Another tipster told me Madewell will move into the space, which I immediately responded with an eyeroll and a groan. “It’s better than a bank,” she aptly said—yes, but tough, tough news.

Hey Neighbors - 

The holiday season kicked off in full force this week, with two holiday parties behind me and one tonight. I’m definitely in the mood this year!

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I can’t help–for a hot second–a flashback where I see everyone at the party in a mask. How is it that just some years ago, this was our reality? Luckily, it’s too surreal, and my brain won’t allow the image to linger.  

Welcome, dear readers, to post#14. I swore to myself that I’d hit the pavement before the end of 2025 and wrestle up some sponsors and advertisers to help sustain my commitment to bring you local news. However, my workday often bleeds into the evenings now, as I attend Community Board Meetings and other events, so you don’t have to go. Though I think the more the merrier is better, it’s a lot, I get it.

Keep reading for –two big scoops; a warning after the closure of a Brooklyn private school; a packed CB6 meeting about you know what (hint: 2-wheels) and a Gen X guide for the holidays.

Yes, with parties and shopping, COVID, as I said above, is on my mind. However, it’s the flu I want to talk about. It’s no joke this season.

I never know where I’ll get a tip for WARD 6, and this tip came from a woman in my pilates class.  She warned us about the flu because her children’s school was closed for two days due to a surge in cases. I confirmed with a friend that the Brooklyn private school, Poly Prep, sent 5-12th graders, along with their teachers and staff, home for two days. My friend’s son, a student at Poly Prep, got sick and also infected his father with a strain that, let’s say, is not pleasant. 

In fact, cases are up 119%, rising from 1,890 cases in the previous week to 4,146, according to the New York State Department of Health. Maybe this is typical each year, but it’s not a number to ignore. 

For flu and/or Covid shots, I’m a huge fan of Downtown RX Pharmacy ((347) 599-1008) on Atlantic Ave near Barnes & Noble. It’s not a chain, and you can easily talk to a pharmacist if you have questions. And no appointments are necessary! I gave up on CVS to fill my prescriptions, as well, but if you prefer the chain, they also have flu/Covid shots.

One more holiday tip as we all prepare to gather with friends and family. I’m part of a newsletter collective with more than 100 writers, where I learned about Amplify Respect. The founder, Rey Katz, is also a Beehiiv whiz (yes, there are more platforms than Substack), whom I hire from time to time for help with Ward 6.

Rey writes many thoughtful, practical posts, often drawing on pop culture, “about using respectful language to help understand ourselves and each other and build empathy.” For example, a post titled “What Does Transmasculine Non-Binary Mean?” came after a rapper from Japan came out using this self-described definition. 

I’m not sure about you, but I get this a lot: “It’s not that complicated, mom” when I ask questions out of a lack of experience, not empathy.  Now I don’t have to ask them, and neither do you, because of Rey and Amplify Respect.

The Industry City restaurant, Confidant, which opened in March with tons of buzz, is relocating to Atlantic Ave in the former Colonie location. The two notable chefs, Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman, and the rest of the Confidant team, will make the move to BK Heights. Here’s what CG’s Andrea Strong wrote in her newsletter just before the restaurant opened in Sunset Park:

The vibrant restaurant and bar scene on Atlantic Ave is a better fit for Confidant than Industry City, which, from my experience, empties once the workday ends, unless a summer night keeps them hanging out. A point the New Yorker made after Confidant opened, “What’s a Neighborhood Restaurant without A Neighborhood?” 

Like many of you, I will always be a huge fan of Invisible Dog, the magnificent former factory that Paris transplant Lucien Zayan turned into a nonprofit art and rental space.  I celebrated many friends’ and family birthdays, book releases, fundraisers (and way too many sample sales) in the cavernous, scrappy room with floor-to-ceiling wooden beams and uneven floors not suited for high heels (though I wore them anyway). The DIY space wasn’t for everyone, but I leaned on my creative friends, who magically helped us transform the room for a celebration.

I was crushed to learn from Lucien that he was relocating as the landlord wanted a commercial space. Lucien was more optimistic than I was, grateful for his time on Bergen Street. I’ve heard he’s doing well.  

Another tipster told me Madewell will move into the space, which I immediately responded with an eyeroll and a groan. “It’s better than a bank,” she aptly said—yes, but tough, tough news.  

While Madewell didn’t deny they were moving to Bergen St., the person on the other end of the email didn’t confirm either.  She offered to talk with me in the new year after I volunteered to share what I knew about the space, including how it was beloved by many of us, and I encouraged her to learn about the building’s history, if she didn’t know about it yet. I also said I’d love to learn more about Madewell (owned by J Crew, who knew?) to share with my readers, as we don’t always embrace chain stores. 

I do hope they incorporate the location's history. I found this 2009 NYT article, “Second Life: The Invisible Dog Barks Again.”  What’s weird is that I lived nearby and don’t remember when it was anything other than Lucien’s art space. 

Now you understand why I encourage Madewell to learn about the location’s history! To help pay for the space, Lucien sold the Invisible Dog leashes that the factory owner had left behind, according to the Times. 

I dug a little deeper (aka I procrastinated writing the rest of the newsletter), and was surprised to see another Times article from 2010 about the space. The owner, Frank DeFalco, it says, had initially planned to “to turn the space into condominiums until the recession intervened.”  I've tried to reach him, but he hasn’t responded to my emails. 

Maybe I should thank Frank DeFalco for the 15 years or so our neighborhood had with Lucien’s hub of creativity and a lovely celebratory space that holds so many memories.

From what I understand, the upstairs will remain a creative space, retaining the character Lucien brought to Invisible Dog. 

Lovers of Amazon, please read! 

We all know there are too many trucks on our streets, highways, and just about everywhere, and it’s expected to get worse (68% more by 2045). I bring this up not only because of traffic, a WARD 6 staple, but also because truck pollution is harmful to our health and the planet. 

I'm raising this again because this week the City announced a pilot program to begin moving some goods from the Brooklyn Marine Terminal to Manhattan that would otherwise travel by truck. As I mentioned in a few posts, this is part of the City’s massive “vision” to redevelop the 122-acre waterfront, which I support. 

Dutch X is the company the City chose to demonstrate moving goods from Red Hook, using similar boats to NYC ferries and e-cargo bikes for last-mile delivery. After all, NYC is surrounded by water, yet 90% of freight is delivered by truck.

More on Dutch X in a minute…

The Blue Highway is not a new idea. It’s been talked about for decades, but according to Andrew Kimball, the head of the NYCEDC that created the “vision” plan for the waterfront, the Blue Highway, only started to gain traction when he got the job in 2022. Here’s Kimball on a podcast this summer, explaining the insane way produce gets distributed around the city.

I agree.

Back to Dutch X…  If you ever take the Red Hook ferry, you’ve walked near the company’s warehouse just to the north after you enter the waterfront area (the Atlantic Basin).  As a nosy journalist, I briefly spoke with a Dutch X employee a few months ago, who told me that Sephora is their primary client. 

What the City (NYCEDC) and Dutch X will do is not yet as promised in the “vision” plan. The main difference is that Dutch X’s goods, as far as I can tell, are not arriving in Red Hook by boat, but by trucks before making the trip across the East River. Perhaps the City is testing the Blue Highway in stages, and this is just stage #1. 

The journalist in me has to consider all points of view. I hate to think this is Blue Highway theater of some sort to make the EDC appear as if it’s doing something truly forward-thinking for NYC to get the new mayor-elect on board with the less desirable, downright ridiculous “vision” for the waterfront that is being sold to Brooklyn before any feasibility studies are done to see what’s realistic for 122 acres of waterfront.

I’ve heard from a lot of neighbors that what happens at the waterfront is sort of “over there.” There’s not much that connects our neighborhoods to the working port, as it’s behind a fence, and most of us have never been invited to the other side.  Here’s an opportunity to learn more about the area's potential, which I think needs more attention. 

The other part of the Blue Highway that I’m eager to learn more about is the creation of a maritime training facility on the Brooklyn waterfront, given the Red Hook container port, New York Harbor High School at Governor’s Island, and other City initiatives to provide workforce development to people interested in a career on or around the water. 

I’ve learned a lot about this idea by attending the Brooklyn waterfront redevelopment meetings, where various people have talked publicly, pressing the City to create something truly unique. For anyone interested, I encourage you to read about Portside New York, housed near the Red Hook ferry and its historic ship, the Mary Whalen. Here’s how its founder, Carolina Salguero, who has advocated for the Blue Highway for decades, explained it to me: 

“From the start, PortSide has planned to create a pipeline to marine careers focused on local workboats…The marine industry has wanted us to train; schools from out of state have offered free curriculum, and we’re eager to start.”

To do this, Portside needs the support of the NYCEDC, which designed the “vision” plan for the waterfront, to provide building space, which Salguero has said publicly many times, that the NYCEDC has previously promised, but never followed through.

Building space is critical for Portside as it “could include a shop for youth boat building and engine repair, and classrooms to teach for Coast Guard licenses. To get a license, you need hands-on experience steering a boat, navigating, and doing engine maintenance.”  Portside also wants permission “to have a small subtenant vessel with a running engine alongside the Mary Whalen.”

Not sure if this is true, but I’m running out of time before I need to meet an old friend for brunch. Our community board was by far the hottest place to be earlier in the week when a packed crowd inpatiently sat through less than interesting community board business (should the board give a brownstone owner its approval to extend the four-story house even further into the backyard - snore) before getting to the reason they showed up on a rainy, cold night–the bike lane.  Oh, and yes, the Zoom option for people didn’t work and wasted a lot of time. While I love the Zoom option for nights I can’t attend a given function, I think it's time to end Zooms unless you take the time to ensure they work and work well!

By my count, 14 neighbors waited until the end to speak. All but two talked about the Court St. redesign.  Many business owners spoke, as well as regular folks who live, shop or work in the neighborhood. I’d say there was a good mix of people for and against the redesign. There was nothing you hadn’t heard before, although a few people asked the audience to come up with some common ground to work together and avoid an “us against them” mentality.  A 31-year-old woman, who grew up in the area and now lives here, emphasized that how long you’ve lived in the neighborhood should not give you more of a platform than people who recently moved to Ward 6. She said to me afterward that it felt a little “nativist,” as people criticized newcomers who might be more supportive of the redesign.

I was glad to hear from Councilmember Shanana Hanif’s staffer at the meeting that her boss plans to walk Court Street next week to see the changes for herself. I tried to confirm with her staff by email a date and whether this is the first time the councilmember has walked Court St for this reason, as it seems a little late given there’s already a lawsuit and this is one of the only things people in our communities care about these days.  More soon when I hear back from someone, anyone from Hanif’s office.