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| Jack & Rita Katz |
One of the area's longtime heroes has passed (story here from Eli Rosenberg of Brooklyn Daily). Jack Katz helped organize the Flatbush Ave Business Improvement District from Parkside on down to Cortelyou, and ran it for these many years. Along with capable friends and allies, he took an area from its grimmest to its giddiest, now a hugely popular shopping destination for comers far and wide. The streets are relatively clean of debris thanks to daily patrols by the BID's trash crew, and the festive holiday lights and decorations make it clear to anyone walking south on Flatbush that you have in fact entered a neighborhood that cares how it is perceived by the outside world. Jack was one of the last links to Flatbush's storied pass, but he wasn't so nostalgic not to recognize what the Flabenue could become for its current residents. Rather than kvetch about what once was, he believed in the people and businesses of Flatbush and worked for their betterment. He'll be missed.
Perhaps, in the transition that will inevitably follow, it would be possible for the BID to consider adding a few blocks to its northern border?
Below is a very exciting document detailing what the BID was and is all about. I know that Voltan Bagot of the soon-to-have-a-new-window-display Globe Electronics sits on its board. He may have even been responsible for opting out of FECMA, which became FEPMA. I'll ask him. The Mrs. misses that old display though.
1 comment:
Jack an Rita not so nice people. They built their wealth on the backs of the poor.
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