The Montague Street Business Improvement District filed a Wednesday evening update for businesses and local residents in the wake of all things storm-related. Highlights follow:
* Sanitation Collection: “Although not formally confirmed, it is expected garbage collections will resume either tonight or tomorrow morning along Montague Street. Recycling collections are suspended until further notice.”
* Aside from a few damaged parking and storefront signs and greater than average garbage and debris on the sidewalks, Montague Street suffered little damage from Hurricane Sandy.
* BID’s sanitation clean team began bagging trash and sweeping up leaves and other debris Wednesday. Services will continue throughout the week.
* No BID street furniture (including banners, hanging baskets and trash receptacles) was damaged.
* For retailers that suffered interruptions because of the storm, NYC’s Department of Small Business Services & the Economic Development Corp. are coordinating emergency loans and other services. Relevant info is here.
* For any business displaced, short-term “swing” office space is available at Brooklyn Army Terminal. Info here. (Photo: CT)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/50882

The Montague Street BID shares sanitation collection info with Brooklyn Heights’ residents & businesses: “DSNY will be on 12-hour split shifts, 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday. We will be picking up refuse and recycling, but encourage citizens to put waste out Tuesday morning to prevent cans blowing in the wind. Crews will also be deployed for debris cleanup.”

In addition, BID cautions: “Be mindful that downed wires can be hidden by tree limbs, leaves and water. Report all downed wires to Con Edison, 311 and local police.” Report an Electric Service Problem/Check Status here. For information about Hurricane Sandy, the City of New York’s Office of Emergency Management’s website is here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/50480

While Sunday’s second Montague Street BID Summer Space event included plenty of recreational activities, with music, games, dance, restaurant & retailer goodies, the main event was without a doubt the annual Brooklyn Heights Association-sponsored Dog Show, which offered prizes for: Best Treat Catcher, Best Tail Wagger, Best Hairdo, Coolest Ears, Best Trick, Cutest Medium-Big Dog, Most Affectionate, Cutest Small Dog and Dog Who Most Likes The Judges.

The show not only prompted dozens upon dozens of canine entries, but drew a massive crowd of hundreds of enthusiastic onlookers on Montague Street, between Henry and Hicks streets. Your correspondent was consumed pawning his wares down the block during his coop’s (well-timed) annual sidewalk sale, so no news on the victors… but for the many that visited the neighborhood, it couldn’t have been a more perfect advent for autumn. (More photos below)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48154

On August 1, the Montague Street Business Improvement District hired a new sanitation contractor, Block By Block, which BID says is a nationally recognized provider of supplemental sanitation and streetscape maintenance. Its team will be working year-round, seven days a week to keep Montague Street up to par.

The company brings to the neighborhood a “Special Projects” Ambassador to address specific maintenance issues, including graffiti removal, deep cleaning and other projects above and beyond typical cleaning services. Extended service hours will be in effect through the remainder of the summer during weekends. The new team’s uniforms are blue, with the Montague BID logo.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46956

Coming up Sunday, September 9th and September 23rd, the Montague Street BID presents its annual Summer Space, with a bevy of fun, free events. Closed to traffic and re-imagined as a pedestrian oasis from noon to 5 p.m. both Sundays, Montague Street restaurants will expand outdoor seating and hand out free samples, while other retailers will offer special promotions and services. Hundreds of tables and chairs will also line the street.

The fun includes opera by The Martha Cardona Theater; AfroBrazilian Samba Reggae by Batala New York City, an all women’s drumming band; Muzik by DJ Ricardo Campos; and dances by the Brooklyn Ballet’s Company and Youth Ensemble. The Brooklyn Heights Association will host the Third Annual Brooklyn Heights Dog Show September 23 from 1-3 p.m.; local dogs may be entered to win from a variety of categories. (For information about the dog show, visit www.thebha.org.)

In addition, there will be free outdoor yoga and Zumba classes, as well as chess tables, courtesy of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle; Etsy New York Team presenting craft-making demonstrations; and for the kids, a photo booth, scavenger hunt, hula-hoops and chalk drawing. For a full schedule of events & more details, click here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46220

Update: Following last evening’s hearing, a majority of the Community Board 2 Land Use Committee voted to approve the new owner’s request for a variance to re-convert the Bossert to transient hotel use. The matter will now go to the full Community Board for consideration. We’ll keep you posted.

David Bistricer, buyer of the Bossert Hotel, was on hand for this evening’s hearing before Community Board 2′s Land Use Committee on his application for a variance to reconvert the grande dame of Montague to a “transient hotel.” While he didn’t speak, his attorney and several consultants offered these assurances: (1) it will be a hotel–indeed, a “sophisticated and upscale” (but not too upscale) hotel–not a dorm; (2) the beautiful lobby won’t be altered, but will become home to a first-class restaurant; (3) there will also be dining on the roof, but it will be very quiet; and (4) their studies of likely increases in traffic from guests arriving by taxi, limo or private car (they have an arrangement with Quick Park for valet parking service) and from delivery trucks indicate that the impact, compared with present conditions under Watchtower ownership, is not “significant.”

So, who liked it? The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, citing, among other things, the new owner’s “commitment to local hiring”; Glenn Markman, co-owner of Heights Cafe and soon-to-open Della Rocco’s, who said it will attract more business and perhaps more people to move to the Heights; Karen Johnson (who discovered she had a namesake in the audience), who “feels confident it will be done correctly”; the Montague Street BID, whose Executive Director, Brigit Pinnell, said the real comparison to be made was with alternative uses for the building, which include a dorm, a social services facility, or medical offices; and Borough President Marty Markowitz, whose spokeswoman said it will “help Downtown Brooklyn’s business community to thrive.”

Who had doubts? Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Judy Stanton asked what controls are in place to assure that this will be, and remain, a first class hotel. Consultant Jeff Klein said that the design, level of service, and room rates should do the trick. Ms. Stanton then noted that if the projections were wrong, there could be a large increase in taxi traffic. She also said she was concerned about guests arriving by private car; in particular, that they might have to wait in idling cars for valet service. Spokesmen for the buyer said that the assumptions made in the environmental assessment were “very conservative”, and that guests reserving rooms would be asked if they planned to arrive by private car, so that valet service could be scheduled to meet them.

Other cautionary messages came, unsurprisingly, from people living in the Bossert’s immediate vicinity. Several people from 200 Hicks Street expressed concerns. Richard F. Ziegler said the planned re-conversion “could be an asset [to the neighborhood] or an absolute devastating nightmare.” He found the statements made by the buyer’s attorney and consultants “confusing,” and said the residents of 200 Hicks had retained “high priced counsel” to represent their interests in the variance proceedings. Gretchen Dykstra, former City Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, expressed great concern about the rooftop lounge and dining area. She noted that a rooftop lounge at the Empire Hotel, also owned by Mr. Bistricer’s company, had become a venue for parties with DJs and loud music that went late into the night. When local residents complained, they were told that the owner wasn’t responsible; the space was leased to the organization[s] giving the parties. Kay Desai said more information was needed, and her husband, Rohit Desai, sternly warned Committee members that their failure to demand such information could be in violation of law.

Other neighbors with cautionary messages were David Green and Nils Larson, both Remsen Street residents. Mr. Green noted that the valet parking operation would result in an increase in traffic on Remsen because cars being taken from the hotel to Quick Park would have to go that way. Mr. Larson, a recent high school graduate, said he had grown up in Brooklyn Heights and always loved the neighborhood’s serenity. He has two much younger brothers who, because the local streets are safe, are able to walk to school and to squash lessons. He fears that the increase in traffic generated by the hotel may end that.

Photo: Brownstoner.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/42752