where will we end up?

this past friday, wanting to get out of the house and be entertained, i thought i'd join the throngs to check out the new Will Smith movie, I Am Legend. so, i called my friend, Keith (playwright and resident of Fort Greene who writes the Digable-Poet Speaks blog), to check it out with me.

as it was opening night for the movie, all shows before 11pm were sold out at our first choice of venue in Union Square. not wanting to wait around all night, Keith suggested that we head out to the theater near the World Trade Center. he assured me that there would be no problem as "nobody lives out there and nobody wants to make the trek from the closest subway station." and, he was right. although we couldn't see the movie at our preferred time, we only had to wait an hour for the next available screening.

so, we had an hour to kill, and thought to find a bar where we could get out of the cold and relax. that's when the reality of where we were sank in. our closest options were Chevy's and Applebee's, both of which were inside what can only be described as a mall. a bland, soul-sucking mall. but, as we were in New York City, New York City, even though on the edge of the World Financial Center, surely, surely, there had to be at least one spot within walking distance that would appeal to a couple of Brooklyn buppies. so we head out into the cold night in search of...anything.

how utterly depressing. we found nothing. NOTHING! granted, we were in the World Financial Center, certainly not a place one would think to go to hang out, especially in New York City, but c'mon, even hedge fund managers need a watering hole close by to numb the pain that must accompany the extraction of their souls as they bleed the rest of us, right? well, if there were watering holes, we certainly didn't find any. perhaps they keep them well-hidden from the likes of us interlopers. as we wandered up, down and around North End Ave, Vessey St, Murray St, North Cove and Liberty St, in and around 2, 3 and 4 World Financial Center and the New York Mercantile Exchange, i began to have a feeling not unlike déjà vu. and it hit me: could this be what Atlantic Yards would feel like? a well-manicured, sterile, expensive, hulking, "modern", sleek, unwelcoming and cold "development" that's completely desolate and devoid of life? sure, Atlantic Yards will be more about housing than offices (at least that's the current plan), and it will sit within/squash/stiffle/overwhelm/smother the much more human-scale and residential neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and Park Slope, so maybe there will be more people in its landscape. but will more people in a landscape such as this make it feel more human and alive? it seems fitting that we were out to see a movie that depicts a futuristic New York City populated by rabid-like flesh-eating zombies.

then my thoughts moved to other developments where i've had these same feelings: Donald Trump's erections on the Upper West Side of Manhattan; MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn; the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco; City Center in Oakland, CA; the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. i'm sure there are countless others. all places that were marketed and sold as bright and shiny and new and great big new things that would revitalize and energize and modernize and move their cities and neighborhoods in the 21st century and be catalysts of prosperity and growth and jobs and housing and tax revenue and make them "destinations" to world travelers. for me, these places are rarely destinations in the sense that they were answers to the question: where do i want to go today? more likely they were places where i've ended up as a last resort, unwilling to throw in the towel while out looking for something to do. reminds me of a bit from a comedian whose name escapes me who said something along the lines of "nobody leaves their home intending to end up at Denny's at 4am."

so, this rant leads me to ask: Atlantic Yards is the answer to which question? is it multiple choice? is it the right, best answer? who's doing the asking? can we take the test again? will we have to repeat this class if we fail the final exam?

i admit that these thoughts aren't new and unique. i write these thoughts mostly to purge and vent and clear my head (sorry, gentle readers), as i fear that i'd go crazy otherwise. and maybe, with my words added to the large and growing pile of opposition to the Atlantic Yards plan, it might tip the scales in our favor and save us all from yet another place where we "end up."

image by Jonathan Barkey