TONIGHT: Imagine Flatbush 2030

Tonight is the second of four community visioning meetings for Imagine Flatbush 2030, to be held at Brooklyn College’s new Conference Center. Everyone is invited.

Local blog Brooklyn Junction provides the perfect summary of why this process is so important:

Come out to the meeting tonight and I think you’ll see why I, and a whole bunch of other people, are so enamored by this: Diverse members of the Flatbush community organizing together to plan for the neighborhood’s future–both to protect the things we celebrate, and to call attention to that which can be improved–before forces outside our control shape the future of the neighborhood for us.

Preserving the neighborhood’s character and diversity while all of Brooklyn is changing so rapidly will be a huge challenge for Flatbush. How can we work for some of the amenities we are lacking — more public green spaces and a community center with activities for all ages were mentioned at the first meeting — without promoting gentrification that would force many longtime and lower-income residents out? How can the inevitable (and, from a sustainability viewpoint, desirable) development of denser housing near transit (and the affordable units it should be required to provide) be combined with zoning that preserves the 100+-year-old Victorian homes that make our neighborhood unique (even for those of us who don’t own one)?

While these questions do not present any simple answers, getting community stakeholders involved in the process is a crucial step. It is no understatement to say that the ongoing Atlantic Yards fiasco has struck fear into all of Brooklyn (and beyond): no one wants to see a big developer given free rein to bring a massive project into their neighborhood with no public involvement, gravely flawed government oversight, and flagrant abuse of eminent domain that takes longtime resident’s homes and small businesses from them. Imagine Flatbush 2030 is an opportunity for the community to create our own vision of the future and begin discussing how to implement it, before (as Brooklyn Junction says) someone else beats us to it. Be there if you can!

Imagine Flatbush 2030 Meeting:
Who: The Flatbush Community
When: Tonight, December 12th, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: At The Brooklyn College Student Center, located on Campus Road between East 27th Street and Amersfort Place, 6th floor (map it).
RSVP: To Sideya Sherman, at the MAS Planning Center, 212-935-3960 or ssherman [at] mas [dot] org.



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