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Related story: In Carroll Gardens, longtime residents wrestle with development, affordability of housing

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Rising to a height of 70 feet, Oliver House has been called "out of context" by preservation-minded residents of the community; it is scheduled for completion in April 2011. Photo: Will Holloway

Even before construction began in 2008, the condominium development at the corner of Smith Street and Second Place in Carroll Gardens raised the eyebrows, and ire, of many neighborhood residents.

There was concern that Oliver House, as the development is known, was too big, that it was out of context with the neighborhood, and that it represented a slippery slope to which the historic brownstones and quaint charm of Carroll Gardens would eventually succumb. As the construction of the seven-story, 65,000-square-foot structure nears completion two years later, a debate between development and preservation continues. It is a hot-button topic in this traditionally blue-collar, Italian-American neighborhood, where gentrification and its effects – rising housing costs and the displacement of “indigenous” residents – are nothing new.

A few short blocks from the corner of Smith Street and Second Place is the Carroll Gardens Historic District. One of the smallest historic districts in the city, encompassing just two blocks – Carroll and President streets between Smith and Hoyt streets – it was designated in 1973 at the urging of community activist and local funeral home owner Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto. Today, Scotto is pushing for an expansion of the historic district, a proposal that meets both staunch support and fierce opposition in the neighborhood.

Scotto, 81, is something of a neighborhood legend; as his lifelong friend Joe Masefield says, Scotto is known as the unofficial “mayor of Carroll Gardens.” In fact, the neighborhood itself takes its name from the Carroll Gardens Civic Association, which Scotto formed in the mid-1960s. Prior to that time, Carroll Gardens was part of a larger area known as South Brooklyn.

“When I grew up, Italian-Americans were the poor in New York,” Scotto said recently as he sat in the austere parlor of the funeral home his family established in 1926. “We came to this Italian ghetto neighborhood, which formerly had been an Irish ghetto neighborhood. Growing up here, I thought the whole world was Italian-American.”

Scotto has been involved in community issues for years, from planting trees and pushing for the cleanup of the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal to advocating for affordable housing.

“A lot of people born and raised in this neighborhood can’t afford to live here,” he said.

A block away, next to a Chase Bank on the corner of Court and Carroll streets, is Marietta’s Dry Goods, a clothing store that opened in 1940 and seemingly hasn’t changed much in the seven decades since. It is run by Matt Chirico, 83, and his brother Joe, 89. The brothers took over the store from their parents when they returned from World War II. As Matt Chirico opened a shipment of shirts, he recalled that an apartment would rent for about $30 when he was young. Today, the real estate company Prudential Douglas Elliman estimates that the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood is $1,326.

“When you’ve been around for a long time,” said Chirico, “you see the same people. You know people. And sometimes you look around and say to yourself, ‘Where are they? Where did they go?’”

A History of Change

Like the Irish immigrants that preceded them, Italian immigrants in the neighborhood worked as longshoremen in the early- and mid-20th century. And just as the Irish-American population dwindled as Italians moved in, so too has the Italian-American population dropped steadily in the past four decades as young urban professionals have moved to Carroll Gardens.

According to the U.S. Census, the number of persons with Italian ancestry in the 11231 zip code (which also includes the Red Hook neighborhood to the south) in 1980 was 11,516, or 31 percent of the total population; in 2000, the number of persons with Italian ancestry was 5,869, or 18 percent of the population.

As Italian-Americans have moved out, outsiders have moved in. In all of Community Board Six, which includes Carroll Gardens, 53 percent of current householders moved into their current unit between 2000 and 2008, while only 17 percent moved into their currently unit prior to 1980, according to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey.

In the Journal of the American Planning Association article “Gentrification and Displacement New York City in the 1990s,” authors Lance Freeman and Frank Braconi define neighborhood gentrification as “a dramatic shift in their demographic composition toward better educated and more affluent residents.” In Carroll Gardens, according to longtime residents, that shift began in the 1970s and hit full stride in the 1980s.

“A lot of people sold and moved out,” said Vincent Favorito, 69, who was born and raised in Carroll Gardens. “And the prices of apartments went through the roof.”

Favorito grew up in a rent-controlled apartment that his family rented for $400 per month in the late 1960s. In the early 1970s, he was looking to buy in the neighborhood, but found prices too high and bought a four-bedroom house in Marine Park. Favorito and his family now live in a Carroll Gardens brownstone that his wife inherited. His father-in-law bought it for $8,000 in 1944; Favorito said it is now valued at approximately $1.8 million.

Many residents took advantage of rising prices, selling their homes and moving to places like Long Island and New Jersey. Joan D’Amico, 54, who was born and raised in the neighborhood, said that in the 1970s and 1980s, the area wasn’t as desirable as it is now.

“People didn’t want to raise their kids here,” she said. “Now they can’t afford to come back.”

Toni D’Andrea, 59, a real estate agent and lifelong resident of the neighborhood, agreed.

“The children of most of the people I grew up with are living in New Jersey or Staten Island because they can’t afford to live here,” she said. “Growing up here was wonderful. You knew everyone on your block, and you felt like you knew everyone in the neighborhood. One of the things that I really miss is that you very rarely hear Italian spoken anymore.”

Holding on to the past

Today, despite gentrification, Carroll Gardens retains much of its Italian-American flavor. Restaurants such as Mama Maria’s, Marco Polo and Casa Rosa can be found on Court Street, along with Caputo’s Bake Shop and G. Esposito and Sons Jersey Pork Store. Men converse in Italian outside of the Van Westerhout Cittadini Molesi Social Club on Court Street and Fourth Place. Statues of the Virgin Mary stand amid angel and cherub figurines in several front courtyards.

Retaining that character in the face of development pressures is at the heart of the debate over projects like Oliver House. In 2007, a neighborhood group called the Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development was formed by residents concerned about developments seen as “out of character” with the neighborhood. A zoning amendment was proposed and approved by the city, limiting new developments to a height of 55 feet. But Oliver House was exempted from the amendment because its construction was ruled to be significantly underway; it now rises to 70 feet.

Now, in an additional effort to preserve the character of the neighborhood, the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association and residents like Scotto and Favorito are pushing for an expansion of the Carroll Gardens Historic District. The proposed expansion encompasses a 10-block area bounded by Court, Henry and Huntington streets and First Place.

Still, not everyone is sold on the idea.

John Esposito, 49, was born and raised in Carroll Gardens and owns Sal’s Pizzeria on Court Street. He also belongs to a group called Citizens Against LandMarking. Esposito said that unlike neighboring Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Park Slope, Carroll Gardens is unique because it has a balance of low and high-income residents, and the expansion of the historic district would hasten gentrification by pushing low-income residents out.

While the net effect of historic districting on neighborhoods is difficult to gauge, a 2003 report by New York City’s Independent Budget Office concluded that, all things being equal, “prices of houses in historic districts are higher than those of similar houses outside historic districts.” In a neighborhood where, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman, 73 percent of the housing inventory is rented, that increase in housing prices would likely result in higher rents.

According to architect Stephen Byrns, a member of the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission, the expansion of the Carroll Gardens Historic District is currently being considered, but the process – from being calendared to a public hearing to designation – can sometimes take years. Byrns said the commission is proceeding cautiously because the community is split on the issue.

“The people who built this neighborhood, who have lived here for 80 years – they didn’t need landmarks to protect the neighborhood,” said Esposito, echoing another concern – that historic landmarking leads to a loss of property rights. “Why do we need Big Brother to tell us what to do with our property? Why do we have to go in front of a committee to get approval for something?”

While he has mixed emotions about new development in the neighborhood, Esposito said that restricting development restricts the growth of the city. “People need a place to live,” he said. “There should be certain parts of the area that have high rises. Why not? Nothing stays the same. Life moves on.”

Back at the Scotto Funeral Home, Scotto echoed that sentiment.

“The only constant in this world is change, and we’re doing the best we can with it,” he said, adding that no issues are unanimously accepted in any community in any circumstance.

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Sixty-inch flower pots placed by the Newark Downtown District line Raymond Boulevard. Photo: Andaiye Taylor

NEWARK, N.J. – To frequent visitors, downtown Newark has in the past couple of years become greener, cleaner, and more pedestrian-friendly than it has been in recent memory.  In addition to the new flowerpots, garbage cans, benches, and lampposts that now dot the sidewalks, visitors said they have also noticed the bevy of workers in yellow shirts who tend the area.

The workers are employees of the Newark Downtown District, also known as NDD, a nonprofit created more than a decade ago by a city ordinance. The NDD is devoted to increasing the commercial viability of the district.  Its employees, who they dub “ambassadors,” stand out in their bright outfits as they power wash the sidewalks, scrub the graffiti, sweep the streets, and otherwise maintain the neighborhood.

Over the past three years, the NDD has aggressively embarked on a neighborhood beautification campaign. The district’s innovative use of Geographic Information System, or GIS, technology lets its employees efficiently track and maintain the new neighborhood improvements.

To use the GIS technology, the NDD affixes a unique bar code to the improvements when they are initially placed. If a worker spots a problem, he or she scans it, submitting a time stamped work order to a central queue where it is prioritized and assigned by NDD management. People in the neighborhood can also submit damage reports by either calling a hotline or logging onto the district’s website, identifying improvements by type and location, and characterizing the damage.

The workers’ use of the GIS scanners, skinned in yellow and black to match their outfits, is subtle, but people who live, work, and shop downtown notice the upkeep, thanks to the new technology.

Roshawn Bristol, 39, of Newark, sees the workers as a sign of increased collective pride in the city. “The people with the yellow shirts, they’re out cleaning,” she said. “Newark is beautiful, and they’re making it that way.”

Most people incorrectly assumed that the city employs the workers. The NDD’s online interface enables people to submit complaints about city-owned property, but the organization forwards those requests to the appropriate city agency. According to a report summary furnished by the organization, more than six of 10 issues captured by the system are ultimately assigned to the NDD to address.

Though no one denied that the improvements are a positive change, a few people went out of their way to distinguish between refacing the downtown neighborhood and implementing the more fundamental changes they think are necessary in Newark.

Oscar Mercado, 31, is a Newark homeowner and parking attendant who works two blocks from the Prudential Center arena.

“You can cosmetically dress it up with a little flower pot, a couple benches,” he said, while sitting on an NDD bench in front of the parking lot. “All these little decorations haven’t changed anything.”

Abdul Holden, 35, of Newark, said the professionally dressed workers are a signal that the city is “trying.” While he thinks more fundamental work needs to be done to improve the city, he said he also thinks sprucing up the neighborhood is an easy win that can change perceptions of Newark.

Pennsylvania-based GIS Tech Solutions designed the system to the NDD’s specifications. The company’s president, Bill Chappell, said that while he has designed programs for other municipalities, this is a unique application of his company’s technology. Chappell said that the Newark Downtown District can further integrate GIS by building a mobile phone application that automatically detects users’ coordinates, enabling them to submit repair requests even more easily.

The International Downtown Association is considering the NDD for its 2010 IDA Downtown Achievement Award for applying GIS technology to capital improvement maintenance.

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Mindy Bockstein, left, warned that "dumpster diving" is the most common way for thieves to steal personal information. Photo: Matt Allinson

Reported on July 31, 2010

A state government group in Albany shredded more than 3,000 pounds of documents on July 28, destroying such a volume of paper that members needed a truck to haul away the waste.

The New York State Consumer Protection Board did it as part of its ongoing “Shred the Word” campaign against identity theft. Staff members invited Albany residents to join them outside Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, where 3N, a local document destruction company, provided the service free of charge.

Identity theft, which cost Americans more than $50 billion in damages last year, is New York’s most prevalent type of fraud. In 2009, more than 18,000 New Yorkers reported identity theft – the nation’s sixth-highest rate per capita, according to the state group. To combat this financially-destructive crime, the consumer protection board has worked to educate people. They have also prodded state legislators to enact stronger consumer protections, including a 2008 security freeze law and restrictions on the use of social security numbers.

Mindy Bockstein, the board’s executive director, said people are becoming more knowledgeable about protecting their identities, but there is work to be done. She said people mistakenly believe identity theft is confined to the Internet. Yet, phony websites and e-mails from Nigerian royalties constitute just a small portion of all identity fraud.

“Dumpster or mailbox diving is still the most common way for thieves to steal an identity,” Bockstein said, standing in front of 3N’s disposal truck. Scammers look for credit card offers, which they can use to open accounts in victims’ names; or they try to reconstruct identities from pay stubs and bank statements. With the right information, they can fraudulently open new lines of credit, drain existing accounts or amass medical bills. Due to the rising cost of health care, identity theft for medical purposes is a growing concern for the board.

Bockstein advised people to destroy their unwanted mail. “That is why we are here,” she said, pointing to a stack of papers destined for 3N’s mobile guillotine. She suggested people stop unsolicited credit card offers by calling 1-888-5OPTOUT and also reminded travelers to make mail arrangements if they leave home for more than a few days. Identity thieves often target empty households with bundles of letters stuffed into the mailboxes.

Jorge Montalvo, director of strategic initiatives for the consumer protection board, corrected another misconception. He said only one website, www.annualcreditreport.com, is where New Yorkers should obtain their free credit report provided by state law. He warned of private companies using similar web addresses and catchy advertisements to lure customers into paying for credit protection.

Bockstein reviewed some of the recent results of her group’s advocacy. As part of New York’s 2008 Identity Theft Prevention and Mitigation Act, it is now illegal for businesses to require social security numbers on personal checks used for payment. It is also illegal for businesses and other institutions to use social security numbers for their user identification numbers. Bockstein said that this is important, because thieves often use these numbers as keys to stealing other aspects of a victim’s identity.

Additionally, New York now allows consumers to call for a security freeze on their credit file, should they feel their identity has been compromised. The freeze blocks businesses from accessing the individual’s credit history, thus thwarting the opening of new accounts. The consumer can unfreeze their credit file in a matter of minutes, and the freeze does not affect their credit score.

Bockstein and Montalvo are proud of their advocacy. They admitted that most consumer protection happens at the federal level but called New York an incubator for change that pushes federal action.

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Related article: Community farm launches in Newark’s Lincoln Park

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The Citywide Congested Corridors Project will make Beverly Road narrower with a wider sidewalk, according to the New York City Department of Transportation. Photo: Yeong Lim

Reported on July 30

Whether you are a driver or pedestrian in Kensington, commuting on Church Avenue could become easier and safer as the street gets repaired and upgraded this summer, according to the New York City Department of Transportation.

The Citywide Congested Corridors Project initiated by the department began its construction on Church Avenue in June. The construction will improve safety and mobility for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists in the neighborhood, according to Gregory Haas, the project’s coordinator.

The construction on Church Avenue goes from McDonald Avenue to Utica Avenue, a 2.7-mile corridor. Of that corridor, approximately 0.54 miles, or 20 percent, of the construction will take place in Kensington. According to the agency’s website, the Church Avenue improvement in Kensington focuses mainly on installing signs, widening the sidewalks, and building two additional bus shelters. The project will make Beverly Road narrower with a wider sidewalk, and improve traffic signal timing.

The Citywide Congested Corridors Project is a construction project funded by the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program or the CMAQ, which provides more than $8.6 billion in federal funds to state transportation agencies and urban planning groups. The CMAQ program, established in 1991, provides funds to invest in projects that improve air quality and reduce congestion, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

“Church Avenue is one of 14 busy roadways across five boroughs being studied and upgraded right now,” said Haas.

According to Haas, the first five roadway projects began in February 2008. The project areas included Church Avenue in Brooklyn, Amboy Road in Staten Island, White Plains Road in the Bronx, Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens, and West 181 Street in Manhattan.

The constructions around the McDonald Avenue area began in June, according to Haas.

But, residents are more concerned about the potential safety implications than they are about the funding or timeframe of the project. “I hope it stops all the accidents around here,” said Veronica Valentine, 37, a Kensington resident. “It’s a mess here.”

According to the New York City Department of Transportation 2009 crash report, there were eight crashes at the intersection of Church Avenue and McDonald Avenue prior to the construction; seven of these were pedestrian crashes. The Church Avenue roadway between McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway had 12 crashes, with seven as pedestrian accidents.

According to Councilman Brad Lander’s office, there were more than a dozen traffic complaints earlier this year. The intersection at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue had many of the problems with 22 crashes last year. Of those, four involved pedestrians.

Construction at that intersection is scheduled to begin in August. The plans include raising the height of the pedestrian refuge island and median extension, installing new pedestrian signals, pavement markings, and upgrading “No Turns” and “Yield to Pedestrian” signs.  The construction project will also repaint the stripes on the crosswalks, stop bars and other pavement markings.

According to the study done by the Congested Corridors Project Team, islands and upgraded signs are expected to reduce the number of crashes. The anticipated traffic delay reduction by 2017 on Church Avenue corridor from McDonald Avenue to Utica Avenue will average at 187.5 seconds during the morning peak hours, and 140 seconds during the evening peak hours, the study said. Speed improvement is expected to increase traveling time at approximately 1.25 mph during the morning peak hours, and 0.8 mph increase during the evening peak hours.

Construction is expected last until December 2010.

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A public trash container at the corner of Wadsworth Avenue and 181st Street in Washington Heights. Photo: Stephen Steim

It happens every summer in Washington Heights: residents notice public trash containers mysteriously go missing from streets and parks.

While theories vary about where the containers are going, what is certain is that the missing containers put added stress on a system of public waste collection that residents say is already overburdened by illegal dumping. Combined with a lingering July heat wave that has temperatures consistently in the mid-90s, Washington Heights has a potentially pungent quality of life issue on its hands.

At a June 23 meeting of the 33rd Precinct Police Department’s Community Council, residents complained about the rise of stolen trash containers. Ignazio Terranova, a Department of Sanitation public affairs officer, said his department’s small staff makes it difficult to enforce container theft.

“I have 74 sanitation officers for the entire city,” said Terranova. He said residents should call 311 if they notice missing containers.

Despite the complaints, spokesman Matthew LiPani said the department is unaware of any missing trash containers in Washington Heights. LiPani wrote in a July 22 email: “If one was to be stolen, we would immediately replace it.”

Michael Mowatt-Wynn, 54, is president of the 33rd Precinct Community Council and lives on Riverside Drive near the entrance to Fort Washington Park at 158th Street. He notices trash containers often go missing.

“We have a continuous stream of people since it’s the main entrance to the park,” said Mowatt-Wynn. “I see from time to time the cans are gone. As soon as they get emptied, people take them.”

And why steal a trash container?

“They take them down to the river, put a grate on top of it, and it’s an impromptu barbecue,” said Mowatt-Wynn. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation did not return calls seeking comment about missing trash containers in parks.

Some local businesses are especially frustrated by trash that piles up in front of their stores, and point to street vendors as the source.

M. Rana, 40, manages the Jimmy Jazz clothing store on West 181st Street in Washington Heights. The block is packed tightly with street vendors who he says dispose their trash in the container in front of his store. According to the sanitation department’s rules and regulations, it is illegal to dump any “trade or household waste” in public trash containers.

“Trash piles up every day,” said Rana. “The people who sell on the street make a mess. They throw away fruit and vegetables, so it stinks.”

Rana has seen as many as nine trash bags piled around the lone trash container at the corner of 181st Street and Wadsworth Avenue. He says that while the city’s sanitation workers do an excellent job of disposing of trash at scheduled times, they simply cannot keep up with the extra trash created by vendors.

The vendors tell a different story. Juan Pena, 37, runs a fruit stand a quarter block from Rana’s store. Pena says he leaves the sidewalk and street spotless at the end of each day.

“Garbage goes back with us in the van,” said Pena. “The ticket for leaving trash is $500 and the police check to see if you do.” Pena says he has never received a complaint from the storefront businesses on the block.

Community members say their neighbors are also adding to the problem. Randy Rodriguez, 33, says people throw out their home trash in public containers every day.

“The trash cans are overflowing every morning,” said Rodriguez.

Lincoln Park community farm launch attendees enjoy farm-grown produce and live music at the farm on July 14, 2010, in Newark, N.J. Produce is grown on the half-acre brown field using hydroponic and raised-bed farming techniques. Photo: Andaiye Taylor

NEWARK, N.J. – Robert Wisniewski stood under the shed he’d built on top of a half-acre brown field, across the street from historic Newark Symphony Hall.

“How was that okra?” he called out to a man working in an adjacent lot.

“Good, good,” the man shouted in reply, before turning back to his work.

The okra had come from the new community farm that is now sprouting from the field. Wisniewski, sustainability director for Newark’s Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, was busy shuffling containers and deciding what to do with brown paper bags full of unclaimed tomatoes that Thursday afternoon. The leftover produce symbolized one of the major challenges facing the farm.

In the weeks since its launch, the farm’s managers are looking to overcome key tests whose outcomes will determine whether it will be a long-term fixture in Newark’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.  According to Wisniewski, Lincoln Park is a produce desert with no fresh vegetables available within a mile of the farm.

The nonprofit cultural district sees its role as facilitating the housing, educational, cultural and now, the nutritional needs of the Newark residents it serves. To that end, the organization has added the farm to a list of other projects it has launched in the community: its annual, three-day Lincoln Park Music Festival; new mixed-income sustainable housing that will include 32 units; and the planned Museum of African American Music.

The farm sits atop unusable soil, behind the facade of what was once the South Park Presbyterian Church. The crops grow where the building once stood, and the soil’s toxicity stems from pollution from fuel tanks that once powered the building.

To grow crops in the space, farmer Brian Barry brings in outside soil, and also uses a technique called hydroponics, which enables him to grow the produce in a nutrient-rich solution instead of directly in the plot’s native soil.

Weekly shares cost $20, and earn customers a basket of assorted produce, including collards, tomatoes, okra, and assorted herbs and lettuces. When shareholders pick up their food on Wednesday evenings, they also receive preparation tips and instructions on how to properly store and maintain the produce.

While Barry and Wisniewski man the farm during pickup hours, they also employ two seniors, both paid by the Urban League’s Mature Worker program, to tend it up to four hours per day, usually in the mornings.

The worker program, along with a startup grant, were both pivotal funding sources for getting the farm off the ground, but Wisniewski seeks to rely mostly on revenue to sustain farm operations.  For that reason, the gap between interest in farm shares and actual sales reveals both the farm’s potential, and the highest hurdle it must clear. The farm can currently feed 20 to 25 families per week, according to Barry, and about 25 people have signed up. However, to make the produce affordable, the district decided not to require consumers to pay upfront for all of their shares for the season. According to Wisniewski, only about eight to 10 people actually show up to retrieve their shares weekly.

The price of the produce is also not affordable for many in an area where nearly half of all families live below the poverty level, according to 2000 census data. The district’s recent mixed-income housing initiatives bring potential customers who are more likely to be able to afford the shares than the average Lincoln Park resident.

Jan Zientek, senior program coordinator at the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, agreed that building a sustainable business model for the farm will not be easy. “The economics of the project are hard to figure,” he said during a telephone interview.  Still, Zientek is skeptical of the long-term prospects for grant-supported farms, and thinks the share-supported model that the Lincoln Park cultural district is trying to build has greater promise for long-term sustainability, despite the startup hurdles they face.

Zientek visited the farm recently, and said he thinks it has a shot. He noted common problems such as blossom end rot on some of the tomatoes, and cabbage that had been nibbled on by moths. But the issues affected only a portion of the produce, and the remedies were simple: lighter-colored boxes for produce to preserve moisture, and cloths over the cabbage to deter the moths.

Wisniewski is clear-eyed about the challenge of building a consistent customer base, and has been considering additional revenue for the farm, including distribution to local restaurants. Back under the shed, perhaps trying to figure the economics of accounting for absentee shareholders, he mulled what to do with his orphaned tomatoes. He decided to try pitching the produce to Allure, a bar and lounge across the street.

The establishment’s chef, William “Staff” Powell, recalled the visit the following week.   “They have nice produce,” he said. “The quality is good.”

He mentioned that while it is impractical for him to buy anything but bulk for restaurant cooking, he would consider creating specialty dishes made with the locally grown vegetables.  “That type of thing might appeal to customers,” he explained. “Everyone is going green.”

During a recent Wednesday pickup, Vashti White, who owns a trio of health and wellness-related businesses in nearby Montclair, claimed her first share.

“I thought it was great,” she said of the vegetables two days later. “The food was fresh and flavorful.”

While she plans to sample other growers’ produce, White said she is leaning toward partnering with the LPCCD farm for her restaurant, Raw N Simple. “I really like the fact that this is a local effort,” she said. “For that alone, and the freshness of the food, I would lean toward buying there.”

The farm’s managers must contend with other issues endemic to urban farms, including insects and rodents, possible theft or vandalism, and limited space. Wisniewski explained that the cultural district wants to use the farm as a living laboratory to devise solutions to some of these issues. While urban farming is not a new practice, the cultural district is aiming to grow 100 percent of its produce onsite to ensure complete local sustainability.

Kelli Koontz, a writer and drug counselor who lives one block from the farm, bought her first share a couple of weeks after attending the farm’s launch party.  “I see it as an investment in this community,” said Koontz in her kitchen, as she cut a tomato that came with her share. “I see the garden as a catalyst for the beginning of change.”

The 45-year-old mother of two said she thinks buying produce from the farm will change her family’s eating habits.  “I’m really looking forward to investing time in preparing things a little bit differently,” she said, noting that the farm would help her family eat healthier.

Koontz also looks forward to involving her 11-year-old son in the process, turning the food pickup and preparation into a family project.

The farm fits into the cultural district’s broader plan for Lincoln Park. The district sees the neighborhood as an artists’ hub. In addition to figuring out operational details, its planners also want to achieve syncretism between the neighborhood’s artiness and the farm’s layout.  When farm operations resume next year after a winter hiatus, Wisniewski envisions creating an “art farm park” that is both a working farm and an artist space fit for performances and exhibits, in line with the broader Lincoln Park arts milieu.

Additionally, the cultural district is considering redesigning the farm to make a statement about what it means for the urban and the agrarian to exist side-by-side. Wisniewski said the design theme would be the “built environment that grows,” and would feature “cool structures made of natural materials,” that illustrate how urban residents can sustain themselves without having to forgo the benefits of urban living.

While honing the produce growing process, the district is looking to shore up the community aspect of the farm next year by considering programming such as cooking classes and workshops on how to grow food.  In fact, the community outreach might be the key to boosting the farm’s shareholder revenue. Three weeks after she’d initially purchased her share, Koontz said she was happy with the produce, which her family used up in a week and a half.

But would she consider prepaying for shares for the entire season?

“Not at this juncture,” Koontz said.  While she would invest in a prepaid share if more of her neighbors did it, she said she didn’t want to be out on a limb as one of only a few seasonal shareholders because, “I guess I don’t have enough faith that it’s going to sustain just yet.”  If more people invested, though, she said she would “definitely” invest in shares.

Koontz, who likes the change that the farm brings to the community, and hopes it will last, thinks more consistent communication, including regular newsletters and programming, between LPCCD and Lincoln Park community members would increase engagement with the farm.

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The Providence House site is now an empty lot after the city demolished the abandoned building previously there. Photo: Melissa Smith

Reported on June 12, 2010

Rebecca D. Groom, 47, has never missed curfew at Providence House.  She follows the rules, as she has for the past 17 years in prison.

“There is no room for error in my life,” she said.

Groom lives in Providence House’s re-entry facility and is running through a gauntlet of programs to get back on her feet after spending most of her adult life behind bars. The Sisters of St. Joseph want to build a 26-unit permanent housing residence in a lot less than a block away from Groom’s temporary home at 329 Lincoln Road in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Groom is a candidate to live there. She would rent a 300-square-foot efficiency apartment along with 19 other graduates of Providence House’s transitional facilities – that is if the development moves forward.

Residents of the apartments and houses surrounding 329 Lincoln Road attended a Community Board 9 Brooklyn meeting on May 25, primed to speak out against the sisters’ proposal.  Barring a handful of supporters, whose pleas for community acceptance seemed to fall on deaf ears, one by one another resident stood and delivered a sharp declamation of the project.

Some spoke against the developers’ request for a zoning exemption permitting the building to stand two floors higher than its neighbors – thus ruining the feel of the block, they said.  Others felt that there is already a high concentration of supportive housing facilities in the area.

“I don’t know the love affair that Providence House has with District 9,” said resident Lisa Isaac.

Executive director of Providence House, Sister Janet Kinney, said that there are currently no city-funded supportive housing projects in CB 9.

“I am aware of only two other supportive housing projects which are administered by the state – one has been in existence 12 years, the other project, seven years,” she said.

Lydia François, 50, admitted to simply not wanting ex-convicts on her block.

“I work very hard – three jobs a day for me to live where I am now.”  François turned the tables on Providence House supporters and shouted, “Tell me you will take them to where you’re living.”

In 2005, Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg passed an initiative to help organizations acquire, build, or renovate 9,000 more supportive housing units, from 2006 to 2016.  Cynthia Stewart of the Supportive Housing Network of New York said that the housing unit yield, city-wide, has been alarmingly below target numbers and cited community opposition as the primary cause.

“There have always been concerns, the same concerns and [the projects] get extremely delayed,” she said.  “But there has never been a community that regrets it when it’s up and running.”

In accordance with land review procedures, community board approval is not a requirement but is a major stakeholder in the final decision to approve the sisters’ plan.

The Sisters of St. Joseph already run six Providence House centers throughout Brooklyn, where formerly incarcerated women, who have wrestled with mental or substance abuse, are given temporary or permanent housing and access to resources.

Sister Kinney tried to reassure the crowd at CB 9 meeting by citing Providence Houses’ recidivism rate of less than 3 percent and by referring to a recent report by the New York University Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy that dispelled the notion that supportive housing decreases surrounding property values. According to the report, property values only declined when supportive housing first opens but then showed steady growth.

The audience’s concerns were not assuaged.  Joanne Newbold, 33, said her recently retired mother will not be able to pay her mortgage if she cannot draw in rental income.

“When you have facilities like permanent housing in your community, people shy away,” she said.

Following a string of fiery opponents, Crystal P. Felder, 49, a 20-year resident, demanded compassion. “I was a drug addict for many years,” she said.  “Someone opened their door to me, and they didn’t think I was going to kill their kids.  You can open your doors to them.”

Groom shared a similar sentiment. “I’m not trying to disrupt anyone’s life. I’m trying to live and all I need is a chance.”

Father Juan Gonzalez, S.M., pastor of the St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise Parish – neighboring Providence House’s transitional facility – with Sister Janet Kinney circulated a petition collecting more than 400 signatures from residents in favor of the development. Meanwhile, Newbold and other neighbors are urging Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz to do something, and he recently released a statement about the plan recommending several major modifications to it.

Updated on August 28, 2010

The Morristown Police Department can alert subscribers to neighborhood-level emergencies and issues via cell phone text messages with photos and emails through Nixle, a community alert network.

Reported on July 10, 2010

MORRISTOWN, N.J.—What does a bear on South Street and a $7,200 SL3 bike stolen from Marty’s Reliable Cycle Shop have in common? Both earned a spot on Morristown’s community alert network. An unidentified homicide victim in Newark was returned to his family with the alert’s help.

The man slain in Newark was returned to his Bernardsville family after the Essex County prosecutor’s office, which believed the victim lived in the area, contacted the Morristown Police Department, which broadcast a Nixle alert. The Bernardsville Police Department identified the man but the killer was not found, according to Stuart Greer, a detective in the Morristown Police Department.

People want news instantly, police officers are not everywhere and technology is costly. Partnering with Nixle Community Information Service, starting this week, the Morristown Police Department can alert subscribers to neighborhood-level emergencies and issues via cell phone text messages with photos and e-mails. Alerts can include information on road closures, traffic, weather-related incidents, missing persons, wanted persons, child abduction attempts, burglaries and suspicious criminal activity in real time, thus improving public safety.

The department, which did not have an existing instant alert mechanism, joins surrounding communities like Chatham Township, Madison, New Providence, Hanover Township and Morris Plains as well as cities throughout the country that use Nixle.

More than 4,000 agencies nationwide have partnered with Nixle since 2009. It is not clear how many New Jersey agencies are included since phone calls to Nixle’s Mount Laurel headquarters were not returned. Nixle’s partnership with International Justice and Public Safety Network, an international computer-based message system that links local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, prompted police departments’ participation.

Privately funded, Nixle makes money, according to its website, through technology licensing and sales to the private sector.

With police department budgets frozen or slashed, the technology-driven network adds more public safety at no cost to the department or subscribers, other than standard text message rates.

“Like most smaller police departments, Morristown doesn’t have the budget to pay for a secure system like Nixle,” said Greer, who noted that supervisors are trained in decision-making for posting alerts.

Subscribers can log onto www.nixle.com, enter zip codes to follow, and an e-mail address and cell phone number for alerts to be sent. For text alerts only, users can text the zip codes they want to receive alerts about to 888777. Nixle keeps user identities anonymous.

For people who do not text or e-mail but have a computer, Greer suggests going to the Nixle website. The downside is that it does not have the immediacy that texts and e-mails offer.

Police Chief John Paton of Chatham Township said he used Nixle mostly for road closure alerts in the past year. On July 8, he alerted residents that the township’s water was safe to drink despite its “colored” nature.

Chad Rybka, a police officer in the Madison Police Department, said Nixle stopped a contractor’s scam in May. “Unfortunately, the incident did not result in an arrest but the resident did not become another victim,” he said.

Nixle is credited with assisting law enforcement personnel in Fayetteville, N.C., with an arrest in June after police broadcast an alert containing surveillance camera photos and information about a break-in. At a shopping mall in Amarillo, Texas, police captured a fugitive wanted for aggravated robbery and probation violation after an alert was sent out in January.

The bike and bear? The bike was not recovered and the bear went away without incident, said Greer.

More stories by Stacey