The Dodgers didn’t make Brooklyn, Brooklyn made the Dodgers. The
characteristics that defined the borough’s beloved baseball team
came not from the players alone but from their interaction with Brooklynites
— the spirit, the grit, the work ethic and sense of humor (not to
mention accent) unique to this borough.
When the beloved ’Bums left we lost a baseball team, not our identity.
The team, however, lost its soul.
Brooklyn’s identity is, and has always been, tied into its many and
vastly different neighborhoods, ethnicities and cultures. What further
sets us apart from the overwhelming crush that is Manhattan, is our low-rise
nature. Our blocks are not cluttered or enclosed by towering apartment
and office towers, because that’s the way we wanted it and our zoning
has enforced that notion. Our bridge is an icon; theirs is merely blue.
Manhattan is at its loveliest when viewed from Brooklyn; Brooklyn looks
best up close.
But now a convergence of plans have been thrust upon this borough that,
when taken in sum, will turn Brooklyn into a half-baked version of Manhattan,
or “the city,” as many of us grew up calling the island across
the East River.
One explantion given for rushing the massive Downtown Brooklyn Plan through
the city’s public review process is that the mayor and governor want
to compete with New Jersey for corporate back-office space. The city can’t
build competitively priced office space in Manhattan, but in Brooklyn
it apparently comes cheap. They build us up only to knock us down. Developers
get rich; we get a sports team and unwanted skyscrapers.
We’re getting a basketball team we never asked for to replace a baseball
team most of us don’t remember — and that’s supposed to
restore an identity we already have. And we’re being asked to bear
on our great shoulders the city and state’s inability to provide
affordable office space in Manhattan.
Will someone please tell us what Brooklynites get out of these deals?
Neil Sloane is editor of The Brooklyn Papers. He can be reached via e-mail
at newsroom@brooklynpapers.com.
