“Most livable” and most threatened

What do Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights and Prospect Heights have in common? They all include landmark districts, they all border the Atlantic Yards Project, and they all were recently ranked among the top ten most livable neighborhoods in New York City by New York magazine.

Which may explain why concern about the justification for, and impacts of, the Atlantic Yards project runs so high among residents. It’s clear that an arena and a huge parking lot aren’t necessary to clear “blight”: prior to Atlantic Yards, there had been a sustained trends toward organic development lifting underutilized areas at the intersection of these neighborhoods. Even the ESDC would have to acknowledge that the rising tide of brownstone Brooklyn has continued in spite of its project, not because of it.

New York’s survey helps put Atlantic Yards in the proper context: far from being a savior, the project is a threat to these historic and diverse neighborhoods—in the near term, for its construction impacts, and in the long term, for its alien form of enormous freestanding silver towers and the tremendous traffic burdens it will create.

Elsewhere in the magazine, New York names Prospect Heights one of the ten neighborhoods on its "Where to Live in 2014" list. Jonathan Butler of Brownstoner suggests, "stick to streets not directly affected by Atlantic Yards." One may ask: "Which ones are those?"