Tree-lined Henry Street was briefly turned into one long billboard, but Brooklyn Heights residents erupted after seeing commercial banners on the mostly residential street, so the city removed them.
On Monday, banners reading “Brooklyn loves to shop” were hung on lampposts from Clark to Montague streets — and locals slammed the commercialization of the strip.
“I absolutely detest them,” said Veronica Rylander, 48. “They’re so out of place here above all these houses. I feel like it cheapens the look of the neighborhood.”
For Liana Schwartz, 36, it wasn’t the aesthetics, but the practicality of the banners that provoked her disdain.
“I just don’t even get why they’re hanging here,” said Schwartz. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to put them Downtown or on streets where there are actually places to shop?”
After The Brooklyn Paper started asking local officials about the appropriateness of posting ads in a residential corridor, the banners were taken down and relocated to commercial Court Street on Wednesday morning.
The banners — which are sponsored by Greek natural skincare company Korres, which just opened on Montague Street, and NYC& Co., the city’s tourist board — also annoyed people whothink tourism officials don’t get Brooklyn — or maybe get it too well.
“They put those signs on Henry because they know there are lots of cars speeding through here,” said one man.
The quick response to the complaints showed that Korres listens to neighbors, said Chelsea Mauldin, executive director of the Montague Street Business Improvement District
“They very much want to be good neighbors,” said Mauldin.
It’s one small step for neighbors, one giant step for Henry Street.
“We are very pleased … by the Department of Transportation, which was reminded that Henry Street is residential, except for a few corners,” said Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association.
