Organic development, that is. I’m not so sure many of the people opposed to the Atlantic Yards project would be the staunch foes of eminent domain that they are without the kick in the pants a cluster of giant taxpayer-funded shadowcasting skyscrapers provides. The folks at The Brooklyn Paper, on the other hand, in cheering the renaissance of Fourth Avenue, a formerly dour, semi-industrial stretch on the western border of Park Slope, prove they understand what it takes to build a great city. Hint: it’s not planning by bureaucrats. It’s individual developers responding to market demand, factoring in all risk and carrying it on their shoulders alone. The City simply had to get out of the way and let them build what they would. Maybe much of the new stuff won’t make it into Dwell any time soon, but developers — and their clients, for that matter — don’t exist to sate the aesthetic appetites of architecture snobs. Now if we could just get the City the hell out of Bushwick — they have done enough damage over the decades.

Kudos to TBP for keepin it real and hat tip to Brownstoner for bringing it to my attention.