When “Brooklyn Bridge concession proposal” showed up on the agenda for last night’s meeting of the Community Board 1 Land Use, Zoning & Economic Development Committee, I hoped we’d learn more about permanent plans to make the area under the Manhattan side of the bridge a destination—a place that would encourage people from outside the neighborhood to venture down here, and ideally into the Seaport. (Ideally, it’d be something more cultural than retail-based….) That may yet happen, but first the Department of Transportation is launching a pilot program called El-Space; the idea is to activate areas under elevated roads.

El-Space is a shipping container, to be installed at Frankfort and Gold, where local businesses—most likely restaurants—can take turns selling food and drinks. The DOT is working with the Old Seaport Alliance to curate and manage the customized container, and to help with expenses. The businesses can get the container for 29 days, but the days need not be consecutive, and they’re paying no rent because it’s a pilot program. The DOT and the Old Seaport Alliance are hoping to add programming, such as showing old movies that feature the bridge, and wayfinding (which that area could really use). The container should show up next month, and run till December, or perhaps later, depending on when construction on that part of the bridge starts. Then the DOT plans to roll out the containers to other locations underneath overpasses.

But the best news came as an aside: The Old Seaport Alliance is trying to get clearance to wash daily the foul-smelling stairway under the bridge.