What’s it going to be like for the artists and bankers who call Dumbo home when the four towers are built at 85 Jay Street and 1,600 or so Jehovah’s Witnesses move in? Hard to say. For one thing, they won’t have to worry about a spike in crime: “You’re going to know for a fact that you’re going to have good neighbors who are going to be honest, they’re not going to try to break into where you are or start a petition against you,” says the group’s national spokesman. “But we’re going to pursue our mission.” Of course, the Witnesses were there first, but at that time there weren’t really any other residents to speak of. The Times points to the group’s insularity and lack of integration into the community as a negative. The fact that none of the new buildings will have any commercial/retail space in an area that’s in the process of becoming the new Soho is also ticking off some people in the area. One Witness doesn’t think the influx of religious types will make a dent: “By the time the Witnesses get down here,” Jamie Jared said, “there’s already going to have been a cultural shift that’s going to have happened, from all the Manhattanites moving in.”
Side by Side [NY Times]