On Friday, volunteers from Mayor Bloomberg's NYC Service office armed with paint rollers prepared to get their hands and feet dirty as they coated the roof of Brooklyn Studios at 211 Meserole Avenue with white paint. Part of the city's CoolRoofs program, this simple action creates a reflective surface on a roof to help reduce cooling costs, cut energy usage and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Thanking the volunteers first and foremost, Chief Service Officer Diahann Billings-Burford noted that the city is on schedule for meeting its goal to coat one million square feet of rooftop by October.

“Coating the roofs of several buildings in a neighborhood can actually lower the temperature of a street,” said Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, who has teamed up with NYC Service and Community Environmental Center for the CoolRoofs program. “Tell two people what you did today; come paint a roof with us!”

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, who grew up in the neighborhood and has been the area's representative in the State Assembly for over three decades, recalls many other businesses coming in and leaving the area in disrepair. Lentol commended Broadway Stages, which owns Brooklyn Studios, for being a business that gives back.

“Broadway Stages cleans up the streets, hires from the neighborhood, buys from the neighborhood and gives back to the neighborhood,” he said.

Broadway Stages President Gina Argento said she is considering having the roofs of all the company's buildings coated in the future.

“We hope to encourage other businesses in the community to participate in CoolRoofs,” said Argento. “This is a simple thing we can do right now. Together we can make a difference.”