A conversation with Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, whose new book significantly chronicles Prospect Heights, with Atlantic Yards as a backdrop.
From Common Edge:
A diner where the proprietor welcomes all. A neighborhood tradition of sharing clothing on fences. A donut shop that lets an immigrant community hang out. A supermarket that serves as a community anchor. These places are evoked in Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani’s recent book, The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places (MIT Press).
Another excerpt:
NO: I want to play devil’s advocate. You call what happened to Vanderbilt Avenue and Prospect Heights a manmade disaster. As you know, I’m a skeptic about Atlantic Yards, but I do meet people who say it’s great to have more people in the neighborhood, more stuff. So I assume you’re channeling the people who feel a sense of loss.
GBV: I think that displacement is real. You have more people, but where it used to be a diverse neighborhood, you have a much, much whiter and wealthier neighborhood. Of course, having a median on Vanderbilt Avenue is better and safer, and having storefronts actually be occupied is better. But what does it look like to have real protections for people to be able to stay in their homes?
Note that the book also includes a significant segment on the Oakland neighborhood Mosswood, but I, understandably, focused on Prospect Heights. For the rest of the interview, please go here.
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