Closing Bell: Brooklyn Flea + Urban Arts Festival
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…
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.
Just putting in my less than two cents-
1-When did flea markets become a white person thing? Or an anti-religious thing? My mother would take us to flea markets every sunday, AFTER church! We’re black, lower middle class (like many), and she would probably have been out of her mind IN LOVE if a flea was across the street from the church!
2-I will admit many items at the flea are overpriced for a lot of incomes in the neighborhood. That said, that’s never stopped anyone from enjoying a flea market and you can find some quality stuff on the cheap. And it’s better than watching cartoons all morning.
3- That Daily News article is ridiculous. It’s not only written poorly but the head line”A new market for Brooklyn rage” pretty much say’s all it needs to say about the disgusting tabloid the Daily News really is. I feel bad for anyone who actually bases any sort of opinion from that stupid article.
4- Am I the only one who thinks Brownstoner is a fox in that NYT article?
Today’s wrath-of-God weather can only be a bad omen. Repent, Brooklyn Flea–repent.
If you didn’t hear what was said at the meeting, sixyears, you don’t understand. What we heard was classic anti-semitic conspiracy theory, and the priest, sitting right there moderating the event, didn’t say a damn thing about it. He tacitly supported it. That’s the problem.
Wow, some people really have a problem with religion here. Opposition to a flea market has nothing to do with sexual abuse by priests, anti-gay bigotry, or anything else related to Roman Catholic doctrine or conduct. It is indeed possible for someone to disagree with you and not be superstitious/pedophilic/racist/bigoted/etc.
That said, I’m in favor of the flea market.
Why is everyone so quick to draw the anti-semite card? What Walsh said was definitely bigoted, perhaps ignorant and probably incorrect…
Just as churches do have (in my anti-religious view) inordinate power over parking and other issues they think affects their religiosity, I’m sure *some* Jewish enclaves have similar power. Hardly news.
And hardly anti-semitic to say so.
I used to live in lower Manhattan and when droves of stinky tourists descended upon my neighborhood after 911. When I didn’t like it anymore, I moved. It did not occur to me to picket, whine or write letters or conspire against this new energy in my neighborhood. I was faced with the choice to either embrace the change to my neighborhood or to move. I chose the later and came to Clinton Hill. Should Clinton Hill someday evolve in a way I no longer like, maybe I will move again…and again. If I wanted stability, I would not live in metro New York. Change is why I love the place, for better or for worse. Change to Clinton Hill and change to lower Manahattan is why I came to Clinton Hill. The people who are roaring about change to ‘their’ neighborhood come across as angry, insecure, and intolerant.
That said, the sun is out and I am headed to the flea now.
Thank you Jonathan and Eric for bringing positive change to ‘my’ neighborhood. I have many friends young and old who live here who will gladly come out to support the flea should you need it. Many who have lived here for over 40 years. Please keep us posted and we will gladly help.
I was at the meeting and what I found disturbing was not so much the individuals who were weaving jewish conspiracy theories, but the fact that the Monsignor who was moderating the meeting sat by passively and allowed it to happen without a word.
One good reason I am a lapsed Catholic is the priesthood’s lack of moral leadership.
PS. why are parking meter rules suspended on sundays, but not saturdays?
Wasder, 12:01
I think its apparent that the church in question had no intention of engaging in “constructive, community dialogue”.
If they had, I would view the “palace of corruption and superstition” comment as unfair.
Prodigal–I’m as atheist as the next guy but no matter what kind of spin you want to put on it describing the church as a “palace of corruption and superstition” is not the way to inspire constructive community dialogue. Your attempt to defend that sort of language is juvenile.