Sure, the i's are crossed and the t's are dotted, but the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront rezoning plan better brace itself: the woman who brought down Robert Moses has strolled into the fight:
How weird, and how sad, that New York, which has demonstrated successes enlightening to so much of the world, seems unable to learn lessons it needs for itself. I will make two predictions with utter confidence. 1. If you follow the community?s plan you will harvest a success. 2. If you follow the proposal before you today, you will maybe enrich a few heedless and ignorant developers, but at the cost of an ugly and intractable mistake. Even the presumed beneficiaries of this misuse of governmental powers, the developers and financiers of luxury towers, may not benefit; misused environments are not good long-term economic bets. Come on, do the right thing. The community really does know best.
Sincerely,
Jane Jacobs
Jacobs' letter, in full, appears in the Brooklyn Rail.
· Letter from Jane Jacobs [Brooklyn Rail via OTBKB]
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