Open Thread Wednesday

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  • Linda Bechutsky

    I’m curious, why don’t you think public schools and transportation will take a hit. Pre-COVID, there was a waitlist for zoned kids to get into PS 8 and some kids didn’t get into their zoned school. With the addition of 1 Clinton and this building (I’m not sure what the more recent Dumbo high rises are zoned for), I don’t see how we can avoid overcrowding.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Fair question, … and I can’t say I was involved in “selling” apts at 1 Clinton … and nobody knows much at this point about the “new building.” … But really, while there are some people who LOVE public schools “because they’re democratic” and diverse, even if PS 8 is considered top 2% in the City – which I think is still “aspirational” for them – think about middle school & high school. My kids are long out of K-12, but the wealthy – and if you look at what those “new apartments” cost, they are NOT for the middle class! – seldom send their kids to public schools in NY. (Now consider that Packer, St. Ann’s and Friends are “more convenient” in terms of location….

    Really, “middle school” is the killer. Where does a PS 8 grad go at about age 11? To a school now under construction near Barclay’s.

    Call me cynical, but I DON’T THINK SO – not for people who obviously have deep pockets. Anyone who sees self & family in Bklyn Hts beyond grade 5 calculates WHEN (if they start a kid at PS 8) they can and should go from public to private.

    Maybe, the status quo – Hts middle schoolers in a portion of “Westinghouse” was terrible – but I can’t begin to imagine how what was decided (as a remedy) … was decided.

  • Effective Presenter

    Does the Brooklyn Heights historic district begin at Court Street or Clinton Street?

    We had thought that Montague Street from Cadman Plaza/Court Street to Clinton Street was Downtown Brooklyn and NOT Brooklyn Heights?

  • Effective Presenter

    At this time the DOE has issues, problems overcrowding at PS 8 will exacerbate this problem ridden organization.

  • Effective Presenter

    We agree the middle school at Westinghouse had been a disaster.

  • Effective Presenter

    Montague Street took a BIG hit when Brooklyn Union Gas now National Grid left 195 Montague Street to become anchor tenants at One Metro Tech Center.

    Back in the day a lunch hour had been the norm today few employees take an hour for lunch.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    You MUST know – or should learn – that neighborhood “boundary lines” are NOT hard-and-fast. Some say that realtors attempt to set them, but I haven’t a doubt in the world that “most people” would agree that Cadman Plaza West & Court Street … and all that is west of them lies in Brooklyn Heights. At the other end – again, I’d be shocked if anyone disagreed – lies Atlantic Avenue.

    Yes, from Joralemon North, the 4 Clinton-to-Cadman/Court blocks have a very different character from their western neighbors, but the notion that Packer is in B.H., for example, but the building next door is not strikes me as absurd.

  • Effective Presenter

    Thank you N.M.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    The NY Times has done some very fine work in the last year on this subject. You might find it interesting. Here’s a key link in that connection:

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/extremely-detailed-nyc-neighborhood-map.html