Interview with Red Hook's Biggest Developer

Photo by Alexis Robie
A link from blogger Transfer led us to an interview by the Center for an Urban Future with Greg O’Connell. O’Connell started buying up property in Red Hook in the late 1970s and today is the biggest developer in the area. He elaborates on the history of the area, defends his pro-Ikea stance and, in the following passage, argues for a more balanced approach to growth in the borough:

I think Brooklyn is an especially great borough. It’s got whatever you want to do and there are really no bad neighborhoods. They’re all coming back. The trick is to balance that, to make sure it’s still affordable. Otherwise, people are going to move out. The middle class will move out. The cops and fireman really won’t be able to afford the city. They used to be able to afford to live here on their salary. The artists are going the same way. You want to bring tourism, but where are [tourists] going to stay? Hotels now are being converting into condos. You have to think about where you want this city twenty or thirty or forty years from now. The idea is to have balance. If you ever lose the creative person from the middle of the Midwest who loses the dream to come to the city to make it, then we’re going to lose something.

Q&A with Red Hook Developer [Center for an Urban Future]