept it going long after the block party shut down and it kept blasting until around 4am. I was exhausted, unable to get to sleep, and two 311 calls resulted in nothing. I was in tears by the time they finally turned it off.

More activities to provide opportunities to meet and interact would have been really helpful, and I also wish people on the block had put out flyers announcing the party in advance or something. I wouldn't have known about it had I not met a lady on my block at the bus stop who told me about it a couple of weeks beforehand (I walked around and tried to find her, since she's really the only "old-timer" on the block I've met so far, but didn't ever spot her). As it was, it seemed like people who already knew each other had fun, but it wasn't at all friendly to new people on the block. I had really hoped to meet more of my neighbors and ended up pretty disappointed.

blksafyre · September 2006

Subject: Re: block parties.

[quote=young snitch]considering the chasm in communication between new and old residents, block parties seem to have the potential for casual yet meaningful interaction. but they always suck. is there any way to make them something better than a blocked-off street with a bunch of little kids riding bikes around in circles? does anyone know about getting permits and the attendant restrictions on cooking, drinking and noise?

Most of the ones I have seen have been sucky. But there was one recently on Eastern Parkway betwen Rogers and Bedford and they had "rides," music, food, games. It looked like a lot of fun. Even the adults seemed to be having fun.

masha99 · September 2006

Young snitch, that Spring Street shot is a Great photo, imo, primarily because of the expression on the man's face. Is that Harold Hunter?

young snitch · September 2006

yep, that's harold.

block parties.

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