What's happening on Prospect Place on Saturday?

Subject: What's happening on Prospect Place on Saturday?

The police put up "no parking Saturday" signs all up and down Prospect between Bedford and Franklin. Anybody know what's going on?

Perhaps because of Yom Kippur?

:scratch:

This would be the first September I've spent in Brooklyn. Are there usually street closures on Yom Kippur?

Incidentally, this stretch of Prospect is mostly Caribbean. I don't think there's much of a Jewish contingent.

The city's weird with the Jewish holidays, so nothing surprises me.

It can't be a L & O shoot because they only shoot during the week.

And it would be bad P.R. for a film production to shoot that day.

Anyway, most parking closures due to film production would say that on the sign that it IS a film production.

Could be a block party - my corner of Prospect had one last week.

On Yom Kippur? Isn't that a tad insensitive?

if no one on the block is jewish, then no.

Yeah, well, that can be hard to determine. Granted I live on the Carribean side of the divide but there are Jewish families on my block.

Heck, I'm Jewish though I'm not as observant.

if no one on the board planning the (unconfirmed) block party is jewish, it's quite likely they didn't even think of it. if i weren't teaching (and having to keep track of when students will miss my class), i wouldn't have known.

so no, i don't think it's insensitive, per se.

According to 77th Community Affairs, it's some kind of health fair. I find that a little odd, since I remember some kind of health fair up at the hospital on the next block about three weeks ago.

Regarding the health fairs, a lot of the block associations choose to do them instead of/in addition to block parties. Its a chance for kids to get out and play on the block while needed services are provided to people in the community.

Our block had one two years ago and we had blood pressure screening, free dental exams, sign ups for Child Healthcare Plus and HealthCare Plus, a recruiting/information table for the Bed-Stuy Volunteer Ambulance Corp and a number of other health and wellness activities. My recollection is that they tend to end earlier than the block parties (6-7pm instead of 9pm) and are a lot more low key.

And no, having a health fair on the same day as a Jewish high holy day is not insensitive. Having a health fair on the same day as a Jewish high holy day in front of a temple is insensitive. There are a lot of different ethnicities and religions in this city. If events were not scheduled because they conflicted with some religious observation there would only be a handful of days where anything could be done.

No, I think a health fair is perfectly appropriate.

And if it weren't the holiday, I'd probably be working at it.