The Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is the icon of our borough, its historic span crossed by admiring Brooklynites and visitors from around the world. The Dock Street project, an 18-story mixed-use proposal to include a middle school, is a measure that would tamper with this national treasure.
We all agree that middle school classrooms are needed. But Two Trees’ effort to foist their project on the community is as ludicrous as would be building adjacent to the Eiffel Tower or the Washington Monument.
Walentas has used our desperate need for a middle school to both threaten and divide our community, and presented us with a false choice. We can have our middle school and protect views of our famous bridge at the same time.
This project is not about our need for a middle school. It is about a wealthy developer who wants to make a profit at our collective expense.
For too long, wealthy developers have played by their own rules. As your City Councilmember, I will ensure we are no longer held hostage by developers like Walentas who see Brooklyn as a cash box and not a community.
The School Construction Authority, which operates in secret and supports the Two Trees project, has made site decisions that ignore public input. I will end this culture of secrecy.
There are many other proposals to solve the middle school problem, but the Department of Education has rejected them, for reasons I believe to be unfounded. I advocate increasing the capacity of P.S. 8 if possible or developing one of several other sites suggested.
I urge Brooklynites to reject the false choice between a middle school and a tower next to the most famous symbol of our borough.
-Ken Diamondstone is a resident of Brooklyn Heights. He is running for the City Council in the 33rd District. Interested Brooklynites are invited to attend a City Council hearing on May 21 to voice their views.
