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December 4, 2010
The Marty Markowitz Memorial Parking Lot
The Huffington Post
By Jimmy Askew
Here is a suggestion that credit be given where credit is due.
But let's not kid ourselves. The fix is in and Prospect Heights is stuck with this vibrant use of public space: a parking lot. Markowitz has been a big booster of this white elephant of a project for years now. He's attacked opponents in the press, argued that this kind of out of scale development is what Brooklyn needs, and generally been obstinate. So I suggest we make sure his legacy is remembered, and name this the Marty Markowitz Memorial Parking Lot. That way, when future generations wonder why there's a city block used as a parking lot instead of for a park or for housing, and why the traffic along Atlantic Avenue and in Prospect Heights is so miserable, they can remember: this was the man that helped make it happen. When, in 50 years, our children wonder why we tore down a neighborhood just as it was revitalizing itself and built it over with a vacant lot, they'll know that the foresight was vested in wise men like Marty. When the New York (not Brooklyn) Nets eventually abandon the Barclay Center for another location that offers them even more taxpayer money (long after FCR and ESDC abandon their plans to build the rest of the project, no doubt), at least Marty's name will live on in a useless lot that exemplifies the kind of urban blight that this project was supposed to alleviate.
Posted by steve at December 4, 2010 7:42 AM