Brooklyn Boro

OPINION: Transformative Brooklyn in a new century

May 12, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President Tucker Reed. Photo courtesy of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership
Share this:

Nothing bespeaks awareness of planning for the new century in Brooklyn better than the office of Tucker Reed, head of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP). Recently, under the auspices of the DBP, the forward vision of Brooklyn Strand has developed plans to enhance more than 50 acres of public space to form better human connections between new development and ’50s-era infrastructure that surrounds us.

And more sweeping is the planning and oversight of a new century of growth in Brooklyn that has far surpassed the similar expansion, which developed more slowly after Brooklyn merged with greater NYC in 1898. 

Crain’s recently published an inspirational report (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160420/OPINION/160419960/the-brooklyn-boom-could-get-much-bigger-heres-how) from Reed and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams that proclaims, “The Brooklyn boom could get much bigger… Here’s how to unlock the borough’s commercial potential before it becomes victim of its own success.”

Anyone with a stake in Brooklyn, be it commercial or residential, should not miss the data and transformative vision in the Reed/Adams article.

Readers should also be reminded of the exciting future prospects for keeping streetscapes viable for use by humans while commercial development becomes the engine it should. See the report on visions of the Brooklyn Strand (http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/5/6/brooklyn-stakeholder-groups-announce-community-vision-brooklyn-strand), recently published by the Brooklyn Eagle.

Where growth occurs rapidly, streetscapes become a more vital concern. The couple of square miles that encompass

Brooklyn Bridge Park, DUMBO, two historic bridges, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Downtown Brooklyn have become perhaps the most interesting and exciting urban landscape in the U.S.

But the potential growth encompasses much more in Brooklyn, as Reed and Adams point out. One of their most fascinating points: “the market’s voracious appetite for housing may finally be the key to unlocking the borough’s true commercial and job-creating potential.”

Among other impressive statistics, Reed and Adams cite that Brooklyn added about 91,000 jobs between 2009 and 2014. “The growth stems from firms’ desire to locate where their talent lives — and it lives in Brooklyn,” they aptly note.

Brooklynites are fortunate to have such a visionary partnership in public and private sectors, as shown in the Crain’s article. Reed and Adams are, indeed, overseers of Transformative Brooklyn.   

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment