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September 16, 2009

Money Starting to Flow to Fulton Street

A double-shot of cash injections announced this week means that things may be looking up for Fulton Street. Next month, the City Council will provide more than a million dollars in funding to two recently-created Business Improvement Districts on Fulton Street stretching from Flatbush to Nostrand Avenue. The Central Fulton Street BID (which will also be known as the FAB Alliance) is getting $400,000 in funding via Council Member Letitia James while the Bed-Stuy Gateway is receiving $675,000 for its first year in operations. Both BIDs are expected to focus on design and other quality-of-life issues like safety, lighting, trees and street furniture. “We want to create an aesthetically sound district,” Bed-Stuy Gateway's chairman, Edmon Braithwaite told Crain's. “With a cleaner shopping district, we will be able to attract merchants and increase business.” The Crain's article also mentions two affordable housing projects being done in partnership between BRP and Goldman Sachs that together should bring 183 units of housing as well as additional retail space to Fulton Street. All good!
Bed-Stuy Biz District to Get an Upgrade [Brownstoner]
Photo by nrvlowdown

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this is my corner of the world and is very good news. The sidewalks are in dire need of attention and some more trees along Fulton would make a huge difference. Maybe they'll find it in the budget to add a few more garbage cans too...

Posted by: herkimermaid at September 16, 2009 10:22 AM

Good deal.

Posted by: East New York at September 16, 2009 10:34 AM

This is of course good news. But one of the bigger problems in the Clinton Hill stretch of Fulton are the shady characters going to the methodone clinic. The nice folks at Green Planet (the health food store) removed their benches from the front of the store over the summer because non-customers were hanging out for long periods. It will be interesting to see how street furniture and other improvements play out--I hope it makes a difference.

Posted by: tinarina at September 16, 2009 10:45 AM

This is awesome! I have been noting small improvements in my little stretch of Fulton (between Grand and Classon) and wondering when the actual cash injection of the BID would kick in. Slowly but surely I see a lot of positive developments along this stretch but much remains to be done. As we have all said ad nauseum, given the tremendous volume of public transportation that uses Fulton there should be enough foot traffic to support a wide array of businesses and services so lets hope the BID pushes this process along.

Posted by: wasder at September 16, 2009 10:56 AM

methadone maintenance programs are one giant FAIL! why do they still exist? heroin only costs like 5 bux a bag now. i know they get their methadone for free, but still.. just go out and do the real thing and support your local dealers.

i say that because i find the methadone freaks where i work in soho to be grody. there's a clicic on spring and layfayette and they all congregate near the coffee truck i go to screaming and fighting with each other. mostly they are just VERY unpleasant to look at. they dont bother anyone though. i just wish they'd go away, they sell their methadone to each other anyway. stupid government run program paid for by our taxes. let them just do the real thing, it's cheap enough.

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 16, 2009 11:07 AM

Great news! I feel like Fulton's starting to step up to the plate. There's a new restaurant/bar going in next to the Vet Across From The Met, and that hilariously run down building with the Stevie Wonder quote on it between Waverly and Clinton is finally getting worked on too.

As for the meth clinic clients, they seem to have discovered the new bodega at the corner of Cambridge Place and built a nest on its cozy sidewalk.

Posted by: Lothar of the Clinton Hill People at September 16, 2009 11:07 AM

Lothar--hadn't noticed the bar restaurant by the vet. Do you know anything about it?

Posted by: wasder at September 16, 2009 11:25 AM

I know nothing except it's a super deep building and when I asked a worker what was going in there, he said "a restaurant and bar" and someone called to him to correct him from inside... then he said "I mean, a restaurant."

Not supposed to tell the neighbors about the bar part yet, I suppose.

Posted by: Lothar of the Clinton Hill People at September 16, 2009 11:32 AM

I'm looking forward to improvements on Fulton, as well, especially between Franklin and Utica. There are many successful businesses there now, and cleaning up the strip will bring more, and that will mean more variety, some new kinds of retail, and hopefully, some nice eat-in restaurants and cafe's. Fulton will never be 7th Ave, but that is as it should be. Improvements benefit everyone.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 16, 2009 12:00 PM

"Fulton will never be 7th Ave"-for sure, and thankfully.

Posted by: wasder at September 16, 2009 12:17 PM

Perhaps it can be more like Fifth Avenue in the Slope? I was just remarking how much nicer it is than Seventh. i keep saying (much like BHO I have great faith in the power of repetition) that once the strip livens up with legitimate and diverse businesses the other stuff won't bother me so much. [And kudos that we are all just ignoring Rob - oops I blew it!]

Posted by: Putnamdenizen at September 16, 2009 12:49 PM

"Perhaps it can be more like Fifth Avenue in the Slope?"

was just going to say the same thing. a great model for fulton.

Posted by: wasder at September 16, 2009 1:41 PM

I don't want to seem debbie downer, but I'm feeling very skeptical about the possibility for change. I've lived here for almost 5 years and there has been no change on fulton. I think as long as you have multiple methadone clinics (one is fine) and the extended community doesn't care, there's no chance for a great retail mix. add to that the drug trade that shows no signs of abating...
we also only have the c train, where fort greene is closer to more subways. their stretch of fulton has a better mix of old school and new. we have endless nail salons, bodegas, and laundromats...
If I were a retailer, I'm not sure I would take the risk...

Posted by: miss priss at September 16, 2009 2:25 PM

miss priss--what stretch of Fulton do you live near?

Posted by: wasder at September 16, 2009 2:36 PM

the stretch from washington to downing - it's pretty dismal...

Posted by: miss priss at September 16, 2009 2:40 PM

That's my stretch too basically. I have more confidence than you that it will develop commercially but it definitely has a way to go.

Posted by: wasder at September 16, 2009 2:58 PM

Miss Priss - five years is actually not all that long; I say that not to diss you but rather for you to take heart. When I moved to the area in 98 Fort Greene's Fulton was just as boring (if somewhat prettier) than Clinton Hill. Places like Outpost, Kush, Olivino, Michael Allen's have all appeared in the last few years. The drug transactions tolerated inside and around many of the bodegas are a drag, but this too shall pass.

Posted by: Putnamdenizen at September 16, 2009 3:30 PM

quote:
Places like Outpost, Kush, Olivino, Michael Allen's

is it SO hard to fathom, please try now, that some people DON'T want that crap? ugh.

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 16, 2009 4:22 PM

Rob, sometimes the things you come out with are just ridiculous. A lot of people who live in the area want somewhere to shop and eat on Fulton Street. I'm glad that those four places have done well in the past several years. They are each owned by (respectively) gay men, African immigrants, a bi-racial couple and an African American family. All hard working and doing their best to improve the community, their families and the achieve the "American Dream". So take it easy on maligning them and the hard work they put in every day to provide somewhere nice for the community to eat and shop.

Posted by: 1842 at September 16, 2009 5:14 PM

1842 - we ignore Rob - by evidence is that he is mentally ill.

Posted by: Putnamdenizen at September 16, 2009 8:33 PM

Miss Priss:

It took Fifth Avenue 50 years to improve. No kidding. For decades it was a danger zone where Park Slope members of my family never ventured.

In the cycle of residential neighborhoods, retail streets are always the first to go and the last to come back. If the blocks around Fulton are improving markedly -- and they appear to be -- the street may finally have its "moment."

But beware! As Oscar Wilde said: The only thing worse than not getting what you want can be getting what you want. If this stretch of Fulton becomes Fifth Avenue, you and your neighbors may be priced out of the neighborhood.

Nostalgic on Park Avenue

Posted by: NOP at September 17, 2009 12:22 AM

i hear you and I love those places mentioned above, but the drug trade, methadone addicts and what that brings with it inhibit retail growth. Despite a big police presence in 06 (i believe) all the dealers just came back. the biggest problems are the buyers of the drugs, who then roam up and down the streets around grand and putnam and do their business on stoops or harrass people living there. my neigbor's sitter and 4 year old son were followed by one guy who had just scored and he kept yelling at the little boy, "Am I your first nigger? ever seen a nigger?" run with that...

Posted by: miss priss at September 17, 2009 9:28 AM

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September 16, 2009

Money Starting to Flow to Fulton Street

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