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September 17, 2011
What Would Jane Jacobs Say?
WNET
This week, Modern Library is publishing a silver anniversary re-issue of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” complete with a new introduction of Jason Epstein, the book’s original editor. To honor the occasion, MetroFocus looked at some of the contemporary local players in the world of urban planning through the lens of the late Jane Jacobs:
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Daniel Goldstein, resident and activist in Brooklyn
Goldstein fought to stop the construction of the Atlantic Yards project, the largest redevelopment plan in recent New York history. The project was a perfect storm of private sector might and political will. In 2003, developer Forest City Ratner announced his plan to buy the Nets, move the team to Brooklyn and build a $2.5 billion development in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn.
On the Jane Jacobs’ scale: The similarities between Jacobs and Goldstein are easy to spot, though he does not share her taste in large black spectacles and bangs. Goldstein rallied his neighbors against a powerful developer that used eminent domain to seize private property, staged protests and kept a detailed blog about the Atlantic Yards Project. Similarly, Jacobs led a grassroots campaign in the early ’60s to nix Robert Moses’ plan to build a highway that cut through Lower Manhattan. However, in her case, the battle was won. Goldstein’s story is chronicled in “The Battle for Brooklyn,” a new documentary by Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky.
Posted by steve at September 17, 2011 6:50 PM