Teens Consider Brooklyn's Future Through the Urban Memory Project

"Unfortunately, it is sad to say that much of Coney Island will be closing down at the end of the '07 season due to new development plans that Joe Sitt has in store for us."
--Janet Lazaro, Brooklyn High School Student

While it sounds like something that Gowanus Lounge might write, the words come from a local high school student that participated in the latest installment of the Urban Memory Project, which looks at the rapidly changing Brooklyn landscape through the eyes of local students. (We've written about it before and it was featured on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC during the summer.) GL attended a reception that showcased the work last semester of students at the Secondary School for Research in Park Slope. We were very, very impressed at how the young people view the cityscape and how well they grasp complex development issues.

"The people that are for the project say that it's time for a change and this whole new concept of Coney Island will be for the good of the community," Ms. Lazaro, who is quoted above, wrote in a piece that accompanied photos of the Wonder Wheel, Cyclone and other Coney Island landmarks. "But who are they to decide for us, what is for for and not for good?"

The students looked at development and issues in Park Slope, Atlantic Yards and Coney Island. The focus was gentrification along Fourth and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, the use of eminent domain and its impact on Prospect Heights and on preservation issues in Coney Island.

"The kids are really invested in the project," says Rebecca Krucoff who, along with Ain Gordon, founded the effort. "They're aware that people are the cause of the changes in their community. They're not just happening."

The project has been run a half-dozen times in schools in Williamsburg, Midwood, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope and other Brooklyn neighborhoods.

"They're kind of in shock," Ms. Krucoff says of how the young people look at projects like Atlantic Yards. "When you actually show them what it will look like, they're freaked out."

And then there is the ten-year-old Park Slope resident named Priya that we met at the event. She wasn't part of the Urban Memory Project, which works with sophomores through seniors in high school. But she was intently looking at photos and reading the descriptions, particularly of the changes that may happen in Coney Island.

It turns out that Priya and her peers are worried about Coney Island's fate. They like rides and they've heard that developer Joe Sitt is closing Astroland and tearing things down. They are thinking about starting a petition drive to ask that Mr. Sitt preserve rides and amusements, many of which are threatened, but very dear to their young hearts.

Did we mention that she is only ten? You go, Priya.