« “What if?” Looking back (and forward) at Atlantic Yards | Main | Two realities in Fort Greene »
January 2, 2007
Mothering Brooklyn
Preservationist Evelyn Ortner was remembered as the leading visionary of Brooklyn's renaissance in this weekend's NY Times Magazine:
Ortner’s interest in people may have been genuine, but her agenda was always Brooklyn. And with that devotion came a tireless diligence, the energy to traipse the streets of Park Slope and rummage through papers at the Department of Buildings until she had catalogued the history and architecture of some 1,800 buildings in the neighborhood. That effort helped her to procure landmark status for Park Slope. It was a shrewd tactical move — the neighborhood was one of New York’s first to take advantage of the then-little-known landmark laws — and with it she secured what every mother wants for her child: protection in perpetuity.
NoLandGrab: Ortner continued to fight for Brooklyn until her passing, as a member of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Advisory Board.
Posted by lumi at January 2, 2007 8:00 PM