Ever since the Fall of 2003 when Bruce Ratner’s plan to purchase the New Jersey Nets and house them in a $485 million arena designed by Frank Gehry as the centerpiece of a $2.5 billion residential and commercial development in, of all places Downtown Brooklyn, there has been a crescendo of Fuhgeddaboutits. Fuhgeddaboutit is the local version of Not In My BackYard (NIMBY). Much of the discussions, debates, and analyses also seem to confirm Thomas Wolfe's dictum that "Only the Dead Know Brooklyn." Most print and electronic journalists are treating the story as though it were an epic of four powerfully evil men, Ratner, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki ravishing and pillaging a poor, defenseless community. As an urban legend cum David and Goliath redux it is a nice story but wrong. There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Frank Gehry's glass-walled 19,000 seat arena, four office towers, 4,500 apartments and many unanswered and even more unasked questions remain.

The first unasked questions is "Who is the "community" being referred to in the press?" If we define the whole Borough of Brooklyn as the community as opposed to streets nearby then the picture changes. There is a long list of things that one or another "community" in Brooklyn has been adamantly opposed to over the years such as integration, busing, immigrants, homeless and women's shelters, low income housing, power plants, and even historical landmarks. It is said that downtown’s decline started when Walter O'Malley wasn’t allowed to move the Dodgers there. However, the loss of the team didn’t cause White Flight, Urban Blight, Red Lining, Dis-investment, and De-industrialization.

Now that Brooklyn is "in" our troubles have different names such as gentrification and displacement. In my memory every improvement for Downtown Brooklyn has been opposed by one sort or another and to varying degrees. Downtown has many realized and as of yet unrealized plans: Federal Court and IRS buildings, Central Post Office, Marriott Hotel, Hoyt-Schermerhorn-Livingston Corridor Development , The Fulton Mall, Atlantic Mall, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Waterfront and Pier Development, Downtown Brooklyn Special Zoning, Brooklyn Navy Yard Studios, DUMBO, MetroTech, Brooklyn Academy of Music Cultural District, and Atlantic Avenue Development. The mis-labeled "Ratner" or "New Jersey Nets" and now “Gehry” Plan for a parcel neglected for decades should be part of a larger vision for a Brooklyn renaissance. A major part of the problem is that there exists no "Master Plan for Brooklyn." There is a crying need for comprehensive planning. Major projects should not be seen one at a time but as they relate to each other and the entire Borough, and by extension New York City as a whole.

Adapted from “Yes, In My Backyard” by Jerry Krase The New York Sun February 4, 2004 written with Robert Cherry.