What kind of waterfront is it?

This July 4th, I rode my bike along the Brooklyn waterfront, through Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Red Hook. It’s an easy ride complete with bike lanes the entire way. I even waited in line for 45 minutes, with seemingly hundreds of other Brooklynites, to take the free ferry to Governor’s Island. As kids played in the new parks and we enjoyed our bottled water and ice cream, I thought about our recent Tenement Talk on Dark Harbor. I tried to envision the waterfront as the scene of the Brando movie, complete with longshoremen being murdered year after year. It felt inconceivable and outright laughable to consider this waterfront “dark” or dangerous.

When I returned that evening, I found Nathan Ward had written an OpEd in the New York Times on just that sentiment (though far more articulately).

http://nyti.ms/9YuwVH

- Posted by Amanda