BQE Admin, Author at Brooklyn Downtown Star

City of ‘Yes, But’: Landmark Housing Deal Squeezes Through to Full Vote, with Caveats

BQE Admin on November 26, 2024

A map depicting the new plan for parking mandates: red zones will see them rolled back completely, while residents in the yellow and blue areas will experience partial reductions to the requirements. (Credit: New York City Council)

By Jack Delaney

New York City’s most sweeping housing plan in decades cleared a crucial hurdle this week, as the City Council pushed forward changes to zoning laws and other regulations so that 80,000 new units can be built across the city.

Last Thursday, the Council’s Land Use Committee voted 8 to 2 in favor of a revised version of ‘City of Yes,’ a slate of modifications to citywide rules that has been a key part of Mayor Eric Adams’ agenda and that is intended to alleviate the city’s acute housing shortage. The original plan aimed to create 109,000 units in the next 15 years, but it was amended after backlash among some electeds over hot-button issues such as the abolition of parking mandates.

There haven’t been major changes to the city’s zoning laws since 1961, and pressure for reforms has mounted in recent years as the housing crisis has worsened. A particularly dire indicator is that as of 2024, the rental vacancy rate had dropped to an abysmal 1.4%, the lowest on record since 1968 and a marked decrease from a pandemic-era level of 4.5% in 2021. “The data is clear,” said Mayor Adams in February. “The demand to live in our city is far outpacing our ability to build housing.”

Down to the wire

As of the morning of the vote, it remained unclear whether a deal would be struck. If the council had declined to vote, the plan would have passed without amendments. The vote itself was delayed by over five hours, as council members hashed out a workable compromise. In the end, it took an unexpected injection of $1 billion from Governor Kathy Hochul to ensure that the amended proposal would be approved.

Since City of Yes was first announced in June 2022, Mayor Adams and his allies have characterized it as “a little more housing in every neighborhood.” Though the Council’s amendments still pave the way for a substantial amount of housing, they represent a more Balkanized tack, in which some neighborhoods will bear a greater share of development thanks to regulations that vary based on borough and distance from transit hubs.

The two most contentious facets of the original plan — parking mandates and ADUs, or accessory dwelling units — were accordingly the focal points for the compromise deal.

Rather than discarding the minimums completely, the deal creates a three-tiered system based on geography. In almost all of Manhattan, and much of western Queens and Brooklyn — dubbed Tier 1 — Parking mandates would be eliminated entirely. For Tier 2, which covers swaths of Brooklyn and the Bronx, mandates would be lowered substantially, cutting the number of required parking units by three-quarters across the zone. And in Tier 3, largely contained to Queens, minimums for standard projects would remain in place, but would be lifted for ADUs), transit-oriented districts, and town centers as long as new construction contains fewer than 75 units.

The agreement also ratcheted up regulations on ADUs, a key component of the City of Yes plan, as well as small apartments in backyards, garages, and other spaces on existing properties. The compromise would prohibit ground-floor and basement ADUs in coastal and inland flood-prone areas, while disallowing backyard ADUs in historic districts and certain areas designated for single-family homes.

Too Much, Not Enough

Council Member Bob Holden, who has been part of a vocal opposition, called the deal “a terrible plan” and said that his constituents “reject the idea of giving real estate developers a blank check to overdevelop our city.” He and other Republican lawmakers had expressed concerns about potential overcrowding, strain on infrastructure, and the impact of large-scale developments on ‘neighborhood character.’

For their part, progressives like State Senator Zellnor Myrie criticized the proposal for not going far enough. “With today’s carveouts, an already modest step forward has slowed to an even more hesitant pace,” Myrie said. “Every housing unit cut from this proposal represents another family that will have to leave New York City.” He added that he hoped the full Council would approve the changes without further amendments during its stated meeting next month.

Even so, many housing advocates have reacted positively to the amended plan. Some argued that critics who initially focused on concessions were losing the forest for the trees, and praised what they saw as a paradigm shift. “Essentially, this is fantastic,” said one representative, who asked to remain anonymous. “City of Yes was never going to be the fix to our housing crisis. But what this does, which has never been done before in New York City, is to recognize that a zoning change is essential to providing affordable housing.”

The plan will now return to the City Planning Commission for review before proceeding to a final vote by the full City Council in December.

Juice, Judo, and a Runway: Brownsville Orgs Show Out for Food Equity

BQE Admin on November 21, 2024

Clarissa Sims demos an easy-to-make yet nutritious juice for attendees. Photo: Jack Delaney

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

“We the undersigned,” the petition begins, “are tired of living in a neighborhood that is systemically deprived of healthy choices.”

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the Brownsville Heritage House played host to an array of community leaders and entrepreneurs who showed up in support of a bid for $200,000 in state grants to create a new hub for fresh, nutritious food in the neighborhood.

The petition, launched by nonprofit Seeds in the Middle, would combine an affordable farmers market with a community cafe, all run by Brownsville residents. Customers using SNAP benefits at the market would get double value up to $20 per day, and the cafe would serve as a one-stop shop for nourishing meals, juices, and snacks, as well as items made by local creatives.

Seeds in the Middle founder Nancie Katz says the state money would help address a problem that’s currently acute. Brownsville has been called a ‘food desert,’ though recently the term has given way among experts to ‘food swamp’ — an area that is flooded by access to unhealthy food, without a convenient or cheap means of buying alternatives. This lacuna has knock-on effects: 41% of adults in Brownsville are obese, per Foodscape data, which is nearly 20% higher than the city average and much worse than the 32% the neighborhood recorded in 2011. Residents also face rates of diabetes and infant mortality, the risk of which is tied to chronic health conditions, that are among the highest in the city.

At first, a sparse group of about ten attendees sat scattered on folding chairs throughout the room, reticent. But dozens more began to stream in around 3 p.m., and before long the space was buzzing.

The event kicked off with a tour of the recently renovated Brownsville Heritage House by Miriam Robertson, its Executive Director. The 40-year old community center and museum, located on the second floor of the Stone Avenue Library, was started by legendary historian and trailblazer Mother Gaston out of her own living room.

Next was a crash course in self defense taught by Gabriel Eugene, owner of the Lucian Dojo on Maple Street. His good-natured volunteer, Divine Pollard, threw mock blows and patiently weathered a variety of headlocks as Eugene walked the crowd through the optimal ways to defend against punches, baseball bats, and knives.

Then came a demo by Clarissa Sims of Liquid Vibes, a juice company based out of Staten Island. A year earlier, Sims underwent surgery for breast cancer, a frightening experience which spurred her to place more emphasis on her health. On stage at the event, carrots, oranges, and apples went into a juicer along with a knob of ginger — attendees were enthusiastic about the juice, but did have thoughts on the strength of the last ingredient: “The juice,” said one older man, “is very spicy.”

Sims was unfazed. “Ginger is amazing, amazing, amazing for your body,” she told onlookers, while stressing that it’s more important to add in healthy foods, at least initially, than it is to go scorched earth through dieting. “By embracing healthier habits, I’m not just transforming myself,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m on a mission to impact the lives of my family and community.”

The lack of healthy food in Brownsville isn’t a fluke. Silvia Radulescu, a researcher at the Georgetown University Law Center, explains that “there are racial disparities in food access in Brooklyn; white residents have better access to healthy [meals] than Black and Hispanic residents.” She argues that this gap isn’t only the product of current income inequality, but “result[s] from twentieth-century segregation policies and practices—such as redlining, blockbusting, and predatory lending.” In other words, Brownsville residents have been forced into unhealthy habits over the course of decades, and by design.

“I don’t even know where to say to get it, to get fresh stuff,” said Cynthia Bishop, who was born in Wilmington, NC, and moved to Brownsville when she was five years old.

At the Brownsville Heritage House, organizer Cherokee La Dickens asks questions as Chef Shibumi Jones explains her tips and tricks for a delectable green curry. Photo: Jack Delaney.

Cooking demos followed Sims’ gingery juice. The first was a green curry how-to by veteran chef Shibumi Jones, who runs a locally sourced farm-to-table supper club in the Hudson Valley.

“It’s very important to start with your aromatics,” Jones said. Another tip for maximum flavor? Try deglazing with water, which helps incorporate “all the good stuff that’s stuck on the bottom of the pan” into the dish. And she urged the audience to try using homemade pumpkin puree as a base: “Anything you can put tomatoes in, you can do with pumpkins as well.”

Her final tip was a tactic to cut down on salt, by way of a science lesson. Acidic seasonings do the trick, because “adding acid is the same thing as adding salt, as far as where it hits on your palate.”

After a second demo on how to make the perfect pared-down Mediterranean salad by mother-daughter duo Estelle and Mona Raad, young essayist April Webster read her piece on food justice, to rousing applause.

Also present at the event was Dante Arnwine, District Manager for Brooklyn Community Board 9, who is planning to run for the City Council next year in District 41. He echoed organizer Cherokee La Dickens’ sentiments regarding the need to bridge generational divides to build a movement around adequate nutrition, which affects everyone.

“Unfortunately, people are so busy that they don’t have the time to get fresh produce,” he noted. “You’re worried about just [getting] food on the table. You’re not particularly worried about whether it’s healthy or not. And so being able to bring this to where people are is essential, right? We really need more programming like this.”

Arnwine also pointed to the intersections between issues like housing and nutrition, and saw the mayor’s citywide initiative to increase housing stock as an opportunity to advance other causes, too. “As the city continues to build under ‘City of Yes,’ or whatever that looks like, the conversations have to be had between elected officials and developers: ‘Hey, when you’re moving into communities that are clearly food deserts, they need fresh produce.’”

Models drawn from the audience, including Divine Pollard, Cynthia Bishop, and Chef Shibumi, Jones show off designer John Cheek’s latest collection. Photo: Jack Delaney

For chef Jones and wife Alix, who live in Brownsville, the push for access to healthy food is important not only in the context of a neighborhood that is starved of resources generally — including sluggish response times from city agencies for routine requests like removing abandoned cars, which Alix had experienced firsthand — but also within the broader picture of the country’s food systems.

“You see these companies putting all kinds of crap in the food that they, number one, don’t have to tell us about. And number two, it’s just not good for our health, and it’s just not good for the environment.” So Jones was supportive of any opportunity to “encourage any sort of awareness and just to take a step back and re-examine what we’re eating.”

The evening came to a dramatic close with a fashion show curated by John Cheeks, a local dance instructor, designer, and corrections officer who lost his mother, who had also been his business partner, to Covid during the pandemic.

And as residents filed out of the Brownsville Heritage House with full stomachs, still blinking the runway’s dazzle from their eyes, the limelight returned to expanding local access to high-quality produce.

“We would love to have farm to table experiences here in Brownsville,” said La Dickens. “We want healthy food options too, so we’re right here, right now.”

BK Start-Ups Pitch Next Big Thing in Transportation Tech

BQE Admin on November 14, 2024

Damir Gilyaz, founder of EZGlyd, attempts to woo an accomplished panel of judges at Make It In Brooklyn’s Future of Transportation Pitch Contest. Photo: Jack Delaney

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

On Tuesday, a Shark Tank-esque competition pitted fledgling Brooklyn tech companies — hawking drones, battery stations, and scooters — against each other for a shot at a check, and a stamp of approval for molding New York’s future transit systems.

The venue was auspicious. In 1807, seven years after inventing a usable submarine for Napoleon, the engineer Robert Fulton launched the world’s first commercially successful steamboat up the Hudson, putting New York City on the map as a center for innovative transportation. Over two hundred years later, and only one block away from a street bearing Fulton’s name, a handful of start-up founders were hoping to channel some of his magic.

The Future of Transportation Pitch Contest, which took place in the stylish rafters of Hana House in Downtown Brooklyn, had narrowed the field to just four finalists. The event was organized by Make It In Brooklyn, a Dowwwntown Brooklyn Partnership initiative to support the borough’s entrepreneurs that has given out over $120,000 in seed funding to date.

After an introduction by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President Regina Myer, the evening was ushered along by emcee Jared Ais, an urban planner with a TikTok following (his handle is @TransitTalks). Filling out the roster were judges Phil Hwang of Dollaride, Judy Chang of the charging infrastructure company Itselectric, Dulcie Canton of CLIP!, NYCDOT veteran Dr. Jannie Gao, and Patrick Knoth, General Manager of Citi Bike.

The first presenter to brave the judges’ questioning was Damir Gilyaz, founder of EZGlyd. He said his product arose from a simple question: “What happens to your cargo scooter when it’s not in use?” The answer came to him while he was waiting for his daughter after her weekend math classes in Manhattan, watching traffic and musing over parking. He decided to design his own scooter, one that could “meet unmet needs for family and small business owners in high density areas,” he said, by using less space. The key features are that the vehicle can be folded vertically, has two removable batteries, and sports strong weather protection.

One judge asked how much the bike would cost to create. About $1,200 for manufacturing, Gilyaz replied, with a retail price starting at $2,400 to factor in other costs. He also fielded a question about his vision for the company’s future, to which he said that he was eager to expand to other cities in the Northeast if the pilot went smoothly in New York.

Avol founder Nate Poon and DBP President Regina Myer pose with the prize-winner’s check. Photo: Jack Delaney

The second challenger to approach the dais was David Hammer, President and co-founder of Popwheels.

“Right now in New York City,” Hammer said, “your pad thai is being schlepped by somebody on an e-bike.” Actually, he went on, that bike is probably one of two models, and they likely comprise one of the largest e-bike fleets in the world — over 100,000 vehicles, potentially. “This shows,” he said, “that electric mobility is not just for bougie Brooklyn dads, and I say this as [one], nor is it just for rich jerks. No, it’s for everybody. It’s for working people to be able to get their jobs done.”

But in Hammer’s telling, e-bike riders have two big problems. They’re plagued by battery fires, and the high cost of owning and operating a bike is also an issue. His company’s fix is to create a citywide battery swapping network, so that e-bikers and specifically delivery workers can recharge their batteries without having to return home.

When his presentation concluded, judges asked whether he was prepared for battery models to change. What if a new type of battery was incompatible with his kiosks? “There aren’t any new chemistries,” he answered, “that are likely to become online in the next five years that are going to radically reshape and increase by an order of magnitude the kind of the needs that meet micro mobility today.”

Third on deck was Nathan Poon, CEO and co-founder of Avol. Tall and lanky, he took a deep breath, then launched into his pitch for drones that can deliver blood, medication, and biopsies between medical centers.

“Medical deliveries are extremely slow,” he said, explaining the need for his invention. “There’s about 44 million of these deliveries every year, but almost all of them are done by car, which means they take a really long time. They’re limited by roads, traffic and weather conditions, and they’re limited by coordinating drivers. This results in about $30 billion worth of losses every year, just because blood, kidneys, and medications aren’t where they need to be when the patients actually need them.”

Drones had already been proposed to solve for this, he noted, but most models are heavily regulated. The trick is to design a drone that is light enough to avoid triggering regulation, yet heavy-weight and sturdy enough to carry the necessary materials over long distances. So that’s what Poon did, based on his PhD research. The result is a novel aircraft that “fits in the same regulatory class as a traditional quadcopter, but has five times the range and twice the payload volume.”

How do you deal with the fact that different municipalities may have different regulations for drones? Poon said that Avol gets around this issue by landing drones a mile or so outside of the target cities, and then paying couriers to ferry the medical supplies the rest of the way.

The fourth techie to take the stage was Victor Oribamise, CEO and co-founder of Kquika.

His company wants to minimize the amount of time that planes are out of commission, which Oribamise says costs airlines $3000 per plane, per hour. To accomplish this, he and his partners have designed an artificial intelligence-powered model that helps predict when a plane will need maintenance, before it actually does. “How does it work?” he asked, rhetorically. “We do real time data processing, and we have six behavior models to be able to predict all of these problems.”

As might be expected for an AI-driven product, a judge asked whether Oribamise’s software would replace human jobs. He replied that there aren’t currently enough maintenance engineers to go around, so his model would simply supplement the missing labor force.

The presentations were finished, and the crowd wandered off to the bar with their free drink tickets. Finally, after fifteen minutes of deliberation by the judges, emcee Ais announced that the winner was… Avol! Poon was swept to the stage, where he posed with a physically enormous (and financially modest) check for $5,000 to support his company’s growth.

It’s unclear if any of these ventures will take off. But if years from now you get a life-saving blood transfusion delivered to your hospital by drone, remember: it may have started here, just off Fulton St.

New Grants Seek Local Answers to Brooklyn’s Maternal Health Crisis

BQE Admin on November 7, 2024

Brooklyn Communities Collaborative convenes leaders in Brooklyn maternal health for a roundtable discussion (Credit: Brooklyn Communities Collaborative).

By Jack Delaney

A new influx of grants is looking to empower a range of local Brooklyn nonprofits to address the nationwide maternal health crisis from the ground up.

On October 30, health equity nonprofit Brooklyn Communities Collaborative (BCC) announced that it was doling out just under $1 million in grants to 10 community-based organizations throughout the borough, with a focus on equipping mothers with better care, supplies, and information.

This money comes as alarm bells sound at all levels of government over health data that shows little progress is being made in reducing serious complications and fatalities suffered by women during childbirth, a problem few other affluent nations face.

In Norway, the maternal death rate is a non-issue: statistically, zero women die per 100,000 live births. In Switzerland, that number is one. Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan? All hover around three.

Yet the U.S. clocks in at 22, the most significant maternal death rate of any high-income country. This rate worsens if you live in New York City, rising to 43. In fact, the greatest determinant of health outcomes for mothers isn’t geography, but race: Black women in the city are nine times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy.

This gap can be explained in part by a deep-seated history of sexism and racism in the healthcare industry, tracing back to slavery. James Marion Sims, the so-called “Father of Gynecology,” developed his techniques in the 1840s through horrific experiments which two enslaved Black women, Lucy and Anarcha, as well as many unnamed others, were forced to undergo without anesthesia. Sims’ statue was on prominent display in Central Park until 2018, when public outcry finally led to its removal — though not without backlash.

This history extends to the lack of access to midwives and doulas in the U.S., which persists despite the fact that both figure prominently in most countries with lower maternal death rates. “Gynecologists pushed women out of the field of reproductive health by lobbying state legislatures to ban midwifery and prohibit abortions,” writes Professor Michele Godwin of UC Irvine for the ACLU. “Doing so not only undercut women’s reproductive health, but also drove qualified Black women out of medical services.”

Today, the enormous discrepancy in maternal health outcomes between Black and white mothers is perpetuated not only by ongoing structural racism in the health system, said Shari Suchoff, Executive Director of BCC, but by chronic disinvestment in many areas.

“It isn’t just a healthcare crisis, it’s not just a nutrition crisis, it’s not an access crisis, it’s not an education crisis,” she noted. “It’s all of those things together. And the only way that we can solve complex problems is by working together with people outside of our immediate sector.”

To that end, the grants engage hyperlocal organizations that collectively represent a constellation of approaches.

One of these is Seeds in the Middle, which is getting $50,000 to offer mothers prenatal movement and yoga classes, breathing classes, emotional support services, and a fresh food pantry.

“Your baby can crawl around. You can have a cup of tea or coffee, something that helps mental health,” said Nancie Katz, the organization’s Executive Director, of creating a space where mothers can access healthy food while decompressing. “It’s preventative. What we know to be true in Black and Brown communities is that the rates of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, premature death, infant mortality, and maternal death are two or three times that of any community that’s wealthier, particularly white communities.”

Suchoff also highlighted the importance of prevention. “So much of this crisis really starts many years before women are pregnant,” said Suchoff, referencing the toll that chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension can take during childbirth, if mothers don’t have access to preventative measures or medication. “I think that’s why we took a broad approach with this grant program.”

Other grantees, like the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, which is receiving approximately $120,000, are tackling the issue through outreach and community-building initiatives.

The Institute was founded by its namesake, the influential tennis pro Arthur Ashe, and “utilizes a model of community health empowerment and engagement to promote health equity and social justice through strategic partnerships, innovative community-based health promotion and research programs, and the preparation of a more diverse and inclusive workforce of health professionals.”

In this case, that model means meeting residents where they are. “We’re going to be collaborating with barbershops and salons to educate folks on the maternal health crisis,” explained Faven Araya, the Institute’s Director of Community Engagement and Health Equity Research. “Oftentimes, pregnant women are dealing with a lot of changes in their body, and some are abnormal. What are the things that should be concerning? What are the things that you should pick up the phone and call your doctor for? What are some of the things that you should go to the emergency room for?”

Aside from information about recognizing warning signs, the barbers and stylists will also be trained to communicate the rights that residents have around getting connected to appropriate care, and the different venues and spaces that are available to them.

BCC is awarding the largest grant is the Brooklyn Perinatal Network, which will receive $250,000 to “invest in studies of upstream and downstream factors impacting the availability and access to community and social services that address health related social needs.” Other big recipients include the Alex House Project, which will “continue providing career opportunities, comprehensive doula services and mental health, case management and psychotherapy/education sessions,” and the Caribbean Women’s Health Association, which has a mandate to “strengthen community outreach, workshops, and counseling services surrounding sexual health, birth control, and chronic disease management.”

This is the third round of grants awarded through BCC’s Strong Communities Fund, which has given nearly $5 million to local public health groups since it launched in 2020 during the pandemic. Funding for this latest slew of grants drew support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which Suchoff pointed to as a significant development.

“Robert Wood Johnson, a very large national foundation, working in this space is really exciting,” Suchoff said, “because it’s giving up their power to the community to put the money where they think it’s most important. So it represents a real shift in the general funder-fundee power dynamics.”

These local intercessions are especially important, given that a recent report by SUNY Downstate found that the ‘epicenter’ of New York’s maternal health crisis was Central Brooklyn. One hospital in particular, Woodhull Medical Center in Bed-Stuy, has been rocked by claims of malpractice.

But the problem is more systemic than a single hospital. A Department of Health report earlier this year found that “Brooklyn’s communities of color and high-poverty neighborhoods have fewer health care professionals and less hospital capacity per capita than the borough’s wealthier and predominantly white ZIP codes.” And it concluded that wealthier residents went to Manhattan for care, while those on Medicaid were stuck with underfunded local facilities.

City and state officials haven’t been sitting idly by. In 2018, DeBlasio launched a $13 million initiative to close maternal health gaps through implicit bias training, better data collection, support for hospitals, and partnership with community organizations. In 2021, the New York City Board of Health declared racism a public health crisis amid a pandemic that exacerbated longtime inequities, laying them bare.

Governor Kathy Hochul has been proactive on the issue, too. In January, she announced a six-part plan to improve barriers to adequate maternal healthcare, then in May passed a bill making New York the first state to mandate paid prenatal care leave. She penned in $1.6 million for maternal mental health initiatives in the 2025 budget. And in August, she earmarked $27.5 million for maternal and pediatric care at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, following $8 million in funds for the Morris Heights Health Center in the Bronx to build a state-of-the-art maternal health center.

Like the BCC, the government is also starting to look beyond the hospital system for answers to the crisis. As of March 1, New York State Medicaid covers doula services — and the Doula Expansion Grant Program will allow the Department to award $250,000 to community-based organizations for the recruitment, training, certification, support, and mentoring of community-based doulas.

Even so, the latest statistics suggest that the maternal health gap may be growing nationwide, even as other countries make strides in closing it.

Ultimately, Suchoff noted that there’s no “silver bullet” for the crisis. But in her view, the local approach may be an increasingly important component of the solution.

“This is a model that’s worked really well,” she said. “We’ve been able to fund really small organizations who have trouble accessing funding from bigger foundations which can be burdensome to work with, and also created a really nice community of community-based organizations who are working together and trying to break down some of the silos that exist inherently in this work.”

Brooklyn Borough Resident Antonio Reynoso agreed. “For too long, Black and Brown mothers in Brooklyn have been disproportionately impacted by the maternal health crisis,” he said, lauding the grant program. “We cannot secure better outcomes for mothers and infants without first addressing this disparity and identifying the parts of our borough that are most vulnerable. By investing in CBOs that work directly with the most impacted communities, Brooklyn Communities Collaborative is empowering smaller organizations to tackle this crisis and improve maternal health in their own neighborhoods.”

Industry City Fashion Show Celebrates Brooklyn’s Multicultural Design Talent

BQE Admin on October 31, 2024

A runway look from Adeleke Sijuwade’s “L Collection” featured in a “A Very Brooklyn Fashion Show.” Credit: Nicholas Gordon.

By NICHOLAS GORDON

Brooklyn’s multiculturalism and visionary styles were on vivid display at the second annual “A Very Brooklyn Fashion Show” at Industry City in Sunset Park on October 15. It was a kaleidoscopic night of bright fabrics and bold patterns, cool silk and tough denim, graffiti, beads, jewelry, ruffles, and fringe worn by an eclectic medley of fashion models strutting their stuff to a musical playlist as diverse as the borough itself. Hosted by the Brooklyn Made Store during Brooklyn Fashion Week, the show featured the work of over ten local designers with heritage from countries across the globe, including Haiti, India, Nigeria, and Ukraine.

“I love seeing all of these different kinds of models and designers in a fashion show,” said Catherine Schuller, founder of Runway the Real Way, and a curator of the show along with Rick Davy, creator of Fashion Week Brooklyn. “We’re thrilled to be part of an event that honors the spirit and diversity of our community,” Schuller added, in an interview after the show.

As a pioneering plus-size model in the 80’s, Schuller said she was “bit by the diversity bug” and has thrived on creating inclusive catwalks ever since. As a designer herself, Schuller marries comic books with fashion, creating upcycled jewelry and accessories that she describes as “power pieces of heroic adornment,” several of which were featured in the show.

Catherine Schuller, founder of Runway the Real Way and a curator of “A Very Brooklyn Fashion Show,” addresses the audience on October 15. Credit: Nicholas Gordon.

Designer Adeleke Sijuwade delivered a bracing streetwear collection set to the throwback track “Jump” by 90’s hip-hop duo Kriss Kross, mixing elements of hip-hop, basketball, westerns, cartoons, and Sijuwade’s Nigerian roots.

“A lot of the things I create for the runway are things I love, and I draw inspiration from things I’m fascinated with,” Sijuwade said, in a phone interview. “It’s natural for me to be attracted to bright colors and patterns with a lot of details, because these are things African people wear everyday.”

Born in Nigeria, Sijuwade moved to the U.S. at age 6. He visits Nigeria a couple of times each year, he said.

While he enjoys being bold and playful with his creative choices, such as by adding Victorian ruffles, wide collar flares, suspenders, sports jerseys, or overalls to his signature baggy looks, Sijuwade said he is always focused on making clothes that are comfortable and accessible for a broad spectrum of humanity.

“It’s about bringing together different design elements in casual structures, clothing that’s wearable for everyone, no matter what shape you’re in,” Sijuwade said.

Several of Sijuwade’s garments featured powerful images of hiphop icons such as Biggie Smalls hand-painted by African artists that he’d collaborated with on trips back to his motherland of Nigeria.

Sijuwade said his goal is to take his painter-designer collaboration to the next level by exhibiting new pieces at a local museum.

Paying homage to heritage through collaboration is a potent approach for designer Renuka Malhi too, whose work was featured in the show under her brand name of “Re’Malhi.”

“Collaborating with other artists really elevates you,” Malhi said, in an interview after the show. “We uplift each other. It’s a different spirit when we work together with other designers because there’s so much to learn.”

Though for her brand she often makes couture gowns for the red carpet, Malhi said she wanted to change it up for this show with a line called “Little Black Secret,” evoking a mysterious autumn vibe.

In addition to collaborating with shoe designers and Schuller who had some pieces from her line “Power Pieces x S Designs” in the collection, Malhi also teamed up with an artist from Kashmir, India, on a handmade black and white jacket that took several months to complete.

Designer Roselyne Shiyenze takes to the runway with one of her models at the conclusion of the show. Credit: Nicholas Gordon.

“The jacket is coming from the land where artists embroider by hand, sew every single flower, using silks and a lot of fusion with different fabrics,” Malhi said, noting that with her Indian background she’s a huge fan of great textiles and brocades. Malhi was born and raised in Punjab, India, and moved to the U.S. at age 20.

Deeply inspired by the work of her fellow designers in the show, Malhi said she has great appreciation for the creative diversity teeming in Brooklyn and on display in the collections.

“I thoroughly believe that every designer is unique in their designs, everyone brings a story that’s attached to their collection, and I enjoy that,” Malhi said. “I’m looking forward to working with more diversity in the future.”

New Brooklyn Festival Highlights Creole Artists

BQE Admin on October 30, 2024

“What’s beautiful about discovering Creole culture is that you have to embrace multiplicity,” says Kréol Fest organizer Natie.

The idea for Kréol Fest, an upcoming arts bash at Cafe Erzulie in Bushwick on November 3 that aims to celebrate the intersections of Creole cultures through music, dance, visual arts, fashion, and food, came to its organizer, who goes by the mononym Natie, in stages.

The first was in 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests in Brooklyn. “I felt really lost,” Natie, a classically trained violinist who toured with Beyoncé before launching her solo career in 2018, remembered. “I wasn’t marching, I wasn’t posting about it on social media, and I thought, is this me not being a part of the fight?” But an art curator whom she was friends with told her that while it was important to be fighting injustice, there was also a role for those who could “build something to come back to.” Expanding from that kernel, Natie decided to create a weekly jam session called Sunday Art Hang, based out of the Clinton Hill bar Izzy Rose.

“It was right after the lockdown,” she said, “and it was about creating a community so that artists wouldn’t go crazy in their heads by themselves. They would have an afternoon to share what they were doing, where they were at, what they were struggling with. It was for us to hear each other and support each other.” Sunday Art Hang is now in its third year, and recently expanded to a new space at another Brooklyn bar, Umbra.

Yet back during the pandemic, Natie, who is from Réunion, a French department off the coast of Madagascar, found herself for the first time in a bubble with only American friends. “It was a super fun group,” she said. “But when it came to conversations about race, it was really tense.”

“I felt misunderstood, but I realized I also had a lot to learn and understand about the dynamics here: what does ‘Black’ mean, what does ‘white’ mean in this context? That was the awakening of my sense that there is so much to talk about — and without sounding like I’m preaching, I think there’s something to be shared from where I come from, another way to look at how we live together.”

Then, in 2023, Natie connected with a percussion group from Réunion called Rouler Killer that was visiting New York, and convinced them to come to Sunday Art Hang for a night of improvised music. “It was so special,” she said. “That was a preview of what Kréol Fest could be like — that moment really fueled me.”

The third and final component settled into place when Natie’s partner relayed a conversation he’d had with a Haitian artist, whom he was telling about her Creole roots. To the artist, the fact that she came from Réunion seemed disqualifying. “But,” the artist said, “they’re not Creole!”

A recent jazz night at Cafe Erzulie, which will be the venue for Kréol Fest.

It’s in this crucible of questions — about race and belonging, the far-reaching resonances of the term ‘Creole,’ and the role that art has to play — that the festival has taken shape. Running from 6 p.m. until midnight, it will assemble ten artists (including saxophonist Kafele Bandele, visual artist Watson Mere, and fashion curator SA-RA) from a wide range of disciplines, representing five different countries: New Orleans, Réunion, Guyana, Trinidad, and Haiti. The event will kick off with a panel discussion, followed by live performances and an array of vendors.

“What’s beautiful about discovering Creole culture is that you have to embrace multiplicity,” Natie stressed. “Because by nature it is a blend. It’s even more important now, in such a divided climate. Everything is polarizing, a binary choice, and when you engage with Creole culture you have to expand that vision and embrace the fact that it’s this and this and this, and it coexists.”

Ideally, Natie hopes the event will extend beyond this initial installment to become something more. “I want Kréol Fest to exist in ten years,” she said. “I want it to travel. The idea is to uplift each other, and through this shared history see where we can grow stronger as a community.”

Bagpipes, Neo-Trad, and Everything in Between at NYC Tattoo Con

BQE Admin on October 30, 2024

By Jack Delaney

A visitor to the New York Tattoo Convention last Friday might have been caught off guard by the sudden blare of bagpipes, erupting from three kilted men as they strode down the aisles of artists’ stalls. But to Donal Cranny, one of the event’s three organizers, they were no sideshow. Instead, the marching musicians were emblematic of a broader approach: “We wanted a very global experience,” Cranny said.

To that end, the show assembled 340 artists from across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia who converged on Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard over the weekend, from October 18 to 20, for the annual convention’s third edition. Their art drew over 4,500 attendees, who clustered around food trucks, danced to live acts like the hard rock outfit Rebel Angels, and lay patiently on tables as steady hands added fresh designs to their collections.

Tattooing has a long and checkered history in New York City. In 1870, Martin Hildebrandt founded one of the first tattoo parlors on Oak Street in Manhattan, catering to soldiers and sailors for whom a tattoo was partly style, and partly a means for their body to be identified if they were killed in battle. The city banned tattooing altogether in 1961, catalyzing a Prohibition-like underground scene and persisting for thirty six years, until 1997. Today, events like the New York Tattoo Convention are evidence that the practice’s old connotations may be slowly shifting.

Michaelle Fiore, who opened a studio in Gowanus this summer and had attended the previous year’s convention at South Street Seaport, said that the pandemic had changed the scene significantly. “A lot of people are either opening private studios,” she said, “or going in the direction of co-ops where multiple artists are pitching in for a space and then splitting rent down the middle, rather than working for a shop owner.” In her view, customers were gravitating more and more towards these new models — studios based out of artist’s homes, for example — and modern styles, too, such as neo-traditional, a digitally-inflected take on classic motifs. Her own preferences are surrealism, anime, and fine line work.

Fiore also noted that she was already seeing a post-pandemic bump in demand for cover-ups and laser removal, as the pent-up demand for tattoos gave way to second thoughts. Fiore’s mother, a painter herself, sat beside her on a swivel chair and chimed in with the refrain of parents everywhere: “Think about what you’re going to get first!”

Nearby, as “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads played on the loudspeakers, and a shirtless man showed off two hyper-realistic babies’ faces, one on each of his pecs — plus a third on his shoulder blade, which he displayed with a smile to an admiring passerby — Coy Barrientos waited sagely in his sunny stall for customers. This was his first year participating, and he had only recently moved to Grand Junction, CO, from his home in Costa Rica, for a residency at Elysium Studios.

“I’m definitely surprised that I’m even able to make a living out of art,” he said, beaming. He had worked his way up from tattooing friends in his bedroom, to a three-month apprenticeship, before landing this position in the U.S. Like Fiore, he was influenced by Japanese iconography, and agreed that the industry seemed to be changing. One factor, with which artists will increasingly need to reckon, is artificial intelligence.

“You kind of notice the before and after of someone’s Instagram page,” Barrientos said, “when they start to use AI.” For some artists, he saw a marked improvement in their work, so he hesitated to condemn it wholesale. “I don’t really think it’s bad, but it’s a contradiction. If you’re making art, you’re supposed to be making it yourself — otherwise, you’re not really the artist. At the end of the day, AI art is not yours.”

Chumreon Sutcharitakul, owner of the Tattoo Stock shop in Astoria, said that he occasionally used AI-created designs for reference, but doubted that the artist’s role would ever be fully eclipsed. His own start had been decidedly low-tech: with “nothing much” on Youtube in the early aughts, he had resorted to buying instructional DVDs made by tattooer Jeff Gogue on Google. Then, in 2009, he found a spot at a studio on West 4th Street with a clientele of mostly tourists.

“I didn’t have the chance to pick something I wanted to do. It was good for me, and it’s good for beginners because they have to practice many styles,” said Sutcharitakul, who transitioned to his own studio in 2016 and moonlights as an amateur billiards player. “Me, I call my style money-listic. You pay me, I do whatever.”

Though not every vendor was so explicitly mercantile, few contested that tattooing was just as much a matter of savvy business sense as it was artistic skill. “Nowadays, social media is big,” Sutcharitakul explained. “If you don’t learn that too, you’re dead.” Upstairs, as the sun began its descent over the East River, fellow industry veteran Ross Given seconded that sentiment. While he called himself a “dinosaur” when it came to social media, he had a secret weapon: his two kids, whom he relies upon when he needs to shoot a video for Instagram Reels or TikTok.

Given, owner of the Anubis Tattoo Studio in Greenock, Scotland, has been tattooing for 17 years, but he stumbled into it initially. “This wasn’t a career plan,” he said, “or a conscious decision.” After leaving the Royal Air Force, where he had served for 12 years, he had been gearing up to start a new job in private security. By that point, he had been tattooing part-time for two years, inspired by an artist in Norfolk, England, who had given him tattoos of his own while he was stationed there. While back home briefly after military service, he ultimately decided to take the plunge and stay to open his own shop.

“I was kind of lucky, I had some money put aside,” Given said. “And I just thought, ‘I’m going to give it a go.’ In my hometown, there were only two other artists. They were older guys, they weren’t very good.” He flashed a grin. “So I thought, I can’t be any worse.”

At the convention, Given’s winding path seemed the rule rather than the exception. Another artist, Alan Gray, had started tattooing at age 14 while part of a gang in Mexico City, and had dreamed of attending a prestigious program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico for plastic arts. At 20, he moved to New York and has been tattooing professionally ever since. “You’ve got to love this,” he said, “and you’ve got to keep working every day.”

Emanuele Baracchi, cleaning his equipment, explained that he hailed from a small town outside Bergamo, Italy. “[Before tattooing,] I was doing a bunch of jobs. My father had a big pub back in Italy, so I was taking care of the pub as a manager. I worked as a gardener, and as a croupier.” His last job was in a factory that made metal connectors for trains, before he promised himself he would follow his passion for tattoo collecting and become an artist himself.

No matter their background — a past life in the Air Force, a gang, or the foothills of the Alps — that devotion to their work, and desire to keep making, were common denominators. Now at The Grand Reaper, a shop in San Diego, Baracchi summed up the profession’s goals thus: “You try to make a living, but by expressing art through people. And you try to make people confident in their lives. It’s like armor. Every tattoo should have a meaning, a reason.”

The convention concluded with a ceremony for the Best of Show, which went to Hugo Feist and Anton Mariushev for a collaborative piece.

Cranny and business partner Roy Keane conceived of the concept in 2020, as the pandemic was raging. It took two years to actualize that vision, but they are now planning a fourth installment, set to be in Brooklyn again, and this summer they launched a sister convention back in Belfast, Ireland.

“We’re three years in — it’s become like riding a bike,” Cranny joked. “And I like to think that we’re creating a community for people who want to come back.”

Until then, the artists will be scattered across the globe, honing their crafts for next year.

Brooklyn Football Club, New York City’s Professional Women’s Soccer Team, is Undefeated Four Matches into USL Super League Play

BQE Admin on October 4, 2024

BKFC forward Mackenzie George maneuvers through Dallas defenders in BKFC’s 2-0 win over Dallas Trinity FC in the club’s home opener at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium on Wednesday, September 25. George scored a goal in the first half of the match.

By Nicholas Gordon

Under the bright stadium lights in September’s crisp night air, Brooklyn Football Club put on a show in a 2-0 win over Dallas Trinity FC in its home opener in the inaugural season of the USL Super League. Approximately 500 fans attended the match on Wednesday, September 25, at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.

“It was a great win tonight,” said Matt Rizzetta, Chairman of Brooklyn Football Club, in an interview after the match. “It’s a win for Brooklyn, a win for New York soccer, and most importantly, it’s a win for women’s soccer.”

Rizzetta described the vision for the team as one of “bringing hope and inspiration to this generation and future generations of aspiring women’s soccer players,” with a particular focus on local talent and community values.

“The heartbeat of our project is on replicating and representing the Broooklyn spirit, which is built on grit, hard work, and perseverance,” Rizzetta said. “There are a lot of local girls on the roster that understand what this means for the community, what it means to represent Brooklyn and the five boroughs.”

As New York City’s professional women’s soccer team, BKFC is playing its home matches this fall in the temporary location of Columbia University’s Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium. The move comes due to “deficiencies in the soccer turf installation at Maimonides Park that rendered the field surface unplayable,” as stated in the team’s press release.

Brooklyn FC adapted well to their temporary new field, besting a quality opponent in Dallas, a team that the league website forecasted could take the top slot with a win. Instead, BKFC now moves into second place in the standings, while Dallas slides to sixth.

The scoring came early for BKFC, and it came via a highlight reel worthy goal from forward Jessica Garziano. At the 19-minute mark, Garziano picked up a loose ball in the attacking third, took a few touches towards goal, and cracked a screamer from nearly 30 yards out into the upper lefthand corner of the net, past the outstretched arms of the diving Dallas goalkeeper Madison White.

It wouldn’t be the last time White was called upon to showcase her agility against tough shots: she had several good saves on the night, including a diving stop on a BKFC penalty kick in the second half.

Also fraught was the job of the Dallas defenders tasked with containing BKFC forward Mackenzie George for the match. George routinely beat several players in a run, weaving her way through the Dallas defense with quick cutbacks before setting up teammates with clever flick passes on clear paths to goal or for open shots. George scored at the 37-minute mark after carrying the ball with pace through the attacking third and laying out a square pass for teammate Hope Breslin, whose strong shot on goal from the 18-yard line was batted away by the keeper, only for George to knock home the rebound.

“Mackenzie George is such a fun player to play with because you know she’s never going to give up on a ball, and she can beat four players at a time so you always have to be ready when you’re on the field with her,” said BFKC forward Mackenzie ‘Mack’ Pluck, who won several free kicks on the night. Pluck added that George’s positivity off the field is something that unites their team, too.

BKFC midfielder Sam Kroeger, who earned Player of the Match honors, has transitioned seamlessly from her standout collegiate career at Rutgers to the pros, as a crucial connective tissue for BKFC in the midfield.

“Rutgers did a great job preparing me for this opportunity. They have one of the best coaching staffs in the country,” Kroeger said, adding that the BKFC preseason was key for preparing her and her team for the league’s inaugural season as well. “Now, I’m focusing on doing what I’m best at with my skill set, and continuing on the things that I can grow from,” Kroeger said.

BKFC’s newly appointed head coach Jessica Silva credited her group for their efforts playing at the new location, noting that while the team had played one pre-season match at the stadium, they had not had another chance to train on the pitch before this match. “The girls did really well adjusting out there, and sticking to our principles offensively and defensively in transition,” Silva said. “We have a lot of leadership on our team, and this is a special group,”

From left to right: BKFC goalkeeper Neeku Purcell, head coach Jess Silva, center back Allison Pantuso

Brooklyn FC 1 – 0 Lexington SC

BKFC won its second home match 1-0 in a hard fought battle on a rainy night against Lexington SC on Friday, September 27. Again, the club had the upper hand on shots on goal and corner kicks, while also showing defensive prowess throughout the match.

George once more dipped into her bag of tricks just two minutes into the second half, collecting a pass on the far right wing, torching past a defender to gain the endline, and lofting in a cross to forward Isabel Cox, who settled the ball and then booked it from close range.

At the heart of the stalwart BKFC defense, unflappable center-back Allison Pantuso plays on a string with goalkeeper Neeku Purcell, who now has three shutouts in four matches, conceding only one goal so far on the season.

“We have a lot of trust with each other in the back, so people are confident because they know that the person to the left and the right has their back,” Pantuso said. “And Neeku’s got great feet so that gives everyone confidence, too.”

With their unbeaten start to the season, Purcell said they’re now “hungry for more” and looking for ways to improve their style of play every single day. “We know we can always get better after every game,” Purcell said. “We’re watching film, taking note of what we did well and what we can improve on, and then making sure we do that in the next game.”

The USL Super League kicked off its inaugural season in August with eight teams competing in Division One of U.S. women’s professional soccer. Regular season league play will run through next summer, with additional clubs set to join the league in 2025.

Rizzetta, acknowledging that relocating from Brooklyn for the start of their season was a setback, said he was happy that they were able to find a good solution, and grateful for the support and partnership of Columbia University.

Brooklyn Football Club’s first pair of home games might have been played in upper Manhattan, away from their home burough, with the 1 train rumbling past in the background instead of sounds from the Coney Island boardwalk, but it was still two wins, and it was still all New York.

Match action, BKFC vs. Dallas Trinity FC on Wednesday, September 25 at Rocco B. Commission stadium. BKFC won the match 2-0, their home opener.

$68 Mil Environmental Fund from ExxonMobil Oil Spill Lawsuit Ends

BQE Admin on October 4, 2024

The Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund sponsored the new Greenpoint Public Library.

By Jean Brannum

Attorney General Leticia James and DEC Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar announced the completion of the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund Sept 26, which provided $68.8 million for environmental issues after the Exxon Mobil Oil Spill settlement with the state in 2010.

The Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund (GCEF) concluded as Climate Week concludes. James and Mahar highlighted the many projects made possible by the fund including a new public library, educational center, and green improvements at McGolrick Park and other locations around the neighborhood.

“Although no amount of money can make up for the environmental harm ExxonMobil brought to our neighborhood, funding these incredible projects has been a beautiful start,” said Assembly Member Emily Gallagher.

The projects included the addition of nature walks and bird-watching groups at McGolrick Park in addition to planting and beautification efforts.

The GCEF also sponsored the Greenpoint Library, a brand-new sustainable public library and environmental education center that continues to host programming for local families. A total of 77 grants ranging from $5,000 to $5 million came from the GCEF.

“Working together with the community, and with the generous support of GCEF, we were able to turn the tragedy of an oil spill into a modern, green library which will serve the community for generations to come,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library.

Dewey Thompson, founder of the North Brooklyn Community Boathouse, expressed his gratitude towards the fund. The GCEF contributed to the boathouse on the Newtown Creek.

“GCEF offered transformational grants for so many environmentally focused organizations in Greenpoint; not only giving local, volunteer-run non-profits like North Brooklyn Community Boathouse the ability to expand programs and capacity but creating synergies between grantees, such as our partnership with the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center,” Thompson said.

Projects sponsored by the GCEF included improvements made for Msgr. McGolrick Park.

About The Spill

The fund was created in 2011 with funds from the ExxonMobil settlement with the state following a massive oil spill that was discovered in 1978. For 140 years, 17-30 million gallons of oil leaked across 55 acres of underground Greenpoint, according to the Newtown Creek Alliance.

Several years of litigation followed, but eventually, ExxonMobil was on the hook for cleaning up the spill. Since cleanup from Mobil, began in 1979, 12.9 gallons of oil have been recovered. ExxonMobil is currently petitioning the city to allow for consolidation of its groundwater pumping facilities.

ExxonMobil paid $25 million in total for projects that would benefit the community, restore Newtown Creek, and remediate the land, according to an announcement from the DEC. Funding increased to $68.8 million total.

The Department of Environmental Conservation will continue to require ExxonMobil to protect Newtown Creek.

Businesses, Nonprofits, People Debate Weekend Open St On Bedford Slip

BQE Admin on September 25, 2024

The slip lane at Bedford Ave, is commonly called the Bedford Slip. Credit: Jean Brannum

By Jean Brannum | jbrannum@queensledger.com

An application to the Department of Transportation has triggered debate among business owners, street safety advocates, community members, and nonprofits about whether to turn the Bedford Slip, into an open street on weekends.

The North Brooklyn Park Alliance, a non-profit organization that manages parks in the community district, applied to manage the Bedford Slip as an open street for Fall 2024 per request from the Department of Transportation, which is a 100-foot street near the intersection of Nassau Ave, Bedford Ave, and Lorimer St. The slip became a temporary plaza when the G Train was shut down for six months over the Summer.

The temporary plaza received mixed reviews from people who spent time in the street and the eleven businesses on it. While some said they wanted the slip to become a 24/7 plaza, a weekend open street is the only decision the DOT is considering.

During the six-week shutdown, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance managed the slip, including installing tables and chairs, managing weekend vendors, and sanitation services. The Parks Alliance applied for the weekend closure at the DOT’s request for the Fall 2024 Open Streets program. The DOT makes the final decision on the Bedford Slip and other Open Streets applications based on information gathered during a review period, according to Katie Denny Horowitz, Executive Director of the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance.

Businesses Push Back

This debate heated up at two Community Board 1 meetings where several members of the public spoke for and against the slip. One of those places was Awoke Vintage. Owner Rachel Despeaux spoke to the board about how the 6-week closure caused her store to lose business. She said the shutdown diverted customers from window shopping and was worried that she would have to move her business if there is a weekend shutdown, which is her busiest time.

“Why would I willingly pay rent to have a street removed, have my sidewalks essentially removed, and people rerouted into the street?”

Despeux noted that all 11 businesses at the DOT meeting were against the slip. This was repeated by Mignar Tsering, owner of ID Menswear.

Tsering said he was always against the shutdown, even on weekends. He said business was down about 40% during the full-time shutdown. The lack of car access also hindered deliveries. Tsering said on weekends, he has to carry stock into his store, which includes heavy candle-making supplies and candles. He said parking is already an issue in the area and carrying supplies in would difficult.

Tsering also said that when the slip was pedestrian-only, street vendors would set up shop directly in front of his store, which led to a further loss of business. Tsering also said he did not see many people use the slip during the G-train shutdown.

“Every day we were there, and we hardly saw anybody using it, just a few people that were using other delivery guys,” Tsering, whose store is open seven days a week, said.

Lediona and Elona Zharku, who own Tired Thrift, wrote a letter to Councilmember Lincoln Restler expressing their opposition to the shutdown. The Zharku’s said that they pay rent specifically for a storefront with high foot traffic and that the closed slip diverted people from the storefront. A 2019 study from the DOT shows the slip area has one of the highest pedestrian volumes in Brooklyn at around 2,000 people. They also said they hardly saw anyone use the slip and saw more people using McCarren Park.

“We find it unnecessary to have an open street here with a public park so close by. Also, it was very difficult to load necessary supplies and stock into our shop when the street was closed since we could not park our cars outside of the shop.”

Activists Push For The Open Street

This sentiment was a surprise for activist Benji Lampel from North Brooklyn Open Streets Community Coalition, who is for a 24/7 shutdown. He said that in the beginning of discussions about the potential open street, feedback was mostly positive. During the G train shutdown, a petition from Transportation Alternatives pushing for the Bedford Slip garnered over 3000 signatures.

“I was taken very off guard because none of them who I had spoken to had an indication that they absolutely hated it.”

Lampel said that most businesses, except for Billy’s Locksmith and one other place, were on board with the open street. Tsering from ID Menswear said he told some of the advocates that he opposed the idea.

Kevin LaCherra, another resident who was involved in advocating for the shutdown, said that many businesses lost revenue due to the G train shutdown, even outside of the slip. Other reports say the same thing since the G train is the main subway line in and out of Greenpoint.

“I believe that their business was down,” LaCherra said. “They would have no reason to lie, but I don’t think that that is because of the plaza. I think that is because the primary mode into and out of the neighborhood was cut for six weeks. “

While some businesses affirm that they are against it, those for the shutdown continue to say that the open street would help businesses. A report from the DOT in Oct. 2022 said that open streets benefitted businesses overall. LaCherra said he and others spent more money at the restaurants on the slip during those six weeks.

Dan Elstien, a Greenpoint resident who was involved in North Brooklyn Open Streets Coalition, said that while he received pushback from businesses, he thought the six-week shutdown went well and reduced congestion. Elstien said he was at the slip at least once a week.

“It was a lot safer, it was much nicer and helped the bus keep moving,” Elstien said. “We were able to do things you weren’t able to do before, like put down semi-permanent infrastructure.”

LaCherra said that in 2020, the idea came after an accident in which a woman was hit by a car. Many people and activist groups discussed the idea of turning the slip into a pedestrian plaza. Advocacy for Banker’s Anchor, a new pedestrian plaza, was also being discussed among residents at the time.

Crashmapper shows nine accidents at both ends of the slip between Aug 2016 to Aug 2024.

LaCherra said he was also part of a group from the Parks Alliance that helped with cleanup after events. The Parks Alliance hosted pedestrian events in the slip before the six-week pilot. When the G Train shutdown began, advocates for the open street wanted to show that the idea was good after several failed applications for the open street. LaCherra also commented that the slip would be nice on Saturdays when McCarren Park was full.

“There’s barely enough room for a picnic blanket next to the next picnic blanket,” He said referring to the crowds at McCarren Park on Saturdays.

LaCherra also said that while he ultimately wants the slip, he does not see the issue as a battle between business owners and residents. He believes that regulation of the space would make the space good for everyone. Furthermore, he said advocates for the slip have also pushed for loading zones within 65 feet of businesses.

“I think that this is something that, like most things, can be solved with some good communication and trying some things out,” LaCherra said.

Businesses Push Back

Activists Push For The Open Street

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