Brooklyn Community Board 2, representing Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Fulton Ferry, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, met on Wednesday, Oct. 11, for its regular monthly meetings at St. Francis College.
The agenda was packed with various items, including an approval for a cannabis retailer and a direct address from a sitting council member.
Devil’s Harvest, the candidate applying for a cannabis license at 332 Myrtle Ave., was met with lukewarm pushback, eliciting Brandon Smith, the head of the Health, Environment and Social Services Committee for the district, to assure the community board members the applicant was a trustworthy vendor. Afterward, the license was approved.
“We’ve talked to this applicant extensively. In each circumstance, they understood the requirements and will comply with the law,” Smith told the board.
During the meeting, Council Member Lincoln Restler, who represents District 33 in Brooklyn, spoke to his constituents at the meeting about several issues on his mind.
Restler denounced the new proposed plans from the mayor’s office to add 154 beds for detainees in the new Brooklyn Detention Center by slashing the number of therapeutic beds intended for people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders in the facility.
Restler also raised the importance of Local Law 97 and its role in the city’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2050.
“This isn’t meant to be expensive," said Restler. "We want an easy and fast way to get to zero carbon."
Lenue Singletary, the board's chairperson, announced the opening of a Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at 248 Flushing Ave. to support the hundreds of new asylum seekers in the city.
He also endorsed the Brooklyn STEAM Center, which partners with eight different high schools to offer students innovative and industry-informed experiences and create a diverse and skilled pipeline for the technology and manufacturing industries.
“They do a great job of teaching kids in an industrial setting for the future,” said Singletary.
During the meeting, three other liquor licenses — for Love & Dough, 68 Jay St., Joy Hospitality at 229 Dekalb Ave., and Rhodora Wine Bar at 45 Willoughby Ave. — were approved.
Additionally, two honorary street co-naming were approved. The intersection of Hall Street and Myrtle Avenue will now be called “Ahmad Samhan Way,” and Fulton Street and Waverly Avenue will now be called “Dr. Beny J. Primm Way.”
The meeting concluded with a call for public comments, which was met by crickets.
“I just have to say, this is the best, most well-run community board meeting I’ve ever been to," an attendee said of the meeting.
The next CB2 meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 8, with the location to be determined at a later date. You can access the calendar here.
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