Redesigning Historic Brooklyn-Response

September 21st, 2010

In regards to whether or not Brooklyn should reconstruct a mass amount of its town or not is a tough decision. After reading articles and watching a news clip during class, I was at first undecided on my decision. After much thought and consideration I have finally come to a conclusion. I have decided that I do not think Brooklyn should not build the community that was proposed by the developer.
The way that the developer proposed his plan, he made it seem to be as if it were a win/win situation. However, there is a lot of fine print that was not released to the public regarding this proposal. The fact that the residents who live in the “run down houses” will still pay the same exact rent that they did in their old houses seems a bit sketchy (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec05/brooklyn_11-03.html). There is no way that the developer will build multi-million buildings and only make the residents pay what they would have when the average annual income is less than $65,000. It does not make any sense that a developer would spend this much money out of his own pocket and charge that amount, which would ultimately leave him in the hole. The tax payers will be paying for this somehow and he did not state that publicly when he proposed this project. Also, from my political standpoint, the fact that an ACORN executive is standing behind this proposition seems like a crock to me. Personally, if ACORN is standing behind anything, I will steer clear of it.
The possibility of building the arena in Brooklyn is something that I would take into consideration. It would ultimately create more jobs, more travel into the city and a larger income. It would also create more crime, which would ultimately generate more jobs for police officers, nurses, doctors, and fire fighters. The arena would create more jobs directly inside the arena as well. It would also give the community something to do and would possibly direct youths away from the violence and crime from the streets. Based on reading a proposal sent by New York Department of Transportation, there are a lot of different updates that are scheduled to take place within the next couple of years (www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/sidewalks/pedestrian_projects/shtml). This will undoubtedly cause the tax payers money., my overall response to the question of whether or not Brooklyn should build the proposed eight acre community, I would say no. Not only did I state earlier that there are a lot of unopened plans, but Brooklyn is known for its history and historic buildings and by tearing them down, part of what Brooklyn is about will also go with the destruction of those buildings. Like the news clip said, the “glamorous Manhattan is just across the bridge” (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec05/brooklyn_11-03.html). Brooklyn is known for the old historic city that is just a few miles from the glitz and glamour (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec05/brooklyn_11-03.html).

Example of OId Brooklyn

House in Downtown Brooklyn