Duffield St. Blog Gets Active, Asks if Abolitionist Museum Beats a Parking Lot

Advocates fighting to save the Underground Railroad Houses on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn from seizure by the city and the wrecking ball are now using a blog to push their cause. One of the new items suggests that an abolitionist museum in the buildings would be a better use of the space than 700 parking space in an underground garage and a plaque commemorating the site. Referring to a 2003 City Planning Department press release, Duffield Street Underground argues:

The press release mentions the word "cultural" eight times, and "parking" twice. The plan would call for the creation of 2,000 new parking spaces, and 694 of those were envisioned for the properties currently home to the Chatel and other families.

The promotion of an Abolitionist museum on Duffield Street is much more consistent with the stated goals of the Department of Planning press release. The future of Brooklyn is not colliding with its past. We need to fully research the historical these properties before destroying them. Otherwise, it might be the parking lot that will "block a key component of the area's rebirth."

Last week, an Associated Press story about the buildings and the efforts to save them was picked up around the country.