Atlantic Avenue BID’s yearly meeting speaks to its 2024 achievements

BOERUM HILL — The Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) held its annual meeting Friday afternoon at Someday Bar, located at 364 Atlantic Ave., where BID staff and board members discussed the group’s accomplishments of this past year.

The BID helps to promote and catalyze the growth of more than 300 small businesses along a 1.2-mile stretch in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill. 

Its main prongs are beautification, sanitation, marketing, and advocacy, according to the executive director of the Atlantic Avenue BID, Kelly Carroll.

Kate Gilman, chair of the Atlantic Avenue BID, explained, “While we do have a relatively small team, we are incredibly hard-working and have a very active board.”

Gilman also spoke to the diversity of Atlantic Avenue, “the businesses, the people: that’s something we are very proud of.”   

Carroll pointed out that some of the Atlantic Avenue BID’s major accomplishments from a monetary perspective thus far include investing $175,000 directly into the Avenue’s streets and businesses and putting $125,000 into preserving and planting trees. 

In addition, the BID received $75,000 in funding from the NYC Department of Small Business Services. 

“Our ‘Monthly Merchant Spotlight’ feature that we started at the beginning of the year is also doing very well,” Carroll noted.  “Basically, we interview business owners, take pictures of them and their shops, and do write-ups on them, ultimately getting people to stop into their business.” 

A new, official website has also been launched, which Carroll said she is very proud of. 

“It’s very informative and quite easy to navigate,” she said.

Carroll, who has been the executive director at the Atlantic Avenue BID since October 2022, pointed out that the Avenue is incredibly unique and unlike no other New York City street.

“It’s one of the oldest streets in the borough,” she said. “We have the most beautiful storefronts in New York City, businesses like Sahadi’s (gourmet grocery store) and Damascus Bread and Pastry Shop, that have thrived for more than 50 years. You just can’t find these businesses anywhere else.”

Lincoln Restler, 33rd District Council member (representing Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, Fulton Ferry, Greenpoint, Vinegar Hill, and Williamsburg), also spoke at the meeting, pointing out, “The BID is in a terrific place, and that is in no small part to Kelly Carroll’s leadership.”

The council member, who is also a BID board member, noted that a big priority around Atlantic Avenue is safety.

“We are trying our best to slow down traffic,” Restler said. “Atlantic Avenue can be wildly dangerous for all of us navigating the streets and just trying to get around the neighborhood. We got the Department of Transportation to conduct studies between Clinton and Court streets and Henry and Clinton streets and are pushing them on additional ways in which we can slow down traffic and try to make Atlantic Avenue safer. We want to have the public frequent and enjoy these amazing businesses that we have here.” 

Kevin Kim, NYC Department of Small Business Services commissioner (a city agency focused on equity of opportunity leading to economic self-sufficiency and mobility for New York City’s diverse communities), also addressed the crowd at Friday’s gathering. 

Kim spoke about the importance and significance of small business people and small businesses in general.

“My parents emigrated from South Korea in 1975, didn’t speak much English, but were educated and very determined,” Kim said, adding that they didn’t have many options other than to start a small business, which they did — designing and selling artificial flowers. “Seeing them struggle for seven years through their growth stage really had an impact on me, and I think about that when I reflect on my role as commissioner. I want to make sure that every single one of our 200,000 New York City small businesses are aware of Small Business Services and the resources we have to help and launch small businesses.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, which lasted approximately one hour, Carroll told the Eagle that she hopes to continue to assist in making the Atlantic Avenue neighborhoods that the BID represents thrive and prosper.