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- SERVING CARROLL GARDENS, KENSINGTON, PARK SLOPE AND WINDSOR TERRACE -

Major Issues for District 39




Carroll Gardens: Mister Softee and the Sound of Gentrification

July 9, 2004

By Nuriel Adler

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his plan to replace the familiar Mister Softee ice cream truck jingle with a bell as part of a larger change in the city’s noise code, most New Yorkers reacted in one of two ways: some decried the electronic melody as a daily annoyance that should be banned, while others nostalgically defended the tune as a part of growing up in New York City.

At the Mister Softee depot in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, the proposal elicited outrage. To Mister Softee drivers, there is more at stake than noise pollution - at stake are their jobs.  There are some 350 Mister Softee franchises in New York City.

“If there is no jingle, there is no business,” said Hilliary Guishard, manager of the Mister Softee depot. “I would invite the mayor to ride in a truck for a day.  We can use a bell, we can use the jingle, and he can see the difference.”

Since Mayor Bloomberg's announcements of a crackdown on ice cream trucks, Mister Softee has hired a lobbyist, and the mayor reportedly has had second thoughts about eradicating the jingle. Whether or not the bells are put into place as ordered by 2006, the controversy revealed just how charged of an issue noise can be.

Noise is a byproduct of almost any business, but in Carroll Gardens, the kind of noise that is deemed acceptable is changing -- a symptom of the area's gentrification. The once working-class neighborhood and home to oil refineries, concrete plants, and warehouses has now become a fashionable place to live. The neighborhood's new residents complain about established factories and truck routes, while older residents used to the neighborhood's more industrial history complain about music and crowds at the new upscale bars and outdoor cafes that cater to the young and hip.

Ernest Migliaccio, member of Friends and Residents of the Greater Gowanus and a Carroll Gardens resident for over 20 years, laments that when residential and industrial interests are at odds, the end result, “90 percent of the time,” is that residents win. He fears this may have negative long-term effects.

"New York City can't be just bankers and stockbrokers,” said Migliaccio. “If you drive all industry out of the city, the city loses its diversity. Diversity reduces risk."

Some in the neighborhood, like Bette Stoltz, executive director of the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation, are concerned that wealthy newcomers’ complaints about the daily rumblings of Carroll Gardens' industrial center may disrupt the local economy.

With a new luxury apartment building going up near Red Hook Rock Crushing and a business visited by delivery trucks throughout the day, “all it takes is for the new residents to see the grit on their cars in the morning and those businesses could be in trouble," said Stoltz. "And then we lose jobs.”

But the opposition of new residents to industrial noise does not mean that the neighborhood is getting any quieter – just that the kind of noise has changed.

Local residents, many of whom share a backyard with a restaurant or bar, complain about the noise from Smith Street’s "Restaurant Row" when its patrons are too boisterous late at night. While most complaints are resolved directly by the bar owners and affected residents, some do end up in the hands of the police.

"Working on Smith Street in 1984, I would go to council meetings complaining about drug dealers," said Stoltz. "Now I'm mediating quality-of-life issues with outdoor cafes over how loud people are laughing."

Ironically, the noise-conscious residents of Carroll Gardens don't seem to mind Mister Softee as much as Mayor Bloomberg does.

State Assemblywoman Joan Millman and City Councilmember Bill DeBlasio who represent the area, say they have not received any complaints against ice cream trucks.

For their part, Mister Softee depot's drivers say they turn down their music at night, never play music for an extended period of time at any one stop, and wait until they are out of Carroll Gardens and in their target neighborhoods before turning their music on. 

The mayor, the ice cream trucks, and Carroll Gardens residents, it seems, may come to an understanding that some noise is a good thing.

At least one Mister Softee driver agrees. "New York," he said, "is built on noise."





Engine 204: A Hot Property in Cobble Hill

August 8, 2003

By Alexandra Berke

They called themselves the "Cobble Hill 12," because they were 12 of them -- residents, public officials and a movie actor, Steven Buscemi, who used to be a firefighter -- who got themselves arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct, protesting the closing of Engine 204, their firehouse.

They spent a five-hour stint in prison and gained a lot of media Attention, but they couldn't keep the firehouse open. It is boarded up now, all the firefighters reassigned.

In an effort to continue their fight, some of the supporters of Engine 204 have banded together as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the City of New York that would bar the city from selling the property on which the firehouse now stands.

Engine 204 in Cobble Hill on DeGraw Street was one of six firehouses closed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in May to help close the city's budget gap. (see story) Like residents of many of the other communities affected by the closings, residents here worry about their safety and wonder, "why us?"

According to figures released by the Fire Department on August 7, the average response time has increased 34 seconds since the closing. This, the city argues, is still 5 seconds faster than the citywide average of 4 minutes 50 seconds.

Laurie Burch, one of the Cobble Hill 12, is skeptical of the mayor's claims, since the time is calculated based on the time it takes for the first truck to reach a fire scene, no matter how many trucks it actually winds up taking to extinguish the flames.

Now, firehouses in Red Hook and Brooklyn Heights have responsibility for Cobble Hill. Both Burch and Assemblywoman Joan Millman voiced concern over the Hamilton Avenue toll bridge, which these new companieshave to cross to reach the neighborhood around Engine 204. The bridge can be raised at any time, cutting the Cobble Hill area off from the other firehouses. They say that if the drawbridge is raised and the back up firehouse on Hicks Street is out on another call, Cobble Hill would be isolated.

Because the closing of the firehouse did not result in any staff cuts, residents believe the city is looking to sell the firehouse property. Brownstones in this popular neighborhood sell for around $2 million. It is too early to tell what will happen with the actual building, as it is still under control of the Fire Department, according to Fire Department spokesman Jim Long. All of the recently closed firehouses are still being monitored and secured by the Fire Department, but in the past, properties have been put under the control of the Department of Citywide Services, and all profits go toward a citywide fund. Assemblywoman Millman's office said the filing of the lawsuit guarantees that the city cannot sell the firehouse until the suit is settled.

Of course, there may be another way to save the Firehouse, although it is not an outcome any rational person would hope for "Sadly, this city has a history of reopening firehouses after tragedies," says Councilmember Bill deBlasio, another of the Cobble Hill 12. "We pray we do not have to wait for tragic circumstances to awaken the rest of the city to the need felt by the affected communities."

For a look at the city-wide issue of firehouse closings, see Gotham Gazette's Issue of the Week, Firehouses.






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ALL DISTRICT 39 MAJOR ISSUES
Carroll Gardens: Mister Softee and the Sound of Gentrification
(Jul 09, 2004)

Engine 204: A Hot Property in Cobble Hill
(Aug 08, 2003)

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