First full-time-day back to the flea and it was packed wall to wall with vendors returning after our summer breaks. The shoppers were there too, but it was still a bit too hot for a full force shopping extravaganza. That said, it was fine-but-not-awesome for me.

I finally got to check out The Institute for Advanced Consumption in space L14. They set up the booth in the morning and rely on the honor system. Suggested price is $18 for every item in the booth, but people can haggle amongst themselves. There’s a money jar, but it’s only monitored from a distance without any interference from salespeople. How does that work out for the vendor? Flea post here. They did have a cool collection of vintage clothes.

Tony Garcia from Barntiques was a hoot. He didn’t want to be photographed and didn’t know what a blog is, but he did set up my shots of his gorgeous tables. Hand crafted furniture from reclaimed wood. And this is fine work. Not some of that crap people stick together. What else can I say? Check out the website.

So, we’re sitting there and we see these 2 youngins being followed by a camera crew, but they’re not interacting with anyone…just shopping. We were like “WTF”?  Then I sez “You know what? I bet that was The Real World!” It was some wanna-be hipster tattooed chick and a nerdy, jock-like fella. I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t realize it was them until they left and now I can’t find any photos online to validate my sighting. But I think I did see them. A real Real World sighting. I’ll never be the same.

Last night I attended the airing of the grievances for the Brooklyn Flea at Queen of All Saints Church. The town hall style meeting was well attended by both opponents and supporters of the weekly market, as well as Flea Daddies, Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby and politicians such as Letitia James.

There were some residents kvetching about noise levels, litter and crowds interfering with their peaceful Sunday mornings, but I’d say most of the criticism came from the church parishioners. As I had suspected, much of it had to do with parking issues. It was said that some elderly parishioners were no longer able to attend church because they couldn’t get dropped off out front or they were in fear of tripping over the bicycles that people lock up near the church gate. Some people stopped attending church because they couldn’t find parking at all. My husband thought that was funny since we have no trouble finding parking within a few blocks every Sunday.

One neighborhood gentleman got up to let the church know that he doesn’t appreciate all the years their visitors have been blocking the streets with their double parked cars. Another man thought they should be welcoming market attendees in to have a look at their church instead of turning them away. The issue there was the restroom. Many market visitors stop by to use the church facilities. But some simply want to see the interior of this historic church.

Most of the market opposition came from neighbors/parishioners whom have resided in Ft Greene all of their lives. As someone commented on my previous post “Old NIMBY vs New NIMBY”. My husband and I lived in Ft Greene in the 80’s when we were first married. We wondered if there was this much concern over the shootings and crack houses at the time. Ft Greene has always had some lovely architecture and people have kept their homes up, but Dekalb Avenue had nothing going on! And lest not forget “Murder Avenue”. Would people really prefer that to a flea market?

It did get kind of ugly when not one, but two separate parishioners stated “This wouldn’t happen in a Jewish neighborhood across from a synagogue on a Saturday.” That’s when my husband had to restrain me. I waved my arms like a 5th grader so I could respond to that, but alas, I wasn’t called upon to speak. All I wanted to say was that the last time I checked, Ft Greene wasn’t a CHRISTIAN neighborhood the way parts of Crown Heights are JEWISH enclaves. A less hot headed Jew than myself responded to those comments.

But it wasn’t until the end of the evening that I realized what this was really about. One parishioner stood up and voiced her concern that attendance has dropped for Sunday services at the church. I muttered “And that’s because of a flea market?” But that’s just it. Church attendance is on the decline all over Brooklyn. It’s a vulnerable situation and someone needs to be blamed.

So why not the flea market?

What happened to Brooklyn? It used to be so cool when it was uncool. Now it’s full of a bunch of grumpy NIMBY whiners. Apparently, a flea market is an unwelcome occurrence.

People are bitching about the Brooklyn Flea already, 3 months into the endeavor. It seems that the nearby church is peeved that the vendors are taking their double parking rights on a Sunday morning. I don’t think that was said outright, but come on, what else could it be? On top of that, there are some neighborhood people complaining about….actually, I don’t know what their gripe is. But this is Fort Greene. It usen’t to be so….complainy.

The market sustains over 150 vendors per week (including moi).

The market generates income for the school.

The market employs 15 people part time.

The market is economic stimulus for Fort Greene.

And this is bad, how?

You know what? Screw you, Ft Greene! We’d love to have the flea in Bed Stuy! We could use the economic stimulus.

Councilwoman Letitia James is trying to save the flea and you can too.

A town hall meeting will be held Thursday, July 24, at 7 p.m. at the Queen of All Saints’ Roman Catholic Church, 300 Vanderbilt near Lafayette.

Via Daily Intel