Since the early 1980s, property owners have formed BIDs to improve sanitation and lighting, produce restaurant guides and more, according to media reports. “It’s not written down but we know it though, it’s still informal,” Rockingster said. But when asked for a written plan that lays out the specific goals, activities and funding needed to create and sustain a BID, he said he did not have one yet. Rockingster said he envisions a BID stretching along Nostrand Avenue, north to south from Church Avenue to Glenwood Road. “ I’m pretty sure that it is necessary to have clean sidewalks.”
“I haven’t heard anything about it,” Williams said, about a BID. Samuel Williams, co-owner of Ethlyn’s Caribbean Bakery on Nostrand and Tilden avenues, said that a BID could add value, in cleaning up the neighborhood. Subscribe to The Haitian Times for the most comprehensive coverage of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. The Nostrand Avenue business corridor involves a diverse collection of chain supermarkets, small businesses and ethnic stores, many owned primarily by immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America. “We’ve been here in Little Haiti for going on 20-some years now, and no one has come or talked to us about anything,” said Reginald Francois, a technician for Radyo Panou, which has a storefront at Nostrand Avenue and Beverly Road. Vendors gather outside Buffet Kreol, a restaurant on Nostrand Avenue. The New York Times also reported that the Little Haiti designation was designed to make it easier to work with tourism and business development officials.īut some Nostrand Avenue business owners and workers said they are unaware of any progress on a plan to form a BID. Little Haiti’s formation three years ago was partially designed to facilitate funding and support for cultural and business activities in the district, the Observer newspaper reported. The process involves a tax that can fund various services, including sanitation, street signage and themed decorations. Census data.Ĭreating a formal business improvement district (BID) in an urban corridor requires buy-in from property owners and ideally their business tenants, according to Rachel Meltzer, an associate professor of urban policy at The New School.
The area contains at least 9,900 Haitians, the largest single ethnic group in the census tracts that comprise the region, per U.S. Little Haiti lies within East 16th Street to the west, Parkside Avenue to the north, Brooklyn Avenue to the east and Avenue H to the south. “I have to promise you that in four years, Nostrand Avenue will be completely transformed,” Rockingster said. “We are planning on creating business improvement district,” said Jackson Rockingster, president of the HABNET Chamber of Commerce, which helped create the nonprofit Little Haiti BK, to increase support for residents and businesses, in partnership with elected officials like Bichotte-Hermelyn.
When asked about plans for the zone, one of Little Haiti’s main supporters said a major next step is to clean up Nostrand Avenue, the Flatbush thoroughfare within the district, with support from merchants and property owners. “Without services, without those kinds of institutions, I feel like we’re setting ourselves up for failure.” “What’s going to make the community well-respected and people come visit Little Haiti is institutions services are provided,” Luxama said. He stressed the importance of having strong small businesses, schools and even health centers. “You cannot just have street names, that’s great, but I think we have to go to the second phase,” said Porez Luxama, executive director of the Life of Hope Center, a nonprofit serving Haitian immigrants in Flatbush. However, community leaders and merchants say, there needs to be more progress, for the Little Haiti initiative to have an impact on the lives of everyday people. The co-naming was included in the state budget on the initiative of District 42 Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn and community leaders. Three years later, May arrived with news that the Newkirk Avenue subway station will be co-named after the Little Haiti neighborhood. The month saw the co-naming of two Flatbush streets after Haitian independence heroes and the official designation by the New York City Council of a Little Haiti business and cultural district. In May 2018, Haitian Heritage Month came with much fanfare for many community leaders in Brooklyn.
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