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It’s been a busy week behind the scenes at The Flea, what with last night’s community meeting and all. The meeting was conceived as a listening session for neighborhood concerns but word leaked out and a number of supporters showed up and it ended up feeling more like a referendum on the market. For a couple of longer reports, you can check out Racked, Gawker or Reclaimed Home. Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Councilmember James and Borough Prez Marty Markowitz by proxy all stepped up to the plate on behalf of the Flea; the suggestions ranged from the incremental and addressable to the not-so-reasonable and deal-breaking. There’s a big NY Times story about it slated for this weekend, so keep your eyes out. The two themes we (and others) kept coming back to were community-building and the importance of nurturing small businesses. Along those lines, we hope that everyone who comes out to the Flea this weekend will also make it over to nearby Myrtle Avenue between Emerson and Grand where the first day of the Brooklyn Urban Arts Market will take place; the four other days are August 10, August 24, September 7 and September 21. The open-air market will feature live music, visual art performances, food from Myrtle restaurants, and about 50 local, primarily home-based artisans, vendors, and entrepreneurs selling fashion, art, accessories and more. The event runs from 12 to 7. First timers attending the flea may want to check out the Flea Blog first and get these essentials under their belt: Flea hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday; it’s located at 176 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. Closest trains are the C and G to Washington/Clinton. Or you can take any of the number of trains that go to Atlantic Station and make the 10-minute stroll up Lafayette Avenue from there.

Update: The New York Times article, by a reporter who took the time to sit down with us and was smart enough not to get himself kicked out of the community meeting, is here; a Daily News article by a “reporter” who was stuck chewing his cud outside the meeting is here. The most amazing part of the News article is the cherry-picked quote from Councilmember James that gives the impression that she’s against the market when she has championed it from the beginning. Some quality journalism.


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  1. How silly. This is easily rectified by not locking bikes to the construction scaffolding around the church and educating the flea market attendees not to use the church restroom or even visit the church (with its dwindling congregation) to look at its architecture on a Sunday.

    How utterly parochial, and a not unexpected near jerk reaction born of insecurity and intolerance. Why do parishoners need to double park in front of the church anyway?

    I’ve driven around here (in Zip or rental cars) on Sundays and it is not a problem. There is more congestion at the corner of St. James/Hall and Lafayette at that church due to double and triple parked vehicles than there is at this location. The fact of the matter is that the people complaining are in the minority and really don’t care about the community or the boost the Brooklyn Flea provides to local business.

  2. Well said, as usual bxgirl. I was at the meeting last night and can only say that Jon & Eric could not have been more considerate and reasonable in trying to reach consensus on concerns. We are so lucky to have these guys, they are a gift to the community.

  3. From what I understand, Mr. B and Eric were pretty much the last to know about the “neighborhood concerns.” and were a bit taken by surprise. Neither of them were ever contacted directly and weren’t aware until Velmanette Montgomery came to the flea to tell them the situation last week. So I don’t think the lack of communication is on brownstoner’s head, nor should he be taken to task for insincerity re fixing problems he wasn’t told about. Since this was the 3rd meeting the Church had and the first that had any Flea supporters (since they weren’t told of the other meetings), I have to say the church is not acting in either good faith or even with any concern for the community other than its own parishioners. They don’t want to resolve any issues, they just want their way.

  4. It’s just another indicator of how intolerance is the norm.

    On the one hand, there are “parishioners who won’t go to the church because of a fear of tripping over bicycles” (kid you not, from the Great Flea Protest!)

    Otoh, plenty of disrespectful cyclists who lock their bikes in such a way as to impede the way.

  5. Brownstoner:

    I enjoy the idea that a virtual community can lead to a real community, as evidenced by the Flea.

    This is the opposite of what early proponents (as well as antagonists)of the Web thought would happen, i.e., that the virtual world would replace real places.

    Of course that also means there’ll be real disputes over the best use of real space, but that goes with living in NYC.

    I’ll have to make it over to Brooklyn some time to check out the Flea.

    Good luck.

    Nostalgic on Park Avenue

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