The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Cortelyou Road? Not so surprising, considering...

In the spirited discussion that followed my recent post about past efforts to attract new bourgie businesses to Flatbush Avenue, I jumped into the fray and suggested that if people are serious about changing the tenor of the ave, they should organize along the lines of the star-crossed Prospect Lefferts United for Services (PLUS). And someone, I think it was Alexis, brought up Cortelyou Road. Well...funny thing. That was one of the things I was researching as a sidebar to the story, and I came across a somewhat illuminating article by Idil Abshir in The Brooklyn Ink that described exactly the kind of scenario that Mark Dicus et al were trying to make happen here. Though etiquette suggests you click the link above, some just can't be bothered to click, so I excerpt a bit here, hopefully with the author's indulgence:

Jan Rosenberg, who has lived here [ditmas park] since 1986, says that the neighborhood was drastically different when she moved in. “The houses were more deteriorated and in need of repairs,” she said. “The main difference was that it was much more dangerous.”  Rosenberg was a sociology professor at Long Island University in downtown Brooklyn before she ventured in to the real estate business. She is currently a partner at Brooklyn Hearth Realty. In 2001, Rosenberg founded Friends of Cortelyou- a group that sought to attract business to Cortelyou Road. [theQ's ed. note - the acronym would therefore have been FoC, with a hard consonant "c," but somehow it never became common parlance in polite company. ]
There were no new businesses drawn to the area. Friends of Cortelyou tried to attract merchants, convinced that this could redefine the neighborhood. “Our commercial strip is so short. I strongly felt, after looking at other neighborhoods, that three or four new businesses would make an impact, ” said Rosenberg. “We had nice houses and nice apartments but no businesses.” Rosenberg clarified that while useful stores existed, like the delis and dollar stores, nothing was in place that neighborhood residents were drawn to. Rosenberg went on to say that her work developing Cortelyou Road, and her current job as a realtor was never a far departure from sociology. “I got into real estate as a function of what I was doing with Friends of Cortelyou- trying to change Cortelyou Road,” Rosenberg said. “It was kind of applied sociology.”

So yes, an economic development group is often a catalyst to get folks thinking about attraction, and it leads to things that lead to things that lead to things. Then, there's further, and ultimately odd, chunk of the story:

Susan Siegel, the creator of the farmer’s market at Cortelyou, and later the executive director of the Flatbush Development Corporation said the changes to Cortelyou Road were absolutely necessary, because the area was experiencing ‘economic leakage.’ Nobody was investing or spending in the neighborhood. “We liked that it’s not Park Slope, but at the same time there was so much missing. We spent more money outside the neighborhood than in it,” Siegel said. “If I needed to cook something with broccoli or arugula I had to leave the neighborhood.” [emphasis theQ's]

Siegel says that the farmer’s market is at the core of the neighborhood. “The farmer’s market is like the town square,” Siegel said. “It was a way that all diverse neighbors could come together for the first time ever. It was a real community builder.”
The challenges Siegel faced involved getting people to come to the market, and proving to existing businesses that the market wasn’t going to take away their business: something that was easily achieved since the market provided goods that resident had to leave Flatbush to find. Business owners faced different challenges. One of the current owners of Picket Fence, one of the first restaurants to open during Cortelyou Road’s renaissance, said that it was a huge risk for the original owner of the place. “He took the gamble and didn’t know if there would be a payoff,” said Roma Agarwal a joint owner since 2007. “But he saw the incentive, he saw the market here.”
So Siegel took the "friends of" group one step further to become a "corporation," which by all accounts is a major player down there. But here's the irony to the foodie bit...there was always good raw food in the neighborhood - the Flatbush Food Coop has been around on Cortelyou since 1985, albeit in a smaller storefront than the minor behemoth of today.  Heck I remember wandering into that Coop in the early 90's, a bit grunged-around-the-collar, and laughing at the ridiculously named vegetables, fresh herbs and hippie leaning brands. I find it odd that the Coop isn't even mentioned by Siegel, who claims she had to leave the neighborhood for coop staples as arugula or broccoli. And by the way, you don't have to WORK at this Coop to enjoy the food...though it can be a bit pricey by Park Slope Food Coop standards. Curious. Personally, I think the farmer's market is cute, but there ain't much to it, and I can't imagine it trumped the bourgie places like Picket Fence and Farm on Adderly as catalysts. Still, some enterprising fool could start a farmer's market at the mall of the Q at Parkside, and I suspect it'd be a sleeper hit. There was talk recently of a group coming in to do an "artisan" market as well. Me, I'm still thinking fountain, but I just so love a good water feature!

So to the question at hand I pose this: yes, it takes the neighborhood cleaning up its act. Yes it helps to have a couple of strong civic groups pushing the agenda, even a B.I.D., or at the very least an actually functioning merchant's association. And most importantly it takes even just one or two intrepid entrepreneurs (Play Kids?) to start a landslide.

But here's the real difference: Cortelyou was a no man's land, hurting even for foot traffic. Flatbush is a thriving, if salon-heavy, avenue with tons and tons and tons of traffic, foot and otherwise. What we have here is no Franklin, or Cortelyou, or even Dekalb or Smith. We have the tri-state epicenter for wigs, styling, braiding and weaves and nails, with a massive contingent of West Indian cuisine and curios. (editor's note: I changed the next sentence to better reflect what I wanted to say, since I got wacked for my last sentence!) This is why so many come from all over to spend money here, and we should work WITH that powerful starting place rather than clean slate approach elsewhere. I favor a cleanup approach - drugs, gangs, garbage - that needless hold back the positive existing businesses and keep others from starting. Each block could and should deliver services to a wide range of folks, and then our main street could become the envy of diversity and local ingenuity.

I'm still annoyed by that arugula and broccoli quote though.

17 comments:

babs said...

Hence my emphasis on Rogers Ave over Flatbush.

Anonymous said...

So do it, Babs! That's awesome. Some of us will focus on Flatbush instead. The key amenities are the park, the new ice rink coming there, the zoo, the botanic gardens and we just can't have the gateway to the neighborhood looking like crap. Or have the commercial ave most people walk along to get to the park or get to the Q offering insufficient services and goods. Thanks Tim for this and keep it up. We are and will be fully supportive of an organized effort to work on Flatbush Ave.

babs said...

Doing my best, but just starting: http://www.wbmay.com/propertydetail.aspx?listingid=994918&from=search Floor plans and photos coming next week, but this is a great space - 1100 sf on the ground floor, plus a back garden, as well as the possibility of outdoor seating in front. It's very close to Bow Wow Pet Spa, Landmark Antiques, and the Lefferts Gardens Montessori School. Imagine taking a break for a coffee and bagel after dropping your tot off for school, or enjoying lunch while you pup gets a beauty treatment! Come on entrepreneurs, you know you're out there! Check it out - and more to come.

babs said...

It is odd that the tale doesn't talk about the FFC, and the Cortelyou Rd. farmer's market pales by comparison to that at GAP, but I LOVE your idea for one on Parkside!! I've already written to GrowNYC (the City agency that administers the Greenmarket progam) to see how we could get one there. While I was there, I also noticed that they have a Kickstarter fund-raising drive on for a NYC public school recycling program - they've got 8 days to go and need to raise over $7K - but every little bit helps, so check it out: http://kck.st/nhLcCu.

Alexis said...

” Siegel said. “If I needed to cook something with broccoli or arugula I had to leave the neighborhood.” [emphasis theQ's]

She couldn't find broccoli or arugula at the founded-in-the-seventies Flatbush Food Co-Op?

And the Farmer's Market...It may be a more vital part of the community now but it was more of a joke in the beginning; a couple of sad booths manned by some desperate-looking salesfolk. It took awhile to make it work and I think calling it the heart of the community is a vast overselling.

I say all of this to say that the upscaling of Courtelyou Rd (or probably any other commercial stretch) looks a lot more like an easy narrative with heroes and leaps forward than it does at the time. There has been a Food Co-Op for a really long time and 3 other grocery stores for a small neighborhood so it's ridiculous to try to rewrite Ditmas Park as some sort of food desert when it was just bereft of restaurants.

It's also ridiculous to overlook the fact that Ditmas Park still doesn't have a rich shopping experience beyond food and that services are still lacking. It's a complicated picture. We should all look at other neighborhoods but beware those who like to present themselves as heroes or don't acknowledge the fits and starts.

Alexis said...

"We have the tri-state epicenter for wigs, styling, braiding and weaves and nails, with a massive contingent of West Indian cuisine and curios. Which is why I favor a cleanup approach - drugs, gangs, garbage - and at least give new businesses a fighting chance to survive, whatever their flavor."

It's telling that cleaning up drugs, gangs and garbage and a proliferation of hair and nail salons and West Indian stores is all somehow connected in your mind.

Gary of PLG said...

Not to harp on the density issue, but if you look at the southern neighbors of Cortelyou Rd you'll find a lot of mid-size apartment houses that resemble Patio Gardens in age and feeling. I believe that the blocks of beautiful one family homes wouldn't support a hip commercial strip. I think that those apt bldgs have been found by twenty/thirty something's to be low cost, quality housing close to the Q. Clearly that trend is happening here as well which hopefully will be noted by prospective commercial tenants. I've heard it said and I believe that Ocean Avenue is the key to how Flatbush Ave develops.

babs said...

There are a great many apartment buildings east of Rogers Avenue; additionally none of the buildings around Cortelyou Rd are the size of Patio Gardens (they're primarily 6-story pre- and post-wars), although I agree there are a lot of them. Also, I'm pretty sure Flatbush-area apartment dwellers wouldn't be adverse to walking two blocks over to Rogers for a nice restaurant or cafe either. And, again, it's all part of creating a destination place for people outside of the immediate neighborhood as well - I go down to Cortelyou Road to eat (and shop sometimes, at TB Ackerson's wines, the FFC (though I hate their prices), Sycamore (for flowers AND a beer or glass of wine), and Market) several times a month, and I'm sure many others do too.

babs said...

Also, how many young hipster Ocean Avenue and area dwellers do you know who have the money to really patronize more upscale places? A PBR at LPT is the best a lot of the people I know in those buildings can afford. Hopefully, as their disposable incomes increase so will the offerings nearby - but in the meantime I think we really need to count on more established residents - yes, Manor dwellers as well as residents of the various co-op buildings in the area, including 50 Lefferts and the several on Hawthorne St and even going as far south at Lenox Rd or Martense St.(not in PLG but certainly within walking distance). I'm too old to really appreciate the vibe at most of the current neighborhood offerings - I want to be able to have a decent glass of wine, a more refined atmosphere, and a more imaginative menu selection than what's currently available in the area, and I think there are many who feel the same way.

Gary of PLG said...

The shape of things to come?

http://nyti.ms/rAkOnw

babs said...

Yes, I saw that article, too. It's really funny to me how that one guy says "We want to be Park Slope.". If he wants Park Slope, why doesn't he move there? I think one thing most all of us agree on is that we don't want to be Park Slope (although I like it a lot and am there several times a week for business and pleasure). Some of their points are a bit over the top, some not so much. Good link!

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Alexis and I are having an argument. You can read her comment earlier in the string to see why, if such things interest you! I prefer constructive comments, but generally I tolerate it all. Both my response to her, and hers to me, are beyond my general preference for restraint. Remember, if you have something nasty to say to me, please do so directly to my email so we can have a dialogue, not a cat fight. cheers! t

Anonymous said...

Young hipsters don't eat and drink out frequently because they're rich. It's because they're single. It's what singles do. Not usually what nester couples or one-family-house marrieds-with-kids do. We hire an evening babysitter probably the most frequently of those we know here and still only do that once or twice a month. A commercial revival anywhere in the neighborhood will need to be well supported by the young single renters, no way around it. Common sense. Restaurants make their money off their bar. They need customers who drink.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused when people like Alexis fear so much PLG could become Park Slope. There are some very key factors that will keep that from happening. Park Slope has the density PLG will never have. PLG is a pretty small neighborhood. People just want a little more offerings. Somebody hoping to see more variety than the exact same businesses on every single block isn't out of line or unreasonable in expressing that. I do agree with Alexis that although I envy some of what Cortelyou has, that street isn't ALL that. I like the vibrancy and energy of Flatbush. And there was another article about a fight over the one public playground for kids to play on in all of Ditmas Park because it was too noisy for a nearby building. That's hardly enviable. I have Ditmas people in the park several who come over to OUR park playground.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that's "I have met" Ditmas people in the park who come to our playground.

babs said...

I totally agree that single people and childless couples eat out way more often than people with kids; I'm just saying that many of the people you're referring to("hipsters") in the buildings around Flatbush don't have a lot of money to spend on dining out. Yes, they go out frequently, but, as I said, it's for $3 cans of PBR and maybe a shot, not wines at $10 or so a glass. The atmosphere of the places they frequent is also different; all I'm saying is that it would be nice to have a place for the grown-ups (and there are many in this neighborhood, myself included - I'm single, go out frequently, etc., and am tired of having to leave the neighborhood for a nice place) to go.

babs said...

And many people come from all over to go to the Imagination Playground here in the Park; it's an award-winning space that has been widely publicized for its innovative design (another reason to be proud of PLG!). I know lots of parents who engage frequently in "playground tourism," taking their kids all over in search of new experiences. The incident you are referring to in Ditmas Park was primarily over the extended hours in one playground (PS 139) and its use by groups of older children after hours who left trash strewn about - a similar problem has occurred at PS 282 in Park Slope.