Urban Manifest Destiny | Brooklyn (The Borough)

Found Footage: Mike V & The Brooklyn Banks

By Nicole Brydson

Shot last month, this seven minute short features skateboarder Mike Vallely lamenting the soon to be shuttered Brooklyn Banks, a lengendery NYC spot for generations of skater kids at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Downtown Express reported last October that “The city plans to use the internationally known Brooklyn Banks skate park as a staging area during the Brooklyn Bridge reconstruction, which is starting later this year and will last until 2014, said Ralph Musolino, a district manager for the city Parks Dept.” The city plans to shutter the area beginning this Friday, January 15, and it will remain closed until 2014.

January 12, 2010 MultiMedia, The People, Video

tags: Creative Underclass, MultiMedia, Urban Manifest Destiny, Zeitgeist Video

A Vanderbilt Goes to The Vanderbilt

By Cait Weiss

Brooklyn The Borough felt it was about time to send a Vanderbilt to Vanderbilt Avenue. And what better place to kick-off this adventure in gentrification, family history, and neighborhood love than with dinner and drinks at The Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights.

November 30, 2009 Culture, Restaurants

tags: Bars, Foodies, Prospect Heights, Urban Manifest Destiny, Vanderbilt Avenue

Atlantic Yards Sugar Daddy Is Also A Russian Oligarch

By Nicole Brydson

Bruce Ratner, the mastermind behind the Atlantic Yards Project and part-owner of the New Jersey Nets signed a $200 million deal today to give Russion oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov an 80% stake in the basketball team. Mr. Prokhorov wrote on his LiveJournal blog (translated from Russian by Google) that “participation in [this deal] was made possible by the world crisis (never in the history of foreigners owned NBA).”

September 23, 2009 Real Estate, The Locals

tags: Atlantic Yards, Boerum Hill, Bruce Ratner, Fort Greene, Oligarchs, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Urban Manifest Destiny

Super Fight Over Gowanus Superfund! Bloomberg Sides With Developer; Whole Foods Bows Out

By Nicole Brydson

At first sight it’s obvious that the Gowanus Canal is filthy. Yet, residents continue to congregate around it, canoe across it, build vessels to tour it, and wonder if its beauty will ever again surpass its usefulness as an industrial center. Efforts to revitalize expansive industrial lots in the area have advanced, with bars, restaurants and music venues opening along Second and Third Avenues. Artists work in nearby studios, and the BKLYN Yard, a venue alongside the canal, draws young people from all over the city to afternoon dance parties, barbecues and swap meets on summer weekends. However, over 150 years of heavy industrial activity combined with sewage and storm water run-off, and its proximity to factories and gas refineries have made the canal a site of controversy since the Environmental Protection Agency announced in April that the waterway is a candidate for the Superfund National Priorities List.

July 8, 2009 City Politics and News, Real Estate, State Politics and News, The Locals

tags: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, City Hall, Cobble Hill, Downtown, Election 2009, Gowanus, Gowanus Canal, park slope, Recession Depression, Red Hook, Superfund, Toll Brothers, Urban Manifest Destiny, Whole Foods

KRS-ONE to Launch New Imprint, Release Hip Hop Bible

By Nicole Brydson

Last Saturday afternoon, many Brooklynites happened upon Habana Outpost on Fulton Street in Fort Greene to find philosopher/rapper KRS-ONE preaching to his disciples.

May 14, 2009 Brooklyn Beats, Music Profiles, Read Features

tags: Brooklyn Sound, Class War, Dumbo, Fulton Street, Gentrification, Hip Hop, KRS-One, New York Natives, PowerHouse Arena, Urban Manifest Destiny

Will Proximity To ‘Art’ Still Sell Condos?

By Nicole Brydson

Like the weather on a recent Thursday, the building at 542 St. Mark’s Avenue in Crown Heights couldn’t decide whether to be one thing or another.

May 12, 2009 Art n' About, Real Estate, The Art

tags: Class War, Crown Heights, Fort Greene, Gentrification, Prospect Heights, Recession Depression, Urban Manifest Destiny

Rosie Perez Not ‘Angry,’ Just ‘Bothered’ by Gentrification

By Nicole Brydson

At WNYC’s new Jerome L. Greene Performance Space today, on the ground level of their new headquarters on Varick Street, Rosie Perez moderated a panel called The Places that Bind: Examining Preservation and Culture in a Changing City.

May 7, 2009 City Politics and News, Real Estate