Downtown Brooklyn Businesses Face Termination

If Brooklyn weren't a borough of the Big Apple, it would rank as the fourth largest city in the United States. Its downtown region is a vast mosaic of culturally diverse businesses that range from book sellers and beauty shops to multiethnic eateries. However, many of these establishments are currently facing extinction as result of an impending downtown development project.

Yaakov "Jack" Fuzailov runs a small barber shop just below the basin of Bridge Street. Situated at the entrance to the Laurence Street subway station, about one block from Fulton Mall, Jack's Barber Shop offers reasonably priced grooming services to local shoppers and train commuters. For Jack the 30^th of April promised to be just another busy work day; that is until he was served with a 120 day termination notice by his landlord.

Jack's Barber Shop is just one of at least 20 local businesses most likely to perish from Bridge Street. The owner of Sushi Cuisine was issued a similar note just weeks after investing $250,000 in store renovation. Other businesses facing eviction include Bagel Guys, Destiny Accessories, and Broadway Bakery - one of the few places left in New York where one can still get a good slice of pizza for only a buck.

United American Land, a Manhattan based real estate development company plans to demolish roughly 596,000 square feet of land, which will effectively displace neighborhood businesses from Bridge Street to Duffield Street. According to the New York Post, the real estate giant plans to spend $208 million on what will likely be a mixed use complex topped with luxury housing. However, most local proprietors forced by United American to surrender their establishments are still in the dark regarding the purpose of the sweeping construction project.

"That's the million dollar question", said Samantha Imperatrice, a policy analyst at Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE). Comprised almost entirely of African American and Latino women, FUREE is a community based political education group that advocates for Brooklyn's vibrant small business community. "The project will affect about a third of Bridge Street. Yet they haven't actually stated publicly what it is that they plan to develop", she explained. United American Land declined to comment on their Brooklyn development efforts.

In 2004 City Planning Commission drafted a downtown rezoning plan. Combined with a low interest rate environment, rezoning forged long-anticipated market conditions favorable to high-end real estate speculators. New York City Council adopted the development plan in hope of spurring urban renewal and job creation in the downtown region. Critics of the plan however have long argued that rezoning will tilt the economic balance heavily toward upscale developers and will cast small businesses out of the community.

Few are disputing the inevitable change in the commercial landscape of downtown Brooklyn. In fact, across-the-board development is a growing trend in a densely populated borough. Yet, those familiar with intricacies of commercial gentrification call into question claims of organic market forces behind calculated usurpation of scarce and highly coveted downtown real estate. "United American has been slowly buying parcels of land for the past fifteen years", Imperatrice said, explaining that preparations for the 2004 rezoning have been in the works for a long time.

Meanwhile, with less than a hundred days left until the deadline, local merchants are scuttling to cope with a looming termination. Echoing their concern, Samantha Imperatrice confirmed that "there is no commitment, public or private, to deal with the displacement." Still, David Yassky, who represents much of the area and chairs the small business committee in New York City Council, has yet to formulate policy that would mitigate the economic aftershocks of big development in downtown Brooklyn. In early 2007 Even Thies, Councilman Yassky's communications director, admitted that there was "no model" to secure the return of soon to be vacated small businesses.

"They all have families", said Jack referring to four African American barbers who work at the shop and "hope for a miracle". As for Jack himself, he plans to enroll in the police academy and continue serving the community as an officer.