The outdoor Albee Square Public Plaza off Fulton Street Mall in Downtown Brooklyn has its sights set on becoming a foodie outpost. The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is searching for a single market operator to select a number of food, wine, beer and crafts vendors to fill more than dozen spaces within the 27,000-square-foot space.

Kevin Tolan, Director of BID Services & Programs for the Partnership, tells DNAInfo.com that it’s looking to “activate Downtown Brooklyn’s public spaces while supporting local vendors,” with fresh food, prepared foods, and arts & crafts.

Albee Square Plaza at Bond & Fulton Streets celebrated its renovated completion a year ago, June 24. It is at the center of a burgeoning shopping district that includes retailers Aldo, Macy’s, and Aeropostale, along with incoming H&M, T.J. Maxx and Express. The locale also buttresses the mammoth City Point multi-use project, which will comprise retail, residential and Brooklyn’s first Century 21 clothing outlet.

Market operator applications are due August 6 with a pre-bid information session July 15 at the Fulton Mall Improvement Association’s offices.

(Photo: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/44487

They’re not giving up. At the beginning of April, State Senator Daniel Squadron and City Council Member Steve Levin led a rally to return the annual Macy’s 4th of July fireworks to the East River. Since 2009, the historic annual display has been based along the Hudson, stealing views from residents of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan’s East Side, instead aiming them toward New Jersey.

Now Squadron, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and BP Marty Markowitz have launched an online petition “urging Macy’s not to leave Brooklyn and Queens in the dark. Bring the fireworks back to the East River so everyone can enjoy the show.”

At a press conference Thursday, the pols declared that they are again trying to convince Macy’s to bring the fireworks home, where they were based for 32 years before moving four years ago. As BHB previously reported, Macy’s has maintained that the move was temporary to celebrate Henry Hudson’s voyage up the river. But this “temporary” is beginning to smell a lot more like “long term.”

Meanwhile, poor Hoboken, N.J., put a warning on its community webbie warning of potential gridlock as “tens of thousands” are expected to flood the locale. Apparently, the community doesn’t have the moxie of Brooklyn, eh?

NYC Mayor Bloomberg, meanwhile, was unusually demure when asked about the location of fireworks: “It’s up to Macy’s. They’re paying for it. You know, I’d love to see it move back and forth… but in the end, it’s their call.”

If you’re in favor of bringing one of the greatest free shows of the summer back to Brooklyn please sign that petition here.

(Photo: Squadron & de Blasio/Gothamist)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43130