Local Brooklyn businesses say Vanderbilt Open Streets program is hurting them
NEW YORK -- Mrs. Mitchell has owned Mitchell's Soul Food restaurant on Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn for more than 40 years.
"We get a lot of senior citizens and church people on Sundays," said James Bromell, the restaurant manager.
Bromell says since the Open Streets program began on Vanderbilt Avenue in 2020, many longtime customers stopped coming on Sundays, citing disrupted bus routes and difficulty to get there by car. The street is closed seasonally for most of the weekend, starting at rush hour on Fridays and ending Sunday nights.
"All I asked was to give me Sunday. You know, I lose money on Friday, I lose money on Saturdays. But again, I will accept the loss if I had to get Sunday. But they refuse," he said.
The restaurant is among many that have asked city leaders and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, which manages this Open Street, for a compromise.
"We're sorry about that because our intention is to create a program that's a win-win for everybody on Vanderbilt Avenue," said Gib Veconi, board chair of PHNDC.
Veconi said the council has tried to accommodate Mitchell's.
"We've offered to put in a neighborhood loading zone on the intersection closest to their restaurants so that there's a place for their customers to pull in and pick up food," he explained. "We've also offered to help them take advantage of the foot traffic that comes to Vanderbilt Avenue by placing tables and chairs in front of their restaurant."
It wasn't the solution Mitchell's was looking for.
"What they offered me was unacceptable," Bromell responds. "We never dine outside, you know?"
Business owners' grievances against the program
CBS News New York's Hannah Kliger asked Veconi whether there is any compromise that can be made to prevent the longtime business from having to close.
"Oh, I am not at all certain the business will close its doors. I don't know that that's expected in this case," Veconi responded.
When Kliger asked Bromell whether the restaurant is in danger of closing, he said it was, because the business is operating in the negative.
"She is taking her personal savings to make payroll to keep the business going," he said of Mrs. Mitchell. "Because she's not making the money she was making before."
Mitchell's is not alone in its grievances against the program. Frank Widdi co-owns Foodtown Market a few blocks down. He says Open Streets is scaring off his customers who come to grocery shop on the weekends.
"They tell me, Frank, I was I was circling around two, three, four times. I couldn't find parking. And then eventually I had to go to a store that is further out," Widdi said, adding that the issue is exacerbated with gridlock. "When they close the streets, other avenues and streets are congested like that. So it just defeats the purpose."
Lynda Balsama is the founding member of United Neighbors of Prospect and Crown Heights, a community group frustrated with officials turning a deaf ear.
She says three dozen businesses in the area wrote letters to city leaders expressing their concerns.
"Everybody was told that this was a beloved program, that the entire community was behind it. A little bit of a shell game going on. But once we started talking to each other, we realized that that was not actually the case," she said.
The group collected more than 2,000 signatures from the community, including members of the local fire and police departments, who cited worries about emergency response times.
Open Streets has more than its fair share of supporters
Open Streets supporters say the program improves safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
"There's a second side of safety, and that's people who need to be taken to the hospital. If you're having a stroke, you want to get to the hospital in six minutes, not 10 minutes," Balsama said.
In response to these claims, the city's Department of Transportation pointed to a 2-year-old analysis of the pandemic-era economic benefits of Open Streets, but did not respond to any direct questions.
A spokesperson for City Hall replied with the following statement: "New Yorkers deserve high-quality public spaces — and thanks to Open Streets, we can better utilize our city's blocks as community spaces where people can spend time with family and loved ones and build community with their neighbors. Our focus on creating better public spaces has also helped improve New Yorkers' health and quality of life while supporting local businesses. We look forward to discussing these concerns directly with business owners in the community."
There was a town hall scheduled with Mayor Adams on Sept. 9, which was cancelled because of his COVID-19 diagnosis. More than two weeks since, a new date has not been set.
This weekend is going to be the last for the Vanderbilt Open Street this year, with no word on whether it will start back up next spring.
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