Park Slope Deliberates on Future
From the Brookyln Downtown Star
Park Slope Consults Its Inner Oracle
By Darius VanSluytman
Dateline : Thursday, March 08, 2007
Amid a rash of new developments, increasing rents, and Mayor Bloomberg’s estimate that one million new residents will arrive in the city by 2030, Park Slope residents pondered the future of their beloved neighborhood last week. The Park Slope Civic Council held a forum on Thursday called “Where Goes the Neighborhood?”
“Some 200,000 units of housing affordable to those with incomes of around $32,000 have been lost in the city between 2002-2005,” noted Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. This problem is exacerbated by nearly 20% in rent increases in the same period, she added.
“We’ve got to plan. It sounds simple, I know, but we don’t create a vision for what our community should be,” complained Stuart Pertz an architect, the chair of the Municipal Arts Society’s Brooklyn Committee and a former member of the City Planning Committee.
Pertz spoke pointedly to the over-development along South Slope’s Fourth Avenue. “To start by building these homes, and then thinking maybe we’ll need schools, maybe we’ll need transportation for all these people is simply ridiculous,” he said. He and the panelists urged community involvement in reaching a vision for their neighborhood.
Panelists also called for new methods of accountability within the New York City Department of Buildings, citing the sheer level of indigestible information emminating from the agency, as well as corruption among its inspectors.
Despite concerns surrounding the over-development of the area, others see it as an inevitable, with some positive benefits. “Adding to the housing supply keeps prices stable,” pointed out Lydia Denworth, President of the Park Slope Civic Council. That is a definite plus for residents watching rents rise quicker than their incomes.
The panel then discussed strategies for maintaining the growing property values of the area while having some degree of input on development.
“Being within a landmark district certainly provides stability to property values,” noted Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. Bankoff, who supports widening the historic district within Park Slope also stated, “Historic districts help the community by weighing in on the design elements of new developments.”
Along with development concerns, residents also asked about the turnover of mom and pop businesses, the influx of major corporate businesses and other landmarks demonstrating a shift in the character of the neighborhood. Panelists urged residents to support local businesses, to stay informed, but most importantly to get involved.
Facing a new era of development, with Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project becoming the most dramatic harbinger of such changes, the next steps for concerned residents seem a daunting task.
“It is not too late if we can stay informed, and simply get the public to respond,” Pertz suggested with a healthy dose of optimism.