Street Co-Naming to Honor Defonte’s Former Owner Has Been Proposed

The process for co-naming Columbia Street (between Commerce and Delavan Streets) after Daniel Defonte, the late and former owner of Defonte’s, has begun. The proposal originally came to Community Board 6’s attention as a request at their Executive Committee meeting held on April 8.

Defonte’s Sandwich Shop has been in the neighborhood at 379 Columbia St. since 1922. Defonte passed away in 2015 at the age of 89, and his son Nicky took over the business.

Board members Jerry Armer and Karen Broughton spoke of their support during the general board meeting held on April 10, citing that the eatery has been a neighborhood staple for decades.

“I think we too often forget about the people who made our neighborhoods what they are today,” Armer said. “We’re all looking at new buildings, at a rezoning in Gowanus and around the Gowanus Canal, and we talk about how do we preserve the past while increasing the density in new buildings. One of the ways we can do it in that area is to do a co-naming.”

“Defonte’s is an avid contributor to the schools, [and] any events that take place in Red Hook,” Broughton added. “They are like family in Red Hook.”

The rest of the CB6 members were also in favor of the proposal and unanimously approved the motion.

LIQUOR LICENSE DENIED FOR NIGHTCLUB

Board members didn’t approve the liquor license motion for a high-end, karaoke-type nightclub (proposed to be at 168 Van Dyke St.) during their full board meeting. This followed the passed motion for a new on-premise liquor license application at the Permits & Licenses Committee meeting in March.

“When I look at liquor licenses I try to see what benefit it will have for the community,” said Leroy Branch, permits & licenses committee member and Red Hook resident. “This particular liquor license, barring the business plan in terms of 26 individual rooms of karaoke, will have no benefit for the community whatsoever.”

Victoria Alexander, who represents the landlord in this property, disclosed that this tenant doesn’t have a lease yet. Jerry Armer also noted that the parking lot, which the applicant had previously referred to for using as a space to park the club’s limos, is an in-use O’Connell property.

CALL FOR A CLEANED-UP HALLECK STREET

A motion to request that Department of Transportation take immediate action and clean up Halleck Street (right by Clinton and Court Streets) or demap it and offer it to the Parks Department as an expansion of Red Hook Park also came to the table. This comes during the same time when Red Hook Ballfields 5-8, which originally closed in 2015 due to elevated lead levels, are currently being remediated.

“Since the street has not been used in many years [and] is currently a dumping ground, we have an opportunity to do this before the next phase of remediation and renovation of the Red Hook ballfields,” said Glenn Kelly, chairman of the parks/recreation committee. “If we don’t do something about this now, we’re going to miss a very good opportunity.”

Kelly also noted that Parks will not take over the property unless there’s funding to renovate it. The board passed the motion with a friendly amendment that extra funding be put towards this site.

George Fiala

George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.