By Trudy Whitman

By mid-November, the days of leisurely park-bench lunches and swinging Thursday night summer concerts are just fond memories. But recent events in Cobble Hill Park at Clinton and Congress streets indicate that the neighborhood’s jewel in the crown is really a park for all seasons.

Before parading through the streets of Cobble Hill in full Halloween regalia for the 15th Annual Cobble Hill Costume Parade, local kids and adults alike gathered in the park on October 31, so costumes could be shown off to full effect. Some of this year’s highlights were the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a Cobble Hill bus, and an entire family of pigs (with Dad dressed up as the swine flu)! The 76th Precinct, which always has a presence at the parade to ensure that the event is safe and sound, estimates that the gala drew 4,000 revelers to the park. Volunteers, decoration, and clean-up were organized by the indefatigable Melissa Glass, and the parade was led by Brooklyn’s own Jah Pan Steel Drum Band.

Two weeks after Halloween, a crowd gathered once more in the park, but this time most of the people had wheels. The occasion was the Second Annual Cobble Hill Bike Ride on Sunday, November 8, sponsored by the Cobble Hill Association and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. Beginning and ending in Cobble Hill Park, riders traveled through Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, the Columbia Waterfront District, Red Hook, and Carroll Gardens. The route was mapped out to be family-friendly — riders traveled along relatively calm streets. Bike marshals rode with the pack, as did a bike mechanic who was available for urgent repairs.

The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative was incorporated in 2004 to advocate for the creation of what will eventually be a 14-mile greenway. The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway is envisioned as a safe, landscaped, off-street route along Brooklyn’s waterfront running from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. It will connect four regional parks and numerous open spaces. Progress thus far consists of the opening of a half-mile of the Columbia Street segment and the restoration of native grasses along the Williamsburg segment. Additional information can be found at www.brooklyngreenway.org.

Cobble Hill Park’s attractiveness is due, in no small part, to the efforts of a dedicated bunch of park volunteers led by Barbara Krongel. The group makes weekly early-morning cleaning and greening visits to keep the park shipshape. Cobble Hill Park is awash right now in a colorful variety of chrysanthemums thanks to these good neighbors. Thumbs up, y’all!

Of all the boroughs, Brooklyn has the largest number of older adults as well as the largest number of people over the age of 85. Some of us are quickly becoming these citizens and some of us are caring for them. With that in mind, Heights and Hills, a local agency that has assisted seniors in living independently since 1971, launched a caregiving lecture series that began at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church and will end at the Congregation Beth Elohim Synagogue on Garfield Place next month. The series at each of the three venues consists of Introduction to Caregiving, The Insurance Maze, and Legal & Financial Planning. We attended The Insurance Maze last week at the Kane Street Synagogue, which was co-sponsored by the synagogue and JBFCS Partners-in-Caring, a beneficiary of UJA Federation of New York. There Judy Willig, Heights and Hills’ executive director, introduced Amy Bernstein, director of the NYC Department for the Aging’s Health Insurance Information and Counseling Assistance Program. Somehow the engaging Amy Bernstein — with allusions to history, politics, demographics, and psychology — managed to make the dry, convoluted territory of Medicare, Medigap, Medicare Part D, and long-term care insurance fascinating. The series will be repeated at Beth Elohim on November 18, December 2, and December 9. For details and registration, contact Megan King at 212 244-4880 or megan@dougwingo.com.

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