There are new trees blooming on Emmons Avenue, part of a much-anticipated Sheepshead Bay beautification project funded by Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn).

The project, which Assemblyman Cymbrowitz announced at a news conference last August with Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey, is sprucing up the west end of Emmons Avenue from Ocean Avenue to East 14th Street. In addition to the newly planted trees, the initiative will repair broken sidewalks and add covered trash receptacles and granite pavers. A sitting area will be constructed later.

Assemblyman Cymbrowitz provided multi-modal funding for the $460,000 project back in 2008. Six years ago he funded a similar spruce-up project on Emmons Avenue east of Ocean Avenue.

While the funding was already allocated for the new initiative, Assemblyman Cymbrowitz said the devastation caused by Sandy gave the project a “new urgency” and symbolizes hope for a community eager to blossom again. Emmons Avenue bore the brunt of the destruction.

He said many businesses in the Bay have re-opened and others are following soon. Since Sandy hit, Assemblyman Cymbrowitz has been assisting merchants in securing grants and loans and applying for refunds from the city for permits they needed to rebuild. As a member of the Insurance Committee he prodded insurance companies to release much-needed funds to help businesses begin to recoup their losses.

“Beautifying Emmons Avenue is part of the larger mechanism of long-term recovery,” Assemblyman Cymbrowitz said. “Trees represent new life. They’re meant to last, and so is Sheepshead Bay.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)