Media Coverage - 2004
Gallery Opens
The Brooklyn Papers, December 25, 2004
By Lisa J. Curtis
Lurita “LB” Brown celebrated the opening on Dec. 16 of her new Clinton Hill Art Gallery. The first exhibit in brown’s new space is “Untried: A Maiden Voyage,” with workds by Brooklyn painters and sculptors from South of the Navy Yard Artists (SONYA) and the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coialition (BWAC) as well as those that have exhibited in her other space Clinton Hill Simply Art Gallery at 538 Myrtle Ave. at Classon Ave.
(Read more at The Brooklyn Paper).
Transforming an Unappealing Street
The New York Times, December 12, 2004
By Lisa Chamberlain
When Thomas Schutte took over as president of Pratt Institute in 1993, he said, one of the first things he discovered was the frustration that students felt about their adopted home. Sitting in Clinton Hill not far from where it meets Fort Greene, Pratt Institute, which was founded in 1887, was not exactly in Harvard Square. So Mr. Schutte took it upon himself to contribute to the revitalization of the neighborhood, known for its race and class diversity.
"Myrtle Avenue was not an enticing street," Mr. Schutte said. "It was unsafe; it had years of graffiti and terrible litter problems and drug problems. So I decided we needed to do something about it. I knew the neighborhood and the students needed that street to be transformed."
Mr. Schutte assembled a small group of volunteers, which eventually became the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project. Five years after its founding, local merchants gathered recently on a rainy fall day to celebrate a rather unexpected outcome of the kind of progress that MARP set in motion. Women have become the leading entrepreneurs in the neighborhood. Eight new businesses that have opened up on or near Myrtle Avenue in the past two years are all owned by women, many of whom live nearby. (Read more at The New York Times).
Myrtle Ave. BID Raises the Stakes
Crain's New York Business, November 22, 2004
Less than two weeks ago, Brooklyn's Myrtle Avenue became the first new
Business Improvement District in New York City this year, thanks to its energized business community and the aid of a local university.
The BID will focus on sprucing up the 20-block shopping area that spans the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods. On the agenda are sanitation services, graffiti removal, holiday lighting, sidewalk sweeping and improved signage on the strip between Flatbush and Classon avenues. (Read more at Crains New York Business).
Myrtle Ave BID to Help Improve Biz
The Brooklyn Paper, November 20, 2004
By Jess Wisloski
Merchants and politicians crammed into the Frosted Moon Emporium, a 450-square-foot gift shop on Fort Greene's Myrtle Avenue, Nov. 12 to usher in the latest in a string of women-owned businesses on the commercial strip, and to celebrate Mayor Michael Bloomberg's signing of a bill legislating the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District, the first in Brooklyn under his nearly 3-year-old administration.
The Myrtle Avenue BID will levy fees to landlords, portions of which may in turn be passed on to tenants, in exchange for providing enhanced security, sanitation and other services, according to the acting director of the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project, Michael Blaise Backer. It will have a $250,000 annual budget. (Read more at The Brooklyn Paper).
SBS Commissioner Celebrates Two Myrtle Openings
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 19, 2004
On Friday, November 12, Department of Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Robert W. Walsh attended a ribbon cutting for two new women-owned businesses and a celebration of a new Business Improvement District (BID) on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.
Mayor Bloomberg signed the local law creating the BID on November 9. It is the third BID formed under the Bloomberg Administration and the first new BID in Brooklyn. (Read more at The Brooklyn Daily Eagle).
Legislation Signed for First Brooklyn BID
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 12, 2004
By Gina Osnovich
Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week signed legislation to officially create the first new Brooklyn Business Improvement District (BID) of his administration, the third in the city, the Myrtle Avenue BID.
"The first bill before me today is introductory Number 411, sponsored at the request of the Administration by Council Members Weprin and James. This bill establishes the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Business Improvement District," said the mayor, at the signing. (Read more at The Brooklyn Daily Eagle).
Roped In
The Brooklyn Paper, April 10, 2004
By Chiara V. Cowan
"I come here for the board," says Joe Vitale, 28, of Fort Greene, as he points to the tiny blackboard of daily specials behind the bar at Rope, on Myrtle Avenue. "All of the deals are awesome!"
Rope's happy hour runs from 5:30 to 8 pm, boasting $1 off everything, every day. Pabst Blue Ribbon is just a buck all night long on Mondays. Yuengling is $3 - all the time. And perhaps the best deal at Rope is its free pizza every Tuesday at 8 pm. (Read more at The Brooklyn Paper).
Myrtle Avenue the Hot New Strip
The Brooklyn Paper, March 27, 2004
By Deborah Kolben
Parents looking for that perfect camouflage diaper bag or ironic "onesie" sporting a picture of AC/DC lead guitarist Angus Young or Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara need took no further than a new chartreuse boutique on Myrtle Avenue.
Yes, Myrtle Avenue.
Once better known as "murder avenue," the major thoroughfare is going through a revival of its own these days bringing health food stores, trendy bars and even stylish pint-sized duds. (Read more at The Brooklyn Paper).
Karrot Sticks
The Brooklyn Paper, March 27, 2004
By Tina Barry
He may be biased, but Carlos Aguila truly believes the "best smoothie in Brooklyn" can be found at Karrot, his newly opened health food store in Clinton Hill.
Aguila, who dubs himself "the hardest working health food man in Brooklyn," says the success of the store's signature Blueberry Jubilee smoothie lies in "the whole lot of love" lavished on the drink by Rafael Infante, Karrot's "Juiceologist." (Read more at The Brooklyn Paper).
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