Residents of Williamsburg and Brooklyn’s larger Puerto Rican community want answers about why an overhead Graham Ave-Ave of Puerto Rico street sign was taken down last Friday and replaced with a sign simply reading Graham Ave, before being swiftly reinstalled after the community protested.
On Saturday, locals will rally on the corner of Graham Ave-Ave of Puerto Rico and Moore Street at midday to demand answers and an apology from Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, with organizer Alejandro Zayas say the community wants a full investigation into who ordered the sign’s removal.
The sign, which has hung over the intersection of Graham Ave-Ave of Puerto Rico and Moore Street since at least 2007, was removed by workmen early last Friday and efficiently reinstalled after hundreds of community members called local officials, the Department of Transportation, and Community Board 1 in protest. A Graham Ave-Via Vespucci street sign was also removed and promptly reinstalled, a local resident told BK Reader.
The ‘Graham Ave-Ave of Puerto Rico’ street sign on the corner of Grand Street. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith
At a CB1 transportation committee meeting on Tuesday night, board member William Vega, who said he was the sole Puerto Rican on the committee, said he had received hundreds of messages from concerned residents and “people are hurt.”
“I work for the city. Nobody makes an independent decision,” he told the meeting. “I mean, before I went out into the field, I had to get the okay from the deputy mayor, my commissioner, my deputy commissioner, my assistant commissioner before I went out to the field so there are a lot of checks and balances. I don’t understand it, but I’m still pissed off.”
Despite repeated requests to DOT on why the sign was removed in the first place and who signed off on its ‘Graham Ave’ replacement, Brownstoner hasn’t received a response. Last week, DOT referred us to a DOT Tweets that read: “An overhead sign on Graham Ave in Brooklyn was mistakenly removed this morning. The proper Graham Ave-Ave of Puerto Rico sign has been reinstalled (photo taken this afternoon) and will remain. Thank you to the members of the community who brought this to our attention.”
But many locals aren’t satisfied with that explanation, and say the issue is emblematic of a much larger white-washing of the Puerto Rican neighborhood.
“It’s becoming a very hot area, and the people from Williamsburg are moving further out, and they don’t want it to be known as a Puerto Rican or Spanish area anymore,” developer Michael Schlegel, whose business is based at 550 Grand Street nearby, told Gothamist in 2013 when rumors were circulating the signs would be removed. “I think it would help the image of the area.”
Flier for the weekend’s protest. Image via Alejandro Zaya’s Twitter account
“This is like another example that they want to remove anything that had to do with the Latino community,” CB1 member Idris Cabrera told the meeting. “So we want an answer and whatever person made the mistake has to pay, because that is not a simple mistake, you know, this was not a simple sign.”
Community organizer Sonia Vazquez, who was born and raised in Bushwick, directed her questions to DOT rep Ronda Messer who was on the call, saying not only does the community want more information about what happened in the decision-making process, but also on how they can protect the street signs going forward.
Messer said he didn’t have any answers from the agency other than the sign’s removal was a mistake that was promptly corrected, and there were no future plans for its removal.
‘Graham Ave-Via Vespucci’ overhead sign on the corner of Grand Street. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith
Over the last two to three years, a smaller Avenue of Puerto Rico sign has been removed on the corner of Boerum Street and one small Via Vespucci sign has been removed on the corner of Powers Street, Google Maps shows. DOT did not respond when asked why on social media or via email.
At the CB1 transportation commission meeting, Alejandro Zayas said he was organizing the weekend’s rally because “the commissioner or the mayor has to come and apologize to all Puerto Ricans.”
“On Saturday morning. I am going to organize a press conference and bring every media out and every Puerto Rican out because we deserve an apology from up there.”
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