The ribbon-cutting for the new Fairway supermarket in Red Hook, Brooklyn draws Senator Chuck Schumer, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and one very enthusiastic repeat customer...

From the Brooklyn Star:
"...According to [Fairway co-owner Howard] Glickberg, [Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris] Weinshall had already been shopping at his new store - Fairway's fourth, after two in Manhattan and one on Long Island - four times in the six days it had been open. Indeed, the Star saw her there at least twice, on Wednesday and on Monday. Ironically, it is just such frequent motorists like herself that have some local residents lambasting the very agency she oversees - the Department of Transportation - for a lack of infrastructure to cope with the expected increase in traffic.

From NY1:
"It's only been opened a couple of days, and the Fairway in Red Hook is already attracting a lot of shoppers. The parking lot is pretty full, and that's one thing that concerns residents – that the traffic will come along with new development. One resident says nearby Van Brunt Street is already taking the brunt of the traffic, on a stretch that goes 12 blocks without a light.

“'We wanted the store to open up, we wanted to see people develop their traffic patterns, and then we'll be back here in the fall, we'll put our counters down, and we'll see if any of the corners will meet warrants to put up traffic lights,' said Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall."

The Daily News:
"We had people from Queens; we had people from Lower Manhattan, some from Staten Island," said co-owner Howard Glickberg. "There were a lot of New Jersey plates in the parking lot." Glickberg said about 10 people came off every ferry, while most came by car. Many locals either walked or took their bikes to the store, housed in a Civil War-era warehouse on the waterfront.

"One guy fell on a pothole," said Glickberg said. The bruised biker than accosted unsuspecting shopper City Transportation Dept. commissioner Iris Weinshall. "He started to complain to her." Weinshall turned out to be quite a fan of the new store herself: Husband U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer reported Weinshall has made at least four trips to the new market since it opened last week.

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