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 Programs and ProjectsClick the following links to learn more about these topics:
Sanitation, Graffiti Removal, and BeautificationClean streets and sidewalks are a vital component of creating a safe and pleasant environment for merchants and neighborhood residents alike. We contract with a local business to provide supplementary sweeping and the maintenance of corner trash bins, but merchants are still responsible for doing their part by cleaning the sidewalks in front of their businesses when dirty. Graffiti removal, through both power-washing and painting, is provided to remove graffiti from security gates, brick walls, lampposts and mailboxes. Please call us if your building or business on Myrtle Avenue gets hit by graffiti. In addition to maintaining a clean street, we are always looking to enhance the aesthetics of Myrtle Avenue by improving the physical condition and appearance of the avenue's infrastructure. Over the past few years, we have planted 13 additional street trees, installed tree pit guards, and secured funds from the Brooklyn Borough President to install historic-style streetlights from Flatbush Avenue Extension to Classon Avenue. We are working to raise funds to make additional improvements to the avenue.
Business Attraction & RetentionWe are always actively working to improve the retail mix along Myrtle Avenue to better serve the neighborhood, and to strengthen the avenue's small businesses by increasing foot traffic and attracting new shoppers. Our strategy is based on a combination of providing assistance to existing avenue merchants to improve their businesses, attracting and working with new entrepreneurs to find appropriate retail space on the avenue, and recruiting a few established area businesses to open new locations when appropriate. We are constantly gathering information from the surrounding neighborhoods to help us determine what types of businesses residents would like to see on Myrtle Avenue. In the past, we have conducted shopping surveys with PACC and the Fort Greene Association that have helped us to target our business attraction efforts. Until we conduct another survey, please feel free to contact us to let us know what type of business you would like to see on Myrtle, or if you are starting a business and would like to consider Myrtle Avenue as a location. General Business Assistance:
Small Business Lending:
Marketing & EventsDrawing attention to the great locally-owned businesses, both old and new, that Myrtle Avenue has to offer is a principal part of our mission. By targeting local press with newsworthy stories, maintaining an avenue shopping guide both on the web and in print, and planning local events, we aim to attract shoppers, new businesses, and other investment to Myrtle Avenue in order to spur economic activity and strengthen our locally-owned businesses. Design Fund & Storefront ImprovementThe Myrtle Avenue Design Fund provides small matching grants to avenue merchants for exterior and interior store improvements. Since its inception, the Design Fund has provided over 25 local merchants with design assistance and façade improvement grants. Exterior improvements can include the design and installation of a new sign or awning, painting, restoration of historic details, or the installation of see-through security gates (while replacing solid security gates). Interior improvements can include painting, lighting, and product display and store layout enhancements. Merchants are encouraged to take advantage of our in-house graphic designer, provided free of charge to grant recipients, for advice and design services. We can also provide sign, awning, and gate manufacturer referrals. Merchants who wish to participate in the program must contact us before undertaking any improvements, all of which must be approved to ensure code compliance with the NYC Department of Buildings. Grant awards will not be made for projects without prior approval. Grants can not be used to fund solid, non-see-through gates, or awnings and signage that advertise anything but the business' name. Myrtle Ave Wastes LessWhile working to keep the avenue clean of garbage and graffiti, we have begun to promote some preventative measures that help to reduce the amount of solid waste generated by businesses and consumers, and reduce the amount of energy used, all while helping merchants and shoppers to save money. In an effort to reduce the amount of garbage overflowing onto the sidewalks, we have rolled out a customer incentive program in conjunction with local merchants. The myrtlemugs and myrtlebags program encourages consumers to purchase reusable mugs and shopping bags instead of the usual disposable products. When shoppers use them at participating avenue merchants, identified by the green and yellow decal displayed in their storefronts and the green and yellow icon (
Another strategy we use for reducing paper garbage in the neighborhood is to work with avenue restaurants to reduce their flyering of menus, and to instead place their menus on our website for area residents to view or download electronically, facilitating delivery orders without further littering the sidewalks. Visit myrtle menus to find the menu of your favorite Myrtle restaurant. We are also actively working with PICCED and NYSERDA to help merchants and property owners to improve energy efficiency in their buildings and business operations. We have helped to designate the Myrtle Avenue vicinity as a New York State Energy Target Zone, and will continue to host occasional workshops or one-on-one sessions for those interested in learning more about what you can do to save money by lowering your energy consumption. Historic PreservationTo help foster the sense of place that is found in neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn, and to protect the significant historic resources in the areas of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, we advocate for the protection of the neighborhood's architectural character and historic assets. We are currently undertaking a cultural resource survey of the Wallabout neighborhood, the area north of Myrtle Avenue and south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. These mixed residential and industrial-use blocks have the largest collection of pre-civil war, clapboard houses in New York City, in addition to numerous significant industrial and religious complexes. The area is not currently protected by historic district designation, the possibility of which is being explored through our work. Through a New York Main Street grant from New York State's Division of Housing and Community Renewal, we will be working to restore eight historic building façades along Myrtle Avenue over the next two years. These matching grants provide up to $10,000 per building façade (with property owners putting up an equal amount of $10,000) for those property owners working to restore their mixed-use buildings. The major focus of this program is on the preservation of buildings on traditional commercial main streets, and funds will be used to restore avenue buildings to their original design and condition. If you are the owner of a mixed-use property on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene or Clinton Hill and are interested in participating, please contact us.  © 2008 Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project LDC (MARP) 472 Myrtle Avenue, 2nd Fl, Brooklyn, NY 11205
t: 718.230.1689 | f: 718.230.3674 | info@myrtleavenue.org site by four eyes |
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