Yournabe.com runs two dueling Op-Ed pieces this week about landmarking.  On the “pro” side is Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Judy Stanton and on the “con” side is Carroll Gardens resident Michael Cassidy:

Yournabe.com: South Brooklyn has been around for a long time; long before the real estate names of Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens divided it into essentially three different zones. These neighborhoods survived the Great Depression and the red-lining in the 1980s. Carroll Gardens has survived as essentially an Italian neighborhood with a strong mix of Hispanics, Irish and other groups and also with a good spectrum of incomes, occupations and backgrounds. Recently when buildings over six stories were being built and proposed in our neighborhood, zoning restrictions were introduced to prevent these oversized buildings from destroying the feel and fabric of our neighborhood.

However, that scare has restarted the movement to broaden the Historic District to include from Degraw Street to Hamilton Avenue and from Hicks Street to Hoyt Street. When you ask why, the answer is usually to keep the tall oversized buildings out. When you point out that this has been prevented by zoning already, then the answer becomes, We do not want ugly buildings like what can be found on this block or that block.