City Planning approved a zoning amendment this month for a 13-block area in Williamsburg that would place contextual height limitations where there are none, and provisions requiring new buildings to line up with the existing adjacent ones, according to information from the department. “It would reflect Grand Street’s presence as a local retail corridor while protecting the residential character of lots adjacent to retail corridors,” said the release.
The rezoning area is generally bounded by Berry Street, North Third Street, Fillmore Place, Hope Street, Marcy Avenue and South First Street. As earlier reported in the Eagle, most of this area was left out of the 2005 Williamsburg and Greenpoint rezoning. “Most of the residential has always been R6 (no height limits) because the land was never worth that much to redevelop,” a Community Board 1 member explained. Clearly, that’s not the case anymore.
Community Board 1 will hold a public hearing on the matter Tuesday, Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m. at the Swinging 60’s Senior Citizen Center, 211 Ainslie St. If the board approves the amendment, it would then have to be approved by the borough president, the City Planning Commission, and the City Council, in that order.
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Former MCA records executive Don Pooh, Robert Cummins by birth, has hungry hip hoppers singing (in the words of Naughty By Nature) “IHOP…Hooray…Ho…Hey…Ho!” The doors of the International House of Pancakes — which dates back to the old, old school — swung open Tuesday, and had one fan declaring “I’m done with Junior’s,” reported the Daily News.
Cummins, who has produced famed divas Foxy Brown and Mary J Blige, said his new venture, with Brooklyn native David Cox, is “similar to the music industry, because you have to have a hard work ethic, spend a lot of late hours working and have an entrepreneurial spirit.”
Ironically, Foxy Brown was banned from Junior’s after dining-and-dashing (not paying) three times in two weeks early this year, the New York Post reported at the time. Wonder if she’ll try that at her old producer’s joint! Now maybe Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane will come to Brooklyn so we can get a Waffle House up in here.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to issue 1,500 more permits to fruit and vegetable carts over the next two years, 500 in Brooklyn, targeted at neighborhoods under-served by fresh produce, such as Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant, reported Crain’s New York Business.
Studies by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found those neighborhoods had low supplies of fresh produce and low-fat milk, and that only 3 percent of bodegas in Harlem carry leafy green vegetables compared to 20 percent in the Upper East Side.
The Eagle has reported on this problem recently in the neighborhoods surrounding the Brooklyn Navy Yard, particularly the Ingersoll, Whitman and Farrgut Houses. Residents of those complexes say there’s very little fresh produce and meat within walking distance, and what is available is often spoiled. The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation is seeking to remedy this problem by building a Fairway Market-type grocery store in place of the Admiral’s Row houses, which some preservationists are pushing to save.
While Bloomberg’s plan is a clever solution that would certainly help alleviate a public health issue, it’s clear that a broader, long-term solution is necessary to provide residents in neighborhoods such as these with healthier alternatives to the typical bodega fare, including meat, grains and dairy. Anyone who has done their grocery shopping at bodegas in low-income neighborhoods knows they usually only carry the very worst quality (most processed) brands of soda, junk food, chips and canned food, at higher prices than better quality food at grocery stores. The additives in these foods have been proven to cause diabetes, obesity and hyperactive behavior, independent of how much fresh produce is consumed.
— Compiled by Sarah Ryley
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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