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October 21, 2009
Walkabout with Montrose: The Road to Prospect Heights
Brownstoner
by Montrose Morris
This essay on the history of Prospect Heights and its environs reveals that Atlantic Yards is hardly the first example of eminent domain abuse rankling the locals.
A huge controversy occurred when the city acquired the eastern park land through the right of eminent domain, and then sold some of the land back to private developers when it was no longer needed by the city. This land was “rocky sterile land occupied only by goats and squatters”, the Brooklyn Eagle said in 1873. When the site of the park moved west, the city sought to unload some of unnecessary eastern parcels, and after much litigation and controversy, the parcels were sold to private developers for a song. Marketed as being located in the highest and most desirable part of the city, this area, roughly from present day Park Place to Empire Blvd, remained “a howling wilderness” until the 1890’s, with squatter’s shanties surrounded by pigs, goats and chickens occupying much of the land. Meanwhile, the public buildings adjacent to the park were being planned, and the developers made a fortune selling some of the same land back to the city at highly inflated prices.
NoLandGrab: We have to give the Eagle an "A" for consistency.
Posted by eric at October 21, 2009 2:06 PM