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February 3, 2010
Greetings from Scott Turner: I’ll Never Love A Place As Much As Brooklyn
via Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn
Scott M.X. Turner, who'll soon be Ratnerless in Seattle, pens his final, must-read, Greeting, full of the things he loves (and hates) about our fair borough, brought to you (and us) by Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn.
Somewhere in the recent past, Brooklyn turned into “Brooklyn.” To use one of Mayor Bloomberg’s more jackassed constructs, Brooklyn has become a “destination.” What does that mean? For starters, it’s something for visitors to Brooklyn, not the people who live here. We’re already here. How can it be a destination?
Normally, that kind of idea would just be a mostly-harmless tourism inducement. But with jackals like Bloomberg and Markowitz, it’s far more harmful and insidious.
Bloomberg has made a mayoral career out of keeping his hands clean when they’re dirty beyond all measures of political hygiene. He throws more money and legal bribery around than Boss Tweed ever dreamed, all the while the local media and citizenry letting him scamper back to the Upper East Side, unaffected and untroubled.
Hizzoner doesn’t do the hard work on issues that has residents screaming — affordable housing, job creation, education. Instead, he focuses on big-ticket projects that only enrich real-estate friends of his — the new Mets stadium, the new Yankees stadium, Atlantic Yards, Willets Point, Columbia expansion, Greenpoint/Williamsburg rezoning, Coney Island, 4th Avenue upscaling, the West Side Stadium, the 7 train extension, the Hudson Yards, the Olympic bid.
This emphasis on “destinations” leaves most Brooklynites out in the cold. Sometimes literally, like over the MLK Day eviction of homeless-shelter residents in Prospect Heights to make way for the Nets’ new arena.
Brooklyn used to be a place to live. It still is, but much of the city’s and state’s policies directed at Brooklyn have to do with Brooklyn as a brand, as a commodity, as a contrivance. It’s hard to get services in East New York or Bensonhurst when our leaders only see a few choice blocks and treats them like Disney’s Main Street USA.
NoLandGrab: Bon voyage, Scott. You might be taking yourself out of Brooklyn, but they'll never take Brooklyn out of you.
Posted by eric at February 3, 2010 1:38 PM