North by South

Prospect Heights: Neighborhood in Transition

Just to the north of Prospect Park is a small neighborhood named Prospect Heights. While it has long lived in the shadow of its more famous neighbor to the west (Park Slope), Prospect Heights has started to come into its own in the past few years.

Once a poverty-stricken area in the 70's, Prospect Heights has become hot bed for new real estate. With the shiny new real estate has come new shops, cafes, restaurants, and bars crowding the main streets - Vanderbilt and Washington Avenues. The neighborhood is near landmarks such as Grand Army Plaza, the Brooklyn Museum, the Vanderbilt Train yards, boasts a historic district, and helps host the West Indian Day Parade every year over Labor Day.  The northern section of the neighborhood is also close to downtown Brooklyn. Many residents have been embroiled in the battle against real estate developer Bruce Ratner, and his commercial and residential development plan for downtown Brooklyn.

While it is right next door to Park Slope, it also shares a border with Crown Heights. A West Indian and Hassidic Jewish community, the area is developing, but still known as a sometimes dangerous area for outsiders. The community is still recovering from the Crown Heights Riots in the 90's and crime levels in the neighborhood are still high, though they have recently dropped. This atmosphere has also bled over into the eastern side of Prospect Heights where recent shootings have shaken up the community. So much so that neighborhood meetings have been called to start a dialog about the crime in the area.

Despite this, people are still moving into Prospect Heights in droves. Find out more about the neighborhood in the slide show below:

Via Heeb Magazine

    If you've ever watched a Wes Anderson film, liked Phantom Planet or Coconut Records, have been watching the new Brooklyn-based HBO show Bored to Death, or plan on seeing the new adaptation of Scott Pilgrim, read my interview at Heeb with Jason Schwartzman and golden boy of the Brooklyn literati, Jonathan Ames.

Liu Lucks Out as Comptroller

    Some might say he's lucky, but John Liu and his hard working staff might say that luck had nothing to do with it. On November 3rd, Liu made history by becoming the first Asian-American to be elected to New York City comptroller.

Liu will take office in January after a series of hard fought primaries and run offs. Born in Taiwan, Liu moved here at the age of five with his parents and two brothers. He attended New York City public schools and graduated from Binghamton College. He has served on the City Council for District 20 and was Chairperson of the Council's Committee for Transportation.

In the following audio clip from the day after his election, Liu calls for change, a word that can't be uttered without recalling the themes from President Obama's campaign.

John Liu on WNYC

To learn more about the comptroller office and John Liu, visit these related posts:

Comptroller: Are the Candidates Actually Trolls?

John Liu

Prospect Park

    Out of the many landmarks in Brooklyn, Prospect Park is one of the largest and most famous. In the interviews below, residents reflect on the park and it's place in their lives. Since being revitalized in the 80's and 90's, the park has seen continuing restoration projects as visitors return to the park.

Designed by Calvert Vaux and Frank Olmstead, construction began in 1886. Prospect Park boasts 585 acres of land and thousands of visitors each year. 

Prospect Park

Coming Soon...

The showcase project I'd like to do is on the up and coming neighborhood, Prospect Heights. In the past few years the neighborhood has changed a lot and it's continuing to change quickly. Being so close to Park Slope, it's often overshadowed by the larger and more famous neighborhood, but lately it's making a name for itself in the papers. Numerous newspapers have done stories on the area, usually about the real estate and the main shopping avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue. Vanderbilt has been compared to what happened on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens a few year ago. Despite the economic climate, new stores and restaurants are opening up monthly, catering to the Park Slope families that have been priced out of their former neighborhood and also young people that are flocking to the area.

It's also got a lot of attention lately because of the Atlantic Yards project on the northern end of the neighborhood. One of the biggest news stories in Brooklyn right now is centered around Prospect Heights and the residents that are fighting back against a huge development project for downtown Brooklyn - an area that Prospect Heights borders. Residents of the neighborhood have come together in a number of advocacy groups to keep the project from happening. 

While it is right next door to Park Slope, it also shares a border with Crown Heights. A West Indian and Hassidic Jewish community, the area is developing, but still known as a sometimes dangerous area for outsiders. The community is still recovering from the Crown Heights Riots in the 90's and crime levels in the neighborhood are still high. This atmosphere has also bled over into Prospect Heights where recent shootings have shaken up the community. So much so that neighborhood meetings have been called to start a neighborhood dialog about the crime in the area.