The sneaky new ways developers are committing deed fraud

“The tenants are being used, contractors are being used, exterminators are being used."

Hey all,

First of all just a reminder of all the places to best keep cool in Bed-Stuy during a heat wave. This week in Bed-Stuy Stoop, a Black family used to fighting for others reveals its own private battle with deed fraud and asks for community help, a new wine bar to open in the old Fancy Nancy space, and the interview with the creator of the Black-owned bakeries list is now available for all subscribers.

Brownstone owner hit twice by deed fraud attempts

A local Black family who has spent years fighting for historical preservation of Bed-Stuy and protecting others from deed theft have revealed that they’ve been privately battling their own deed fraud issue — and need community help to keep their home.

“The folks who are defrauding people out of their homes are getting really skilled at finding very, very sneaky ways of doing it,” musician and activist Tangina Stone told Bed-Stuy Stoop.

Tangina and their partner Emani have lived in a brownstone on Hart St for 15 years, and now have a familial relationship with its owner, Sylvia Fye.

“We’ve been privately dealing with this matter for a while, but privacy is a privilege that we don’t have right now,” she said.

They’ve just launched a fundraising campaign to help cover the legal costs and mortgage costs of their deed fraud fight, after a grant from Sustainable Neighborhoods fell through and the risk of foreclosure rises.

“Fighting the fraud, fighting cases in court is expensive, and so while navigating that, we incurred a lot of losses that made us fall behind on the mortgage,” Tangina said.

Sylvia, who is in her late 60s, has lived her entire life in the brownstone. She grew up there as the youngest of three siblings, her parents having moved to Bed-Stuy from South Carolina. They grew collard greens in the backyard and made moonshine from the vine in the front — and Sylvia, who is now retired, became a beautician to the stars, running a beauty shop on Marcy, where the new Lincoln Market is now located.

“Ms Sylvia, we're like her children, so we've been helping her,” Tangina told Bed-Stuy Stoop. “We are tenants who are eventually are going to be stewards of the home with her.”

Deed theft has been a substantial issue across Bed-Stuy, often targeting older Black residents and occurring in a variety of complicated ways.

This is the second time that Sylvia’s home has been targeted for deed theft. The first time was the more straightforward-but-uncommon blatant forgery.

In 2013, Sylvia found out that the construction company she’d hired to do renovations in 2009 had filed a deed transfer. They said that she’d sold them the property for $10. Accompanying documents had been forged, including her signature. They also claimed she’d taken out a 2011 mortgage against the property with them.

A 2020 court hearing ruled that Sylvia remained the lawful owner. But this time around, a more complicated attempt of deed fraud is underway.

Tangina asks to keep the details private as court hearings are still underway, but notes that people need to be aware of how sophisticated it can be.

“The tenants are being used, contractors are being used, exterminators are being used,” she said. “Be careful about who you have work in your home. Be careful about who you have come in your home. Because there are people that are working for the developers that are assisting them in this fraud.”

Tangina is vice-president of her block association and helped lead the fight to get the Willoughby-Hart Historic District, two blocks of intact brownstones at risk of development, landmarked in 2024. She’s also a member of the Deed Fraud Coalition and local politicians including Chi Ossé and Jabari Brisport are aware of their plight.

“I'm very well versed in these things, and we're still dealing with this ourselves right now,” Tangina said. “So I think it's a really scary time, because it means that even if you have all the information that you need, you're still not any less at risk.”

Tangina urged people in a similar situation to speak publicly and seek help available.

“I want to encourage people who are dealing with this in Brooklyn to be open to getting help and to not feel ashamed because I think that’s a thing a lot of us feel. We feel like oh we got tricked,” she said. “A lot of us couldn't have have avoided this. These are systems that were designed to work against us in this specific way.”

News from the nabe

• Well Nice comes to town: A new wine bar run by a husband and wife team will open in the old Fancy Nancy location on Bedford and Lafayette. Well Nice is “a wine-focused restaurant” owner Zoe told Bed-Stuy Stoop. A sommelier, she’ll handle front of house. Her husband Joe is the chef. They’re long time hospitality professionals, who first opened Well Nice upstate in Rosendale, New York, but they have decided to move back to the city. Expect a slight Eastern European bent — Joe’s family is Hungarian — and to see the couple a lot. “We both feel restaurant workers can be taken advantage of and are often underpaid, so it’s important to us to wait to hire until we can pay people enough to live comfortably. Until that’s financially possible, we’re committed to doing all the work ourselves!” Zoe said. They are currently raising funds on Kickstarter. Note: we found out about Well Nice because a reader saw some construction and asked us to investigate. If you spot anything you’d like us to dig into, please remember to email, DM on Insta or text the Stoopline (929) 274-1779.

• Bar Birba update: Three weeks after a fire in a neighboring restaurant damaged the bar and forced them to close, Bar Birba has finally been able to begin the clean up. “Tba when we can get to fixing things” they wrote on Instagram.

• John Hancock Playground is a fairly average playground, on the corner of Bedford and Hancock, with a very bright future, after getting allocated $25 million in the city budget under Eric Adams. Want to help rebuild the park? The 3rd John Hancock Playground Coalition Monthly Meeting will be held tonight at the Bedford Library from 6-7:30pm. The group has already held a clean up day — and is now looking for volunteers to join a Friends of John Hancock Playground team.

• A 17-year-old was shot in his arm on Tuesday night on Jefferson Ave, down the block from the John Hancock Playground, just before 10pm.

• Cocktail Bedstuy on Halsey Street says that Meta glasses are banned from being worn at the bar.

The person who posted the list of Black-owned bakeries speaks out

In last week’s edition of Bed-Stuy Stoop, we wrote about the new bakery Saison being opened by a former Vogue editor on the corner of Hancock and Marcus Garvey — and how someone had pointedly put up a poster just outside listing local Black-owned bakeries.

Well, the poster creator has graciously come forward, and spoken to Bed-Stuy Stoop about why they thought it was so critical to remind local residents — and new businesses — of what already exists in the community.

This interview was available last Thursday for paid subscribers. If you are a legacy resident of Bed-Stuy, I am happy to upgrade your subscription for free, just email me and I’ll adjust it, no questions asked.

Erika Briggans-Jones, a 35-year-old small business owner originally from the Midwest who has spent nearly a decade in Bed-Stuy, is the woman behind the Black-owned bakeries list.

“My sole intention was to encourage people to be more thoughtful of where and how they are spending their money,” she told Bed-Stuy Stoop.

Erika says initially she was intrigued by the renovation on the corner of Hancock and Marcus Garvey after walking by. She scanned a QR code from a poster in the window, which led her to Saison’s Instagram account.

“When I saw it was a bakery, that was the first curious thing,” Erika said. “There are so many bakeries, it was a surprise to see there was another.”

Specifically, there’s multiple Black-owned bakeries within just a few minutes of that corner. For over 17 years, Sweet Tooth Bakery has sold pies and cakes, plus its signature shrimp po’boys and sweet potato cheesecake, just half a block away.

Je T’aime Patisserie, a French-style bakery run by a Black woman where you can order a box of croissants with flavors including oxtail, red velvet and peach cobbler, is a five minute walk. As owner Jatee Kearsley told BK Magazine in 2023: “I picked Bed-Stuy for Je T’aime because this style of bakery is not normal to this neighborhood.”

Frustrated at what she saw as a dismissal of the businesses already in the neighborhood, Erika created a poster listing a bunch of Black-owned bakeries, printed off two copies and stuck them up on a pole outside Saison a few months back.

“I was just kind of questioning: what exactly she [Saison founder Sammy Rees] is adding to the neighborhood that doesn’t already exist there, and I think in addition to that, what kind of clientele she’s hoping to serve?” Erika asked.

The median household income in Bed-Stuy in 2024 was $93,350, according to census data. That is 11% higher than the citywide median. However the poverty rate in Bedford Stuyvesant was 25.8% in 2024, compared to 18% citywide.

“I don’t think that the majority of Bed-Stuy residents can afford $130 birthday cakes,” Erika said. “If you’re just trying to make money off of the newer, wealthier residents that are in this neighborhood, that’s what I have an issue with.”

Erika even had some suggestions for how Saison, which opened last weekend, could make some impactful changes in the months ahead, such as offering community cooking classes or hiring young local people.

“If that happens, then that’s wonderful, and that’s adding to the fabric of the community,” she said.

Erika, who is biracial, runs Trinket, an online gift store where she sources all her products from BIPOC businesses.

“My intention was not to put this woman out of business or prevent her opening,” Erika said. “I’m a woman business owner myself. I hope she has a lot of success. Again, I just wish she would have been more thoughtful and considered in her approach to where she decided to open.”

Erika’s posters faded over time with rain (no one seemed to remove them, Erika noted) and apart from chatting about the posters with her own friends, she assumed no one had seen them.

“I really didn’t think that people would take notice,” she said.

But after reading the Bed-Stuy Stoop interview, Erika decided to take action. Last Friday morning, the list of Black-owned bakeries was back up again outside Saison, this time printed on very visible hot pink paper. By Monday, it had been ripped off. “I’m just going to put them back up,” Erika texted.

Chat with your neighbors

Any good suggestions of Bed-Stuy spots to watch this weekend’s World Cup final? Is your block hosting a block party? Are you desperate to know best block party etiquette? Share in the subscriber chat — it’s also a fun place to chat with your neighbors. Bed-Stuy Stoop finally figured out how to let anyone start a new conversation there, so jump in with questions or thoughts for your community. Last week we asked about best bakery spots – and thanks to the suggestions we ended up this week at Doctor’s Cave Café having the most delightful feta and tomato muffin and Jamaican iced coffee under the shady trees. Owner Jean has been running the cafe at the corner of Marcy and Putnam for 17 years and is, of course, a delight. Can’t wait to see what we’ll learn about next.

Things to do this week

• Need to cool the kids off? Bring the super soakers and water balloons to a huge public water fight, sorry, “Thursday Thrills and & Water Chills” at Raymond Bush Playground on the corner of Monroe and Marcus Garvey this afternoon, July 16, from 2:30 to 5:30. Don’t forget to bring a change of clothes.

• Eat some treats: Yanabakes, a mother and son baking team — they also make very funny videos — are hosting a pop up on July 18 at Peace and Riot on Tompkins, from 12-4pm.

• Soccer Streets: Jefferson Ave between is closed on Sunday to celebrate soccer and the World Cup. Activities run from 11-4 — including soccer, zumba classes and an all-women drum line at 2pm, followed by a screening of the World Cup final at 3pm.

• Buy something fun: Berriez, a vintage store that stocks plus sizes, is hosting a closet sale this weekend, at 544 Park Ave, suite 508, from 12-5 on Sat and Sun.

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If you enjoy Bed-Stuy Stoop, we encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription — currently $50 annually or $5 per month. This month, 5% of proceeds will go to a GoFundMe for a father and daughter in Bed-Stuy who are facing eviction.

Until next week!