St Johns Place, between Underhill & Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
St Johns Place, between Underhill & Washington Ave, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Two chances to pitch in this week. Come to one or both, stay as long as you like. Bags and grabbers provided, just bring gloves if you have them.
Wednesday, August 5 at 1:30pm · Saturday, August 8 at 9am
Meet at Shirley Court, between Underhill Ave and Washington Ave. Led by members Lydia and Carol.
No signup needed. Just show up.
Saturday, October 3, 9am to 2pm
St John's Place between Washington Ave and Underhill Ave is celebrating City of Forest Day 2026. We will be planting the tree beds all morning, then having lunch together at 1pm at the 365 St Johns Pl backyard.
Bring gloves and a trowel if you have them, and bring nothing at all if you do not. Come for an hour or stay the whole day.
The city is closing streets in Prospect Heights for trick-or-treating this Halloween. We want to make St Johns Place a destination with trick-o-treating, candy, costumes, and neighbors. Please sign up to show your interest.
This can only happen with 32 volunteer hours, about 8 people on the block every hour from 5 to 9pm. Sign up to volunteer →
We need 32 volunteer hours to make this happen, about 8 people on the block every hour from 5 to 9pm on Halloween. Without enough hours committed, Halloween cannot happen this year.
Every 311 complaint gets a number. We collect them and pass them to Council Member Hudson's office, who take them to the Health Department. Volume is what gets an inspector sent, and several complaints about one building beat scattered ones.
🐀 File a 311 rat complaintTakes about five minutes. Not sure what to put in each field? Open the guide below. If that link stops working, start from on.nyc.gov/RatComplaint.
Use the exact building address where you saw activity, not just the block. Complaints tied to a specific property are the ones the Health Department acts on. Stuck on a question? See the 311 help article, click the residential property accordion, then "Report Rats and the Conditions That Might Attract Them."
311 shows a service request number at the end. Copy it before you close the tab. Filed one already? Look it up at 311 Look Up Service Requests.
Paste it into the box on this page. Once per complaint is all it takes.
Answer these five and we will write every 311 answer for you. Or skip straight down and use the defaults.
Screen 1 · What
The full list is Condition Attracting Rodents, Mouse Sighting, Rat Sighting, Signs of Rodents.
Change anything that does not match what you saw. Specific and factual works better than angry.
Filled in with right now, in the format 311 expects. Change it if you saw them earlier.
On our block this is almost always yes, and it tells the inspector this is not a one off.
Screen 2 · Where
Most buildings on St Johns Place. The list also has Street and Sidewalk as their own types, for anything not tied to a building.
The options change depending on the Location Type above. For an apartment building they are Alley, Inside Apartment, Inside Building Basement, Garbage Area, Hallway, Laundry, Lobby, Stairway, Outdoor Garbage Area, and Yard. Street and Sidewalk only offer N/A.
Change the house number to the building you are reporting, then pick the match 311 offers.
In Front Of covers most reports. Use In Back Of for a back yard, or On The Side Of for an alley.
Screen 3 · Who
Your own name and contact details. 311 uses them to send you the status. You can file anonymously, but a named complaint carries more weight and you will not get updates without one.
Screen 4 · Review
Submit, then copy the complaint number it gives you and paste it into our form below.
Buildings flagged so far on St Johns Place:
If your building is on this list, file anyway. Several complaints about the same address is what pushes the city to send an inspector, so a second and third report on a building already listed does more than a first report somewhere new.
Saturday, September 12 at 11am
In the backyard at 365 St Johns Place.
Come learn how to actually fight rats from folks on Sterling Place. Free and open to any neighbor.
What we have gotten up to so far. We started in spring 2026.
Photos from any of these? Send them to friendsofstjohnspl@gmail.com and we will add them.
Grants, free compost and mulch, free trees and bulbs, and gardening courses open to Brooklyn block associations. Badges update automatically based on each program's usual season. Always click through and confirm the current year's dates.
Much of this list comes from “Getting Started with Street Gardening”, a guide written by the BJH Garden Club in Crown Heights. Thank you, neighbors. Know of something we're missing? Email friendsofstjohnspl@gmail.com.