Live From Last Night’s Meeting Regarding The Brooklyn Night Bazaar

Yours truly did not being along her FlipCam to last night’s meeting. In the clarity of hindsight this was a mistake: this meeting lasted approximately two hours. However, a great deal of the people who spoke made points that were rather redundant. The general sentiments of the attendees essentially boiled down to two statements:

1. I do not want this in my back yard.
2. The organizer of this event is a liar.

I care not to attest to the veracity of the latter statement. I am merely reporting what appeared to be the sentiments of the people present. In any case the co-chairs of the Greenpoint Business Alliance did a wonderful job keeping last night’s public forum civilized. There was no profanity of any kind to be heard. One citizen seemed to have had problems comprehending points #3 and #4; he was shouted down. Without further ado follows is some footage I shot from last night’s proceedings. Pay particular attention to the revised “plan” for this event. Enjoy!

It was at this point my camera ran out of memory! Nonetheless here’s New York Shitty analysis/a VERY brief synopsis of what followed:

1. I find the prospect of 27 West Street being sublet during the week for events troublesome.
2. I find the Open Space Alliance’s opposition to this event intriguing. As an entity which outlays a substantial amount of its resources on conducting concerts in our public parks, one would presume they would be behind this endeavor. This is not the case. This would lead one to wonder if the prospect of having “competition” in this arena (remember: they do more or less have a monopoly on such events hereabouts) is the real matter at hand. A fellow attendee, the fabulous Tommy of Alter did in a manner of speaking bring this to the table. The answer he received was at best evasive. He was told, among other things that concerts should be held in one place. That one place was, by implication, East River State Park. I want you to think about this and what happened to JellyNYC for a moment.*
3. A handful of people present pressed the Greenpoint Business Alliance to take a position on this bazaar. It was emphasized by the co-chairs that this event places them in a rather difficult position: while some businesses may possibly benefit from the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, others may not.
4. Building upon point #4, Eric of the Red Star Bar brought up a very prescient point: is the lack of local involvement in terms of organizing said Bazaar an issue? Methinks it most assuredly is. As he plainly stated local businesses are stake-holders in the community and as such have to be very cognizant about being good neighbors. Someone who is operating an event here for four months does not.
5. The plans for this bazaar seem to be changing on a daily basis and this makes it difficult to draw any reasonable, informed conclusion.
6. Arguably the highlight of the evening was when the inimitable Ann Kansfield of the Greenpoint Reformed Church spoke. She not only admonished her fellow Greenpointers to refrain from further in-fighting and other UN-neighborly behavior but reminded us to be thankful for the the G train; if it has service interruptions of the summer this will cut down on the attendance of this bazaar significantly!

Regardless of where you may stand on this issue, I think we can all agree that it is great that the folks of the Greenpoint Business Alliance were thoughtful enough to organize last night’s hearing for the general public. Thanks guys/gals!

Miss Heather

*Here’s an intriguing two cents regarding OSA’s opposition to this bazaar I received from an anonymous tipster:

osa opposition to this bazaar … could it have something to do with one of their board members is the co-owner of artists and fleas … was osa opposed to brooklyn flea heading over to the edge?   this really seems wrong on osa’s part as the fundraising arm for north brooklyn parks.   they supported the bring the night event.   it is an interesting choice for them and full conflict of interest.