2012-05-03 p 01-16_Layout 1 5/2/12 7:30 PM Page 1 OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PARK SLOPE FOOD COOP Established 1973 Volume GG, Number 9 May 3, 2012 Proposal Will Bring a The Fire Next Time New Compost Center By Ed Levy omewhere in Brooklyn, a building is on fire. The firefighters of Squad Co. To Gowanus S1 on Union Street put on their gear and jump into their trucks. The engines are running, the station door is raised and they are ready to pull out, sirens screaming. But a large semi is unloading produce directly in front of the Coop, a car service is double- parked alongside it and a string of eastbound vehicles has crossed over onto westbound lane, to make their way around the truck and the double-parked car. The fire is burning, the firefighters are ready, BERNSTEIN BY LYNN ILLUSTRATION but the truck can’t pull By Frank Haberle in City Council discretionary hanks to the efforts of funding will provide for the ILLUSTRATION BY ETHAN PETTIT ILLUSTRATION out and the gridlock on Tlocal community mem- purchase of a key piece of the street will take precious minutes to untangle. The firemen decide to bers, including Coop mem- equipment, an 8’ by 30’ in- turn right instead, heading toward the traffic on Seventh Avenue—a longer bers Christine Petro, David vessel composting system Buckel and Erik Martig, get that holds organic waste route to the fire, but the only one available. If there are people trapped in ready for a state-of-the-art while monitoring and con- the burning building, they will have to wait a few precious minutes longer. local composting center. One trolling temperature and of seven winning proposals moisture conditions. This will Sounds extreme? It’s not. squads, like Squad Co. 1, of fire, but differently—by call- selected by voters through divert a ton a day of organic It’s a common enough occur- unlike rescue or ladder units, ing for help and by getting out the recent Participatory Bud- food waste from restaurants, rence on Union Street, so ordi- are designed to respond to any of the way if we are driving. But geting process in City Council schools and homes away nary that the problem has and all emergencies, doing what if we call and the fire District 39, Brooklyn Neigh- from landfills, and convert it made its way up the chain of whatever is needed. So it was engine can’t pull out? What if bors Composting (BNC) will locally into rich soil. command from company to on September 11, 2001, we want to pull over, but there establish a new community “Currently there are few battalion to division to bor- around 9 a.m. Since the shift are produce trucks and livery composting system near the models in the city for food- ough command to executive was changing over, both the service cars blocking the road? Gowanus Canal. The $165,000 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 command of the country’s night and morning crews were That is what’s happening largest fire department, and in the station when the alarm on Union Street. Collectively, Next General Meeting on May 29 the second largest one in the came, and both night and day- we have to get out of the way. The General Meeting of the Park Slope Food Coop is held on the world (after Tokyo’s). Officials time crews responded. Twelve last Tuesday of each month.* The next General Meeting will be studying the problem will of the Squad Co. 1’s 27 men A Solution Must Be Found on Tuesday, May 29, at 7:00 p.m. at the Congregation Beth Elo- soon make recommendations. were lost in the collapse of the General Coordinator Joe him Temple House (Garfield Temple), 274 Garfield Place. When firefighters are Twin Towers, and the station Holtz said the Coop is fully The agenda is in this Gazette, on the Coop website at blocked in responding to a fire, house rig was crushed. committed to resolving this www.foodcoop.com, and available as a flier in the entryway of it’s a big deal. It’s in their cells Most citizens are also condi- problem and to being a the Coop. For more information about the GM and about Coop to respond to fires. And, fire tioned to respond to the threat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 governance, please see the center of this issue. * Exceptions will be posted. Thu, May 3 • Food Class: So You Want to Be a Culinary Tour Guide? 7:30 p.m. IN THIS ISSUE Fri, May 4 • Film Night: Are Shoppers Ready to Give Up Plastic Bags?. 3 Coop RFK in the Land of Apartheid 7:00 p.m. Plow-to-Plate Movie Series Presents: The Harvest . 5 GMO Labeling Begins at the Coop . 6 Tue, May 8 • Safe Food Committee Film Night: Event 2012 Flatbush Artists Studio Tour . 7 Highlights The Harvest/La Cosecha 7:00 p.m. Coop Hours, Coffeehouse . 8 Fri, Jun 1 • Film Night: My Perestroika 7:00 p.m. Coop Calendar, Workslot Needs, Governance Information, Mission Statement. 9 Look for additional information about these and other events in this issue. Letters to the Editor . 12 Classified Ads . 14 2012-05-03 p 01-16_Layout 1 5/2/12 7:30 PM Page 2 2 May 3, 2012 Park Slope Food Coop, Brooklyn, NY Fire Next Time house’s east wall. police—the space in front of probably once carriage houses FDNY Official Postpones CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Once the Fire Department the store has to be kept open. with horse stalls in the base- Talk to GM has finalized its recommen- In fact, dedicating a team ment, carriages on the main A scheduled appearance responsible neighbor to Squad dations, it will forward them to watch this area for conges- floor and hay in the lofts—ever by a Fire Department official Co. 1. Joe also said the Coop is to the Department of Trans- tion, or asking the walkers to able to imagine they would be to discuss the situation at the asking vendors’ trucks to wait portation. New loading areas be pro active by inviting dri- transformed into a densely April General Meeting was elsewhere in Park Slope until and regulations and better vers to circle the block rather packed supermarket. But that’s canceled at the last minute they’re called on a cell phone signage may ensue. The Coop than stand idle while waiting the way it evolved, and we’re when the official was unable or even to unload from around may also meet with the other for a shopper to emerge, are not going anywhere. Neither to make the meeting and may the corner using a pallet jack. businesses on the block and two options under considera- are the fire trucks. be rescheduled. ■ He said we’re getting great with the livery cab companies tion. Traffic cones and barrels cooperation from them. There to explore solutions. are other possibilities, as are are also other loading zones However, greater member cameras trained on the area EXPERIENCED REPORTERS that can be used if needed— awareness is a vital part of that someone could monitor like the one in front of Union any solution. People who are from inside the store. Market. Loading zones are not rendezvousing with private or Joe said the Coop never Please Apply assigned to the stores they are hired cars need to make sure envisioned it would grow this in front of, and any commercial those vehicles are not double large when it started out nearly Workslot Description vehicle is free to use them. The parked or left unattended in 40 years ago as a renter in one We have four distinct Linewaiters’ loading zone directly in front of the loading zone. Like the of the three buildings it now Gazette teams—each producing an the Coop is sometimes used pickup and drop off areas at owns. Nor were the architects issue every eight weeks. You will de- by Scottadito, for example, the the airport—lanes that are and builders who put up these velop and produce an article about the restaurant that flanks the fire- aggressively monitored by three structures—which were Coop in cooperation with your team’s editor every eight weeks. For More Information The International Cooperative Alliance If you would like to speak to an editor or another reporter to learn more about the job, please contact Ann Herpel in the Membership Statement of Cooperative Identity Office or email her at [email protected]. (The Statement of Cooperative Identity has its origins in a published set of “practices” of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in 1844 and later became known as the Rochdale Principles. It was eventually renamed To Apply and has been periodically updated by the International Cooperative Alliance.) Please send a letter of application and two writing samples at least 800 words long (one sample must be a reported interview) to Definition: usually common property of the cooperative. [email protected]. Your letter should state your qualifications, your Coop history, relevant experience and why you would like to A cooperative is an autonomous associa- They usually receive limited compensation, report for the Coop. Your application will be acknowledged and for- tion of persons united voluntarily to meet if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of warded to the coordinating editors, Stephanie Golden and Erik their common economic, social, and cultural membership. Members allocate surpluses Lewis. needs and aspirations through a jointly for any or all of the following purposes: owned and democratically controlled enter- developing the cooperative, possibly by set- Seeking Diversity on the Gazette Staff prise.