A new restaurant in Washington Heights focused on healthy, non-fried food (Photo: Shonitria Anthony | City Beats)

Ana Beltre’s daughter, Anna-Elise,  weighs 78 pounds, 28 more than the average 7- year- old. During a recent evening at home, she sat at the wooden dining table in her kitchen, kicking her legs and pouting about the food on her plate.

“I don’t like spaghetti,” Anna-Elise said.

Beltre picks up her daughter’s fork, takes a bite of the spaghetti, and speaks a few encouraging words in Spanish to her. She then walks away from the table where her daughter continues to pout and push the food around on her plate.

“I work in a salon as a nail tech five or six days out of the week, so it is hard for me to prepare a healthy meal for my family every day,” Beltre said.

Aware that her family is not in the best physical shape, she has stopped bringing fast food home. The home-cooked meal of spaghetti is Beltre’s attempt to cook better for her family by eliminating fast food and take out from their diets.

Getting children to eat healthy food has better results when the entire family is involved, said Catarina Rivera, creator of a program focused on the health of families in Washington Heights – a neighborhood where one in five adults is obese, and 47 percent of the children are overweight or obese, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 2006 Community Health Profiles. Citywide, the obesity rate is about one in four adults.

“You can’t change the diet of a kid without engaging with the parent,” said Rivera, 26. “It is about changing the whole family.”

Rivera is part of an ongoing effort among a few individuals and organizations within the community who are trying to get the people of Washington Heights to eat better.

Low income neighborhoods, such as Washington Heights, have the highest obesity levels, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The median family income in Washington Heights is $39,090. The percentage of families with children whose income is below the poverty level is 23.1 percent, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The median family income in the city, as a whole, is  $55,562, and the percentage of families below the poverty level is at 15.7 percent.

The kind of environment a family lives in plays a huge factor in determining if a child and his or her parents will make healthy food choices, said Dr. Alan Shapiro, senior medical director of community pediatric programs for Children’s Hospital Montefiore and Children’s Health Fund. The health consequences for a child who is obese or overweight include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and asthma.

“Obesity is a key factor in type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Shapiro. Type 2 diabetes can result in deterioration of the blood vessels that serve the eyes, kidneys, and feet. There are 15 and 16 year olds now that in 20 years face kidney failure, said Dr. Shapiro. In the last few years, he has seen more kidney transplants and other ailments in obese individuals at much younger ages.

During her career as a teacher at a public school in the Bronx, Rivera said she  witnessed  the unhealthy food habits of her students. Some of her students would eat candy in the morning or have chips and soda from the corner store.

“I would see blue tongues in the schoolyard!” she said. “I wanted to start something that would have an impact on the community.”

Rivera quit her job earlier this year to devote her energy to Healthy Kids in the Heights which was launched in June. The program, according to its Facebook page, was designed to “motivate and teach children aged 6-11 to move more, eat better, and quiet their minds.”

The six week summer program had at least 25 children attending on a regular basis, said Rivera. They kept health logs with photos of the food groups that should be colored in if eaten that day. The children could also color in on a clock how many hours they worked out, and how many glasses of water they drank. Rivera is currently working on a six month program for parents called the Healthy Parents Fellowship which will be launched in the spring.

The program will involve a small number of parents and who will be asked to  come up with innovative ways to address the obesity issues in Washington Heights. At the end of the program, these parents, who are active in the community, will share their thoughts with others.

Some members of the community have already stepped in to help. Jorge Alexander, 34, owner of Pick and Eat restaurant which opened about nine months ago, sponsored Healthy Kids in the Heights last summer. He provided a $300 gift certificate for a daily raffle. The winners were entitled to a free lunch in his restaurant, which sells healthy Dominican style food, wood-fire pizza, and burgers.

“We don’t fry anything,” said Alexander of the food he serves.

Though other communities in New York lack access to fresh food, Washington Heights is not one of them. There are three greenmarkets in the neighborhood, which provide locally grown food. Greenmarket is a part of GrowNYC, a privately funded nonprofit organization. The markets accept EBT/Food Stamps and WIC, making them more affordable for low-income individuals in the community.

Eating healthy is most successful when the family sets concrete goals and has the support of the community, said Dr. Shapiro.

“An interested community person can look for leads in their neighborhood,” said Dr. Shapiro, speaking about how a community can combat obesity together. “The community themselves can rally around to do something that’s right for them.”

The proposed bar, mere feet from an elementary school in Hell's Kitchen, has sparked controversy amongst neighbors. (Photo: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far | City Beats)

Sitting close to two pre-kindergarten to eighth grade schools, PS111 and the Sacred Heart of Jesus School, Boxers’ proposal to open up at this location is proving controversial. The State Liquor Authority does not approve of liquor establishments within 200 feet of a school, measuring from the street entrances of both properties. Furthermore, more than three liquor establishments cannot be within 500 feet of each other. The proposal by Boxers sits on the fine line of both rules.

Citing worsening quality of life for children and families in the face of the growing number of bars in the neighborhood, many residents have spoken out against Boxers’ proposal. During a heated Community Board 4 meeting in October, parents complained about the easy availability of liquor near two schools.

“We need to enhance our children’s lives,” said parent Patti O’Donnell, complaining about the rise in the number of bars and also highlighting the lack of affordable activities for children outside of school.

Speaking after the meeting, parent Catherine Consuelo Johnson agreed.

“It feels like our neighborhood is now the party hub,” she said. Consuelo Johnson added that her children have asked her to explain why sometimes there are people passed out on the sidewalks outside some bars.

Boxers, supported at the meeting by red-capped patrons in the audience, offered to open their doors after school hours.

“The reality is that the bar is open when the school is closed,” said co-owner Robert Hynds. “This is the perfect business model.”

With the distance between Boxers and PS111’s entrance measuring at just over 450 feet, the community has now turned to the 500 foot rule. During a five hour hearing at the State Liquor Authority headquarters on 29^th November, Boxers again moved its entrance to comply with both rules, by also placing the entrance just outside the 500 foot rule.

However, community members also expressed concern about children breathing in second hand smoke from the outdoor smoking areas. The bar’s proposed smoking area is on the roof of the building but residents said they fear that patrons will smoke outside the bar, around the schoolyard’s fence. The state liquor authority judge has yet to make a decision on whether Boxers is eligible for a license.

But beyond liquor and smoke, residents are concerned about a larger issue: they feel that families are being pushed out of the area, said Tom Cayler, chair of the community group the West Side Neighborhood Alliance. Speaking after October’s community board meeting, Cayler said there is too much focus on building studio and one-bedroom apartments in Hell’s Kitchen, none of which will serve families.

“If you’re going to add huge residential complexes, you’re going to add bars,” Cayler said. “There has been no increase in playgrounds that will serve children and families.”

Cayler said that the proliferation of bars makes life harder for families that already live in the area, and makes Hell’s Kitchen appear a less family friendly place, in turn attracting fewer families.

“The city is willing to serve real estate developers but not willing to serve its residents,” said Cayler.

Having bars in the area has also encouraged teenagers to hang out in front of them with drinks, according to the co-chair of the 50^th / 51^st Street block association, Steve Belida. He argues that together with increasing access to liquor, many of these establishments also give an overtly positive image to drinking, and this is affecting the youth of Hell’s Kitchen. He argues that the neighborhood doesn’t need any more bars.

“We think it’s destroying our neighborhood,” he said.

“I hadn’t seen the sanctuary that full since I joined the temple in the ‘80s,” said Ron Schweiger, the Brooklyn borough historian and former temple president.

The crowd was a feat for the synagogue, which had struggled for years to stay afloat while other temples had to shut their doors because of declining membership.

The lack of enough prayer books is only one indication that membership is growing at Temple Beth Emeth. The synagogue is trying to become a religious center by providing services like Jewish parenting classes, worship, sisterhood brunches, as well as avenue for local performing artists.

Temple Beth Emeth was built in 1922 and is still standing with a growing congregation almost a century later.

Especially pleased with the increase in membership is the temple’s Rabbi Heidi Hoover, its first female rabbi.

“This neighborhood is very hip,” Hoover said, “A lot of young families are moving in around here and some of those families are Jewish.”

In the 1930s, Beth Emeth had 900 families paying dues. Fifty years later, the number of families dwindled to less than 100. To remain open, it had to make a change and with other temples closing, combining was the easiest thing to do.

The synagogues’ struggles reflect a major demographic shift in Flatbush over the past 60 years, according to Schweiger. White flight led Jewish residents to leave and immigrants from the Caribbean to come in. Their houses of worship turned into churches and karate studios.

Today, Temple Beth Emeth’s full name is actually “Temple Beth Emeth V’Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek” because in the 1990s, it was forced to merge with two other synagogues—Temple Beth V’Ohr and Temple Shaari Zedek.

Hoover became rabbi this year, but had worked at Temple Beth Emeth as an intern for the past five years after she converted to Judaism. Raised as the daughter of a Lutheran bishop, she began attending temple services during college when she met her future husband, who was Jewish. Eventually, she decided that she felt more aligned with the Jewish faith than the Christian one she was raised with.

One the most important programs that Temple Beth Emeth has is religious education, which Hoover credits with helping the temple gain more members. To accomplish this, Hoover and the other temple staff try to keep tabs on young Jewish families moving into the neighborhood so they can introduce themselves and invite them to services.

But not all of the congregation members live in Flatbush.

Midwood resident Madelon Jonas joined Temple Beth Emeth because of the religious education and the number of other families. She and her husband are both Jewish and when they had a son, they decided it was important for him to go to synagogue and be a part of a Jewish community. The Jonas family tried going to the temple about three years ago, but didn’t find enough families; it wasn’t until last year that they decided to come back.

“What really impressed me about Beth Emeth was that their website had really been updated,” said Jonas. “Now it seemed more alive. I went to the 11:15 service and what I saw were family and kids and young people.”

In addition to the religious classes, when Hoover was an intern at the synagogue three years ago, she started a series of Jewish parenting classes. The lessons shared with parents are meant to use the Torah to help resolve common child-rearing problems. The presence of families, she said, are not only helping the temple now, but giving it a future congregation.

The synagogue also markets to its neighbors by allowing local artists use its sanctuary as a venue. Letting the groups use the temple is a way of introducing it to residents who might not otherwise go, Hoover said. Among these performers is the New Yiddish Rep Theater, a traveling company that produces Yiddish plays in English, and Ditmas Acoustic, a collection of local musicians. Both are unaffiliated with the Beth Emeth.

Some of the audience members at the acoustic concerts actually went on to attend religious services at the temple after seeing a concert said Richie Barshay, one of Ditmas Acoustic’s founders.

“The space—the sanctuary there—is amazing,” Barshay said, “There are incredible acoustics and it’s a beautiful building. Our concerts are a good thing for them I think because sometimes people just need to know that the synagogue is there.”

Even with the programs and a growing congregation, however, no one is predicting a full resurrection for Beth Emeth.

“We aren’t going to get back to 900 families like we had, but we are very happy with the new members are joining our congregation,” Schweiger said.

As for next year’s high holidays, Rabbi Hoover is planning to order some new prayer books.

Pedestrians cross Parkside Avenue and Ocean Avenue on a rainy day. (Photo: Stephanie Vatz | City Beats)

According to the Department of Transportation, the corner of Parkside and Ocean avenues is in the top two percent of the most dangerous intersections in New York City.

The problem involving these two streets is part of a bigger issue within Community Board 14, which is statistically the worst Community Board district for traffic accidents in Brooklyn. At a meeting on Dec. 6 between community members, public officials and the Department of Transportation, Fix-Hansen and others voiced concerns about traffic safety, which they say they believe is jeopardized by a lack of ticketing and poor street design.

Many residents have learned about the dangers in the streets of Flatbush from a website called Crashstat.org, which lets users look up the number of car accidents between cars, bicycles or pedestrians by borough, community board or intersection since 1995.The site was started by New York City transportation advocacy group Transportation Alternatives after the NYPD released traffic accident data for the first time this past October. For Parkside and Ocean, CrashStat.org reports that the corner is the sixth worst intersection in Brooklyn for bicyclists, reporting 20 accidents since 1995. The site reports no fatalities at the intersection since 1995, but the Department of Transportation documented at least 100 injuries there in the last five years. Only four blocks south on Ocean Avenue where it intersects with Church Avenue, there were two pedestrians killed—one in 2004, the other in 2007.

“There are areas that need fixing all around,” Community Board 14’s transportation chair Joe Basso said about his district, which holds Midwood, Flatbush and Kensington. Basso said the worst intersections were Flatbush and Church avenues, the Nostrand Junction near Brooklyn College, and Parkside and Ocean avenues.

The Department of Transportation has plans in the works for Parkside and Ocean as well as Church and Flatbush, but Fix-Hansen believes there is more to the problem than infrastructure.

“I’ve never seen a police officer give a ticket at Parkside and Ocean,” Fix-Hansen said. “I’ve been laughed at numerous times by policemen when I’ve asked that there be more ticketing for violations. Once, I almost got hit and the policeman put on his shades and rolled his window up.”

Heavier ticketing will be taken into consideration after the infrastructure changes, said David Suarez, the chief of staff for councilmember Mathieu Eugene.

“If it’s more of an issue of ticketing and traffic laws, I think we’ll have a clearer sense of that once the changes have been implemented,” he said.

While the residents have faced no opposition to their complaints, they have struggled to make changes. The first meeting about Parkside and Ocean took place in May and another meeting was supposed to follow over the summer but kept being postponed by the Department of Transportation until December.

“We had a Department of Transportation official come to our community board meeting which was nice, but it was clear that she didn’t know anything about the problem,” Basso said.

Residents complained that they had expected to hear a plan for the intersection then, but Ryan Russo of the Department of Transportation insisted that the official had only gone to take notes for the plan so the department could know what the community concerns were.

An additional challenge to Parkside and Ocean is the fact that the intersection belongs to two different community boards (Parkside Avenue is in Community Board 9 and Ocean Avenue is in Community Board 14) and three different police precincts (69th, 70th and 71st). For residents, this makes it difficult to know whom to contact about the problem; for the leaders, it presents the challenge of serving the interests of all the community boards and precincts.

At that particular intersection, too many people are turning left but there is no left turn signal. This means that when cars have the right-of-way to turn left, pedestrians have the right-of-way to walk. When one does not yield, the pedestrian gets hit.

Department of Transportation officials addressed this via a plan, which was proposed at the Dec. 6 meeting. The proposal would cut the square-footage of the entire intersection in half from 70,000 square-feet to 34,000 square-feet, giving cars more visibility and forcing them to drive slower. The plan would also close Park Drive, a street that intersects Park and Ocean on the side closest to Prospect Park and allows drivers to cut through the park, for two hours a day, five days a week.

Park Drive is a small side street off of Parkside and Ocean avenues, but it is a route many drivers take to avoid traffic on the larger Brooklyn roads, making it a contentious issue between drivers and pedestrians.

Several community members at the meeting said they worry about how the road closure would impact traffic congestion on other roads, but the Department of Transportation assured them that the change would be minimal.

Tim Thomas, who runs neighborhood blog The Q at Parkside, also mentioned that Prospect Park officials had told him that Park Drive might be closing soon, making irrelevant the Department of Transportation’s plan to close it for two hours a day.

He said he was satisfied with the new proposal and mentioned another dangerous intersection–Woodruff and Ocean avenues, which is only a block away from Parkside and Ocean.

“Woodruff is unbelievable. It’s a mess,” Thomas said, “I think [the problems with Woodruff and the problems with Parkside Avenue and Ocean Avenue] might be different issues, but I’m hoping that we can parse them out so we can move forward with something that I think ultimately is gonna save some lives.”

For more, watch a video on what it’s like to cross Parkside and Ocean Avenues: http://vimeo.com/33322855

The city selected eight local community organizations in October to each develop an Innovative Senior Center in conjunction with the New York City Department for the Aging. These centers will offer enhanced programming aimed at providing health, arts, cultural and fitness programs to their community’s seniors.

Seniors enjoying an exercise class at Lenox Hill Senior Center (Photo: Courtesy of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House)

The Innovative Senior Center program will be funded through both public and private funds. The City is investing $3.5 million in this program, according to Jeannette Reed, the deputy director of public affairs at the Department for the Aging.

The question of how to improve the experience for older adults living in the city was one the Department for the Aging wished to address with the creation of the new centers, according to Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s Chief Program Officer, Laura Lazarus. After consulting with senior centers citywide, the idea for the innovative program came about.

“The Department for the Aging was extremely open to new ideas,” Lazarus said. “We’re very excited about the partnership.”

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House competed for the Innovative Senior Center contract along with many other organizations scattered throughout the five boroughs. Each organization proposed a series of specialized programming. Lenox Hill Neighborhood House put together a list of more than 400 program ideas. Although not all of these ideas will be available in January when the new center will open, Lazarus expects that most of the programs will eventually become staples of the Lenox Hill Senior Center, now renamed the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.

“We took as our premise that we wanted to make our center both interesting and accessible to all seniors of all ages and abilities,” said Lazarus.

A prominent feature of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s innovative program will be their working hours. They plan to open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day of the year including holidays, according to Lazarus. Lenox Hill Neighborhood House currently serves 200 seniors a day, but hopes to serve at least 400 with the launch of the Innovative Senior Center. All current members will be eligible to participate in the new programming, and all those interested can enroll for free.

They will also add an extra daily meal, bringing the number of meals served a day to three. Their meals will be locally sourced and organic, and will continue to be served for free.

Almost all of the local providers will be offering some type of fitness or physical wellness activities ranging from Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s “watercizing” to coaching at a fully equipped fitness center at the Jewish Community Center on Staten Island.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House will be offering new yoga and pilates classes in addition to a waterscape photography class which will focus on the East River, Central Park Zoo water features. The class will also include underwater photography at the organization’s own pool, said Lazarus.

“Underwater photography classes sound exciting, don’t they?” said Ruby Klein, 68. Although she doesn’t frequent the Lenox Hill Senior Center, she said their new programs could entice her to, along with her brother, Arthur.

“The idea of going to a senior center just makes me feel old,” said Arthur Klein, 72. “I have this picture of grey-haired people like me, knitting and drinking coffee. But these new programs sound adventurous.”

There are currently 256 senior centers across the five boroughs that serve their community’s older adults. While some informally provide knitting and coffee drinking opportunities, others focus on providing nutritious meals, opportunities to socialize and participate in arts and recreation programs, said Reed. The goal of the Innovative Senior Center is to incorporate more dynamic elements to the portfolio of senior centers’ activities.

“The traditional model of the senior center needed to be revitalized to meet the needs of today’s diverse, active senior population,” said Reed.

Indeed, the Innovative Senior Center program is part of Age-Friendly NYC, a citywide plan announced by the Bloomberg Administration, the New York City Council and the New York Academy of Medicine in 2009. Age-Friendly NYC aims to improve the life of the city’s growing population of older adults. So far, it has launched 59 initiatives, with the Innovative Senior Center program its latest.

The Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House's new logo

At present, New York City’s senior population – seniors defined as those above the age of 60 – stands at 1.3 million, but it is expected to grow by 46% in the next 25 years.

“The number of elderly living in New York City is going to increase and the city needs to be prepared for this,” said Dr. Rebecca Salbu, assistant professor of Pharmacy and Health Outcomes at Touro College. “New York is a great place to live and there’s really no need for the elderly to leave.”

It takes her anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours each way by bus from Puebla, her hometown, to every other city she visits to assemble all the items on her list, which include single herbs and herbal composites to aid aliments like diabetes, asthma, ulcers, high cholesterol, insomnia, cramps and anxiety.

Back shelves of Las Gemelas store. (Photo: Alejandra Russi | City Beats)

Las Gemelas, which opened in 2002 and is named in honor of Gil’s twin daughters, has become a touch base for the Mexican and Latino community in the neighborhood. Many of the shop’s costumers lack health insurance or don’t completely trust conventional medicine. They’re also deeply attached to their culture and believe that a product from their native land will do them far better than anything purchased at a regular pharmacy.

On the night before the flight back to New York, Gil, 63, stays up packing all the plants and wrapping fragile mud pots and religious figurines with the utmost care, then leaves for the airport before sunrise.

When she opened the shop, Gil’s plan was to sell mainly crafts and religious objects, but her costumers led her in a different direction.

“They started asking me to bring back specific herbs and plants that they used to take back home to help cure different things,” says Gil. “That’s how I formed the store’s inventory.”

The back shelves of the shop, a narrow stall behind a counter, are crammed with plastic boxes stacked almost up to the ceiling. Each one is marked by hand with the name of the composite or herb it carries: “palo azul” (blue bark) and “uña de gato” (cat’s claw) for the side effects of dialysis; “hierba santa” (sacred herb) for fever and inflammation; dried roses of Jerico, which bloom in hot water and calm an upset stomach, and so on. Beneath the counter, displayed behind glass, a multitude of miniature Catholic saints stands next to several baby Jesus’ in diapers waiting for Gil to dress them up for the holidays.

Sunflower seeds. (Photo: Alejandra Russi | City Beats)

The other slots are filled with everything from colorful balls of yarn to essential oils and Mexican brand toiletries. On the counter, there’s always a clay pot filled with toasted sunflower seeds which give the shop an earthy, vinegary smell that interlaces with the smoke coming from the Latin American food stands nearby.

The Moore Street Market opened in 1941 under La Guardia’s administration. It was the fifth enclosed public market built in New York City, which were meant to target the immigrant’s pushcarts that plagued the streets at the time. At first most vendors were Italian and Jewish, but around the 1960’s there was a Latino influx in the area. Since then, “la marqueta,” as locals call the market, has remained an important meeting point for the Spanish-speaking community.

In New York City, 28.58 percent out of the total population is Hispanic of Latino; in Williamsburg the percentage is 33.31, according to the Census Bureau data for last year. Six of ten Hispanic adults living in the United States who were not citizens or legal permanent residents lacked health insurance in 2007, according to a Pew Hispanic Center study.

Gil does not spend a penny in advertising; it is all word of mouth. Many of the costumers of Las Gemelas come from around the neighborhood, but in general they get people from all boroughs. They come because a friend of a friend told them about the store.

All herbal composites sell for $5 dollars. (Photo: Alejandra Russi | City Beats)

That is the case of Arcelia Macareno, 46, an undocumented single mom from Jalisco who works at a dressmaking factory in Manhattan. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes four years ago and is dependent on three types of insulin, which she’s required to inject at least three times a day. She did so for a while and then decided to stop.

“I hated it,” says Macareno. “It put my body out of control and gave me horrible palpitations. I tell the doctors that I continue, but it’s not true.”

Instead, she became a vegetarian and started buying all her medications from Las Gemelas. Every day she takes the diabetes compound, made of more than 20 different herbs, and a “pill,” which is nothing more than a bitter seed called Zopilote, which is said to lower blood sugar, and comes from a variety of the Mahogany tree. A bag of Zopilote seeds costs $2 dollars and lasts Macareno one month.

“It’s a delightful little thing,” says Macareno. “You peel the soft shell and it comes out like a gift. I take two in the morning and the same in the afternoon, three when things get bad.”

Another motivation for her decision was that she could stop having to buy expensive packs of syringes, needles and other equipment to monitor her disease. One bag of the Diabetes composite costs $5 dollars and it makes a strong infusion out of a gallon and a half of water, and this can also last up to a month.

Margarita Rosas, 51, from Puebla, worked for 14 years in a demolition company called Asbestos, where her job was to remove a very dangerous cancerous material built in roofs and pipes.

“It was very grueling and dangerous,” says Rosas, “but it was the only time I had insurance.”

Now she works cleaning houses, and the only medication she takes for the occasional stomachache and her recurring circulatory problems comes from Las Gemelas.

“I prefer natural remedies that I’m familiar with,” says Rosas. “The expensive medicines you find at a drugstore have more side effects than good ones.”

Though the use of plant medicine might seem odd for some, more people around the world use plant medicines rather than pharmaceuticals for their ailments, according to Stephen Buhner, author of 15 books on indigenous cultures and herbal medicine.

“Newer generations of researchers have found that the use of pharmaceuticals in conventional Western medicine is the source of many antibiotic resistance problems,” says Buhner. “That’s why studies are now paying more attention to the great effectiveness of plant medicines for treating disease. In this process, the knowledge of multiple generations of indigenous healers in countries such as Mexico is one of the best resources we have.”

This knowledge is what the costumers of Las Gemelas bring with them when they know exactly what they’re looking for, so that the owners of the shop never find themselves under the burden –and the potential legal pitfall- of prescribing.

“We don’t claim to have a diploma,” says Sonia Castro, 39, one of Gil’s daughters. “Our one rule is to not make recommendations. But people know these things by heart. It’s a type of expertise we all share.”

The neighborhood has witnessed the number of babies and toddlers snowball as the area gentrifies. This process has now rooted family, the most traditional of institutions, in a community famed for liberal thinking and artistic counter-culture.

This shift has also opened an array of commercial opportunities for new establishments focused on this niche and made some traditional Williamsburg businesses start thinking in kid-friendly terms. Still, with increased competition and changing tastes, the few toddler shops that have been in the neighborhood since before the baby boom might soon get kicked to the curb.

In 2005, the city passed an extensive rezoning of Williamsburg’s waterfront to allow residential construction along the area. A major influx of people followed in the next few years, mostly young professionals attracted by better real estate prices, the short commute to Manhattan and the artsy feel of the neighborhood.

Williamsburg toddlers. (Photo: Alejandra Russi | City Beats)

“Manhattan is too cost prohibitive if you want any space,” says Yvonne Thomas, 41, mom to a 4-year-old, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2009. “People starting a family want at least two bedrooms. You get more for your money in square footage here.”

The total population of Williamsburg averaged 116,602 between 2005 and 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2010, it grew to 121,938, and the number of children under age one increased from 1,785 in 2000 to 1,968 in 2010.

Williamsburg’s Northside Preschool opened an infant and toddler center in 2009 with two classes and has opened two more since.

“We try to keep things small and manageable,” says Yolanda Uzzo, the educational director. “But the waiting list is definitely becoming longer by the minute.”

This baby vogue has not gone unnoticed in the neighborhood’s establishments. The Knitting Factory, traditionally a venue for up-and-coming bands, has hosted “sing-a-longs” for toddlers in weekdays during the daytime for several years, but in the last year the turnout has more than tripled.

“There’s a strong word-of-mouth effect going on with the parents in Williamsburg,” says Ari Brand, one of the performers. “Last summer there were about 15 families coming to the show. Now it’s about 50.”

More bars and restaurants, including some most commonly associated with the hipster scene, are adapting to the family demographic. Take the case of Spike Hill, a bar and indie music venue. It has just launched a children’s menu for its daytime costumers.

Parents themselves have become more proactive business-wise, making the neighborhood as much about family convenience as it is about entertainment. Several local moms have opened baby boutiques in the past two years, and some small vendors are following the lead. Simon Hyun, an artist and designer who uses screen-printing on t-shirts, started making “onesies” this year.

“You can still be creative with baby clothes,” says Hyun. “I feel like I’m jazzing them up by incorporating my artwork and sense of color.”

Simon Hyun's screen-printed "onesies". (Photo: Alejandra Russi | City Beats)

But some children’s businesses that have been in the area for several years are having a hard time handling the change. Photographer Cristina Dodd, 39, opened the crafts workshop and store Spacecraft four years ago after noticing the neighborhood had nothing to offer her first child. Spacecraft was conceived to cater mostly to the artist community with children.

“During my first years people would come in and spend hours doing arts and crafts with their kid,” says Dodd. “It’s just something an artistic personality can relate to. But a lot of these new residents just want to be on the phone while their kid plays around.”

The only thing keeping Dodd in Williamsburg is rent control. She is 18 weeks pregnant but does not identify with recent Manhattan transplant parent set. The newcomers instead are flocking to newer play spaces with high-end facilities and separate areas for parents to lounge such as Play, Klub4Kidz and Frolic, which opened last month in the luxury condos The Edge.

In 2004, there was already a place with a similar concept called Mamalu that was just baby steps ahead of its time. Former owner Mariela Salazar recalls that people complained repeatedly when she raised the playground fee from $3 dollars to $5 and then to $7 just to make ends meet. It wasn’t enough, though, and she had to close in 2007.

“Most parents that you see now around Williamsburg just have a higher income,” says Salazar. “Mamalu, at the time when it existed, could’ve never been a successful business. It was a great community service, but I’m still paying the debt for it.”

Soho Trees paid $26,653 to rent their land from the Department of Parks and Recreation. (Photo: Adam McCauley | City Beats)

Sitting at his temporary kitchen table, now covered with the day’s Christmas tree receipts, the owner of Soho Trees, one of New York’s largest Christmas tree suppliers, snuffed out his cigarette in a near-full ashtray. Lechner and two workers live in a rented R.V. parked adjacent to the Soho Trees’ lot on 6th Avenue and Spring Street, which also serves as headquarters, checkout and bank for their seasonal company.

“I’m in the thick of it right now,” Lechner said, between phone calls and issuing directions for the next tree delivery. “There’s never a down minute.”

While most New Yorkers are drawn to the glitter and nostalgia of the Christmas tree business, few see it for what it is: an exacting, complex and bitterly competitive industry. Vendors wage bidding wars each year over plots of land in city-owned parks and ink deals with local shopkeepers or property owners to construct their tree stands on the busiest sidewalks.

Once their signs are up and tree stands built, these yuletide vendors must carefully schedule their daily or weekly tree deliveries and conscript enough bodies to peddle the merchandise around the clock: snow or shine. For some, this can be an international operation, attracting workers from as far away as Canada and Australia. But while they all put on a merry face, the treemen have a history of bad blood and cutthroat business maneuvers.

Most of the city’s tree stands grace the sidewalks outside private shops and storefronts. Because New York City by-laws do not require Christmas tree vendors to register, their sites are secured through agreements with storeowners and property managers, according to those familiar with the process.

Vendors can also lease official city property through a silent bidding auction with the Department of Parks and Recreation. These locations, whether in large parking lots in residential areas, outside neighborhood playgrounds or on segments of Central Park’s walking paths, can cater to the family of four or to single New Yorkers. They also provide the Parks Department with nearly $194,000 in revenue, according to Philip Abramson, the Parks Department’s deputy director of public affairs.

Greg Walsh, a Christmas tree vendor since 1983, rented a spot in Cunningham Park in Queens four years ago because, at $795, it’s the cheapest of the city’s 21 rental sites.

“No one wanted it because it’s in a Jewish neighborhood,” said Walsh, surveying the parking lot, now home to more than 200 carefully arranged Christmas trees. “It’s finally starting to show a little profit.”

Walsh credits having a clean site, high-grade trees and a cheerful staff each year with creating revenue. But the park is only one of Walsh’s six locations, as he competes with prominent Christmas tree vendors throughout the city.

Lechner, left, organizes another sale as workers and assistants arrange tree deliveries from their R.V. on December 2, 2011. (Photo: Adam McCauley | City Beats)

Scott Lechner, with 35 years experience selling Christmas trees, operates 11 stands in the city — three Parks Department properties and eight sidewalk locations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.

His prized site is Soho Square, the department’s most expensive location, which costs him nearly $27,000 for the five-week season. Some competitors feel Lechner overbid on the Soho site but Lechner said he’s not willing to risk losing the spot or his strong relationship with the community. After all, this connection means more profits each year, even if the operating expenses seem high to other vendors, he said.

“Some people can’t conceive of the costs,” said Lechner, who is known for offering Christmas shots, usually scotch, to his customers. “They won’t pay that much for city locations.”

That’s because gambling on a site with high rent increases the vendor’s risk of losing money. Just organizing the tree shipments from farm to market involves creating relationships with different tree farms throughout the U.S. and Canada, vendors said. Some trees, such as the Frazer fir are native to the east coast, while international favorite, the Canadian Balsam, many people’s “traditional” Christmas tree, is imported from Nova Scotia, Canada. The Douglas and Noble firs have to be shipped from the West Coast of the U.S., making them pricier.

“It’s not just a one month business,” said Lechner. “I spend seven months exploring different terrain looking for suppliers.”

However, the fickle economy of Christmas tree vending can create hostility between sellers, particularly as there are few guarantees of revenue.

“Some vendors will walk away from the season with 10 grand in profits,” said Lechner, whose Christmas trees range from $39 to more than $1,200. “Then again, you could easily lose 50 percent of your investment in a slow year.”

And the work needed to make a business a success comes at the cost of long shifts, the lift, lug and load of Christmas trees and an unstoppable schedule: most of this work is carried out by temporary workers.

Tree vendors employ workers from Kansas, Vermont, Milwaukee, Ohio, Texas or even Australia. Employers describe some members of the motley crew as drifters, free spirits, adventure seekers or moonlighters, brought together by the promise of a quick buck.

“At first I thought, what did I sign up for,” said Sherry Vogrig, originally from Australia, who was hired by Walsh in Cunningham Park and now lives in a trailer on site with two others workers.

One Christmas tree seller specifically even invites French Canadians to operate his many street-side stands because of some historic tradition of Canadian tree cutters bringing trees to market in 19th century New York, according to workers on site. However, all workers balance long hours with physically demanding responsibilities, often sleeping or napping in temporary booths, trailers or R.V.s near the tree lots.

“This is a hard business,” said George Smith, who started selling Christmas trees in Queens at age 10 to make enough money to replace his stolen bike, “We work 10-, 12-, 14- even 15-hour days.”

But behind the merry faces and cheerful greetings of New York’s Christmas tree workers lies a combative environment with significant distrust between the major tree vendors.

In 2007, Lechner claims an aggrieved ex-employee stole his Tribeca vendor site. Because this employee knew how much profit Lechner made, as well as the rent he’d paid to the city, the former employee was able to outbid him in the Parks Department’s silent auction. This “business backstab” as Lechner called it, forced Soho Trees out of a neighborhood that had welcomed it for years and created tension amongst the vendors in the city.

“Is it fair that in the fifth year, when you’re finally turning a profit, someone can outbid you?” said Walsh, who believes the Tribeca site was stolen from Lechner.

Many vendors are quick to caveat their concerns with comments about the merry Christmas spirit and the pleasure they get from making a family’s holiday wish come true. But the bitterness between competitors remains high.

“We shed blood on the Tribeca location,” said Lechner, his now-tattered delivery tags littering his R.V.’s floor. “In another generation, there would have been revenge. But I’m too old for that now.”

The Lower East Side iPhone app features shopping, nightlife, and events. (Photo | Bob Zuckerman)

Paper marketing may be a thing of the past, at least for the Lower East Side.  Beginning today, when visitors stop by the Lower East Side Business Improvement District’s office (BID), instead of picking up a glossy brochure listing the neighborhoods many restaurants, shops, and galleries, they will be able to download a free app for their iPhone.

The application combines neighborhood navigation with business proximity.  Information is automatically synched from the Lower East Side’s BID website to the mobile phone and sorted into categories such as eat, shop, nightlife, and explore.  The app also features a “What’s Hot and Happening” button which continuously updates the current events going on in the Lower East Side.

“The idea was great,” said Nigel Sieglar, 27, of Corse Design Factory, the main designer of the app.  “When it launches and gets into the hands of people, it will really help the neighborhood.”

He noted that in the Lower East Side, like many neighborhoods in Manhattan, new businesses are always popping up and it can be hard for people to keep track.  In a city of constant flux, mobile applications may be the key to staying up to date with the changes.

The Lower East Side, historically filled with residential tenements and garment businesses, now has one of the most thriving nightlife scenes in Manhattan.  In the past five years the area has become increasingly developed with new cafes, restaurants, numerous galleries, chic boutiques, and modern condos.  Yet few New Yorkers think to visit the Lower East Side for daytime shopping or weekend gallery hopping, simply because many of the businesses are new and lesser-known.  The app may be a step in changing how people think about the Lower East Side.

The idea for localized apps first occurred to two entrepreneurs, Eric Hinman and  Steven VonDeak, from Syracuse, NY, who were walking around SoHo in 2009 and had difficulty navigating through the myriad of stores in the area.  They decided to create apps for trendy areas of 10 major cities or neighborhoods, including Aspen, Colorado; Rodeo Drive, in Los Angeles; and Soho and Midtown, in Manhattan.  In order to collect the data, they sent people out on the streets to physically gather information, which then became navigational business apps.

“A lot of the businesses where changing and no one really knew what was out there,” said Eric Hinman, 31, co-founder of App Fury, “We collected the technology.”

From the two resulting apps — “Midtown in My Pocket” and “Soho in My Pocket” — the company generated an estimated $20,000, by selling ad banners and charging $1.99 for the App (though it is now free).  The apps still generate about 50 downloads a day from the iTunes store, though they have not been updated since 2010.

The Lower East Side BID has a slightly different business model.  They will not sell ad space nor will they charge for the app.  Instead they hope to gain foot-traffic and internal advertisement for the many small businesses in the area.  Developing the application cost the BID $8,000, about 10% of their annual marketing budget.

The next step will be an app for Android devices.  This stage, however, will be funded by the New York City Avenue program, which gives money to non-profits in the city that are working to enhance “commercial revitalization.”

“Mobile is the way that everything is going,” said Bob Zuckerman, 50, executive director of the Lower East Side BID. “Smart phones are pervading people’s consciousness and the market place.”

Zuckerman had the idea to implement an app for the Lower East Side after seeing a billboard for the Asbury Park, NJ, app and downloading it.  The concept has been in development for the past year.

He describes the app as “intuitive,” noting the ability of the tool to search business by navigational proximity, finding the closest spot to one’s present location.  The interface is designed in the same forest green and orange color-branding that the Lower East Side has begun using to cloak all their marketing materials, even the trash cans, which are encircled in orange banners.  For Zuckerman, it was important to maintain the brand of the neighborhood.

Zuckerman and Siegler are already thinking of the future.  As popularity grows Siegler hopes to implement restaurant categories by cuisine, and a user recommendation feature, making it a continuously interactive tool for Lower East Side residents and visitors alike.

“What’s most precious about the app,” Siegler says, “is that it’s the only website and app with the most up to date data-base for that area.  No other website, no other data-base, carries that information.”

“With their little legs it takes them half an hour, and then they’re exhausted,” she says. “And going home is worse!”

Some Chelsea residents think that the High Line Park is not a good place to play. (Photo: Sarah Harvey | City Beats)

Greenspan is one of many Chelsea residents who are clamoring for more green, community spaces. Although the neighborhood is known for the High Line Park, some think it’s too touristy to satisfy Chelsea’s park void, particularly because it is not family-friendly. While some locals think that the maintenance of existing parks should be prioritized, park advocates are looking for creative ways to find new spaces for the community to gather, especially in East Chelsea, where parks are particularly lacking.

Community District 4, comprised of Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, has the lowest amount of open space in New York City. Its 100,000 residents live on 700 acres, only 2 percent of which is park space. In its needs statement for fiscal year 2012, the board emphasized the need for the development of more waterfront parks, the maintenance of inland parks and the completion of the third section of the High Line.

But many Chelsea residents are uncertain whether the High Line Park is best serving the community. The renovation of the elevated freight lines has exceeded expectations aesthetically, and the park has boosted tourism and sparked a business boom in West Chelsea. But, the crowds prevent residents from taking full advantage, and because the park is mostly a walkway, there is little room for play.

“It’s not considered a community park,” says Lesley Doyel, who lives on 20th Street near the High Line. “It’s a tourist destination.”

Doyel is the co-president of Save Chelsea, a neighborhood association dedicated to preserving Chelsea’s history. Although she praises the repurposing of the abandoned tracks, she also sees it as a “Pandora’s Box.” For her, the High Line is yet another instigator of excessive commercial and residential development, as new construction has increased in West Chelsea since the High Line was renovated.

The crowds have also been unexpected for James Jasper, a member of Community Board 4 who was initially a proponent of the High Line Park. He wrote letters in favor of the park to city officials, but could never have imagined how many tourists it would attract.

“People in the neighborhood almost never go up there,” he says. “It’s too much of a hassle.”

Also, the High Line is being maintained at the expense of other parks, says Miguel Acevedo, president of the tenant association at Fulton House, one of the neighborhood’s housing projects.

Current park space in Chelsea; Thumbelina micropark is marked in blue, and the 20th Street lot is marked in red. (Image: Google Maps, Sarah Harvey | City Beats)

“All of the money is going to the High Line, and the city is forgetting about other parks,” he says.

Instead, Acevedo would like to see some money allocated to parks in need of maintenance, like Kelly Park on 17th Street and Clark Park on 22nd Street. Both are especially in need of bathrooms, he says.

But many in the Chelsea community think that new parks should be built from scratch. There hasn’t been a new playground built in Chelsea since 1968. Since then, most parks have been built near the water, making it difficult for East Chelsea residents to access, or, like the High Line, are not family-friendly.

“It’s a wonderful promenade, but it isn’t a playground,” says Matt Weiss of the High Line.

Weiss has spearheaded a grassroots campaign to build a park on 20th Street between 6th and 7th avenues in an empty lot that the city has allocated for affordable housing. Since last year, the 20th Street Park campaign has grown to more than 3,000 supporters, and organizers are working with officials to find alternative housing space so the “pocket park” can be developed.

“The neighborhood woke up and said that this is a really important issue,” says Weiss. “We want a park that seniors, young families, and the disabled can all access and enjoy. We want to build a community.”

As the father of a 2-year-old son, Weiss emphasizes convenience and crowd-control. “We don’t think in this day and age, in such a residential community, it’s right for our kids to have to take a number and wait for a swing,” he says.

“This area of Chelsea is so underserved,” says Dawn Eig, a Chelsea mother of two. “The 20th Street Park could be a refuge from the crowd and noise of the city – a place to sit and read a book, while your kid kicks a ball around.”

Other Chelsea residents see the solution in micro-parks – small, street-side spaces, only 100- to 300-square-feet, consisting of a community garden and seating. The community group Park Chelsea partially opened its prototype this summer, Thumbelina Park and Community Garden, on 25th Street and 8th Avenue. It is located on one of the islands that the Department of Transportation built when creating the 8th Avenue bike lane.

The micro-parks could be “permission spaces” where people won’t be afraid to strike up a conversation, says Arnold Bob, also known as “Ranger Bob,” the unofficial park commissioner of Park Chelsea. And, because the residents of each block would maintain their own park, they can be tailored to the users’ needs – providing convenient, adequate outdoor seating. While the Department of Transportation provided the islands, neighbors will fund and care for the plantings, Bob says.

“Simply saying we need more open space is not the answer,” says Bob. “The goal of Park Chelsea is to build community.”