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December 4, 2010
The Hipsters Hoop Dream Holiday Wish List
Global Grind
Here is a rather distorted history of the Atlantic Yards fight. The point this blogger seems to be making is that it's okay to support eminent domain abuse and the destruction of a neighborhood for the benefit of a well-connected developer because hipsters from Williamsburg don't.
In 2004, as northern-Jersey residents were first witnessing the imminent departure of their beloved New Jersey Nets, a new wave of immigrants descended upon a forgotten industrial neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Unlike the figures depicted in turn of the century photographs of Ellis Island, these people came not with cradled babies, nor brimming with the hopes of a life free of oppression in America's welcoming arms but, rather; they came wielding wi-fi capable laptops and the common dream of establishing an artistic community. Beatnik novels and little Ivy degrees in tow, the hipsters planted their flag in Williamsburg.
...
By 2009, the Nets franchise became the joint property of Bruce Ratner (the Iago of Prospect Heights), Mikhail Prokhorov (Russia's steelier version of Richard Branson) and Jay-Z (the fella who makes a Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can) and the team was set to move to Brooklyn. Jersey residents lamented as Brooklynites old and new rejoiced.
Of course, as it goes when a birthday cake is cut at an office party, there was just not enough to go around. Once the announcement was made that the team would play its home games in the brand-spankin' new Barclays Center in Atlantic Yards, the Williamsburg militia, armed with Facebook statuses, blogs and Flickr accounts let their voices be heard.
NoLandGrab: It's good that anyone opposes corruption, no matter if he's a blogger who's lived in the neighborhood for 25 years or someone who just arrived yesterday.
Posted by steve at December 4, 2010 7:31 AM