Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, October 25, 2006) - With the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership having made significant inroads into improving the retail mix and recruiting new entrepreneurs, restoring much of the avenue’s building stock, and improving maintenance and marketing services, it will now bring an increased focus to the public realm and streetscape in an effort to make dramatic improvements to the livability and sense of place on Myrtle Avenue.

The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership (the “Partnership”) is pleased to announce a collaboration with Project for Public Spaces (PPS) on an effort to help the community plan for public space improvements at three Myrtle Avenue sites. Together with the Partnership, PPS will facilitate a visioning workshop on Saturday, October 28 th from 10 am –2 pm at PS46, located at 100 Clermont Avenue between Myrtle and Park Avenues. The visioning workshop is open to the public and will be a hands-on event. Following a brief presentation of research and observations taken on Myrtle Avenue, participants will break into groups and visit each site on the Avenue to share ideas and concerns from a users’ point of view. Lunch from local restaurants will be provided to participants.

With the idea of “placemaking,” the visioning workshop is an opportunity for the community to identify issues, contribute ideas, and make decisions about improvements on Myrtle Avenue. Through this community-based approach and vision, PPS and the Partnership will help local stakeholders to improve and redesign specific places.

“When you plan for places you do everything different,” according to PPS president and founder Fred Kent. “Placemaking focuses on people’s needs and is good for both businesses and communities. Great places attract people because they are pleasurable, interesting and offer the chance to see and be seen by other people.”

The first site being examined is the intersection of Myrtle and Clinton Avenues. An important community crossroads, this place has the potential to become a key destination and community focal point. According to Michael Blaise Backer, executive director of the Partnership, “ Myrtle Avenue is a very long and increasingly active shopping street that connects vibrant neighborhoods. Enhancing the existing public space at this intersection, for example, could give Myrtle a sort of central square, a meeting place, a place to be with friends, or a place for small events.”

The second site is the narrow median and crowded service road between Hall Street and Emerson Place. A very important and lively stretch throughout the day with such major commercial anchors as a post office and supermarket, this extra wide section of Myrtle Avenue could serve both cars and people better. Opportunities to improve parking, pedestrian circulation and safety, as well finding space for trees, sidewalk seating, or public art may be considered.

The third site falls between Carlton and North Portland Avenues, and incorporates retail storefronts owned by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), as well as a considerable amount of green space within both Fort Greene Park and NYCHA’s Walt Whitman Houses. There is a great opportunity to physically integrate these elements, while looking at ways to attract additional street life to this section of Myrtle Avenue.

Internationally renowned for its work in over 1,500 communities, Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit planning and design organization. PPS is a charter member of the New York City Streets Renaissance campaign, an effort to re-imagine New York’s streets as vital public spaces.

The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership oversees the economic revitalization of Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Wallabout, Brooklyn. The Partnership is comprised of two entities, the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project Local Development Corporation (MARP) and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Business Improvement District (BID); the two work together to assist the small businesses along the avenue and to improve the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhoods.

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Contact:
If you have any questions, would like more information, or would like to RSVP for the workshop, please contact Vaidila Kungys, Program Manager, at 718-230-1689 or vkungys@myrtleave.org.