Benson Avenue holds Love Your Block party

With a $1,000 grant from the Citizen’s Committee for New York City, the Benson Avenue Block Association had its second “Love Your Block” event to spruce up the block.

On Benson Avenue between Bay 11th Street and 16th Avenue, neighbors came together to re-touch and paint a mailbox, poles, fire hydrants, fences and the yellow lines on the street. Some put together and painted window boxes, while others planted flowers.

“Whenever we see there’s a need, we’ll go and paint and just beautify the block and let it shine. Green it up. Spice it up. Do whatever we have to do to make it look beautiful,” said Sonia Valentin, president of the Benson Avenue Block Association. “I love this because this is one of the few times the community comes out and we actually talk to one another and we mingle with each other.”

Captain William Taylor from the 62nd Precinct stopped by the event to talk about on-going scams affecting the community, as well as burglary prevention.

“Love Your Block encourages us to reach out to vendors and merchants,” Valentin said. Businesses such as Almonte’s Food Dynasty, Tasty Bagels and more donated bagels, juice, products and discounts to the block.

The event was capped off with a block party where neighbors kicked back and admired their newly beautified block.

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