Flyers can be found in anyone of our local merchants along North Flatbush AVenue.

CHILDREN'S EARTH DAY EVENT

Save the Date - Our biggest event of the year!

On Sunday, April 22, 2012, we invite you and the family to join us for our biggest event of the year.

Working in partnership with the NYC Department of Transportation, the North Flatbush Avenue BID will be hosting a Weekend Walks event 'CHILDREN'S EARTH DAY". from 12pm to 4pm at the 6th Avenue Triangle, at Flatbush Avenue and St. Marks Avenue. Traffic will be closed off in the surrounding area. Restaurants in the surrounding area will have tables outside ready to serve you. Brooklyn Boulders Rock Climbing Wall will be at the intersection of St. Marks and 6th Avenue for adults and children under the leadership of Brooklyn Boulders staff.

And of course, the North Flatbush Avenue BID wouldn't be an event without the ever popular BERT, our famous children's face painter, Diane and her puppet story telling, Tia Johnson, evirnmental artist who will help with eco-friendly arts and crafts and the effervescent Jon Samson, children's sing a long artist.

We will have special guests from New York Chess and Game with the giant chess board for fun and games, members of the Bears Community Garden to help demonstrate the importance of composting and members of our local floral shops who will help the children plant their very seedling pods to take home. Bring your Hips - we have the Hoops: learn to hula hoop with Brooklyn's own ISA from HULA NATION. There will be raffles, prizes and give- a- ways.

So come on out and bring the family, enjoy and meet members of your community. Help us celebrate EARTH DAY ON NORTH FLATBUSH AVENUE.

You can pick up any one of our flyers at our local merchants or feel free to call our office at 718 783 1685 and we will be happy to supply you extra flyers for your organization.

Parking meters to bike racks will be hading our way.

ADDITIONAL BIKE RACKS FOR NORTH FLATBUSH AVENUE

Transforming our old parking meters to bike racks

By now, we have all seen the new muni-meters that align our district. The bones of 8 old parking 'lollipop' meters will be retrofitted to accommodate bike parking along North Flatbush Avenue, according to the NYC Department of Transportation.

The new bike racks will save the city the trouble of digging the poles out of the foundation, and gives bikers a much-needed place to lock up.

North Flatbush Avenue now has close to 80 bike racks with more expected to be incorporated into the design of our new Capital Streetscape project.

For more information on the NYC Department of Transportation Bike Share program, go to www.dot.gov/bikeshare

BIKE SHARE COMING TO NORTH FLATBUSH AVENUE

The first of DOT’s Community Board Workshops were a huge success! Over 100 Park Slope and Prospect Heights neighbors came out to help select locations for Bike Share stations in their respective neighborhoods.

Bike share is a network of thousands of bicycles available at self-service docking stations around the city.

The North Flatbush Avenue BID will be hosting a Bike Share Demonstration this spring or summer, so keep an eye on our website for information.

Click on the link HERE to see how the Bike Share Program works.

A Message from Council Speaker Christine Quinne

To All Small Businesses

Although we're starting to see signs of economic recovery, many small businesses are still finding it difficult to access the capital that they need to sustain and grow their operations.

To help us better understand how we might be of further assistance to these businesses, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is once again conducting a poll of small business owners - and we're helping them get the word out.

The poll includes questions about financing sources, recent credit experience, and expectations about future financing options and business conditions.

Responses are confidential and will be used to brief policy
makers on the state of small businesses in NYC.

You can access the survey online HERE. It only takes about 10 minutes to complete. Please submit all responses before April 18, 2012.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SERVE ON OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS?

The BID has open positions for commercial tenants, property owners and residents

On Wednesday, June 6th, the North Flatbush Avenue BID will host its 26th Annual Meeting from 6pm to 8:30pm at Burrito Bar and Kitchen. As with all our Annual Meetings, this is a great way for fellow property owners, businesses, residents and friends of the North Flatbush Avenue BID to hear a review of our future plans and goals for North Flatbush Avenue. It is also a great way to meet members of our district, including elected officials. This year, our guest speaker, Christopher Hrones from the NYC Deptartment of Transportation, will review the scope of work of our Capital Streetscape Plans.

Each BID is governed by a Board of Directors that is elected by the members of the district. The Board of Directors has the fiduciary responsibility and hires management to administer the
BID on a day-to-day basis. The Board is divided into classes that include: commercial property owners, commercial tenants,residents and public officials. BID members vote for directors in
their respective classes. The majority of directors must be property owners. The Mayor, Comptroller, Borough President and City Council members also serve on the board of directors.

The North Flatbush Avenue BID will holding elections on Wednesday, June 6th. If you are within our district and would like to serve on our board of directors, please email us at sdavidson@nfbid.com or call our office at 718 783 1685 for more information. Your nomination must be entered no later than MAY 15th, 2012 in order to be eligible. We will announce all winners of the election on Wednesday June 6th.

A list of our current board of directors can be viewed on our website.

Velvet Peach Cafe- Erica Phillips-Caesar has informed us that she and her husband have full ownership and management of the Velvet Peach Cafe and with a State Liquor License in place, they will be transforming the Velvet Peach Cafe into a full service restaurant and bar with live jazz during Sunday brunch. They will be changing the name to ELBERTA's. . Erica said she wants to be on par with all the other great businesses we have here in our district! Sundays on Flatbush Avenue has just gotten so much better! We just hope that they will keep those yummy buscuits.
Hungry Ghost Coffee Bar and Cafe - Will soon be opening in April with delish Sumptown coffee and many fresh baked goodies. We are looking forward to grand opening and will keep everyone up to date.
Sorry to see you go - Fortune 500, our only 99cent store, will be giving up their lease by the end of this month. and Little Vinnies has given up their lease, but dont fret if you still want to purchase some great urban Brooklynwear for your children, you can find all the Little Vinnies clothing at the large Vinnies Stylzes on Flatbush Avenue.
Kemistry - a new restaurant and lounge is applying for a liquor license in our area. The BID will be mediating a meeting between owners,community and community board for stipulations. We will keep you all posted as these meetings get underway.
Carlton Park - The Stop Work Order that has been posted on the premises, is an old issue between the previous landlord and his architect. Greg Yerman, current owner is hoping that they will work things out in court in the next week so that current work can resume. Greg will be applying for his sidewalk cafe license shortly, and we are all very excited about this great new organic cafe addition to our neighborhood.
Woodland - Latest news from Woodland owners is that they are waiting for all inspections to clear. They are just as anxious as we are to open their new restaurant in our neighborhood.

CITYPOINT - Brooklyn's Coolest Neighborhood Check out our very own board of director Alison Houtte in the header photo montage!!

Atlantic Yards Report - Barclays Center Promotional round up

PARK SLOPE PATCH - Burglaries up in Park Slope

PROSPECT HEIGHTS PATCH - Hungry Ghost to open next month

THE BROWNSTONER - Area residents worry about another arena club

MY FOX NEWS - Tour of Barclays Center site

CRAIN'S BUSINESS.COM - First retailers to open at Barclays Center

THE BROWNSTONER - Atlantic YArds - Effect of real estate, still unknown

PROSPECT HEIGHTS PATCH - Parkside Diner

THE L MAGAZINE - 50 Best Blocks in Brooklyn

The North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) is stronger than it has every been. It is more vibrant, retail-oriented, collaboration-centered, and community-minded. The BID understands the significance of strategic partnership and works closely with community stakeholders to reach a shared goal of revitalization on North Flatbush Avenue.

Our vacancy rate is less than 10%, compared to 5 years ago when it was at an all time high of 28%. We expect our vacancy rate to be less than 5% by the end of 2012. With more foot traffic on Flatbush Avenue , many of our merchants have seen an uptick in sales during the months on February and March and we know this continued success with be with us through the year as we gear up for opening of the most anticipated arena in Brooklyn. The BID continues to be mission driven and is intentional about addressing the needs of its constituents. With support, and despite skepticism, we will flourish!

By now, many of you have seen our new 30 colorful banners that highlight our district along our street light poles, with merchant sponsorship. You can pick up anyone of our 2012/2013 new Shopping and Services Guide at anyone of our participating merchants. A beautiful new handy guide of North Flatbush Avenue with a listing of retail services and contact information for all members within the commercial corridor, along with a pull out locator map. Over 5K of these guides will be distributed throughout the district his year. Clean and safe is our Motto! Keeping North Flatbush Avenue clean has been the BIDs top priority. In addition to NYC Sanitation, the BID has contracted with Atlantic Maintenance workforce who work 7 days a week to sweep our streets. We expect our members to participate in keeping our streetsclean too. The BID continues to work with the 77th and 78th police precinct to report any illegal activity in our area. We continue to work with the NYC Department of Transportation to keep our streets safe.

We hope you will continue to track our events and merchant workshops by following us on Facebook, navigating yourself around our website and by following us on Twitter. Our e-news Monthly Newsletter will now reach close to 1,000 stakeholders throughout our community.

AS we get ready for our June 6th Annual Meeting, we hope that all our property owners, residents and for merchants will join us and hear about all the exciting new initiatives we have coming for 2013. Receive a free copy of our Annual Report and we will be handing out energy efficient light bulbs to everyone, courtesty of Consolidated Edison. Have a drink on us!!

Lastly. The BID offices will be closed on Friday, April 6th in observance of the holidays. You can always reach us at info@nfbid.com or feel free to call our offices anytime at 718 783 1685.

Onward and upwards! See you on the Avenue!

Sharon