Small Businesses Get a Boost in Downtown Brooklyn

Small businesses struggling to adjust to a "new" Downtown Brooklyn filled with big names like Gap, H&M and have found an ally in what, for some, may seem like an unlikely place. 

"She's helped us bring customers in. She shares with us the things that are going on in Downtown Brooklyn, the stuff I don't have time to keep up with," said Michael Dennis, owner of Patty Plus Bakery and Restaurant on Livingston Street. 

Dennis is referring to Katie Lyon, business service manager for the Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn BID—part of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, an organization that, perhaps unfairly, has been seen more as a cheerleader for big developments like than a champion of the mom-and-pop.

But that's a viewpoint Lyon, along DBP president Tucker Reed and MetroTech BID service manager Ryan Grew, sought to dispel in a conversation with Patch earlier this week. 

"There needs to be balance," Grew said. "You need to do the best job possible reaching out to both large and small businesses."

In case of Javier Espinoza, co-owner of the on nearby Willoughby Street, it was a case of not being forgotten during a rough eight months of recovery after devastated his Spanish-American restaurant. 

"We want to say thank you very much for giving us all the attention," Espinoza told Reed and Grew in Tio Pio's refurbished interior on Tuesday. 

Back at Patty Plus, owned and operated at the same Livingston Street location by Dennis for the past 10 years, DBP provided more than just moral support. 

With help from Lyon, Patty Plus was able to receive grant money to update their exterior, including the installation of see-through gates to better take advantage of Downtown Brooklyn's 24/7 activity.

"She made it all possible," Dennis said. 

However, DBP still has its doubters among those working with low-income residents like those living at nearby Fort Greene Houses, who still view the economic development community with some trepidation.

"We are trying to work with them while trying to find ways to hold them accountable to community standards," said Lucas Shapiro, senior organizer at Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, a group that has argued in the past for more help for independent business owners. 

Reed, from former president Joe Chan , dismissed the notion that the arrival of big chain stores to the area was a bad thing for disadvantaged Brooklynites.

"They want more shopping options too," Reed said. "Now they don't have to go to Manhattan to do it."