After a one year-hiatus, a 100-year-old tradition returned to Williamsburg this past week. The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast transformed multiple blocks along North 8th Street and Havemeyer Street into festival grounds, bringing food, prayer, and a massive dancing parade to North Brooklyn throughout the week-long celebration.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel first celebrated the feast in 1903, when a large number of immigrants from the Nolani region of Italy brought the tradition with them from their old country to their new home in Brooklyn. The feast itself dates back to the 5th century A.D. when Saint Paulinus — the patron saint of the Nolani people — returned home to Italy after a long and dangerous mission to North Africa.

The tradition has been handed down from generation to generation ever since, a homecoming of sorts for the Nolani community.

That theme of homecoming was extremely apparent this year. After taking a year-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was finally able to celebrate their ancestral festival once again.

“The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast, the best feast in Brooklyn, is back bigger and better than ever,” said Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, Pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. “The parish, the community, and so many others are very much looking forward to the return of such a grand and special tradition.”

The feast began on Wednesday, July 7 with a Mass at Our Lady of Mount St. Carmel, ushering in a week full of food vendors, carnival games, and reunion. However, the solemnity of the occasion was not lost on those present. This year’s feast included a special Novena (a nine-night prayer) dedicated to those who have died from the Coronavirus, front line workers and military personnel, and for those who feel disconnected from the Catholic Church.

After the introductory Mass, the Feast began in earnest. For many of the vendors present on North 8th Street, this year’s celebration also felt like a homecoming after a year without street festivals.

Our paper spoke with Marie and Alexander, a mother and son duo working for the catering company Rancho Mateo, about the festival’s return.

“We are so happy,” said Marie. “We do all the festivals around here. The Puerto Rican Festival, Fiesta del Sol. They all took last year off and it felt like the world was ending.”

“We do this festival every year,” Alexander chimed in. “Now we are coming back stronger than ever.”

The highlight of the week came on Sunday afternoon with the famous Giglio Procession. The Giglio (derived from the Italian word for lilies) is a seven-story tower adorned with paper-mâché flowers, a crucifix, and an image of St. Paulinus.

Accompanied by a band playing traditional Tarantella music, the procession enlisted over 100 men from the Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish to hoist the massive tower — with the band and Monsignor onboard — and parade it throughout the festival.

“We come together today in the spirit of joy and happiness,” Monsignor Gigantiello said while blessing the Giglio. “We are truly thankful for being here today, to be able to celebrate our feast and the lifting of the Giglio. It has been a rough year and a half, but we are here because of God’s grace.”

He continued: “As we lift our Giglio, we lift it in honor of all of our loved ones that have gone before us. May we continue to celebrate the lifting of the best Giglio in the world and the best feast in all of New York City.”

Throughout the procession, onlookers cheered and danced and sang along to the folk tunes that the band played. Monsignor Gigantiello even got in on the action, clapping his hands and dancing a little jig atop the massive float.

This year’s feast was enhanced even further by Italy’s victory in the UEFA European Championship (the EURO Cup) Sunday afternoon. When the game concluded, the sea of people at Mount Carmel erupted, waving Italian flags and jerseys as the Giglio paraded down the streets of Williamsburg once more.

The massive Greenpoint Landing complex on the very Northern tip of Brooklyn will be expanding once again.
The Property’s developer, Greenpoint Landing Associates (a subsidiary of New York real estate heavyweight Park Tower Group), has secured an additional $170 million in funding from New York City’s Housing Preservation and Development Corporation to construct a new structure comprised mostly of affordable housing units.
“We are glad to move forward with this exciting new development that is set to give nearly 400 low- and moderate-income families a brand-new affordable place to call home,” New York City Housing Preservation and Development commissioner Louise Carroll wrote in a statement. “This development delivers on our promise that the transformational Greenpoint Landing project, more than ten years in the making, brings 1,400 new affordable homes to Greenpoint.”
Designed by the firm Handel Architects, 35 Commercial Street will rise 22 stories high and offer unobstructed views of the Brooklyn waterfront, Long Island City, and Manhattan. The Greenpoint-based design firm Alive Structures will contribute landscaping to the building’s entrance and exteriors. The building will also come with outdoor and indoor children’s play areas, a fitness center, an on-site laundry room, bicycle parking, and communal lounge areas.
“We are so proud to partner yet again with the city to create nearly 400 new and much-needed units of low-tier AMI affordable housing, accessible to New Yorkers ranging from formerly homeless to families earning up to 110 percent of AMI,” said Anne Carson Blair, spokesperson for Greenpoint Landing Associates.
35 Commercial Street is but one of many projects that Greenpoint Landing Associates has two or begun along the North Brooklyn Waterfront. The 22-acre site is already home to three high-rise residential towers, with a grand total of seven planned to be completed within the decade (including 35 Commercial Street).

Williamsburg Councilmember Antonio Reynoso officially declared victory in the Democratic primary for Brooklyn Borough President. The announcement came last Wednesday, after rank choice voting and absentee ballots had been properly fully and properly counted.

Reynoso took an early lead back on primary day, when only first choice ballots were counted. At that time, Reynoso led the race with 28.2 percent of the vote. Bed-Stuy Councilmember Robert Cornegy was in second place with 19.2 percent of the vote, while Carroll Gardens State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon was not far behind with 17.6 percent.

Yet as more ballots were counted, things tightened up significantly. Jo Anne Simon soared to 45.2 percent, thanks largely to a strong showing with mail-in ballots. However, Reynoso still managed to hold on, ultimately securing 54.8 percent, a majority that officially won him the Democratic nomination.

“Our campaign was always about building a Brooklyn for all of us — no matter your race, your background, or what zip code you live in — and I’m so honored by the support that brought us to this victory today,” Reynoso wrote in a statement declaring his victory.

Reynoso served as the Councilmember for District 34, which represents parts of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood. His council seat will be filled by Jennifer Gutierrez, one of his former staffers who won with an impressive 80.1 percent of first place votes.

Both Reynoso and his successor are considered to be more to the left than many of the other candidates they ran against. Both candidates received endorsements from the Working Families Party and from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Political Action Committee.

In a rare move for a Borough President, Eric Adams gave the thumbs down to a 18-story residential building proposed for the intersection of Atlantic and Vanderbilt Avenues. Although Borough Presidents only play an advisory role in the land use process, Adams decision signals strong opposition to a project that already received much backlash from Community Board members.

Located on the site of a former McDonald’s and parking lot, the project would bring 300 apartments to Prospect Heights, 95 of which would be designated as below market rate affordable housing. The ground floor would host a dance studio and commercial space.

However when Community Board 8 reviewed the proposal back in march, its members were quick to highlight concerns regarding density and height.

“There is no reason to add density to a neighborhood like Prospect Heights that is absolutely swimming in density,” Elaine Weinstein, Community Board 8’s Land Use Chair, said during a meeting in March. “We cannot walk on our streets anymore. The amount of traffic and garbage is uncontrollable, and therefore it seems unrealistic to build this building as large, as high, and as dense as they [the developers] are proposing.”

The proposal still managed to pass through the Community Board review stage in March, thanks to support from members who believed the rezoning would bring more affordable housing.

The concerns Borough President’s Adams’ brought up this past week closely mirror those of the Community Board.

In a letter explaining the thumbs down, Adams’ office writes: “Borough President Adams generally supports the applicant’s proposal to increase density along wide commercial streets in the district. However, he acknowledges that the project represents a large jump in density from what is permitted in the underlying district.”

It continues: “Brooklyn is one of the fastest growing boroughs in New York City and the greater metropolitan area. Its ongoing renaissance has ushered in extraordinary changes that were virtually unimaginable even a decade ago. Unfortunately, Brooklyn’s success has led to the displacement of longtime residents who can no longer afford to live in their own neighborhoods. Borough President Adams is committed to addressing Brooklyn’s affordable housing crisis through the creation and preservation of housing units for very low- to middle-income households.”

The letter also cites inefficiencies with the Average Median Income (AMI) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) statistics that are currently used to determine affordable housing prices.

“Data shows that more than 80 percent of New York City households earning 50 percent of AMI or less are rent-burdened,” Adams’ office writes. “Borough President Adams believes that it is time to break the mold in which families already paying too much rent for substandard housing are excluded from affordable housing lotteries.”

While Adams currently only has an advisory role in land use matters, his status as the Democratic nominee for Mayor puts him in position to take a more active role in the process going forward. With a new City Council and Mayor coming into office this fall, many forthcoming and current land use proposals — including the 18-story building at the intersection of Atlantic and Vanderbilt Avenues — could potentially be altered, paused, or stopped outright.

Elsewhere in Brooklyn, the highly controversial Gowanus rezoning was recently approved by Community Boards 2 and 6 and got the greenlight from Borough President Adams. The rezoning was originally conceived by ex-Mayor Bloomberg but has found new life under Mayor de Blasio. It will see 80 square blocks of the neighborhood rezoned to make way for new developments, including the controversial plan to build a complex on the highly polluted “Public Place” site along the Gowanus Canal.

After counting ranked choice voting and mail-in ballots, Brooklyn Councilmember Brad Lander finally declared victory in the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller. The Republican Party is not nominating anyone for the position, and will almost certainly win the general election in the fall.

Lander earned 51.9 percent of votes, giving him a narrow advantage over his opponent, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who received an impressive 48.1 percent himself. Although some ballots still need to be ‘cured’ (a process by which voters can fix improperly completed ballots) before the Board of Elections certifies the victory, Johnson has already conceded from the race.

“Today, after seeing the numbers released by the Board of Elections, it’s clear that the right thing to do is to suspend my campaign for Comptroller,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement. “This was a hard-fought campaign and I congratulate Brad Lander on his victory.”

Originally Johnson planned on running for Mayor, but switched to the comptroller’s race last fall. Despite his defeat in the election, Johnson celebrated the passing of the City Budget last week. The $98.7 billion budget is the largest in the City’s history, roughly 12 percent higher than last year’s leaner, pandemic-influenced budget of $88.2 billion.

Lander celebrated the news with a statement on Twitter.

“Thank you NYC! I promise to work hard every single day to help our city recover from the pandemic more just, more equal, and better prepared for future crises than we were for this one,” Lander wrote. “I am honored to be the Democratic nominee for New York City Comptroller.”

The comptrollership oversees the accounting and financial procedures of the City, a critical watchdog position in the City government. Lander will be taking the place of current comptroller and failed mayoral candidate Scott Stringer.

Lander was considered to be the most left-leaning candidate in the race, marking his victory as a major accomplishment for New York City’s progressive movement. During his campaign, Lander received major endorsements from the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren.