Prospect of Dems retaking House or Senate: Good
Global Warming: Bad
Term limits kicking in in 2008: Very Good
Situation in Iraq: Very bad
Dang nabit... can't help myself
College coaches coaching the US B-ball team: Good
Entourage Season Three: Bad (but I'm still watching)
Talladega Nights: Good, but not Great
Anchorman, the Legend of Ron Burgundy: Friggen Fantastic
OK, that's enough thinking globally. Lets think locally. So.. I'm coming out on a big local issue.
Ahem. The Big Apple is a great town. Nothing else like it in the good ol' US of A. The diversity. The energy. The magesty. The sterling public transportation system. Err.. check that last one.
And a big part of what makes NYC so very special are the manifold and diverse and colorful and vibrant and unique neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have many different looks, feels, and flavors. A handful --mostly in Manhattan-- are pretty dang urban, built up, and crowded in terms of how they are put together, i.e. the Upper East Side, Clinton, Battery Park City. And these are swell places home to great people leading extraordinary lives. But the tall buildings and cramped atmosphere doesn't do it for everyone as a place to live in, to retreat to after work, to wake up and fall asleep in, to spend the weekend, to raise the kids, etc. This is why we have the outer boroughs. And the Village. Whatever.
I have not lived in Brooklyn for any real length of time on any scale of anything. So call me a transplant, an interloper, an invader, whatever. Point is, I left Manhattan for the relative peace and calm, and less developed urban environment, and culture and feeling of Brooklyn. And I found exactly what I was looking for. Precisely what I was looking for. Brooklyn rocks. Brooklyn is a special place. It’s a lousy thing to play or pick favorites here, but in my opinion, Brownstone Brooklyn is the Crown Jewel of NYC’s neighborhoods.
YES. Brownstone Brooklyn has its fair share of issues and problems. Gentrification. Lack of affordable housing. But here’s the rub, the punchline, the alpha and the omega of the argument for all I am concerned: the scale of Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project—and here I’m talking specifically about the proposed 60 story SKYSCRAPERS—would be more than just throwing the baby out with the bathwater in terms of addressing gentrification and affordable housing and jobs and whatever else. It would go beyond that. It would take the (metaphorical) baby out of the brownstone bathtub and toss it out onto the street to a most heinous demise. The baby would be no more. The monstrosity of the Atantic Yards project would destroy the spirit and essence and nature of Brooklyn, NY. Which is a damned shame. Not for everyone, directly. Not for the folks in Canarsie or Sheepshead Bay or Red Hook or Greenpoint. But symbolically, 60 story skyscrapers smack dab in the middle of brownstone Brooklyn would be a gigantic sullying embarrassing permanent blight on Brooklyn’s front lawn.
A new arena for a professional sports team for a borough where everyone over the age of 6 shows visible scarring from the Brooklyn Dodgers leaving in the 1950s would be A-OK. But currently, the Brooklyn Nets are part of a crappy package deal, so I have to vote no on the whole thing. Sorry Jay-Z.
And.. c’mon ESDC.. Atlantic Yards would be a public administration disaster. Take an afternoon, any afternoon (say, between 9 AM and 9 PM), and stand out in front of the Target on 4th Ave. and Atlantic, and imagine 5,000 more cars trying to move through the intersection. Should be fun. At any rate… New York Magazine just ran a great piece which hits on the multifaceted problems the Atlantic Yards project raises. You should read it. Yes you should. Good read. Informative. Educational. As Lavar Burton said on Reading Rainbow, read the damn thing and make up your own mind. I’ve said enough.
The Article: Mr. Ratner's Neighborhood
1 comment:
Did Lavar really say that in so many words? I'm gonna have to recheck out my Reading Rainbow.
Great post, by the way.
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