« More Details Emerge on Bed Stuy Rezoning Plan Stribling Sells Herself Two Penthouses at 1BBP »
May 21, 2007
Big Bucks for Jazzing Up 'Outdated' Fulton Mall
As part of a $40 million investment in the Downtown Brooklyn streetscape, the city's Economic Development Corp. will pony up $15 million to spruce up the Fulton Street Mall. "You'll have a great new open space a la Herald Square at 34th Street in Manhattan, and an overhaul of the Fulton Mall's physical environment," said Joseph Chan, president of the city's Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. The effort will include new bus shelters, benches and street furniture as well as the addition of new lights and trees. Another $3 million to $4 million will be out towards creating a 10,000-square-foot green space at the former Albee Square mall that could double as a place for public performances. Work is expected to begin a year from now. Even sooner, the greening of Downtown Brooklyn will also extend to two "gateway to Brooklyn" planting projects on Flatbush Avenue and Boerum Place.
$15 Mil for 'Herald Square in Bklyn' [NY Post]
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/1214
Comments
So Mr. Chan thinks Herald Square is a byword for classy retail developments? Lord help us.
Posted by: Gari N. Corp at May 21, 2007 9:56 AM
not sure how the EDC can really justify this when the Fulton Mall has some of the highest commercial rents in the city. Does outdated mean black?
Posted by: m at May 21, 2007 9:59 AM
oh yeah ... get ready for the Ratner effect!!!!
Posted by: crayfish at May 21, 2007 10:00 AM
According to the president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a "big problem" with Fulton Street Mall - which attracts 100,000 shoppers a day - is its "physical environment is outdated and not welcoming from a shopping standpoint."
How much of a problem could it be if 100,000 shoppers a day frequent Fulton Mall? How unwelcoming could the environment be if 100,000 shoppers go there every day?
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:01 AM
Herald Square is certainly an improvement to what currently exist....
Posted by: jaestar at May 21, 2007 10:01 AM
out of the frying pan into the fire? further the manhattanization!
Posted by: anon at May 21, 2007 10:04 AM
This area will be Miss Brooklyn's (read Bruce Ratner's) front yard. It's going to have to measure up to the luxury prices and fully gentrified AY complex. Let the cultural destruction begin!
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:08 AM
Fulton mall may be busy but it is still a dump. At night, it is deserted. If people are going to utilize the upper floors of the buildings or create a mixed use neighborhood, the streetscape needs to change.
While the retail rents per sq ft might be high, I wonder if building rents are high if all the unused sq ftage is considered. I suspect this area is not the booming success it is made out to be using only the retail rent stats.
I wish EDC would mandate better service at Macy's.
Posted by: Mayberry at May 21, 2007 10:09 AM
I don't understand all these negative comments. The City is investing millions of dollars in downtown Brooklyn and this is somehow a bad thing? I don't care if you're black or white - everyone can still agree that despite the large number of shoppers at the fulton mall, it's not a visually appealing place. We're talking about new bus shelters, street lights, trees and benches here people. You people wouldn't recognize a positive development if it bit you in the ass. And while the shopping area around Herald Square might not be the best, I think what Joe Chan was talking about was the actual square, which is a very pleasant public space in an otherwise claustrophibic area of the City.
Posted by: Dave at May 21, 2007 10:11 AM
I think Fulton mall could use a little improvement. It is ugly and tacky.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:12 AM
Can we have Prada, Gucci and perhaps Tiffany's?
Posted by: j at May 21, 2007 10:13 AM
The place needs shade. More Trees! And get rid of those two dopey looking welded metal entrance archways.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:13 AM
Improve the subway entrance @ Jay Street.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:16 AM
I think it's a great that they're putting money in to spruce up Fulton Mall. However, the stores leave a lot to be desired and will not be as easily revamped as the streetscape.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:16 AM
Thank you Dave for your thoughtful and articulate comment.
Posted by: jtg at May 21, 2007 10:19 AM
why are new bus shelters on everyone's wish list? they cost millions, are useless, and are never much nicer than what they replace. better to use money to encourage the landlords and tenants update their facades and lighting. ever notice how Macys doesn't even bother with window displays anymore?
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:20 AM
when 'Fulton Mall' was created (25 years ago maybe?) with all the city money to make it more pedestrian friendly, plantings, new sidewalks, lighting, etc --- did you call that a gentrification scheme?
why should this be any different? Current shoppers I think would not mind some sprucing up.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:20 AM
bus shelters are free for the city. the company handling the advertising on them installs them free in exchange for the revenue.
Posted by: j$ at May 21, 2007 10:29 AM
What's really needed:
Better lighting -- on Fulton as well as the side streets. More and brighter likes Times Square.
Better lighting on Flatbush between Myrtle and Atlantic Aves .. allegedly Flatbush is going to be reconstructed or at least re-surfaced between Tillary and Atlantic soon.
This Fulton stuff goes back a few months to the controversy over changing buildings and their facades ... some said that takes a lot of the ambience out of the place ... I say look for a happy medium between standardization and low-rent ... local flavor should be maintained.
Fulton St. has been a main shpooing drag in Brooklyn forever ... and yes the plaza in front of the WaMu, er, Dime Savings Bank building could be something if done right.
Posted by: 5w30 at May 21, 2007 10:30 AM
"Herald Square is certainly an improvement to what currently exist...."
Agreed. Fulton Mall Strip really is a dumpy looking place. I doubt the new stores will be extravagantly high-end but def a much-needed upgrade. I'm feeling good about this renovation.
Posted by: NK at May 21, 2007 10:38 AM
i just think that the money could be better spent elsewhere in brooklyn in the name of economic development. there are distressed areas that could get help in starting up developments rather than "improving" one that is already successful. I think the numbers of shoppers should speak for itself. Perhaps the EDC should question who the people are that consider FM "tacky" and if their money should go to serving their interests.
Posted by: m at May 21, 2007 10:42 AM
I agree with the posters who think Fulton Mall is a dump. The low-end retail, the guys hanging around and hustling young women, the tacky storefronts. Who would guess that homes nearby sell for millions of dollars? A stroll down Fulton mall should serve as a reality check for everyone.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 10:53 AM
The history of Fulton Mall is the story of loss. Loss of great department stores, of specialty shops, of good restaurants. Now its all sneakers, cell phones, fried chicken and wigs.
Major tacks. That's the reality.
When I walk down Fulton Street I don't think: "Gee some new bus shelters and designer benches would make all the difference". But it can't hurt, maybe its hit bottom, I hope so.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 11:10 AM
The demise of Fulton Mall is linked to the demise of A&S. A&S was THE anchor store that brought foot traffic to Fulton Mall. When Federated dumped the A&S name and rebranded the store Macy's, things went downhill. The once mighty A&S Flagship store is now a s hit box. Is it any wonder that the rest of the area stinks?
The fate of Fulton Mall really lies in Federated hands. Fulton Mall will not improve until Federated either sells off the property or decides to re-invest heavily.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 11:17 AM
Mayberry and Dave get it. Everybody that translates this story about the design of the public space into something about the retail mix is either missing the point or pushing an agenda.
Is there really anybody that is all nostalgic about the 70s street furniture? I would think that the readers of this blog would endorse the removal of the bus canopies, which will allow people to actually see the buildings.
10:13, the gateway structures will be going away. DOT has been an impediment to more trees.
Posted by: g-man at May 21, 2007 11:18 AM
When I go to Cookie's to get rock-bottom prices on kids' wear, I always think to myself, "Gosh, I hope they never improve this crappy, cheap-ass streetscape with some public money, 'cause I'd sure miss the urban "vibe" and "flava" of roll-down gates at night, sleazy facades, nothing but fried chicken and hot-dog stands, and a sorry-assed Macy's that doesn't even put in window displays! And although I may be white trash, I'll bet all my black bruthas and sistaz who come in from the 'hood to shop would also be keenly averse to new benches, lights, and trees, 'cuz we're all about KEEPIN' IT REAL! Yes, that's what we poor folks want--SQUALOR with our bargains! Thanks, you progressive folks, for looking out for us and seeking to preserve the "authenticity" and "character" of our bargain-hunting experience--crap and decay are not just what we deserve, they are what we CRAVE, all 100,000 of us a day!
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at May 21, 2007 11:19 AM
i'm just curious why they are including new bus shelters in this announcement, as the city is already in process of replacing all of the bus shelters in new york as we speak. i don't know why they'd be using any of this money for something that's already going to be changed out, or maybe i'm just reading too much into it.
in any event, this is terrific news. i think the fulton mall functions well as a commercial area (even though i don't shope there myself) but would welcome a little more streetscaping, etc.
people on this site are so freakin selfish. just because YOU don't like to shop at the stores at fulton mall, does not make it useless.
Posted by: anon at May 21, 2007 11:24 AM
The Fulton Mall area is dumpy in many ways. The layout is screwy especially if you attempt to drive through it.
But it does appear that Fulton Mall is an un-exploited site for residential real estate. That's changing, but not fast enough.
Meanwhile, better stores will arrive when the area obtains more eye-appeal. Till then it's La Moda and Jimmy Jazz and lousy fast-food joints.
When the area is once again a place where a modern Gage & Tollner's can succeed, it will have regained what it lost in the last decade.
Posted by: no_slappz at May 21, 2007 11:45 AM
I was at Cookie's this weekend and I STILL don't get the bus shelter thing. And I know the city is spending millions on them so I don't see how they're free. I think they pull a % of the ad revenue, like in the subways
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 11:47 AM
Hey
Its where I buy my fake Louis Vuitton bags and wigs....don't take that away from me. where else am i suppose to go...Chinatown...YUCK!
Posted by: jt at May 21, 2007 12:06 PM
I have lived here so long that I still think of the last remodeling as 'new'.
The guy who wrote about A&S closing is spot on. I am middle class but used to buy things for my kids at Cookies - the prices are great. As for the guy who has trouble driving around - the last renovation was aimed at making it a pedestrian mall and the streets were closed to cars intentionally so, yes, driving is a problem there.
At this point I miss A&S, have no interest in the Macy's there and don't care too much what they do with it. If you have to take the subway there, as I do, you might as well spend an extra 20 minutes on the train and go to 34'th St Macy's or other stores in Manhattan. I think that is a problem with many stores in downtown Brooklyn, a lot of the middle class works in the city and can shop there and that is hard to compete with.
By the way I noticed Aaron's on 5'th Avenue closed - another retail landmark bites the dust.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 12:19 PM
I agree with everyone who thinks that A&S was the flagship of Fulton Mall. The Macy*s there now is like the ugly, illegitimate, step child of Macy*s in Herald Square. Customer service is a nightmare, it's dirty, the rugs could use a good cleaning and the hardwood floors have seen better days and unless I'm desparate I try to avoid it.
Posted by: faithful at May 21, 2007 12:51 PM
I moved to the area over 3 years ago and until about 3 months ago I thought the Macy's was closed. Imagine my surprise when I walked past and saw people going in and out.
Posted by: honus at May 21, 2007 1:11 PM
Excellent- this will help facilitate further residential development along the Fulton and N. Flatbush corridors.
Posted by: Fez at May 21, 2007 1:16 PM
The retail along Court Street used to be pretty bad as well, I recall one block in Brooklyn Heights being used as a substitute set for wartime Saigon by a Manhattan film maker. But Court Street has improved a lot over the past ten years although there are still crappy parts.
The stores along Fulton Street (before the benighted mall) were nice -just look up at the old architecture peeking through the giant billboards. When and if the bourgeoisie decide to reclaim it, the transformation will be quick. But then again the center of middle class gravity may shift to the A.Y. leaving Fulton mall behind as a relic of the 1970's.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 1:33 PM
The evolution of the Fulton Mall is actually quite interesting. When I was growing up,(dinosaurs roaming earth,etc) shopping was an event you dressed up for, and an infrequent trip. I didn't grow up in Bklyn, but when I first moved to NYC in the late 70's, Fulton St. still had many of the large old stores that made it a shopping destination - A&S, May's, and many more large retailers, including the bargain stores like Woolworth's (complete with lunch counter) and McCrory's. Most of the larger buildings along the Fulton St. corridor were not subdivided into 3 or 4 storefronts, they were all single stores. One by one they closed and the spaces were subdivided and rented to the types of businesses that are there now.
The last renovation of the area, in the 80's, when they made it a pedestrian mall, was a last ditch effort to keep the old middle class, and mostly white shoppers in the area. It didn't work. I don't think there is a single business there now that was there even twenty years ago. In the insuing vacuum, landlords starting renting to volume discounters and merchants selling inexpensive clothing and expendable items to what they soon realized was a profitable group - the mostly minority lower middle and lower income shoppers.
Now we can argue till the cows come home about the ramifications of the spending habits of this group, but the fact remains that this group of shoppers has supported the Mall in its present state, and like it or not, it has thrived.
The area is landmarked for the most part, and any successful rejuvination must also include opening up the upper floors of these buildings to businesses and living spaces. What a waste to only utilize the ground floor of a huge 6 story building! Fulton Street has some of the most expensive rental rates around. Any new business, whether upscale or not, will need to do really well, really quickly. Since more upscale people do not frequent the mall, chances are any new business is going to continue to cater to the present shopping population.
I think there is plenty of room to upgrade every aspect of the area. I have long felt that if current shoppers boycotted some stores for only a week, as a protest for the dirt and sloppiness and basic contempt for customers, we'd see some changes really quickly. As it is, there is no reason for anyone to change, which is why no upscale businesses will take a chance, and why the mall is so unappealing to other groups.
And just as an aside, to 12:55's remarks - hair and nail salons HAVE been the key to someone's future. These have often been the only businesses available to many mostly minority women to open. A good hair salon has been a way out of poverty for many. I will grant there seem to be far too many of them, but until lower income women of color can get training and education to open stock brokerage firms, or doctor's offices, or many other kinds of businesses, they will continue to have hair salons. It's better than being unemployed.
Posted by: Brower Park at May 21, 2007 1:41 PM
I dunno 1:33, anything residential in AY is a few years off... in the meantime, you have Oro, 110 Livingston, BellTel, the unnamed 800-900 condos going in the Albee Square area, etc. I think the "bougeoisie" as you put it will strike downtown Brookyn first. And I imagine you're right - the transformation will be quick.
Posted by: EJ at May 21, 2007 1:41 PM
thank you Brower, very interesting recap. A couple of comments though:
not too much on the street is landmarked.
There is Gage and Tollner, The Dime Savings Bank, the Offerman building, and that other Art-Deco-y store near Hoyt. The rest is up for grabs.
ALso the upper floors of the narrower buildings are empty because of the expense of upgrading them to meet code. Anything that would take up valuable ground floor rentable sqaure footage such as an elevator or a second stair, isn't worth it as the real money to be made in this location is steetlevel retail. The building codes will make it near impossible for any of these smaller buildings to accommodate residential above. Its a big problem.
The former owners of Gage and Tollners tried and couldn't do it, It would have meant destroying the restaurant and pouring hundreds of thousand into the building. Illegal conversions is another story.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 1:57 PM
the point is that it will be hard to get out the tacky merchants because people spend SERIOUS money there.."over 100,000 shoppers a day"...sneakers cell phones and oversized clothing may not be everyones taste, but damn if thousands of kids arent spending all their money there each week.
all of the historic and grand architecture of the street has been ruined from misuse and absurd signage...not sure I see a return to the glory days people describe anytime soon.
Posted by: BerlinProud at May 21, 2007 2:07 PM
Berlin, nothing stays the same in NY for very long. The currrent character of Fulton mall is realtively recent, it too will play itself out and make way for the next wave -whatever that may be. I don't think that it will be Prada and Tiffany's but it could well be
K-Mart and Century 21.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 2:13 PM
1:57, I thought many of the other store buildings were protected. I remember seeing a week's worth of pictures from a document about downtown's buildings, here on Brownstoner, although I don't have time to find the archive now.
In any case, that's interesting about the smaller buildings, and too bad. I bet if solutions to the entrance probems could be found, there would be an eager market for these spaces. The ease of transportation and central location would make them a draw for any number of businesses.
Perhaps if the other parallel streets - Willoughby and Livingston, began to become more varied and interesting, many different kinds of shoppers and strollers could be drawn to the area. Livingston, in particular, has some wonderful buildings which could become great shops and restaurants.
Posted by: Brower Park at May 21, 2007 2:22 PM
Although it is obviously better to have these improvements than not, it won't amount to anything substantial by way of aesthetic or economic improvement. What would really make a difference is tearing off all that cheap '60s and '70s metal sheeting and restoring (or replacing) the numerous 19th century storefront details hiding underneath. Then, let the vehicular traffic back. Pedestrian malls NEVER work.
Posted by: Rascal at May 21, 2007 2:33 PM
Brower, the document you recall may have been the Downtown Study sponsored by the MAS, the Brooklyn Heights Association and a consortium of other white folks. Very few of these buildings have actually been officially designated by the city's landmark agency.
The answer to the upper floor issue may be to join two or more of the smaller buildings so as to make it viable to put in an elevator and a second means of egress leading to more apartments. It can be done but it will require imagination.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 2:47 PM
fulton mall IS a pedestrian mall primarily.
i'd say 100,000 shoppers a day means they do indeed work.
Posted by: anon at May 21, 2007 2:49 PM
So I guess it's ok to be successful only if you're also "classy" but not ok to be successful if you're "tacky. So therefore, it's only ok to throw money into an area to bring in rich white people and high end business because their money is somehow better than lower or middle income money- however much of it there is
?There is something inherently racist in the argument about putting money into Fulton St. to attract "better" stores and clientele. Why can't they put money into Fulton St. to make it even more successful for the clientele who have made it sucessful in the first place? I shopped down there for years- still do- and there was a time when I was the only white face on the street. And I shopped in stores run by some of the hardest working merchants I ever met. Long hours, no money- certainly no help from the City. So now that Fulton St. is thriving the money grubbers come crawling out of the woodwork and find it desirable so long as the present businesses and patrons go away. I think that attitude is disgusting.
YOu want it pretty- fine. Do that- the people who shop there deserve a nicer environment. And they don't deserve to be driven out.
Posted by: resident of at May 21, 2007 2:56 PM
anon 2:47- wouldn't you think that if they can do all that rezoning, and fixing up of other areas, why can't they do the same to improve the look of Fulton Mall? The problem I have with what they are doing is that the intent is to drive out the merchants nad clientele that have made Fulton Mall successful over the years.
Posted by: resident of at May 21, 2007 3:01 PM
I agree that pedestrian malls just don't work that well in American cities. They work in the fairy-tale-like centers of certain European cities like Munich, Stockholm, and Salzburg, but unless you are catering to a very affluent, concentrated group of locals and tourists, it doesn't work. The mall has not killed Fulton Street but it has diminished it greatly. They need to rethink it. I think the rendering at the top of this thread is just dreadful.
Are they actually trying to make it as awful as possible?
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 3:06 PM
you can't see a darn thing from the rendering above to deem it dreadful.
if you can, it means you are a person who would complain about ANYTHING!
Posted by: anon at May 21, 2007 3:09 PM
3:01 - There is something inherently racist about assuming that only White people can appreciate higher end stores and restaurants then what is currently available on Fulton Mall.
Just like it is inherently racist that many of the posters here apparently think that non-whites can't appreciate more trees, better lighting, better street furniture or attractive/historical retail architecture. In fact so violently do posters here seem to hold that beleif that they think by simply offering such to non-whites will cause us minorities to stop shopping at Fulton Mall.
Posted by: David at May 21, 2007 3:18 PM
The rendering frankly doesn't look very different than what it currently looks like, at least to my eyes.
Posted by: EJ at May 21, 2007 3:21 PM
Why are people concluding that improving the streetscape is somehow linked to attempts to drive out the current merchants? If you look at the slide show put together by the Fulton Mall Improvement Association (on their website) it does not give that impression at all. I think some people here are just looking for things to criticize (as usual).
Posted by: jtg at May 21, 2007 3:25 PM
That rendering is useless. Apparently the proposal is limited to a new bench with some white people.
Posted by: JGNY at May 21, 2007 3:31 PM
Believe me duckies,
the proposed improvements are meant to drive out the current merchants. Not "really" of course, but really.
Posted by: anonymous at May 21, 2007 3:33 PM
3:33 Fulton Mall is primarily privately owned real estate, the current tenants presumably have leases (which may or may not expire in the immediate future) and these merchants currently pay some of the highest retail rents anywhere in Brooklyn. As long as the merchants are willing to keep paying market rate rents they arent going anywhere and FYI $15 million is a pittance in terms of the size of Fulton Mall not to mention relative to the value of the properties and leasholders buisnesses.
Posted by: David at May 21, 2007 3:45 PM
As we all know, new bus stops inevitably will open the floodgates to all those rich gentrifiers, who will round up and drive out the current tenants. Believe me, little geese.
Posted by: Anon at May 21, 2007 3:48 PM
yep, rich gentrifiers = most frequented nyc bus system users.
Posted by: anon at May 21, 2007 3:58 PM
Asian households are the richest and most educated (according to the census figures), perhaps Fulton should be targeting them.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 4:11 PM
"Brenda from Flatbush at May 21, 2007 11:19 AM"
Thanks for the post. Hilarious. I needed that laugh.
Posted by: jay at May 21, 2007 4:20 PM
I really miss A&S... the Garden Room...
great shopping... I do welcome a sprucing up of the area for all folks to enjoy.
Posted by: bren at May 21, 2007 4:40 PM
Last time I was at the Fulton Mall Macy's I went down to the basement to see if they had any couches on sale and it absolutely reeked of weed! We call it the "mellow macy's" now.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 5:13 PM
i'm hitting macys tonight, in that case!
Posted by: anon at May 21, 2007 5:30 PM
I would love to see Downtown Brooklyn come alive, but it looks like an uphill battle to me. Metrotech, and the attendant street closings, rendered many blocks sterile (thanks for that, Ratner). Long before that, downtown was gutted by the bridge approaches and highway linkages. The lack of office space means a dearth of lunch time and after-work shoppers, not to mention after-work bars and restaurants. Manhattan business district interests are happy to keep downtown Brooklyn a backwater commercially.
Posted by: SPer at May 21, 2007 6:25 PM
Downtown Brooklyn is a problem, it's not nice. It has not gotten the memo that today's brooklyn is rich and hip.
It still gives the impression that Brooklyn is poor and tacky. So which is it? We seem to be a boro with a split personality.
The rendering is silly, someone was paid thousands of dollars to paint a grey sidewalk, with a darker grey street, and a grey bench with two people from Omaha, Nebraska sitting on it.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 6:49 PM
The nearest lady on the bench appears to be black, not white. Just sayin'
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 6:58 PM
Ok my buddies, look here, once Ratner gets his money machine built it's going to provide plenty of hot dog vending jobs and parking attendant jobs (not to mention bootleg t-shirt and video jobs) for downtown BK. Brooklyn don't need play no second fiddle to no Manhattan! So maybe the idea is to put some outdoor cafes in Fulton Mall so all the hot dog vendors can sit down for an espresso.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 7:07 PM
I think it is interesting that in the very middle of gentrified and uber-expensive brownstone brooklyn is Fulton Mall, a poster child for the old, anything but gentrified Brooklyn.
If this were a war, the current merchants and their clientele should be worried because they are surrounded on all sides.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 21, 2007 8:00 PM
David, my argument was exactly that- do all those upscale prettifying things because it is successful and will be appreciated. But that's not what their intent is with Fulton Mall. Face it, people with lower incomes can't afford to shop in Tiffany. I know this first hand. But I go to Fulton st because I can find what I need at good prices. Sure I'd love Fulton Mall to be a nicer environment- most people do. But the infusion of money is not to make the present merchants and clientele happy, or to attract better services for them. It's to make the gentrifying neighborhoods happy by "improving" the area to their so-alled higher standards. I don't assume poorer folk can't appreciate the finer things in life- I know they do. But its also very obvious from a lot if the comments that they and the stores they frequent for economical reasons, are considered a passing phase and to be gotten rid of at the earliest possible opportunity.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 22, 2007 2:57 AM
AS IF HERALD SQUARE AND ITS SRO'S AROUND MACY'S DIDN'T HAVE A HARD TIME FOR YEARS.
YOU WANT TO MAKE FULTON STREET MORE THAN IT IS, CRAFT COOPS, ART GALLERIES, GREAT CAFES WITH SIMPLE GOOD FOOD, ETC.
ART MOVIE THEATER, WOULD BE NICE AS WELL, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF A LOCAL COLEGE OR UNIVERSITY WOULD BE APPRECIATED AS WELL.
NOBODY GOES TO THE MOVIES ON fULTON ST. TOO MANY SHOOTINGS OVER THE YEARS.
INSTALLING A BANANA REPUBLIC WON'T DO IT. GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED AND WHAT THEY DREAM.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 22, 2007 10:08 AM
I am older than all of you. I guess people my age aren't so computer literate.
Anyway, there used to be a Mccory's on Fulton Street, a grand place to spend an afternoon. There was food, there was material to sew, there were great make=up counters, where someone would make up a special lipstick, to match those shoes.
Gadgets of every kind, before informercials took away all the fun.
Martins, bought my daughter's prom dress there. A@S was nice, and generous to the schools in the hoood, but Martin's was just ethereal.
Then in the early sixties, it changed, you could get mugged down there if your
rhythm was wrong, Kids would mug kids etc. It changed, and the area became less habitated. Blight, flight, white
hope and fear, you know the rest don't you.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 22, 2007 10:17 AM
A few years ago many city bureaucrats and some elected officials must have simultaneously slapped themselves on their foreheads when they realized that vast tracts of some of the city's best properties were hidden under a few layers of urban archeological decay. Especially in Brooklyn.
Fourth Avenue, from Flatbush as far as one could see from a dentist's office in the Williamsburg Bank Building. A wasteland with subways running below it.
The Atlantic Yards site. Virtually unused, well, forever.
Fulton Mall. A decaying and tacky retail district surrounded by commercial activity and connected to the whole city by many subways.
Coney Island. Not only the dumpy boardwalk area and Surf Avenue. But Mermaid Avenue too. Acres of land for market-rate housing.
What madness allows cities to build project housing on its waterfront?
The Rockaways. Queens, I know. Project housing giving way to condos. Fabulous beaches there that are often empty.
Meanwhile, when do we get control of Floyd Bennett Field? When does that vast wasted space become Floyd Bennett City?
Posted by: no_slappz at May 22, 2007 10:54 AM
Fulton Mall may not be pretty or where people from Brooklyn Heights want to shop but it is a huge and successful business district. Sprucing up is to attract higher end retailers and drive all the black folks out- let's get real.
Posted by: anonymous at May 22, 2007 1:19 PM
Wow- I'm disturbed by the tenuous link between a decent street scape and a racist agenda. Arguing that business investment equates to gentification does a disservice to the city and those who own businesses in the area.
It seems this investment is more about making Fulton Street a clean, safe and family friendly shopping corridor - not an insidious attempt to expell the current businesses.
Posted by: Fez at May 22, 2007 2:57 PM
Downtown Brooklyn is one of EDC's "Central Business Districts"(along with LIC, Jamaica, Hudson Yards, Lower Manhattan, etc) that they are trying to revitalize in the hopes of attracting businesses and creating job growth (meaning offices, not retail). Companies are offered major incentives to relocate to these districts. The idea is that if the areas are more visually appealing it will help to attract more businesses which will give a boost to the area and create more jobs in the long run. It's really not about driving out the minorities.
Posted by: Lily at May 22, 2007 3:32 PM
Dear Lily,
I think you are a nice person, but don't
you think most people know that already.
Aren't you all a little redundant. Isn't this a place to stroke yourselves.
i am going to Montana to grow dental floss. I am sure you can give me the literary musical reference. Still holds.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 23, 2007 7:37 AM
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Le Barricou
added November 20, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Der Schwarze Kölner
added November 19, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene -
Oak Wine Bar & Café
added November 18, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Mr. Wonton
added November 17, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Casa Rosa
added November 16, 2009 12:00 PM in Carroll Gardens -
Cousin John's Café & Bakery
added November 13, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Elote
added November 12, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Miracle Grill
added November 11, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Phoebe's Cafe
added November 10, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Ruthie's
added November 9, 2009 12:00 PM in Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.