What an incredible spring we just had here in Brooklyn Heights!

In spite of a hefty amount of spring showers, nothing could put a damper on the wave of beautiful blossoms, fun activities, and new business openings here in the neighborhood. We hope you were able to take part in the BHA's Spring Into Service event, The Longest Table, the Dog Show, and/or the Montague BID's Open Streets May and June programming. Just a reminder, Open Streets continues through the end of June, and returns in September. 

Like many of you, here at the BHA we're looking forward to a little bit of downtime over the next couple of months. While we're always here for you, you can reach us more quickly via email (click the Contact Us button below) than with a voicemail on the office phone line. Please note that starting today you'll receive this newsletter every other week rather than once a week until September begins. 

We'll be sharing some very exciting news about improvements coming to Montague Street later this summer so stay tuned for updates. Wishing everyone a sun and fun filled summer! 

Best wishes,

Lara Birnback
Executive Director

This year's BHA Dog Show was a bone-a-fide blockbuster. Hundreds of neighbors gathered on Montague Street to cheer on the canines as they strutted the runaway and won the hearts of all. 

Monte and Ollie (pictured above) showed the love as they competed for Most Iconic Duo. They came in 2nd place, right behind the terriers Augie and Radar.  Winston (below) celebrated his win as Most Adorable 25-50 pounds, with his parents (and a huge fan club on the stoop)

Ziggy (below) demonstrated his talent of jumping on his owner's back and clinched the Best Trick category, with hoop-jumping Coco coming in a close 2nd.

And Eloise the St Bernard, captured the hearts of the many kids and took first place in the heavyweight category, Most Adorable over 50 pounds, followed by Betty, the sweet Bernese Mountain Dog

Huge thanks to our volunteers who helped make this event a success, especially event chairs Grace Flintermann and Hannah Godfredson-Prince, as well as our very talented Master of Ceremonies, Quinn Ferree (pictured below with his son Maverick, and the BHA's Lara Birnback and Kim Glickman.)

In addition to being a fabulous and funny MC, Quinn is a member of The De Niro Team at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, one of our two event sponsors.

Read the full list of winners and catch some more photos, covered by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, our other Dog Show Sponsor.

Photo credits:  Beth Heller Photography. 

See a full gallery of more fun photos and tag @BethHellerPhoto on Facebook and Instagram.

Although we haven't heard anything official from DOT since the presentation at the end of last year about the Environmental Review process, the BQE (and the BHA) have been in the media recently. 

As part of a write up about the BQE, Fast Company magazine interviewed a number of BQE stakeholders including local architect Marc Wouters, the transportation advocacy group Riders Alliance and the BHA. They also linked to an alternative concept for stabilizing the Cantilever developed by Light and Air Studio.

Additionally, on May 30th, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway Environmental Justice Coalition, of which the BHA is a founding member, sent a letter to city and state officials calling on them to "halt NYC DOT’s proposed multi-billion-dollar project to rebuild and potentially expand the BQE's Triple Cantilever, and instead "develop an immediate and straightforward stabilization plan to preserve the safety and integrity of the Triple Cantilever for the next 15 to 20 years, allowing time to develop a long-term, community-driven, and sustainable plan that prioritizes the allocation of resources for neighborhood-specific and place-based solutions." This position echoes that of our local elected officials, who wrote a similar letter back in December 2024. Read the BQE-EJC letter here. 

The BHA and others were interviewed by AM New York about the letter and the Coalition's position, and we were also featured on Brooklyn News 12.

The New York Blood Center has recently declared a Blood Emergency.  Currently, NYBC has to depend on blood donations from other parts of the country. This is an unsustainable fix for a state with some of the busiest hospitals in the nation.