10
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, AUGUST 18, 2019
First place for Crown Heights block
Lincoln Place takes home the gold in annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest
BY CRAIG HUBERT
A stretch of Lincoln Place
between Nostrand and New
York avenues in Crown
Heights took fi rst prize in
the 25th annual Greenest
Block in Brooklyn contest
this year.
The event, hosted by the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden,
is an attempt to bring communities
together to make
Brooklyn a cleaner, greener
place. It represents “a quarter
century of city blocks
coming together,” Botanic
Garden President and CEO
Scot Medbury said at an
Aug. 8 press conference.
This year, 160 blocks
entered the competition.
But Lincoln Place, Medbury
said, was “a force to
be reckoned with.”
Many of the people who
gathered — including local
residents and people from
other nominated blocks
who came out to show their
support — remarked on the
variety of plants up and
down the block, including
tropical plants. Medbury
and others also commented
on the tree pit signs, which
are featured on all of the 27
trees on the block.
Much of the horticultural
work on the block
was spearheaded by a
group of residents called
P.L.A.N.T.S, which stands
for Preserving Lincoln’s
Abundant and Natural
Treasures. Althea Joseph,
one of the group’s members,
talked about how the award
meant so much to them this
year because of the struggles
they faced.
The weather, she said,
was a frenemy.
“She became an enemy
the weekend before the fi -
nals when it was 100 degrees
and we were peddling
water all over the place,”
Joseph said. “But she became
our friend last night
because we didn’t have
the water” due to storms
that lasted most of the day
across Brooklyn.
Perri Edwards, who
said she has lived on Lincoln
Place for more than
30 years, said this is the
greenest she has ever seen
it. Her mother used to enter
the block in the contest, she
said, so they have been aiming
to win for a long time.
“Whenever we would
hear who the winner was,
we would race to the block
and walk up and down the
street, talk to people, make
new friends,” Edwards said.
“I would ask them, ‘How did
you do it?’ That’s the question
I would ask. Now, people
will come to us and ask,
‘How did you do it?’”
The block was a runner
up for the residential
block award last year, when
a stretch of Lefferts Avenue
took home the prize.
Runner-ups this year
included a tie for second
place between the 300 East
25th Street Block Association
(East 25th Street between
Clarendon Road and
Avenue D in Flatbush) and
the Stuyvesant Avenue
Block Association (Stuyvesant
Avenue between
Bainbridge and Chauncey
Streets in Bed Stuy).
The 400 Bainbridge
Street Block Association
(Bainbridge between Howard
and Saratoga Avenues
in Bed Stuy) took home
third place, while the East
26th Street Block Association
(East 26th Street between
Avenue D and Clarendon
Road in East Flatbush)
took fi nished fourth.
Montague Street BID
(Montague between Henry
and Hicks in Brooklyn
Heights) received the top
prize in the Commercial
category, while Pro 1 Tire,
located at 781 4th Ave. in
Sunset Park, was awarded
the Greenest Storefront.
The Nehemiah Ten Community
Garden, located
on Barbey Street between
Blake and Dumont Avenues
in East New York, won the
Best Community Garden
Streetscape. Tilder Block
Association in East Flatbush
took home the Best
Street Tree Beds award,
while Hyacinth Johnson and
Hazel Carter, both residents
of East Flatbush, tied for the
Best Window Box prize.
THE GREENEST OF THEM ALL: Winners from multiple categories
of the 23rd annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest.
Photo by Susan De Vries
CATERERS
BRIDAL EXPO
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 @ 6:45PM
Offering
dinner, cocktail
and
buffet options
8015/23 13th Avenue, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11228 • 718–331–2900 • www.siricos.net
/www.siricos.net
/www.siricos.net