« Confimed: 78th Precinct in Park Slope to Police Barclays Center | Main | A confounding HDC hearing on first Atlantic Yards tower: public testimony without clarity about financing; Forest City denounced, supported; FCR’s housing partner says first building falls short but should proceed »
July 19, 2012
Boiling Brains Over Easy
The Free School Apparent
The other afternoon I stood at a Park Slope bus stop near to the start of 5th Avenue. I have known this neighborhood for a long time. I have watched it’s slow and steady development over the past 30 years. Sections that would have been considered dangerous to stroll in, now sport cafes and high end restaurants, clothing stores, bike stores and many other signs of gentrification. And looming at the end of 5th Avenue is the growing creature known as the Barclay Center. A structure so out of place, it is shocking to see it there. Kind of like Gamera, the fire breathing Japanese turtle monster who battles Godzilla.
The Barclay Center is the future home of the Jersey Nets. The project has had problems from the beginning. (for more info on the impact of this project can be found at the blog Brooklyn Speaks) The major concern of the community is the blight it was about to bring to Brooklyn. Where neighborhoods have been going through steady improvements over the past few decades, Bruce Ratner’s plan is trying to make an instantaneous change to the area, which he is doing. The traffic is a disaster. And all of this was known right from the start. Studies have shown that stadiums of all kinds have never done ANYTHING for the communities around them. (see Jim Bouton’s comments, former NY Yankees pitcher) On the contrary, they tend to invite poverty and indigent characters. Stadiums are not patronized by the people who live near the stadium. Folks tend to drive in, watch the game, and then leave. Everywhere I have seen a stadium, whether here or abroad, the areas around them are always impoverished. This includes Madison Square Garden, which if you should visit at the wee hours of the morning, you will find a city of homeless people living on the streets around the arena. This with a sprinkle of drunken white people left over from the previous night’s event peeing and puking on the streets.
Posted by eric at July 19, 2012 7:23 AM