To Whom It May Concern:
I am a proud second-generation Brooklynite. I opened the Bakery on Bergen in 2014.
Customers say it is the best bakery for cookies like the chocolate chip cookie with smoked sea salt and the vanilla rum cake and many cake/cupcake flavors like ube, matcha and black sesame fig. I’ve had a lot of press. I’ve been on Good Morning America, Bravo TV and featured on Humans of New York.
Due to this attention, I have a very geographically diverse customer base. People come from New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Georgia, the DMV, LA from everywhere not just locally. Most of my customers drive to get here. If you’re coming by car, you’re going to have a difficult time.
I definitely see that Open Streets on Vanderbilt disrupts the ability for people to move and to get to the bakery. I have heard some of my customers complain that it took them a long time to find parking or to just get over here. Open streets creates a lot of congestion too.
We have to be about community. We live in the Prospect Heights community. We need to be mindful of our neighbors and so that if there is something that is adversely affecting businesses we need to be mindful about that. There’s all sorts of issues with race and class and gentrification. So I think we need to be mindful. We know everything changes. But if something happens and it’s unfair to an extreme that needs to be modified. Everybody here should feel welcome.
I respectfully request that Open Streets Vanderbilt is modified so that businesses like mine are not negatively impacted. We are one community. One person or one group should not have outsized power over the neighborhood.
Sincerely,
The Bakery On Bergen
740 Bergen St Brooklyn, NY 11238
info@theBakeryOnBergenBk.com
917-519-6549