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March 11, 2007
Park Slope’s costly future - Many worry about development
Courier-Life
Joe Maniscalco
The loss of neighborhood diversity, the demise of neighborhood mom & pop shops and the impact of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project are all fears weighing heavily on the minds of Park Slope residents as they see new development going up all around them.“There’s a price for thinking big and there’s a price for thinking small,” said architect and urban planning professor Stuart Pertz, part of a four-person panel that included architectural historian Francis Morrone, Fifth Avenue Committee Executive Director Michelle de la Uz and Historic Districts Council Executive Director Simeon Bankoff.
Faced with the current frenzy to build big, Pertz complained that any suggestion of balanced development is now routinely derided as “mealy-mouthed and an automatic “non-starter.”
“The city and state is so anxious to get it done,” he said. “We create zoning which is not planning. We have EIS, [Environmental Impact Statement], but they don’t provide a vision. If the city chooses to be an advocate for development, someone needs to advocate for the public so it’s a fair fight.”
Posted by amy at March 11, 2007 12:13 PM