Nannies outside of the Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble stores on Greenwich and Warren streets, TriBeCa. Photo: Laurah Winder

Reported on August 20, 2011

Lower Manhattan neighborhoods—a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks—have been able to spring back faster than what was imagined at the time of the devastation. Government grants and incentives to attract people to move into the area have played a big role in this recovery.

For Courtney Jesinkey and Dave Barnett, a couple who are in their early 30s, the desire to feel a sense of community brought them to Tribeca. In mid-July, they moved into what is now the tallest residential building on the East Coast, the 76-story Frank Gehry building on Beekman and Spruce streets. The couple felt secluded and out of touch with social activities in their Upper Westside neighborhood.

“People are a different breed [in this neighborhood] than what I have experienced in my 12-plus years in the city. From restaurants to bars, customer service to people on the street, there is just a positive atmosphere and a more relaxed state than the normal and expected pace of New York City,” said Barnett.

Longtime resident, actor Robert DeNiro, founded The Tribeca Film Festival, with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2002, with a mission in mind. It was to help renew and rebuild the economy of Lower Manhattan through film, culture and music in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Ceremonies to honor the victims marked the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. http://www.911memorial.org/?gclid=CLfgu8il3KoCFcnc4AoduUZX-A.

Organizers of the film festival wanted the event to bring to the area the cachet otherwise reserved for Hollywood. During the first year of The Tribeca Film Festival, there were only two movies shown. But since then the list has grown, and as of April 2011, there were 185 movies shown. The festival also expanded to five locations beyond the neighborhoods borders.

Jesinkey, a new Tribeca resident, said, “Early on, my entire New York City life was spent in Alphabet City. I swore I would never move above 14th Street.” But after she met Barnett, she moved to the Upper Westside.

“As much as we loved the surrounding area, it was not a good fit for us. We longed for a neighborhood that felt less suburban and more ‘city.’ This neighborhood is a perfect mix of both,” Jesinkey said. “This area offers a genuine sense of charm, confidence and pride that I never knew existed.”

But some people who were residents of Tribeca at the time of the attacks are wary about the location.

Ivana Kaufman said she stayed and bought a loft, with her husband and two children, because she was offered a price below market value. She said the memory of devastation from the attacks is never far from her mind, especially when she thinks about health-related issues that might stem from the attacks. Kaufman said her long exposure to the area could lead to health problems that haven’t surfaced yet. The family has lived in the same building for more than nine years. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/background/addressingscore.shtml

The infusion of millions of dollars in federal funding has helped draw people to Lower Manhattan, fueling a surge in population. City statistics that group Tribeca, Soho, Civic Center and Little Italy for the count show a 16 percent in population to 42,742 last year from 36,757 in 2000. The neighborhood elementary school, Independence P.S. 234, has a waiting list of students and has had to rezone its boundaries. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/mn01_info.shtml

The neighborhood offers seven nearby dog parks and bike trails on both the East and West sides of Tribeca.  The bustling Whole Foods Store that shines in the center below a massive always-crowded Barnes and Noble store, are signs of a community that has recovered.  As early as 2006, Forbes Magazine ranked Tribeca as the city’s the most expensive neighborhood.

Businesses are thriving. The owners are finding themselves having to keep up with the demand for new products that didn’t have a space on the shelves before the attacks. They are seeing new businesses that didn’t exist years ago. There is a Tracey Anderson Method Studio, which has been known to cater to Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and Nicole Richie. High-end loft apartments have celebrity residents who are actors and entertainers, including Jay-Z and Beyonce.

During the dark days after the attacks, businesses all across Greenwich Street pitched in by opening their doors in the evening to the local residents so they could have a meal at night—for free. Now, the owner of Gee Whiz, Chris Panayiotou, said he is amazed at how drastically the area changed.

Rachel Baker, a resident of Tribeca who left the area after the 9/11 attacks, remembers how the acts of terrorism forced her to evacuate her building for 11 days. “I was so angered by the circus of tourists and reporters who came to the area to climb lampposts to take pictures of the ever- smoldering buildings.” Her mother decided to stay in the same apartment.

“You think to yourself, it can happen anywhere, at any time. We stayed [her mother and grandmother],” said Baker, who added that when she goes back to visit her mother, she is surprised to see how different the community is now. “When I look at the community, in the shape it’s in today, it’s as if 9/11 never happened.”

Baker said although she has moved out of the area, she has been left with an upper respiratory condition for the rest of her life.

The city has continued to work hard to build the downtown community both structurally as well as emotionally, and is dealing with concerns the Tribeca neighborhood has about health issues. According to the 2010 Annual Report on 9/11 Health, well-documented studies have tracked a variety of respiratory problems with people who have lived and worked in the area during the past 10 years. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/background/funding.shtml

Barnett, who lives in the Gehry building, concluded, “9/11 will always be on my mind. What the area does is continue to remind me to never forget what happened and live every day of your life to the fullest. I should hope every New Yorker feels the same, living downtown, or not.”

458 Passaic Street, an old car dealership, is designated for rehabilitation. Photo credit: Danielle Bennett

Reported on Sept. 9, 2011

Rehabilitation plans for 458 Passaic St. got a boost after the Hackensack, N.J., planning board approved the conversion and renovation of the site from a car dealership to a single or multi-use retail space.

The board recognized at a June 8 hearing that the 25,000-square-foot property needed to be renovated. The Passaic Street site was a Saab dealership that has been closed for about 10 years. Since Hackensack Ventures purchased the property for $2 million in 2008, the company has submitted three different applications to redevelop the property.

Charles Sarlo, who represents Hackensack Ventures, does not anticipate that there will be any opposition to the redevelopment of the property. “I don’t think so, I mean, you never know. You can never be certain about anything.” No one objected to the rehabilitation at the June 8 hearing.

Once the board’s resolution is published in the newspaper, individuals or groups have 45 days to appeal the resolution. If the resolution is not appealed, Evan Architects will submit updated designs to the city’s construction department for approval.

Developer Kami Rehanian of Hackensack Ventures, is actively marketing to retailers and supermarket vendors, according to Sarlo.

Peter Munshi, 68, manager of Jay Liquors and Fine Wines, which is directly across the street from 458 Passaic St., believes a residential property would be better than a commercial property at the site. “All kinds of businesses are here.” Munshi would support a supermarket, however.

Other businesses in the area, overall, put their support behind rehabilitating the property for retail use. Pete Parascand, 50, owner of Green Olive Restaurant, believes it would be a benefit to everybody and that his business would get new customers. Laura Caruso, manager of Dazzles Hair and Nails agrees. “It would be nice to see something over there,” said Caruso.

Rose DiPardo owns Tony’s Custom Tailor. She has been in business for 41 years. She supports the rehabilitation of the 458 property, which she calls, “kind of a sore eye,” since it has been vacant.

Some residents who live behind the property have varying opinions about the 458 rehabilitation project. Ryan Walsh, 30, who has lived at his home for a year has no concerns. Walsh’s neighbor, Francisco Valenzuela, 29, and his sister-in-law, Grace, 26, don’t feel the same way. Their family has lived in their home for more than 10 years. They mention parking, pollution and noise as some of their concerns.  “I don’t like to see a parking lot. I don’t like the way it is now. A marketplace would be okay,” said Valenzuela.

Stephen G.Herold is a real estate appraiser whose family business, Herold Appraisal Group, faces the vacant 458 property. He fully supports a change to the site. “Any development from a vacant building will be good […] better than a shell of a building.”

Hidemi Takagi speaks to a visitor and hands out candy purchased from 35 different immigrant neighborhoods in New York City at the opening of her new exhibit "Blender" at the Times Square Visitior Center. Photo: Bogdan Mohora

Reported on Aug. 6, 2011

A series of 95 color-saturated photographs—all shots of food displayed on trash cans—has positioned itself in Times Square. The new art installation by Japan-born artist Hidemi Takagi captures food that is canned, wrapped and boxed and is from 47 countries.

To create “Blender” as the exhibit is titled, Takagi didn’t have to travel to Ghana, Mexico or the Dominican Republic to find the variously packaged items.  Everything she photographed was purchased from shops in 35 different immigrant neighborhoods in New York City, such as Sunnyside, Ridgewood and Woodside.

“The packing of these products is a form of art that tells the stories and helps remind people that their culture is alive,” said Takagi, who moved to New York City from Kyoto in 1997 and studied at the International Center of Photography and the National Academy of Design.

From a custom-made, turquoise food cart with a red umbrella, just inside the doors of the Times Square Visitor Center, Takagi greeted visitors Thursday when the installation opened in the bustling district. They were given plastic bags containing imported items such as chocolate-coated jelly candy from Poland, glucose fruit candy from Ireland and instant coffee from Malaysia.  Inside each bag also were descriptions of the neighborhood in which the item was bought, the name of the shop and the country from which it was imported.

On the walls of the entrance, Takagi’s photos are shown on seven, large video screens.  “Blender” is the first public art installation to be projected inside the entrance to the Times Square Visitor Center, according to the Times Square Alliance.

“Every day hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world seamlessly mingle in Times Square making it the perfect stage to spotlight Hidemi Takagi’s unique images, which offer us all a lens into New York’s immigrant communities and culture,” said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, in a news release.

Outside, all of Takagi’s photos grace the sides of 25 trash cans scattered around the Broadway plazas.

“In this space dominated by gigantic images of global products and brands, these small products have a powerful emotional connection to home for many from Egypt, Colombia, Hungary, Serbia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Senegal and 40 other countries,” said Glenn Weiss, manager of Public Art and Design for the Times Square Alliance.

According to the Office of the Mayor, New York City’s immigrant population more than doubled to 3 million in 2011 from roughly 1.4 million in 1970.   Immigrants now make up nearly 40 percent of the city’s population and 49 percent of all self-employed workers.

In March, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg launched a series of initiatives to support and encourage immigrant-owned businesses in New York City.   One was a business expo that showcased locally-based immigrant food manufacturers and focused on linking their products with consumers across the country.

Takagi’s work is on display at 46th Street and Seventh Avenue through the month of August.

A resident of Crotona Park East in the Bronx walking along Boone and 173rd street, an old industrial area with empty warehouses that will be rezoned. Photo: Jocelyne Sambira

Reported on June 25, 2011

A local government unit in the South Bronx has approved a $400 million development project in the Crotona Park East and West Farms area.

Signature Urban Properties, a private real estate group, has purchased 5 acres in the area and is promising to build 10 high-rise buildings, with 1,200 units, a school and retail shops in the area.

The plan will take 7 years to complete. Twenty percent of the new development area will be reserved for affordable housing, according to the group’s proposal. The group is asking the city to rezone an entire 11-block area stretching over an old industrial area in West Farms to the more residential area of Crotona Park East.

Residents of the two neighborhoods have mixed feelings. Some want to profit from the business that the project promises to reel in. Jobs are badly needed and construction workers have their eye on the lucrative market. Meanwhile, the younger residents of Crotona worry they soon won’t be able to afford to live in the area.

A public meeting was organized by Bronx Community Board 3 to discuss the project at the Children’s Day Care Center on Fulton Avenue, on June 14. Construction workers and union leaders came in full force. They filled the room quickly, many of them huddled in the back of the room. The tension was palpable.

Mike Halperin, an organizer with Elevator Constructors Local 1 union made an appeal for fair wages.

“There are responsible contractors who pay the prevailing wage of the area. They give benefits to their employees, or they participate in benefit plans. And there are those who don’t who pay low wages, no fringe benefits and they keep people in poverty.”

Only two board members said they would support a stipulation in the contract with developers. Gifford Miller, 41, a former New York City Council speaker who is spearheading the project tried to quell their fears. As a council member in the past, he was involved in several rezoning projects.

“We plan to replace an industrial derelict area with a vibrant residential one. We hope to have a positive impact by providing good jobs and retail opportunities to local entrepreneurs,” said Miller.

“I do feel this is the best design I have seen since the housing boom in the late 1990s,” said Gale Nathan the executive director of Bronx River Art Center.

Many of the board members around the table nodded their heads in agreement. After a unanimous vote in favor of the project, people began to file out of the room.

Morgan Powell, a 29-year-old African-American landscape writer and designer was outraged.

“This is unvarnished gentrification,” he said.

Powell said he did not believe the local residents could afford to live in the area once the project was done.

“What else would you call market rate housing in a community where incomes are not rising? Then you have to ask yourself: Who would be able to afford these apartments once they become available?”

He was the only one to voice his dissent in a nearly empty room. The board had already moved on to the next item on their agenda.

Meanwhile, the head of the rezoning project, Gifford Miller maintains that affordable housing was key to the success of the project.

“We certainly plan to have a mix of income related opportunities that will complement the rest of the community and low and moderate income for housing. If we can’t, the development part won’t work. It needs to be affordable to the residents.”

Reported on Aug. 20, 2011

A 9/11 Memorial Monument was constructed in the village of Mount Kisco through all volunteer labor and funds under the guidance of veteran firefighters, and Mount Kisco residents, Rich Alexander and Paul Felice.

The village donated the land for the memorial and construction began in November 2010. The dedication and memorial ceremony will be held on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 at 4 p.m.

Rich Awn, 33, pours his homemade kombucha into a bottle for sale in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Aug. 20. He makes and sells the tea illegally out of his apartment in a neighborhood called Greenpoint, which has become a hub in recent months for local food producers. Photo: Anna Spinner

Reported on August 21, 2010

“Sorry about the smell,” said 33-year-old Rich Awn, referring to a sweet vinegary odor wafting through his Greenpoint apartment.  Awn is used to the scent, but it is not one you might expect from his clean and almost obsessively organized home.  The kitchen is spotless. Photos are arranged on the refrigerator with the precision of tiles.  Even the odor’s source is neat: eight glass bowls are evenly stacked above the kitchen cabinets and filled with golden liquid, gelatinous layers of bacteria and yeast floating atop.

Awn, a suntanned blonde who could have stepped out of a 1960s surf movie, sat at the kitchen table with his iPhone.  He was waiting for a customer to pick up a bottle of kombucha [pronounced kom-BOO-cha], a fermented tea he makes and sells out of his home illegally.

He is part of a growing Greenpoint local food movement manifest in projects ranging from backyard beekeeping to rooftop farming.  Even the local soup kitchen serves its own garden vegetables.  And many amateur cooks like Awn make and sell food out of home kitchens in violation of health codes, often saying the requirements for legitimacy are too expensive. But the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, which oversees food processing for resale, says its rules protect food safety and skirting regulations puts consumers at risk.

Awn got his start at the Greenpoint Food Market.  The homemade food market, held once a month, launched in September 2009.  After a June feature in the New York Times it attracted scrutiny from the New York City Departments of Agriculture and Markets and Health and Mental Hygiene for serving food by unlicensed, uninsured home cooks.

To prevent being shut down, Joann Kim, the market’s 26-year-old organizer, said she canceled the June sale and held a panel with representatives from the departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Agriculture and Markets,  New York City Councilman Steven Levin of the 33rd District, and vendors, including Awn, to discuss how to preserve the market and help cooks comply with health codes.

But when only a handful of about 100 vendors were legal before a planned July sale, Kim canceled the market indefinitely.  The main obstacle for cooks, she said, was cost.  For their goods to be legally ticketed and sold, they need licenses, insurance and must work in commercial kitchens unless making one of a few exempt foods. Since many artisanal cooks barely break even, Kim said the $200 per shift at New York’s two incubator kitchens sets the cost of legitimacy too high.

While some vendors are able to arrange special deals with restaurants to cook during off hours, which Awn is looking into, his profits would disappear if he rented space at an incubator kitchen. Selling 20 bottles of kombucha a week at $20 for new bottles and $15 for refills, his profits average $330 a week. Renting two weekly shifts at an incubator would cost $400 a week.

“There’s such a marginal profit here that it’s really about the enjoyment and the satisfaction I get out of it,” he said.

But commercial kitchens are required because their facilities are designed to protect consumers from food borne illness, said Jessica Ziehm, a 36-year-old spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.  Steel countertops are easier to sanitize than home countertops, which are often porous, and double-basin sinks help prevent cross-contamination, she explained.

“We’re not trying to make people’s lives difficult. We’re trying to help them ensure a safe product,” she said.

Councilman Levin said Greenpoint’s artisanal cooks are a local economic engine and he wants to help make their businesses viable.  In a June 23 letter to New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, Levin wrote: “The cost of renting a commercial kitchen is too high for most independent, start-up vendors.”

Awn acknowledges the need for regulations but he says he cooks for customers with the care he would for family.  He is hardly the only one working outside regulations.  Thirty-two-year-old Ben Sargent has a lobster roll business out of his Greenpoint basement, using underground status as a selling point.

In an Aug. 13 Facebook message signed Dr. Claw, Sargent told customers to bring $14 and “Make the exchange in a claw-shake when you meet the Doctor.”

Others say they are illegal by necessity.   Twenty-four-year-old Ben Israeli runs a homemade dessert delivery service. Only three weeks into business when interviewed, he said he was still losing money.

“Sure it’s illegal for now but if it gets bigger, the business starts to pay for itself and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t rent a commercial kitchen,” he said.

Awn, like many, did not begin making his product with an aim toward business.  He was brewing kombucha for himself and his then-girlfriend when they realized selling the tea could bring in extra cash.

“Finally we both had this idea that we should put a label on the stuff and try to sell it at a local market,” he said.

In November they hauled 20 one liter-sized bottles of Mombucha, named for Awn’s mother who used to make him drink her tea long before he developed a taste for it, to Kim’s market.  He sold out, much to the surprise of his proud mother who he said was “super-psyched,” and another of Awn’s  business ventures—including a nationally-syndicated radio feature, partnership in a SoHo restaurant, and real estate —was born.

Craig Shillitto, a 42-year-old architect who has known Awn for years, laughed when asked about Mombucha.

“I just think it’s funny that a guy like that chose to go sell his mom’s tea at a green market,” said Shillito.

Awn loves the do-it-yourself aspect of his business and Kim said Greenpoint Food Market customers were drawn to that too, flocking to Awn past another kombucha brewer whose product is in stores.

“The conversation and energy is completely different.  It’s like a total drug dealer relationship,” said Kim.

But Awn, like many artisanal cooks, wants to see his business grow and his product on shelves.

“I wish I could quit all my other jobs and just do this,” said Awn.

There is demand for local products, according to Cody Utzman, the 32-year-old executive chef and owner of several Greenpoint restaurants including Brooklyn Standard, a locally-sourced deli.

“People know it’s better.  There’s creativity in the packaging,” said Utzman.

And this can be enough for customers to pay much higher prices. A 24-ounce jar of pickles from Brooklyn Brine Co., a Greenpoint business, costs $9.29 at a store on Manhattan Avenue while a 32-ounce jar of Vlasic pickles sells for $3.49.  A year after launch, Brooklyn Brine Co. pickles are sold in more than 20 New York City stores including Whole Foods.

But Awn is not taking the financial leap to legally launch Mombucha, at least not until he can help others do the same.  He is partnering with Kim to create a nonprofit cooperative incubator that will give member cooks commercial kitchen space at a fraction of the cost charged by New York City’s existing incubators.

“The kitchen is going to be the hub not only for this product but also about 30 other products,” he said.

Awn and Kim are finalizing a business plan and have support and guidance from Levin, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, as well as contacts at the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Agriculture and Markets.  Shillitto will be the project’s architect.

The team is negotiating for a 5,000 square foot space to house the kitchen, a storefront to sell members’ products, an event venue, and a rooftop farm.  To use the kitchen and sell goods in the store, members will pay $200 a month and commit to work a set number of hours to maintain the business.

But business plans are not finalized and the space is still pending.    In the meantime, Awn juggles a few businesses, scraping together a living in part by selling fermented tea from his home.

He was eating from a bowl of cherries when his phone rang.

“Yo dude,” said Awn.

His customer was nearby.

Awn opened the door for Rebecca Brice, a 34-year-old bookkeeper who has bought Mombucha every few weeks since May.

The two chatted for a few minutes before he listed current flavors: white tea, black tea called Ruth’s Blend, and a new flavor called Blewbs, or bilberry.  Brice chose Blewbs.

Awn poured her a taste.

“Mmm it is good,” she said.

She was not bothered that his product is home-brewed. She said she bought kombucha in stores but never liked it until she tried Awn’s, which is sweeter and milder.

She pulled a glass bottle out of her bag.

Awn funneled tea into the bottle, pasted on a homemade label, and Brice was off.

“I’ll let you know when I need my next fix!” she called out from the door.

Moments later, the buzzer rang.  Brice was back.  Giggling, she gave Awn $15.  The monetary exchange had slipped both their minds.

More stories by Anna

Residents of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens have a variety of fast-food options. Photo: Melissa Smith.

Karen Oh, who lives in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, has decided to do something about the lack of healthy food options in her neighborhood.

“I think that any community, regardless of socioeconomic status or race, should have access to affordable high quality food,” Oh said.

On a three-block stretch of Empire Boulevard, there are five fast-food restaurants.  The main grocery option, Western Beef, does not carry enough fresh and organic foods, according to several residents. Oh, 38, who has lived in the neighborhood for four years, has trudged to the subway to get her groceries from neighboring Park Slope.

Oh rounded up some neighbors and started organizing the Lefferts Community Food Co-op.  And she is one of many co-op organizers throughout the city area. Co-ops are sprouting in Jersey City, N.J., and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Clinton Hill and Bedford Stuyvesant, to name a few.

Stuart A. Reid, 53, executive director of the Food Co-op Initiative, which advises co-op organizers on how to open successfully, says that within the last five years or so there has been a spike in interest to start co-ops in lower-income urban areas.

Socioeconomic disparities in health have, historically, put many of the city’s lower income communities, with oversaturated fast-food markets and inadequate grocery options, in the spotlight as symbols of unhealthiness and obesity, according to a 2009 report by the United States Department of Agriculture.  In Reid’s opinion, the recent national interest in nutrition is driving residents of underserved communities to want access to healthy food. But starting a co-op in a neighborhood with vast socio-economic and ethnic differences poses its fair share of obstacles.

Market research indicates that the best area for a co-op is an upper middle class educated white community,” said Reid.

The main challenge in opening a food co-op in an urban neighborhood is getting people who are undereducated about healthy eating to understand how the co-op will be a benefit to them since cost is typically not one.

“The price of Wonder Bread at a food co-op and at your local bodega will be the same. The price of organic wheat bread will be higher because it’s better quality,” Reid says.  Co-ops can make organic food more affordable but they can’t make it cost the same as its lower quality counterparts.

Oh wants to use the Park Slope Food Co-op as a guide —a member-only labor model where shoppers have a monthly work requirement to keep their membership. This way, staffing costs are not getting passed onto the consumer; ensuring the lowest possible price for high-quality food.

Oh’s co-op model is far from what was the norm in the food co-op boom of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The Park Slope Food Co-op began small in 1973 and in 37 years blossomed into the more than 12,000-member organization it is today. Oh envisions the genesis of her food co-op differently.

“I want this to look like an actual grocery store for the community from the beginning,” Oh said.

A critical part of successfully opening a co-op that serves a large community is getting enough people involved and signed on at the outset.  Oh and her team are focusing the lion share of their efforts on food education and outreach. They are pamphleteering the neighborhood and holding food education workshops in an effort to tap into the community. Nadia R. Williams, 32, a core member of the co-op’s outreach group, says, anecdotally, that the large West Indian community will help advance the co-op’s mission.

“Knowing West Indians – we want access to fresh fruits and vegetables like where we came from,” Williams said.

A study in the June 2007 Obesity Journal notes that foreign born blacks were 40% less likely to be obese than U.S.-born blacks. Yet, acculturation that follows in next generations has many immigrants adopting American eating habits.

Oh wants to open the Lefferts Community Food Co-op in fall 2012.

“It takes three to four years to change shopping habits,” Oh said.

Through her team’s extensive community outreach and education, Oh hopes, within the next two, to persuade people to make the switch.

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.

Watch the slideshow.

More stories by Will

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.