Lauren Elvers Collins Reflects on Her First Year at the Church Avenue BID

Lauren Elvers Collins took over as the Executive Director of the Church Avenue Business Improvement District last December from Mark Dicus. I spoke to her over an early-morning breakfast about her first year, future plans, and the fate of ice cream along Church Avenue.


Photo by Travis Dubreuil.

DPB: Tell us a little bit about your background and what brought you to this job. I know you came from being Executive Director of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. Why the Church Avenue BID?

LEC: As you mentioned, I was Executive Director of the Conservancy for about two years and then left in February 2010, but concurrent with being with the Conservancy, I started the Windsor Terrace Alliance, which is a neighborhood association. So, the thing about the BID is that it’s a mixture of what I did at both-what I’m doing at Windsor Terrace still.

The BID really incorporates everything that I like. In all honesty, it was a job that, when I first saw it, I went, “I don’t know if that’s for me,” until I read the job description. And then it turned out it was exactly the kind of thing I liked and really the best parts of both of my jobs. I get to work with the community. I get to work with the businesses. It’s a lot of outreach and some street improvements and planning. And there’s always stuff going on.

DPB: You grew up in NY?

LEC: I grew up in Manhattan. I’m embarrassed to say that.

DPB: But you live in Windsor Terrace now?

LEC: Yeah. I lived in Manhattan until 2005 and I used to be so like, “Oh, I’m from Manhattan,” and then I moved to Brooklyn and everyone was like, “really?"

DPB: Well, as long as you wind up in Brooklyn. You know, you’re putting in your time. As a resident and professionally. It counts.

LEC: Right.

DPB: Over the past year, what are some of the projects or accomplishments that you’re proud of?

LEC: Some of it was already there, was already moving when I came in. The streetlights I’m really excited about because they’re beautiful and they’re almost done, if not completed by now.

DPB: What’s the progress on them?

LEC: Sixty-four street lights were either modified or historic streetlights were put in. They were supposed to be done about a week and a half ago, but I did see the guys working, so I think they may still be doing some tweaking. We have a streetscaping plan--this is something more toward the future--which I’m very excited about, that no one has really seen anything about yet.



My predecessor worked with the Borough President’s office to get a large grant through the Department of Transportation. So my first week when I started my job, I got a call--actually, I had accepted the job, I hadn’t started yet-I got a call from the Borough President’s office saying, “Congratulations on the job and, by the way, can you approve this streetscaping plan?” and I said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” So it kind of started really quickly.

Over the next few years, we’re going to be replacing all the sidewalks, which are very cracked, putting in more trees--the bid so far is for planting 34 more trees and expanding tree pits, which really helps also with drainage--building some curb extensions making it safer for people to cross the street, putting in a street light at East 17th Street, which is a ridiculous--I don’t know why there’s nothing there. And we were able to shift the original plan, so now they’re doing a lot to deal with the drainage because flooding is really bad when it rains. They’re replacing some of the sewers, moving some of them. At Gowanus, I did a lot with catch basins this summer. I know more about the sewers than I probably should.

This is about to go to the Department of Design and Construction, which is actually overseeing it, from the DOT. There are going to be community meetings along the way, where people can give input. The community meetings hopefully will start next year, and we’ll be aggressively getting the word out so people can chime in on what they’d like to see.

DPB: In addition to the streetscaping, what are some of your hopes for Church Ave? It seems like the first year may have been building on what was there before. What would you like to see happen in the district? What could the BID do better?

LEC: There’s a lot actually and I’m glad you put it that way. I had goals of doing much more, but a lot of it was catching up and figuring out what was going on. I really want to start doing workshops for the merchants on marketing and merchandising because I think they really need that kind of information and that’s something that I’m supposed to be providing. And Mark, my predecessor, was doing things like that.

I’d like to take advantage of holidays more and really be the kind of area where people know this is what’s going on at Halloween, this is what’s going on at Christmas. We’re not doing caroling or anything, and I would like to do that. In my neighborhood, we do nondenominational, multi-denominational caroling--we do Chanukah songs and Christmas songs--and it’s really fun. That’s kind of my background--more community building and small business, so I want to incorporate the two.

DPB: Is there any possibility of the BID expanding west of Coney Island Avenue, and what would be involved?

LEC: First thing, I would love that. The BID is too small. It’s kind of a weird spot where it starts. I get emails at least once every two months, or bump into someone who asks me why don’t you have it down toward the west--people who live in Kensington asking, "Why aren’t you down further?" But it’s not up to me. It’s actually up to the businesses. They have to get together and decide to do it. The way a BID works, they get a tax assessment that they’re agreeing to, a tax by the city, and that’s what supports the BID. That’s where the resistance comes out--people don’t really want to have an additional tax.

DPB: Is there a certain number of businesses or percentage of businesses that have to agree for the BID to incorporate a block, or do all of them have to?

LEC: I don’t know because I haven’t gotten that far. I know that it’s complicated. If we ever wanted to do it, I know that I’d have to read up on the rules, but also my businesses would have to want it too. It’s not like another business could just tack on because it would be taking my time and it would change a lot of the details of how they’re assessed. We have a contract with the city that lays out what their taxes are based on the cost of the DOE Fund (which we pay for), the cost of security (which we clearly don’t have), and other factors, so it affects their assessment.

DPB: So right now, the BID goes up to CIA?

LEC: On the side of the street where the medical center is, it stops at Buckingham because it’s residential, so the BID is actually longer on one side. On the NYC ICY side of the street it goes from Coney to Flatbush. On the other side of the street, it goes from Flatbush to Buckingham.

DPB: Interesting. The former NYC ICY.

LEC: They’re still there, but, as far as I know, they only opened one day--for the street fair that we had.

DPB: That was one of my silly questions: Are they still there and, if not, is there another ice cream store interested in coming in?

LEC: I wish they were open. I was in there two weeks ago, they’re still set up inside. I don’t know, but I think they’re looking to get out. But then we have new places. We have Pawsitive and Am Thai, who I’ve been speaking with and am really excited about.

DPB: If residents of the area wanted to get involved with any of the BID’s initiatives, what are the best ways for them to do that?

LEC: We have our annual meeting coming up on Tuesday, November 15, at the Dutch Reformed Church on Flatbush and Church at 6:30pm. That’s open to everyone, and we’re serving dinner. That would be a really good time for people to come and ask questions and get input.

We don’t have the structure right now to really take a lot of volunteers. But I want to do that. People should email me if they have ideas. If someone would come once every six months, if we had a little coffee thing, people could share information.

If someone wants to be on a committee, we have committees. One committee that is very slow in moving forward is to really do something about the B/Q subway station structure. That’s actually a really good opportunity for people because there have already been a couple of meetings with Council Member Eugene about forming a task force. It’s something I feel really strongly about because the bones of that subway station are really good; it’s just a little run down.

We have a streetscape advisory committee, which works mostly on our Restore Church Avenue program, where we give money to merchants within a certain area of the BID who want to do construction, up to $50,000. The Meat Palace is about to start; they’re redoing their whole front, their windows, which is really exciting. We have a few other businesses who are in the process of trying to access some of the money.

DPB: In addition to Restore Church Ave, I know the Uncover Church Avenue deadline is also coming up.

LEC: We really want to get as many submissions as possible, especially since we’re printing up a brochure. And I’m not an artist, but I used to be an artist rep for photographers. So I know how important publicity is, and a lot of the people who enter the program are going to have their submissions printed in this brochure, which we’re going to take care of distributing.

Melissa Skolnick, our part-time staff person, is amazing. She’s managing Uncover Church Avenue and has been nonstop getting publicity and getting stuff underway. She hooked up something with the Brooklyn Public Library, where they’re doing a reception early next year. They’re going to do an exhibit of a lot of the submissions, and it’s going to run for a month at the Flatbush branch, so it’s easy for people to get to.

DPB: Since we saw each other at the 70th Precinct Community Council meeting this month, I thought I’d ask briefly about the impact of crime on Church Avenue’s businesses. Does it seem like there’s more than usual? Have you seen any effect that’s had on businesses--new ones moving in, established businesses, landlords trying to fill vacant storefronts?

LEC: I don’t know if it’s more than usual because it’s a new area to me, but it seems like some people do have a negative feeling toward Church, about the crime. It seems like, looking backwards, not from personal experience, that it is getting better.

We do have a shoplifting problem that we’re trying to address. This guy, his name is Matt, who lives in the neighborhood, has been amazing, collecting all this information, talking to merchants and trying to help us get that on track.

The shootings are a concern and I personally get the feeling that the precinct is dealing with it. I’ve dealt with other precincts in other jobs and have not always had the best response, but the 70 I like. They really are available, and I go out--we’ve been trying to do it every month--one of the beat cops will take me out in his car to just drive through and talk about different areas. Rodriguez came out and did a walk-through of the BID. I have a situation now with them where I’ll text them saying, “Okay, that illegal vendor is out again,” because that is a real problem on Church.

DPB: Trash is also a big problem in the area. Have you looked into the Big Belly solar compactors?

LEC: I actually don’t think they would work with Church. I met with those people. I like the idea of them very much, but they really address situations where you have overflowing garbage cans. We don’t have a lot of overflowing garbage cans. We have a lot of garbage because people are throwing garbage on the street and because people are illegally dumping. And we have the Doe Fund seven days a week, which is why we don’t have the overflowing garbage cans. But the illegal dumping makes me kind of insane.

DPB: Traffic is also a concern on Church--double parking, illegal U-turns, etc. Do you know if the 70 is stepping up enforcement?

LEC: I haven’t talked to them about it, but this is one of my observations as someone who works in the neighborhood. I definitely see officers--certain afternoons--pulling over a lot of livery cabs. They’re not in unmarked cars, they’re out there and the people are still...I mean, you know he’s gonna give you a ticket, there’s a cop right in front of you. It’s kind of incredible.

DPB: Are there any other sorts of businesses you’d like to see along Church?

LEC: I would like to see more restaurants in the western part of the BID--Coney to E. 17th. I also think it would help the places that are there--like La Huasteca, which is really good--I think people don’t come there because there’s not that much else to do. People in Windsor Terrace, people in the streets neighboring Church in the beautiful homes...I know they’re going to Cortelyou and I know they’re going to 7th Avenue--those are the places I go to--but I would like for there to be places on Church so they could go close by.

So hopefully Am Thai is going to help build that up. I’ve been talking to Shayna’s, maybe get another ice cream place, but basically food. Food is really what’s going to do well down there. And other services like that. There’s no hardware store anywhere nearby, unless I’m missing one. Or a gym too.

DPB: There’s that 6,000-sq. ft. space in your second quarter report…

LEC: That would be amazing. It has all windows too. I’m a workout person, so that would be ideal. Really ideal.

DPB: Anything else you’d like to add?

LEC: I feel like when I started this job, I really checked out the area because I was a little concerned that it might not be something that I could help build up and make much better, and I really think it has so much potential in so many ways. The structure of it, the low-rise thing is excellent. If you’re ever at the west end at nighttime, it’s really pretty. I like that it’s in a neighborhood where people give their opinions. They’re not just going elsewhere and not telling us why. I look at the blog all the time. There are certain people I’m going to reach out to if I can track them down that I want to meet with, like Brenda from Flatbush.

DPB: Maybe there could be some kind of a joint thing with the BID so commenters on the blog can talk to you.

LEC: That’s something I have to do, I have to create some way that people can really do that. Because I feel like sometimes they think they’re just sending an email into space, you know? I hate that I’m turning people away, but I’m not set up yet to get people involved. I’d like to have high-level volunteers who can actually do some brainstorming to come up with some good ideas and ways to implement them. It makes sense because a BID is not just about the businesses; it’s about the neighborhood. I’m very much a community person.

For more information on Lauren and the Church Avenue BID, visit churchavenue.org.

If you'd like to contact Lauren, you can email her at laurenc@churchavenue.org.