Brigit Pinnell

This just in from Chelsea Mauldin, the exiting executive director of the Montague Street BID — “A new executive director, Brigit Pinnell, will be joining the Montague Street Business Improvement District in January 2011. Ms. Pinnell comes to Montague Street from the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District, where she was executive director for two years. Prior to joining the Jamaica Center BID, Ms. Pinnell was the Director of Economic Development and communications for the Fulton Mall Improvement Association (FMIA) in downtown Brooklyn.”

Full press release after the jump.

New Director to Join Montague Street BID in January 2011

BROOKLYN, NY—October 10, 2010—A new executive director, Brigit Pinnell, will be joining the Montague Street Business Improvement District in January 2011. “After four rewarding years with the BID, I’m moving on to pursue new opportunities,” said outgoing director Chelsea Mauldin. “I’m delighted that Brigit will be joining the BID – she’s going to be a great asset for Montague Street.”

Ms. Pinnell comes to Montague Street from the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District, where she was executive director for two years. She administered a budget of more than $765,000 and oversaw the provision of supplemental sanitation services, marketing and promotion, retail development, business assistance, and community development to a thriving 30-block commercial district.

Prior to joining the Jamaica Center BID, Ms. Pinnell was the Director of Economic Development and Communications for the Fulton Mall Improvement Association (FMIA) in downtown Brooklyn. Ms. Pinnell obtained her Masterʼs Degree in Urban Planning from New York Universityʼs Wagner School of Public Service. While pursuing her degree, she worked at the New York City Department of Small Businesses Services in
the Neighborhood Development Division.

Prior to pursuing a career in community and economic development, Brigit spent three years as an editor at Business Wire. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, she graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Geography, and a BA in Communications.

Ms. Mauldin will remain with the BID through the end of 2010. Through December, any BID inquiries may be directed to her attention at cmauldin@montagueBID.com. Ms. Pinnell will assume her duties in January 2011.

The mission of the Montague Street Business Improvement District is to improve all aspects of Montague Street, from beautifying the public realm to supporting our local merchants and national retailers. We’re committed to making Montague Street a great place to work, live, and shop. More information is available on our website, http://www.montagueBID.com/.

Mauldin (c) and King (r) cozie up Montague Street (Photo: S. Portlock)

Mauldin championed several Montague Street boosting projects including decorating the thoroughfare’s parking meters with knitted cozies and “piazza  days” which will be returning this Fall.  (Maybe there’s still time for the BID to take up our suggestion for a “more better” piazza.)

Last year, we posted New York City’s plan to revitalize Montague Street in 1976. We took that conversation into the present day with Mauldin and some of the district’s merchants:

Here they are: the BHB Ten for 2009. Your recommendations and suggestions influenced this year’s list of Brooklyn Heights’ movers and shakers.   This year’s members represent new trends in thought, community leadership, the arts and charitable giving.  We look forward to their contribution to our neighborhood, our city, our country and the world for years to come.

Congratulations to this year’s members!

Doug Biviano – Candidate for NYC Council.  His “Biv for Brooklyn” campaign for David Yassky’s  NYC Council D-33 seat was a mash-up of  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Al Pacino’s performance in And Justice For All.    Operating out of his “Main Street” campaign headquarters on Montague Street, the Cornell educated engineer’s passion for health care reform and his Everyman persona earned him the BHB Reader’s Endorsement in the race, not to mention the backing of his mentor/Democratic Rock Star Denis Kucinich.   His mission of reform hit home during the primary  as he knew that his job as the superintendent at a Brooklyn Heights co-op was in jeopardy due to budget cuts the father of three believed were directly related to the cost of  his health care package.   Since the primary, he’s happily moved on to another Brooklyn Heights building.  And while he didn’t win the Democratic nomination, Biviano has established himself as a new voice in Brooklyn Heights politics.

Heather Hitchens – Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts. A Montague Street resident, Heather has strived to preserve funding for the arts at a time of state budgetary crisis, and has supervised the development of innovative programs to encourage business, educational and arts institutions to work together.

Seth Phillips – Principal, Public School 8, Brooklyn. As any P.S. 8 parent will tell you, Phillips has led his school to a level rivaling private schools in our area.

Whether it’s dealing with the Department of Education’s weird grading system or making magic with small public education budgets, Phillips has made a huge positive impact on Brooklyn Heights.

Tom van den Bout – President, Brooklyn Heights Association. With the launch of a new website and a year’s worth of centennial celebration ahead, van den Bout is leading the BHA  into the 21st century in an inclusive,  contemporary and socially relevant way.

About the new website and celebration he tells BHB, “I’m hoping that we can bring a little life (civic and/or just plain old fun) to the neighborhood.”

Mark Lahm and Jim Montemarano – Owners, The Brooklyn Heights Wine Bar.  After years of a “cursed” existence, the space at 50 Henry Street, most recently tainted by the Busy Chef scandal,  was transformed into the Brooklyn Heights Wine Bar by the proprietors of Henry’s End and Cranberry’s.

It has quickly became a neighborhood destination and revitalized the corner of Cranberry and Henry Streets.

Chelsea Mauldin- Executive Director Montague Street BID.  Sure, it’s her job but Mauldin’s tireless efforts as a cheerleader for Montague Street’s Business Improvement District are worthy of praise.

Whether it’s Montague Summer Space, Festival of Nosh or holiday caroling,  Mauldin begins every day thinking of ways to make Brooklyn Heights a better place to live.

Brian Shahum – Altruist. In May, BHB covered AIG exec Shahum’s efforts to build basketball courts in Mozambique.  “It was an amazing experience,” Shahum told our Sarah Portlock. “Not only do kids now have a place to play, but a community has a sense of pride.”

His passion for b-ball also landed him on Vs. Networks’ America’s Next Sports Star this year.

Paul O. Zelinsky – Children’s book illustrator.  “P.S. 8 parent” writes:  “Not only is he an award-winning children’s book illustrator, who has received the Caldecott Medal and at least two Caldecott Honors, but he has also given very generously of his time and artwork to PS 8, where his wife, Deborah Hallen, taught for many years. He is one of the most distinguished illustrators of the last 50 years. He has an original piece of art hanging in the children’s room of the Brooklyn Heights Library.”

Scott Ruplinger- The Penny School Project.  “Michael” writes: “In the past year, Scott Ruplinger has launched a nationwide penny collection competition in elementary, middle and high schools to raise awareness for education in Kenya. He has built one new school in Kenya this year bringing the total up to three in the past three years. He also coaches (for free) a large number of Kenyan runners and arranges all of their sponsorships to travel internationally and provide for their families. Last month he opened a new training center for runners to train at for free as well as building a new community library. Locally, he runs three nonprofits aimed at low income individuals as well as coaches an after school youth cross country team in Prospect Park. Also, he chairs the public interest program at Brooklyn Law School raising funds, awareness,and interest in giving back to the local community. All of this while a full-time law student and making less than $30k a year. Though not a usually visible entity in our neighborhood, his impact is worldwide and much needed.”

Gabriel Byrne – Actor. When he’s not supporting theater in his native Ireland, Byrne is starring in cutting edge productions like HBO’s In Treatment.   Like all of us, he’s  a lover of Brooklyn Heights, frequently seen at area coffee shops and other businesses.  Recently,  Byrne -without fanfare, publicists or papparazzia – attended and read stories at a P.S. 8 fundraiser in DUMBO.

Thanks to: Sarah Portlock, Marc Hermann, Claude Scales and Aki Tuccu for some of the photos above.

This just in from Chelsea Mauldin of the Montague BID:

Contractors from the Parks Department are on Montague Street now, working on our tree pits. Back in late April, they scored the sidewalks; today they’re resizing the pits and adding topsoil and mulch. Then they’ll come back out — this month, we believe — to install our new iron tree-pit guards.

The Montague Street Business Improvement District (“BID”) held its annual meeting at Eamonn’s yesterday evening. BID Executive Director Chelsea Mauldin (photo at left) said the BID must respond to the economic crisis by providing more services to businesses on Montague in, among other things, marketing and technology. As an example of marketing assistance, she cited a program the BID developed with Pratt, in which design students have worked with one merchant on Montague to create a new image, including sign, logo and cards.

The BID will try to address the vacancy problem by promoting “pop-up stores” for which landlords will extend short-term leases either for a specific event–in this connection she mentioned master pumpkin carver and Heights resident Hugh McMahon, who would like to set up a temporary space before Halloween–or as a trial for a possible longer relationship. The BID will also seek to attract more visitors to Montague by repeating last summer’s “Pedestrian Piazza” experiment, which, Ms. Mauldin said, was successful in attracting more shoppers to the street, at least on sunny days, and also by promoting more cultural events that will get the street attention in the media. In this connection, she listed all of the newspapers, magazines and blogs (including BHB) that had coverage of the knitted cozies on Montague parking meters. She also mentioned plans for a “restaurant stroll.”

State Senator Daniel Squadron was the featured guest speaker at the meeting. He began by describing his own experience as a small business owner: before entering politics he ran a small bar and restaurant near the Columbia University campus that served “the best cheeseburger in New York” (he added that no one could challenge that statement because the place no longer exists). This had taught him the difficulties that small-scale entrepreneurs face in general, and in New York City in particular. He said he believes the state must establish policies to preserve and revitalize “urban retail corridors,” of which Montague Street is an example.

Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, asked him what the state is doing to help small businesses. Sen. Squadron said the State provides partial funding for some City programs that aid small businesses, as well as providing some direct grants. He also mentioned the Empire State Development Small Business Division. In addition, he said, there are continuing efforts to lift unnecessary regulatory burdens and restrictions on small businesses. For example, he said a new law is going into effect that will allow liquor stores to sell some non-alcoholic goods, such as tonic water and maraschino cherries. As an aside, he noted that one third of the maraschino cherries sold in the U.S. come from Red Hook. Tony Bates, owner of Bentley Shoes, complained of the difficulties he had dealing with State bureaucracy. Sen. Squadron said that anyone having such problems should contact Ellen Whelan-Wuest at his Brooklyn office, located in Borough Hall. The phone number is 718-802-3818.

This morning and yesterday evening, knitters covered 69 parking meters along Montague Street with knitted cozies as part of a public art project commissioned by the Montague Street Business Improvement District. Artist and organizer Magda Sayeg (above, far left), the founder of Knitta Please, put the finishing touches on the 69th pole this morning, and unveiled it at a ceremony with the BID’s director Chelsea Mauldin and board president Tim King.

The poles will be decorated through mid-June, and Mauldin said she will soon post a walking tour of each pole on the BID’s Web site. For more information, here are the project’s two press releases: [pdf] [pdf]

Nearly 50 volunteer knitters created the poles — a move that moved Sayeg almost to tears, she said this morning. “I was prepared to knit all 69 meters,” she said, laughing. “But I’m thrilled that so many people in the community came out [to make the cozies].”

Check out nguyen le’s Flickr photo stream of the cozies.

What IS happening out there?

Montague Street is a rapidly shifting shopping thoroughfare — in the last few weeks, at least eight “For Rent” signs have gone up in windows along the five-block stretch from Clinton Street to the Promenade, and we now have word that, nationally, Ann Taylor Loft is closing over 100 outposts. Even for the stores staying put on Montague, there are myriad signs noting sales and other incentives to entice customers to come in and shop.

Clearly, the nationwide economic crisis is affecting our Main Street — but, at the ground level, how is the economy affecting these shop owners’ bottom lines? What’s going to happen to Montague Street?

There’s been some talk of what’s going on, so Brooklyn Heights Blog went out and spoke with Montague Street stakeholders about these concerns and where how think the future will play out. We now present, Montague Street Crisis: Mall or Mauled? First up is our interview with Chelsea Mauldin, executive director of the Montague Street Business Improvement District.

Next, hear from Lassen and Hennigs owner Chris Calfa, Heights Books owner Tracy Walsch, and Housing Works manager Jennifer Jinks.

Please send us your suggestions of other shopowners you’d like to see interviewed. And, follow the series at our Montague Street in Crisis page.

Montague Street in crisis: Montague Street BID speaks

BHB: What is happening on Montague Street right now?
Chelsea Mauldin, Executive Director of Montague Street BID: Montague Street is chugging along. It’s obviously a tough time for everybody in business, including our local small businesses, but I think that everyone’s is going to be able to weather this storm.

BHB: Where do you see the future of Montague Street?
Mauldin: I think that Montague Street will continue to do what it does so well now, which is serve a really diverse population of New Yorkers. In addition to the Brooklyn Heights residents, Montague Street serves as a really vital retail location for everybody who works in the office buildings downtown. There’s a lot of shopping that goes on on Montague Street during the day time that comes from people who are visiting our neighborhood, not to mention of course the tourists who are visiting the Promenade.

BHB: So you’re hopeful that the Montague Street will be just fine, despite all the current vacancies?
Mauldin: I think Montague Street will be fine. We have some vacancies which are occurring obviously because it’s a really tough economic climate out there, and I would absolutely say to anybody watching this who lives in the neighborhood that if you want to see our very special mom-and-pop stores survive, then the way to make sure they stay healthy is to go there and buy dinner tonight at Lassen and Hennings, and stop by and see Stella at James Weir Florals and buy some flowers. The way to keep our small businesses in business is to visit them.

We also have some vacancies that are happening now for the normal run of things that happen in any business climate. We had a fire on the street recently and we had a building sell, and therefore the business that had been in that building needed to move as a condition of sale. There are always going to be those changes that occur on any retail strip. I think though that Montague Street has so much going for it: we’re so well located, we have so many attractions near the street, and the foot traffic on Montague Street is terrific. That attracts all kinds of retail tenants, local tenants obviously but also national tenants and ideally we end up with a really healthy mix  — a mix that serves people who live in the community but also a mix that serves all the people who visit our street during the day.

The Montague Street Piazza appears to have been a success on its second Sunday, according to Chelsea Mauldin, Executive DIrector of the Montague Street Business Improvement District. She says the street was abound with shoppers, people dining at the sidewalk cafes, and residents playing with their kids in the street, reading the newspaper and just enjoying the view on the Promenade.

Ms. Mauldin can’t stress enough that the Piazza is about about creating a pleasant environment for relaxing outside, browsing in the Montague Street shops, and dining at the street’s restaurants. She adds that the aim is not to have a block-party atmosphere, but a destination where you can watch the world go by.

Look for two of the areas newer businesses – Yoga People and NY Kids Club – to continue offering free classes this Sunday, July 20. Yoga People will be sponsoring free outdoor yoga in front of their studio at 160 Montague Street beginning at 11 a.m. NY Kids Club will be hosting free outdoor kids’ arts activities in front of their space at 125 Montague, beginning at 3 p.m.