Red+Caps

 The Red Caps were 50 police officers and 50 fire marshals that were assigned to seek force of finding new ways to deal with fires that were destroying parts in Bushwick.

“If we could stop the fire activity, stabilize the buildings, and broaden the tax base, it wouldn’t be better just for the people on these streets, but for the city as well. That was the idea behind "The Redcaps".

Charles Hynes, Brooklyn District Attorney New York City Fire Commissioner 1981-84 In interview 4/12/07

[]



**Planning for Recovery** By Adam J. Schwartz

At the end of the 1970’s, Bushwick was a community in crisis. The events of July 1977 started a process of renewal that has continued to this day.

Beginning in 1978 with the Bushwick Action Plan and leading to the Bushwick II Urban Renewal Plan, the Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) carried out the renewal plans with guidance on the local level by Community Board 4 (CB4), and on the city level from the Mayor’s office and the Department of City Planning (DCP).

The Action Plan outlined a vision of renewal that included public housing, parks and economic development. Later, the Bushwick II Urban Renewal Plan stated, block by block, what Bushwick would become.

Links to 77 blackout