Remember that awesome-sounding outdoor night market some hipster lawyer wants to bring to an abandoned lot on the Greenpoint waterfront if/when summer ever comes? The one with the large scale (local) beer and wine garden, nightly performances from "emerging bands," and large scale art installations? Sounds like paradise. Well, apparently some of the locals think this bazaar is going too far. At a public meeting Saturday afternoon at the site, would-be organizer Aaron Broudo encountered some heated opposition from the neighbors and the Open Space Alliance. One attendee writes New York Shitty:
It was a fiasco. There were a few angry people there acting inappropriately. There were a lot of cool people there from the Open Space Alliance who were collecting signatures to organize against the night bazaar. And a few older ladies form the neighborhood! Loved them! The dude in charge of the plan is arrogant and really does not care what the community thinks. He was talking as if they whole thing was a done deal.
Most were concerned about the bazaar bringing more trash, noise, and traffic to the community. Folks were also concerned about increased alcohol consumption, people hanging out on stoops near the waterfront, safety, and whether or not their kids could sleep if musicians or djs played until 2am. It sounds like Aaron does not yet have the proper permits or liquor license in place so there seems to be a lot of room to derail this insane idea...This plan has got to be defeated!
Yes, and Save the Vacant Lot! We've reached out to the Open Space Alliance to find out why they're opposed—this is the group that's taken full control of what used to be the summer concert "pool parties" at the Williamsburg waterfront park, after reportedly royally screwing JellyNYC. One local source tells us, "The Open Space Alliance is sponsoring their own concert series ten blocks down and they don't want competition." For his part, Broudo tells us:
We had the meeting in order to get feedback from the public. There was a lot of opposition there but I don't think that's a true reflection of the overall response to the bazaar, which has been fairly positive. I have been listening to the concerns and what we'd like to do is shut down our doors earlier. Forget 2 a.m. We want to go back to 12:30 or midnight, and stop serving alcohol by 11 or 11:30 p.m. There would be no live music after 10 p.m., and it's important to note that the acts we're bringing are very small. It's a small stage, and the music is just one small aspect of this. We're trying to minimize the impact on local residents, and we're going to have a nightly clean up.
Obviously, we're biased but we see this as a great event, and although traffic would increase and a little extra noise would result, we're trying to minimize the impact. I'm looking to events like Celebrate Brooklyn as an example: a wonderful outdoor event without being a nuisance to the neighbors.
Can't we all just get along and let the scenesters enjoy their artisanal beer and crochet iPad cozies? Probably not. There will be another meeting tonight at Greenpoint bar Red Star, where the Greenpoint Business Alliance will weigh in on the proposal.
