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February 9, 2007
Whose Downtown is it anyway?
Brooklyn Paper
Everyone is sick of Prospect Heights being mistakenly called Downtown Brooklyn in various media, but it is definitely worth a look at what is actually going on in the actual Downtown Brooklyn:
The City Council unanimously rezoned Downtown Brooklyn in 2004 to bring in high-rise office towers and sleek new residences.It’s happening already. So congratulations to our esteemed councilmembers. But in a severe case of shortsightedness, the rezoning is killing the small businesses that already existed in the area. Now, the buildings on the side streets — Lawrence, Willoughby, Duffield — are being bought up one by one and torn down to make way for something “better.”
...
Joyce Kiehm’s wig shop has been on Lawrence Street since 1986. She emigrated here from Korea, started her own business and played by all the rules.“I don’t know what’s going to happen to me,” said Kiehm, who has two years left on a lease that most experts say will never be renewed, even if she could afford the inevitable rent hike.
The upzoning for "upscaling" doesn't stop there. Nik Kovac reports for Brooklyn Downtown Star:
House-Turned-Museum Still Faces Wrecking BallGiven the necessarily underground nature of the Underground Railroad, it was hard at the time and it's even harder now to discern exactly what was going on: to know which escaped slaves were hid where. "That just burns me," admitted Chatel, "when people say there's no evidence. It was a secret society!"
The reason it burns Chatel so is that the city wants to demolish her historic house to build a ramp into a hotel and underground parking garage - part of the redevelopment and rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn passed by the City Council in 2004. The case of Chatel's home and its three abutting rowhouse neighbors was referred to the Landmarks Commission by the Council back then, and is still officially under investigation.
As with the Atlantic Yards proposal, this plan is not a done deal. Join the band Kakande this weekend for a fun fundraiser:
African Music Returns to the SafehousesWe'll rock your socks off with lush classical West African melodies from the Mande Empire, and you will get to hear stories of how the former owners of the building resisted legal slavery in the United States.
Just to be clear: February 10 will not be a regular performance in a regular club. This is their home and gathering spot/hair salon that New York City wants to destroy to make an underground parking lot. The details are shocking, but we're standing up to the City's bulldozers with our own musical bulldozers.
Here are the details:
Kakande
High-Energy Classical West African Melodies
with Famoro Dioubate
Saturday February 10
9 pm
227 Duffield Street
(between Fulton & Willoughby in Brooklyn)
$8 suggested donation
Take the 2/3 to Hoyt or the M/R to Lawrence
Posted by amy at February 9, 2007 9:06 PM