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East Williamsburg Workers

Map posted May 25, 2010

The Industrial Business Zones (IBZs) in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Maspeth, Queens, reflect a pattern common among areas with high concentrations of manufacturing businesses: workers come from all over the city and region, and a majority - even from nearby neighborhoods - drive to get there. As industrial areas with proximity to transit, such as SoHo, Long Island City and the Williamsburg waterfront, have become predominantly residential, industry has become increasingly concentrated in areas far from subway lines.

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Taking Over and Talking Back: Theater as a Forum on Gentrification

Media posted February 10, 2010

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Affordable Housing Not Included

Media posted October 13, 2009

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Pratt Center News - Summer 2009

News posted July 20, 2009

In This Issue:

  • A Message from Director Adam Friedman
  • People's Firehouse reborn
  • Ending East New York's retail drought
  • Coney Island for All yields community gains
  • Retrofit Bedford Stuyvesant Blooms
  • Bus Rapid Transit Goes Public
  • Bronx wins Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence
 

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Northside Town Hall Community Center

Project posted June 23, 2009

Engine 212 – “The People’s Firehouse” – served North Brooklyn for more than a century; the Pratt Center is now helping transform it into a community and cultural center.

Built in 1869, Engine 212 was threatened with forced closure in the 1970s by a cash-strapped city government. New York City’s poorest neighborhoods were then suffering waves of arson and destructive fires. At the same time, City services, including fire-fighting, were being slashed.

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Domino Sugar Historic Designation

Testimony last updated June 26, 2007

Testimony on Domino Sugar Factory Landmarking

Lacey Tauber
Pratt Center for Community Development
June 26, 2007

Thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony today. My name is Lacey Tauber and I represent the Pratt Center for Community Development, a university- based organization that works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers by helping communities to plan for and realize their future. I am also a Williamsburg resident.

Pratt Center strongly supports designation of the Domino Sugar factory buildings under consideration today. As you have no doubt heard, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recently named Brooklyn's industrial waterfront among the 11 most endangered historic places in America. This is largely due to the fact that in preparation for the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning, including its environmental impact statement, the city failed to give sufficient attention to the area's historic resources, and now they are vulnerable to the heightened development climate created by the zoning actions nearby. As a result, the character of North Brooklyn is quickly fading with wave upon wave of demolition: the Old Dutch Mustard Building, the zipper factory at N. 10th and Berry, the piers of the former Eastern District Terminal... the list goes on.

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