New York energy giant Con Edison is planning on converting an empty lot in Brooklyn into a hub of clean energy. The new site (located at 223 Nevins Street in Gowanus) will feature a battery storage energy system with 18 publicly available electric vehicle charging stations, a departure from the company’s traditional fossil-fuel focus.

For the project, Con Edison is partnering with the award-winning energy company Centrica Business Solutions. Centrica will design, build, own and operate a 5-megawatt/15-megawatt hour battery system and 18 direct-current fast chargers at the site. The storage system, which will be in trailers, will hold 5 million watts, enough to power about 5,000 apartments for four hours during a summer peak.

The system is designed to be noiseless and promises on emitting zero pollutants, a nice change of pace for a neighborhood that holds the nation’s most contaminated waterway (the Gowanus Canal).

“Our hub will help make service to our customers in the area more reliable, provide drivers with an easily accessible place to charge, and spruce up a vacant lot,” explained Con Edison Chief Executive Tim Cawley. “This project is unique in that it pairs an energy storage system with electric vehicle chargers, two technologies that will each play a big role in our clean energy future.”

Chris Covell, the head of Centrica Business Solutions North America division, echoed a similar sentiment.

“Once complete this will be one of the largest charging hubs anywhere in the city and the only one combined with a battery energy storage system. This kind of infrastructure project is vital to encourage the switch to electric vehicles and will help New York become greener and more resilient for future generations.”

Once construction is completed at the hub, Con Edison will connect the battery system and chargers to its grid and install transformers and other equipment. Centrica will sell services from the batteries into the wholesale markets as part of its optimized virtual power plant.

Con Edison’s new hub isn’t the only energy project making headlines in Brooklyn. National Grid’s plan to build a new pipeline in North Brooklyn has received heavy criticism from activists who protest the project’s reliance on fossil fuels and potential impact on air qualities. North Brooklyn residents are also upset that the pipeline would correlate with an increase in National Grid’s rates in the area.

Additionally, the city’s proposal for a massive rezoning in Gowanus was recently accepted by Community Boards 6 and 2. This change will open up the neighborhood to massive amounts of new development, which will surely increase the area’s energy needs.

Con Edison’s website currently boasts an ambitious plan for a sustainable energy future, yet it is yet to be seen how the company plans on addressing the Gowanus rezoning and other large building projects throughout the city.

On Thursday June 24, Community Boards 6 and 2 voted to approve the proposed Gowanus rezoning by a margin of 26 votes in favor and 6 opposed, with 2 abstaining board members.

The hearing comes on the heels of a months-long controversy surrounding the rezoning of a large majority of Gowanus. The land-use proposal was originally conceived by ex-Mayor Bloomberg but has found new life under Mayor de Blasio. It would 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.

Community groups including Voice of Gowanus have constantly fought against the rezoning. Their criticism was directed at both the legal process to approve the rezoning and the environmental risks that could come along with new development.

The group successfully secured a temporary restraining order that prevented the rezoning from entering the land-use review process. However, New York Supreme Court Justice Katherine Levine ruled to allow the city to continue with the public review process so long as an in-person hearing option was offered for those without internet access.

Earlier in the month, Community Boards 6 and 2 held a hybrid public hearing with virtual and in-person components to gather community feedback about the rezoning. Last week, the Community Boards reviewed the feedback and voted in favor of a conditional approval.

Additionally, the Boards created a 14 page document with community-enhancing conditions that they deemed necessary for the approval. These include (but are not limited to) increased capital investment for NYCHA development, a commitment to long-term community oversight, a full EPA review of contaminated sites, an expansion of the Gowanus Industrial Business Zone (IBZ), and a restoration of the B71 bus routes.

Special attention was paid to the issue of affordable housing. The Board’s document requests that 20 percent of the available units be put aside for households making 40 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI, a measure used throughout the city to determine affordability) and 25 percent of units for households making 60 percent of the AMI.

These rates are lower than those required under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), the de Blasio administration’s affordable housing program. MIH has been sharply criticized by many politicians and activists who blame the program for expediting displacement and gentrification in working-class neighborhoods throughout the city.

Many of the Board’s conditions are in-line with the community feedback gathered at the public hearing.

“I thought there was very, very insightful testimony that informed our committee’s deliberation, and really moving testimony,” Alec Schierenbeck, the Community Board 6 Land Use Committee chair, said at the meeting.

He continued: “From people who’ve lived in our neighborhood for decades, people who wished they could live in our neighborhood if they could afford it. People who are concerned about environmental degradation that’s happened for decades which has necessitated all kinds of changes in the zoning code, try to improve the state of affairs, and want real EPA oversight. And I think that those voices were reflected in the resolution.”

Gowanus City Council Member and the current leader in the Democratic Comptroller race Brad Lander expressed his satisfaction with the deal as well. However, with a new City Council heading to office this fall it is yet to be seen if support for the Gowanus Rezoning will continue. The current leaders in the race for District 39 (which encompasses Gowanus), Shahana Hanif and Brandon West, both told our paper that they supported the project so long as it maintained a commitment to affordability and environmental safety.

In order to ensure accountability, the Community Boards have requested that the city support and fund a Gowanus Zoning Commitment Task Force.
“The Task Force will monitor compliance with public and private commitments, adherence to zoning requirements, and implementation of the Rezoning,” the Community Boards wrote in their list of conditions. “With representation from local organizations, city agencies, and stakeholders, the Task Force will receive quarterly updates from the city and other stakeholders on planning, implementation, and successful completion of commitments, and disseminate this information to the community in a transparent and accessible manner.”

Supporters last week rallied together in Corona Plaza to protest the city’s treatment of street vendors, calling for an end to fines and excessive regulation.
Despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement last year that the NYPD would no longer oversee the enforcement of street vendors, many vendors say they have experienced an uptick in interactions with the police and other city agencies since the beginning of this month.
The city resumed issuing $1,000 fines for unpermitted food vending and $250 fines for vending unlicensed merchandise.
“The continued crackdown on vendors who are simply trying to make a living and provide for their families is just one example of the over-policing that Black, Brown and immigrant communities are forced to endure all the time,” said Theodore Moore, senior director of policy at The New York Immigration Committee.
“Instead of city agencies fining vendors, who because of the pandemic are already struggling, the city should be cutting the NYPD’s bloated budget and use those funds to help vendors and small businesses,” he added.
Policarpo Cortes, 68, has been a street vendor for nearly 50 years, selling chicharrons in Sunset Park since he was a young man. He lives in Coney Island and the profession was handed down to him by his father but maintaining that legacy has become a challenge and a headache.
His goods have been seized numerous times by the NYPD, and he can recall one month where he received three $1,000 fines for lacking a valid permit.
Not only do these fines target people who often lack the resources to recover financially, but Cortes feels the city’s current practices are dehumanizing to immigrant entrepreneurs.
He has seen his chicharrons thrown into garbage cans, and even at times when he had a permit with the city, instances where he forgot it at home resulted in his inventory being seized and discarded by police.
The protest was organized by The Street Vendor Project and attended by many members of New Immigrant Community Empowerment.
NICE is a community organization based in Jackson Heights that has organized with immigrant workers and day laborers for the past 21 years, mostly in industries like construction, cleaning and healthcare.
However, during the pandemic many of their members lost their jobs and were forced to turn to street vending in order to survive.
“When the city fines a street vendor $1,000, it puts people in a really vulnerable position because they’ve already lost their job and don’t have the money,” said Sara Feldman, director of Worker’s Rights at NICE. “It creates this cycle of economic immobility that’s paralyzing immigrant communities.”
During the protest vendors took turns talking about the supportive role they play in local commerce, from attracting business to parts of the city like Corona Plaza that aren’t frequented by tourists to keeping dimly lit streets safe at night with their presence.
Some street vendors even talked about how they assisted people in their community that were facing food insecurity during the height of the pandemic and offered meals to the unhoused.
“We can uplift all immigrants by supporting street vendors, lifting the cap on permits and ending the fines,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.
“Street vending is as old as New York City, and what we’re asking for from the mayor and from the governor is for us to stop criminalizing street vending,” added State Senator Jessica Ramos said. “Everyone who wants to do honest work should be able to do so without fear.”

All photos by André Beganski.

Nestled in a cozy studio atop the Brooklyn Space Modern Furniture Building in DUMBO, a new pop-up art gallery titled “What It Feels Like” showcases the work of emerging and talented Black artists.
Arriving just in time for the Juneteenth holiday, the gallery celebrates the individual and collective experiences of Black artists and creatives, including those of the show’s curator Nicolette McClendon.
“The show really came about as a happy accident,” McClendon explained in an interview last week.
Although she went to art school and worked as an artist in her native Miami for ten years, McClendon was working at a corporate fashion company for over ten years when the pandemic began last spring.
As the world went into lockdown, the company McClendon worked for filed for bankruptcy, a twist of fate that proved to be a blessing. She began working on art once again, pursuing freelance work and organizing collaborative projects with other Brooklyn-based artists.
“The pandemic reignited a passion that I didn’t have time for before,” McClendon said. “It also helped me bloom into other new passions.”
Throughout the past year, McClendon worked alongside a number of photographers, stylists, and artists, many of whom were Black or people of color. She was inspired by the sense of community she felt during those collaborative experiences and decided that she should commit herself to supporting and empowering her fellow artists as best she could.
“I was pulling Black creatives from around Brooklyn who wanted to collaborate,” she explained. “I loved that I could make space for other Black creatives to be seen. I never want to work solo anymore.”
While working on another project in the studio space at the Brooklyn Space Modern Furniture Building, McClendon was offered the opportunity to stage her own show at the location. She enthusiastically agreed, and set out to create a gallery that would be focused on the needs of artists.
“I’ve been to art shows that have been curated by people who aren’t artists themselves, that’s not always the best experience,” McClendon said. “It’s different coming from the mindset of a business person rather than the experience of an artist who knows what it’s like to have their work displayed.”
After much planning, McClendon is bringing that idea to life. The gallery features work from various Brooklyn-based artists and addresses themes such as pan-Africanism and diaspora. In addition to promoting a collective message of empowerment and community, McClendon hopes that the show will highlight the individuality and personality of each artist.

“It’s entitled “What It Feels Like” because anyone in this space is not just going to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at something pretty but they will understand that there is a person here who has feelings,” she said.
“I think the goal of the showcase is to propose a question and to allow you the space to think about it and to open up to yourself,” she added. “Sometimes it takes somebody asking you a question to hear how you feel out loud. Letting those emotions free can be extremely powerful for you as an individual. It’s introspection, but it’s also freedom.”
McClendon believes that those two central ideas – introspection and freedom – are particularly important to the Black community in light of the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement. To her, personal reflection is a powerful tool that can help artists and viewers to better understand their relationship to the larger history they are a part of.
“It’s an opportunity to look back on the year that we had, or better yet on the years that we’ve had, on the lives that we’ve lived, and on the lives that our ancestors have lived,” McClendon said. “It allows us to celebrate ourselves and be seen as individuals and to also provide a message.”
McClendon works primarily with charcoal. Several of her own pieces are on display in the gallery, and they focus primarily on rites of passage and other traditional African celebrations.
Like the scenes depicted in her work, McClendon hopes the show will invite artists and viewers to celebrate their own strength and resiliency after a chaotic and tumultuous year.
“There has been a great deal of change and there is more change to be had, but spaces like this give people the opportunity to be themselves, to speak their truth, and to be heard by others,” she said. “It feels good to be in a space that celebrates you, especially for people of color.”

For more information, visit brooklynspace.co.

Photo of Nicolette McClendon by Azikiwe Aboagye, Brooklyn Space Modern Furniture.

A little over a month ago, the thought of Gary Sanchez being mentioned as a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year would have been an outrageous suggestion.
In fact, it appeared the much-maligned Yankees catcher would find himself more likely to be a candidate to be designated for assignment.
For the first month and change of 2021, Gary Sanchez looked like the same player we saw in 2020.
That was not a good thing.
Sanchez’s performance at the plate was so problematic, the Yankees relegated him to the backup role behind journeyman catcher Kyle Higashioka.
Gary Sanchez was one step away from becoming a former Yankee and was basically left for dead by the entire fan base.
Rightfully so. Sanchez was a promising catching phenom in 2016 and 2017. He was a two-time All-Star, but always faced tons of scrutiny because of his lackluster defense behind the plate.
The problem Sanchez ran into in 2020 and for the first month-and-a-half of 2021 is that his offense was nowhere close to what it used to be.
I don’t know if it was the benching or the reality of his contractual situation, but in late May something changed in Gary Sanchez.
He eliminated the dopey leg kick that lengthened his swing. He also shortened up and focused on doing a far better job of making contact.
Slowly but surely, the Yankees started to see the results of a player who turned a corner.
Now in the middle of June, we can say that Sanchez has experienced a career renaissance.
Instead of being the guy you dreaded seeing at the plate in a big situation, he has become the guy you’re dying to see up with the game on the line.
Over the last month, Sanchez has hit .310 with six home runs, knocking in 14 runs in the process.
His performance over the last six weeks has shockingly put him in a position to be an All-Star in 2021.
I’ve always defended the Yankees sticking by Gary Sanchez over the last few seasons. I may have been one of the last apologists, but the talent was always undeniable.
The Yankees have doubled and tripled down on Sanchez over the last few seasons, and over the last month he has made them look smart for doing so.
I hope that these newfound adjustments continue the career turnaround for one of the most polarizing Yankees over the last 20-plus years.

The Nets season came to an end on Saturday, cut short by the Milwaukee Bucks in an epic Game 7. After being pegged as a contender, Brooklyn’s playoff run lasted just two rounds, a disappointing conclusion to a record-setting year.
The Nets played with all three of their superstar trio for just eight games in the regular season, but in the second round of the playoffs, the Big Three lasted just 40 seconds before James Harden reaggravated his hamstring injury. Without him, the Nets were still able to brush aside the Bucks, taking Game 1 before blowing them out in Game 2.
The series quickly swung to the Bucks’ favor as it moved to Milwaukee. A gritty Game 3 let the Bucks back in the series with a 86-83 win. Brooklyn’s 83 points were not only their lowest score all season, but the fewest points recorded by either team in any Nets game this year.
The attention turned to Game 4, with the Nets still firmly in control. Still Brooklyn was lackluster on offense, and it only got worse as Kyrie Irving became the second Nets star to exit with an injury.
After putting up an uncontested layup, Kyrie landed on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot, spraining his ankle. The Nets guard stayed on the ground in clear pain and was quickly taken out. Without either of their star-studded backcourt pair, Brooklyn was unable to match the Bucks, who leveled the series at 2 with a 107-96 win.
Suddenly, Brooklyn’s backs were up against the wall. In what seemed to be another easy round, they had lost two starting guards and returned home in a tight spot. While the Nets were able to coast to the 2nd seed despite injuries and setbacks, that was not an option in the postseason. Despite Harden’s grade-2 hamstring injury lingering, he was announced as available with just hours before tip-off, eventually taking the floor for his 2nd start of the series.
The bulk of the workload fell on the shoulders of Kevin Durant, who seems to have never missed time after his Achilles injury. After averaging just under 30 points over the first four games, Durant exploded in Game 5 for an all-time playoff performance.
KD played all 48 minutes of the game, scoring 49 points and picking up a triple-double with 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Despite the dynamic Milwaukee defense, Durant knocked down 70% of his shots. KD scored 20 of his points in the final quarter, with a pair of deep three-pointers putting Brooklyn up for good with minutes to go.
After Brooklyn took Game 5 115-108, they again came out flat on the road. For the third time in the series, the Nets were held to under 100 points, falling 104-8. Role players like Joe Harris and Jeff Green got cold after strong performances earlier in the series combining for just 14 points, with nobody on the bench scoring more than five.
The Nets neglected the bench in the final game of the series, only using Green for 13 minutes, Landry Shamet for seven, and Nic Claxton for a single inbound play at the end of regulation. None of them recorded a single point. Again the workload fell on the Nets stars, with Harden this time playing almost every minute despite his injury.
It may not have been wise to overplay Harden, especially given how limited his offensive game was. Without his leg at 100% Harden lost his ability to consistently hit deep shots and beat perimeter defense to drive to the rim. Though his role was to take pressure off of Durant, Harden’s shooting was not enough to add significant points to the scoreboard. Harden shot just 5-26 from three and under 24% from the floor through the series.
Again it was Durant who stepped up for a legendary game, almost single-handedly willing the Nets into the Eastern Conference Finals. KD was automatic, especially as the game came down to the wire. Brooklyn was unable to find separation through the game as the Bucks hung around. Tenacious defense forced the Nets into difficult shots, but Durant still made his attempts look effortless.
The Bucks jumped ahead with just minutes to go, quieting the crowd in Brooklyn. They held a 2-point lead with just six seconds left when the ball was inbounded to Durant in the backcourt. The 7-footer was immediately met by PJ Tucker, but used his frame to create separation before spinning around for a deep shot.
KD hit nothing but net as the shot clock expired, but it was ruled a 2-point field goal as his foot barely touched the three-point line. Still, the miraculous shot leveled the game at 109 with 1 second remaining. Antetokounmpo’s contested game-winner came nowhere close and the game went to overtime.
The extra period did not fare well for the Nets, as they scored just two points. Bruce Brown hit a floater for a 111-109 Brooklyn lead, but the Bucks finally answered a few minutes later to tie it again. With under a minute left, a long rebound fell right to Joe Harris for a wide open three with a chance to go ahead for good. The crowd braced for the shot, hoping he’d end his cold spell. Instead Harris’ three clanged off the rim, and Milwaukee took the lead on the other end.
On the last play of the game, Durant found himself again with the ball at the top of the key. His second turnaround shot came up short and the final seconds expired, unable to recreate his magic from the 4th quarter. Milwaukee went on to win 115-111, advancing to the Conference Finals.
Durant finished with 48 points, setting a NBA record for points in a Game 7. Antetokounmpo finished with a series-high 40 points, powering the Bucks forward. Both played over 50 minutes in the epic series finale.
For Brooklyn, a remarkable season is boiling down to a list of what-ifs. What if Kyrie stays healthy? What if Harden returns at full strength? What if Joe Harris hit his three-point shot? What if Durant wore one shoe size smaller? The questions can go on forever, but the fact remains that this is just the beginning for Brooklyn.
The Nets are far from the only top team to bow out early. The defending champion Lakers fell in the 1st round, the #1 overall seeded Jazz lost in the 2nd round, and the East’s top-seeded 76ers were upset by the Hawks on Sunday.
The Nets were also not the only team to deal with tough injuries. This year a record number of all-stars missed playoff games, with stars like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jaylen Brown, Kawhi Leonard, and Donovan Mitchell all sidelined for at least one game. The injuries may be a symptom of the short offseason and crammed schedule, which will be something to watch as the league prepares for the 2021-22 season.
The playoffs had a handful of fun narratives, with many hoping to see the Nets matchup against Los Angeles, face off against Philly, or even take on their crosstown rival Knicks. Instead, these contests will have to wait, hopefully to come next postseason.
The Nets aren’t done after the disappointing series. They still have their core together and are ready to improve. Before this year’s postseason wraps up, the Nets will already be favored for next year’s championship. For now, it’s all about making the adjustments necessary to bring home the first title in franchise history.