Bedfod is 92% residential on that stretch.

@LCA – what percentage would you say are illegal subdivisions? It’s interesting because one person at the meeting that I referenced in the post said that she’s heard that Nostrand has a number of “illegitimate” businesses. I’d assumed that she meant businesses that are fronts for something more illicit. But based on what you say, I wonder if she just meant illegitimate in the Dept. of Buildings sense.

@nat – it’s funny that you point out the architecture on Nostrand. Jennifer M. and I were walking down Nostrand one day and she pointed out how many of the buildings on Nostrand look as if the residential part of the building was built in back of an existing storefront. So as opposed to being one contiguous building with a storefront on the bottom, it actually looks like two buildings (one a short store front and the other a taller residence) stuck together. It’s hard to describe, but I will try to take a picture and post it. It’s actually quite interesting.

@ methinksitnotsosimple – Personally, I’m not as offended by the type of establishments that come up in the neighborhood as I am by the quality (or lack thereof) of the establishments – the interior design, the cleanliness, how it is maintained, customer service, etc.

For instance, even though there are already a number of beauty salons, there’s one that stands out as a particularly nice addition to Nostrand. I can’t remember the name off the top, but it’s located on the east side of Nostrand, closer to Atlantic – it has a brown and pink motif.

Same thing for bodegas. On New York Avenue and Union there is a relatively new bodega that has opened up within the past year and a half or so. As far as bodegas go, it is pretty nice and I’d much prefer to patronize that bodega over others. Same offerings as other bodegas, same prices, but the appearance of the store itself is a lot nicer. I hope more entrepreneurs focus on providing quality establishments to the residents of this neighborhood.

Franklin had a beautiful old commercial building[1]. It left a huge plaza of sidewalk open at the corner of Eastern Parkway. The building line went all the way back to where the first house on Eastern Parkway starts. Sadly it was traded for a the promise of a six story condo[2], with some retail. What we actually got is a half finished foundation, a giant abandoned hole in the ground, and no sidewalk.

Past aesthetics, I think the economic impact of proximity to Prospect Heights is the key to what’s happening on Franklin. While Franklin benefits from good transit, economic redevelopment will more likely be driven by spillover from what’s happening on Washington and Classon. By and large gentrification has worked blob style, spreading from one neighborhood to another. The big question that I have is how deeply the bad economy has slowed gentrification, and where? Franklin is very much gentrifying, but its not complete, and a change in the demographic momentum might give some businesses pause before opening there. However the recent business boom seems to show that Franklin Ave’s economy is growing and becoming more diverse.

[1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/hammerspace/1332815211/ — I could only find a picture of it being torn down, so the interesting roof and wooden moulding are already torn off; but look at those windows and that iron work. Also now that I am
[2] http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/10/development_wat_142

Hopefully BOTH streets will spruce up in the near furtute!

It’s funny how some people serm to think Franklin Ave & Nostrand Ave are miles apart, when in reality they are a 2 -3 block walk.

I skateboard the difference everyday.

Thinking about street-level differences, Nostrand is definitely more of a thoroughfare than Franklin–it gets the yellow-line “main drag” distinction on Google Maps, while Franklin remains the “side street” white. I couldn’t find traffic numbers online, but this isn’t surprising–Franklin only runs from Flushing to Empire. From Flushing to Fulton in Bed-Stuy, it’s one lane and a bike lane, and it widens to two lanes in Crown Heights. Nostrand, on the other hand, is two lanes straight from Flushing to Sheepshead Bay, meaning it both carries more traffic and goes more places.

I did a little experiment using http://www.gmap-pedomter.com to compare street and sidewalk widths, and the results were interesting. From Atlantic to Eastern, both Franklin and Nostrand are, on average, about 21-22 meters wide from storefront to storefront (sidewalks and road included). However, the car-carrying street on Franklin is between 10-10.5 meters wide in most places, while on Nostrand the average is 12-12.5. Two meters may not seem like a noteworthy difference, but it does shift the car-pedestrian balance–slightly less than half of Franklin is devoted to cars, while slightly more than half of Nostrand is. It also means that Nostrand’s road is 20% wider than Franklin’s, and that Franklin has 20% more sidewalk space than Nostrand, both of which sound like a lot when stated that way.

Thanks for writing this!