I decided to use Barclay’s Center for my project because it is a remarkable place to begin with just by its presence. Once I heard some of the more interesting details of why it took so long to get built and what it’s being used for other than the obvious home of the Brooklyn Nets, I wanted to know more, so I did lots of research and all my questions were answered. The creator of the arena had a lot of drama surrounding him with the construction and public mistreatment. The recession caused the project to pause for an extended period of time and there was talk of it never getting finished. Now that it’s here, they use it for almost anything you can think of when it comes to entertainment. A lot of people take it for granted or almost resent it because of its short history, but I think that since we have it at our disposal, we should embrace it. If nothing else people in the area should be educated about it because it is a huge part of the community now, regardless. Now, when i think of the Barclay’s Center, I think of an enterprise, a luxury, a behemoth, and a focal point when at first it was only a basketball arena.

Dear, Next year students

                I have had my struggles with research during this course so my advice would be to learn how to research. Even if you think you know how to like I did, I would suggest you ask the professors for ways to research before it is too late. You don’t want to procrastinate because eventually you will have to research and that can be very time consuming if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Oh! For this class if you are like me you probably will have a hard time finding a location for speeches and essay topics. There’s a website (http://www.yelp.com/brooklyn) that will make it easier for you to find a place rather than walking around and hoping for the best. This website helps you find places based on your interest, just type in the keyword and locations will be given. For the speech class you may be nervous and that’s okay, I can honestly say once you do your first speech you will get more comfortable speaking. But what does help is PREPARATION, I CANNOT stress this enough. Memorizing your speeches and using index cards will ease the “pain”, before you know it you will be coming to your conclusion and feeling good about yourself way back to your seat. STUDY, the highest grade in my class for the speech midterm was in the low seventies, that was a wake-up call for all of us. Your professors have emails USE them, any question they will answer, if you have problems they can help, just ask for HELP. OFFICE hours, take ADVANTAGE it shows you care about your grade and that you are trying and it says a lot about your character and potential. Nobody cares about your education more than you, it starts with YOU. It’s either you do it or you don’t it is just that simple. GOOD LUCK.

The hurricane of 2012 known as Hurricane Sandy, can arguably be one of New York’s greatest tragedies. Hurricane Sandy devastated the city and left many people homeless and nowhere to live. As a result, Brooklyn Technical High School opened up as a shelter to take in people in need. Brooklyn Technical High School is a 12 story building that covers over half a city block. Each floor is divided into North, South, East, West and Center sections to better help identify rooms.  The first floor of the building is filled with classrooms and it’s also where the renowned auditorium of Brooklyn Tech is located. Every floor from the 2nd to the 6th is filled with numerous classrooms and the 7th floor of the building is used as a cafeteria for students.  From October 29th,2012 to November  12th, 2012, Brooklyn Tech housed over 300 patients from the adult homes Surf Manor and Chai Home. Many of these patients were of special needs. Although both students and patients staying in the shelters were impacted greatly by Hurricane Sandy, the effects were vastly different.
Brooklyn Tech became a full time shelter on October 29th 2012 and took in over 300 people from Surf Manor Adult Home and Chai Home Adult Home. These two adult homes were terribly flooded and the patients living there had to move away. These patients stayed in the first floor of the school and gym and were allowed access to the 1st floor, 7th floor and the 3rd floor for cleaning purposes. According to Daniel  Vladu, a volunteer for the shelter, “The shelter also provided cots, blankets, medicine, pet supplies, diapers, baby formula, and numerous other supplies. A clinic was also set up to treat people and deal with medical emergencies.” However,  the patients were not monitored carefully. ” A schizophrenic refugee from Hurricane Sandy has disappeared from a temporary city-run shelter set up at a Brooklyn high school,” according to an article in the NYDailyNews.  Some patients roamed free without any supervision and some were rumored to use the walls of some floors as restrooms.  The patients that lived at Brooklyn Tech during this time had a horrible experience.

Brooklyn Tech announced on November 5th, despite patients still living there, that students were to return to school the following Wednesday. Students of Brooklyn Tech had a mini vacation because of this storm. Students received eleven days off from October 27th to the Wednesday of November 27th. Brooklyn Tech, being a specialized high school,  is known for its harsh curriculums that students must follow and Hurricane Sandy relieved students of this workload for over 11 days and more. “After w e returned, we  barely got any work for the next week” said Brain Li, a current Brooklyn Tech Senior. The class periods for the next week were also cut by a third of its time and classes started much later than usual, allowing students to catch up on much needed sleep.

The Hurricane of 2012 was a terrible storm that vastly affected New York City but for the students of Brooklyn Tech and the people in the shelters, the effects were much different. The special needs patients that lived in the adult homes of Surf Manor and Chai Home literally lost their homes.  Patients were not monitored carefully during this time and a schizophrenic patient had even gotten lost.  The effect this storm had on students of Brooklyn Tech were the opposite. This storm was a blessing in disguise to many students. This storm gave students a work-free 11 day vacation and because this storm was so close to college early application deadlines, ”  National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) was working with colleges to grant extensions to students in the hurricane zone.”(School Library Journal article.) The one bad thing that resulted from this storm for students were the disgusting smell that emitted from the 7th floor cafeteria, where the patients were staying. However, Brooklyn Tech students only had to deal with this smell for a few days where as the patients had to live with it for over two weeks. Even the misfortunes of the students were much worse than those of the people in the shelter.

Hurricane Sandy affected New York City greatly but the effects on certain individuals were very different. The special needs patients staying in Brooklyn Technical High School from October 29th to November 12th had a terrible experience. The living conditions were terrible for these patients and they had no choice but to live with it. The students of Brooklyn Tech took one of the greatest storm in the history of New York City to be a boon. Students got days off, less work, less class time and more time to work on college applications. In fact, physical education classes were even cancelled the week of returning to school.  Despite the storm devastating the people at the adult homes of Chai Home and Surf Manor, it helped the students of Brooklyn Tech more than it hurt.

Work Cited
Shapiro, Julie. “All City Schools Reopen for Class, as Some Kids Share Space with Shelters.” DNAinfo.com New York. 7 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

SMITH, GREG B. “Mental patient disappears from a Hurricane Sandy evacuation shelter at a Brooklyn high school.” NY Daily News. 7 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

Vladu, Daniel. “Http://www.bthsnews.org/2012/12/15/hurricane-sandy-an-interview-with-a-volunteer/.” Interview by Linda Nguyen. Http://www.bthsnews.org/. 15 Dec. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

MONIHAN, Rachel. “With transit down and many schools damaged, New York City kids won’t be back to school until Monday.” NY Daily News. 2 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

Bayliss, Sarah. “Many Return to School in a Landscape Altered by Hurricane Sandy.” School Library Journal. 6 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

Li, Brain. “Brooklyn Tech Sandy days.” Online interview. 16 Nov. 2013

The Struggle for Barclay’s

The Barclays Center is a sports complex and holds home to businesses and residences, but there was huge controversy and many obstacles to overcome to make it happen. The center was erected in downtown Brooklyn, right by the Atlantic Terminal where the Long Island Railroad is stationed. The plot it was constructed on is called the Atlantic Yards. Here is the home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and soon-to-be home of the NHL’s New York Islanders. There are many retail stores and businesses such as Calvin Kline and Emblem Health inside the massive structure. This place is mostly known for its sports affiliation, but it also holds other events such as circuses and concerts. Although there was controversy over what the land should be used for, everyone had Brooklyn’s best interest in mind and at heart. There were two opposing sides when it came to the new arena. One side was that of the people advocating to build the stadium to bring more attention and wealth to Brooklyn. The other side was against the project because of the losses the area had to undergo to make it possible.

Bruce Ratner is the owner of the company Forest City Ratner and they were in charge of the construction and planning for the stadium. When he came up with the idea to build a new home for the Nets here in Brooklyn that hadn’t had a professional sports team since the Dodgers left to Los Angeles after the 1957 baseball season, he undoubtedly had dollar signs in his eyes. This alone can make the public pause at his intentions. From a financial perspective, this is a genius move because this is the most accessible part of Brooklyn due to all the mass transit that passes through regularly. With the Atlantic Mall and all the local shopping, this was already considered the center of Brooklyn. Adding this attraction only makes it more of a destination and will attract more people that are already familiar with the area and maybe have become unimpressed with what was already there. In either case, there is money to be made. Mike Ozanian from Forbes Magazine wrote, “New York City recently appraised the Barclays Center–based on its potential income–to be worth $741 million.” Mr. Ratner wanted to take advantage of that opportunity and he succeeded in that tremendously. Charles Bagli of The New York Times said, “The Court of Appeals ruled 6 to 1 that the state could exercise eminent domain in claiming businesses, public property and private homes for economic development.” It wasn’t as easy as it sounds though, nor was it without opposition. There were many problems that arose from financing and backlash from the community.

The second perspective you could take from this situation is the one of the people who looked at Mr. Ratner as being immoral and inconsiderate of the consequences. This is because in order to follow through with his planning, they had to demolish many local residences and businesses to make room for the stadium that would take up almost the entire plot on the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. This situation would not effect Mr. Ratner directly, therefore he thought it more important to continue and be finished as soon as possible than to take too much time trying to make the public jump on board with his ideas. Without exercising the government’s right to seise the land, he would waste a lot of time and money just to get past all the lawsuits. He attempted to justify his demolition of housing by saying that he would build more high rises to make up for the losses. None of this is guaranteed of course but even the idea had critics bringing up the fact that traffic was already bad in that area and it would only get worse with this option. Not to mention that it could bring large debt to the area due to all the investment and effort put in. With all of this, the recession caused the project to pause with lack of financing. This shows instability and would only give the locals more reason to protest. Now that the economy has somewhat stabilized and more investors decided to help with its completion, it is here. There are plusses for the community, like more jobs and improvements to the surrounding area because Ratner would not allow Barclays to sit alone in a growing Brooklyn. The best example of why eminent domain is legal at all is because of the Supreme Courts ruling of the Kelo vs. New London case. Malcome Glagwell, a writer for the New York Times said, “Kelo involved a chronically depressed city clearing out a few houses so that Pfizer could expand a research and development facility.” This is much different from Ratner’s plan because the productivity was much more urgent to the public. It was a requirement that you had to build something that is for the public and that made the acquisition of the Nets vital to his plan.

Looking at the present, Barclay’s Center has been open for a little over a year and has done very well, being compared to the already very successful and arguably most well known arena in the country, Madison Square Garden. It has already grossed more profit in the short time it’s been open and gained support from all over the country. It is the most expensive arena in the country, but seems to be bringing in the money just as easily as it was spent. None of the housing that was promised by Ratner have been started yet which makes it seem like he has no interest in anything that doesn’t have to do with the growth and prosperity of Barclay’s, which seems to be doing just fine on its own. Hopefully in the future he will work towards making the local residents comfortable with the new structure of downtown Brooklyn because they are ultimately the ones most effected by it in the long run. After all, he is a real-estate developer, not a basketball fan.

Malcolm Gladwell, Sep 26, 2011, http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7021031/the-nets-nba-economics

Charles V. Bagli, New York Times, Nov. 24, 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/nyregion/25yards.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=atlanticyardsbrooklyn&adxnnlx=1385310423-glOotK/HRAIS+qxewO36Jg>

Mike Ozanian, Forbes Magazine, Sep 17, 2013 <http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2013/09/17/jay-z-set-to-get-1-5-millon-for-his-barclays-center-stake/>

“Eminent Domain.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eminent domain>.

The hurricane of 2012 known as Hurricane Sandy, can arguably be one of New York’s greatest tragedies. Hurricane Sandy devastated the city and left many people homeless and nowhere to live. As a result, many schools became shelters for these homeless people . Brooklyn Technical High School was one of these schools opened up to become a shelter. From October 29th,2012 to November  12th, 2012, Brooklyn Tech housed over 300 patients from the adult homes, Surf Manor and Chai Home. Many of these patients were of special needs. However, despite Brooklyn Tech becoming a shelter, students were still mandated to go back to school on November 7th 2012 and this led to what is one of the most interesting weeks of Brooklyn Tech’s history for both students and the patients staying in the shelter.

Brooklyn Tech became a full time shelter on October 29th 2012 and took in over 300 people from Surf Manor Adult Home and Chai Manor Adult Home. These two adult homes were terribly flooded and the patients living there had to move away. These patients initially stayed in the first floor of the school and in the gymnasium. They were allowed to go to the 1st, 2nd and 7th floors and even use the 3rd floor showers located in the boys locker room. The general population eventually relocated leaving the special needs of the adult homes in Brooklyn Tech, dropping the amount of people to less than 250. The school set up a clinic to help those that needed medicinal attention and provided them with blankets, medicine, pet supplies, and numerous other supplies that was needed.  These special needs patients were rumored to do their “business” not in the bathrooms of Brooklyn Tech but on the floors and walls. Eventually, the school announced on November 5th 2012, that on the following Wednesday, students will be returning to school and these people in the shelter were relocated to the7th floor cafeteria.

Hurricane Sandy was a devastating storm for all of New York City. Despite this horrific storm, it had a silver lining for students. For students that despised school, this was like a mini vacation, except with a hurricane outside. Many students skipped school for over a week because of this storm and some schools that were sheltering people, had even more days off.  Students at Brooklyn Tech got 11th days off.  We had off from the Friday of October 27th 2012 to the Wednesday of November 7th 2012. “When we heard that school was cancelled for the 5th & 6th, we were all so happy! But had we known what we were going to go through the next week, I think I’d take back my two days of school” said Brain Li, a current senior at Brooklyn Tech. It was true. We knew about the people living in the Brooklyn Tech shelters and had heard rumors about it but we did not know just how horrible the next week was going to go be.  When we got back to school, we were told that each period was going to be cut by a third of its regular time. This seemed like a dream come true but the students of Brooklyn Tech soon realized that it was just the cherry on top of a pile of very disgusting feces. Students that had class on the 6th floor during these patents’ stay were really unfortunate. This is not only because they had to walk due to elevators being disabled but because of the horrible stench coming from the floor above them, where the patients stayed. “It smelled like feces and human waste. Those 6th floor periods were the longest periods I’ve ever been through in my life even though they were  30 minutes long. It was unbearable” said Brain Li, a current Brooklyn Tech senior.

Brooklyn Tech students attended school with 250 special needs patients living in the 7th floor cafeteria from November 7th 2012 to November 12th 2012. Because the 7th floor cafeteria was closed off from student access, students were forced to eat lunch at the auditorium. Each lunch period had over a thousand students and each period of lunch was a riot of students all trying squish their way into the auditorium before the last lunch bell rang. Imagine the dawn of Black Friday in front of Wal-Mart except with teenagers all trying to get a very stale turkey sandwich instead of a good deal. Despite students not being able to access the 7th floor, patients on the 7th floor were allowed to go around the school and even outside.  Students that were walking around during class hours would occasionally bump into these patients with special needs and it was a very scary and awkward experience. Students were told strictly to stay away from these patients and not to interact with them just in case. Patients were not monitored as well as they were before school began.  Mark Thomas, a 52 year old schizophrenic refugee, disappeared during this time and was not found until a long time after.

The week of that Brooklyn Tech was a shelter was definitely an interesting one for both students and the patients.  On the afternoon of the following Tuesday, the people in the shelters were evacuated and displaced from the school. Students were told they can start using the 7th & 8th floor facilities but this made a lot of people worried. The cafeteria was used for nearly two weeks of housing people and they had planned to clean it and let us use it right away.  Many parents demanded that it be checked out and deemed safe before students were allowed back into the cafeteria.  The 11 day break we received because of Hurricane Sandy resulted in a cut in our winter break. Students and staff of Brooklyn Tech all received a weird once in a lifetime experience to go to attend school while being used as a shelter and patients’ all got their back safely.

Work Cited
Shapiro, Julie. “All City Schools Reopen for Class, as Some Kids Share Space with Shelters.” DNAinfo.com New York. 7 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

SMITH, GREG B. “Mental patient disappears from a Hurricane Sandy evacuation shelter at a Brooklyn high school.” NY Daily News. 7 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

Vladu, Daniel. “Http://www.bthsnews.org/2012/12/15/hurricane-sandy-an-interview-with-a-volunteer/.” Interview by Linda Nguyen. Http://www.bthsnews.org/. 15 Dec. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

MONIHAN, RACHEl. “With transit down and many schools damaged, New York City kids won’t be back to school until Monday.” NY Daily News. 2 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

Bayliss, Sarah. “Many Return to School in a Landscape Altered by Hurricane Sandy.” School Library Journal. 6 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013

Li, Brain. “Brooklyn Tech Sandy days.” Online interview. 16 Nov. 2013

Thesis Statement: The Barclays Center is a sports complex and holds home to businesses and residences, but there was huge controversy and many obstacles to overcome to make it happen.

Intro: The Barklays Center is a building erected close to downtown Brooklyn, right by the Atlantic Terminal where the Long Island Railroad is stationed. More info on its current state and what it’s used for.

Body 1: Controversy over land and the fact that to build the stadium, they had to knock down housing and local businesses. How project was delayed because of the recession.

Body 2: The use of eminent domain caused local residents to protest and businesses had to be shut down to make room.

Body 3: How The Barclays Center will become more popular and only gain more attention over its lifetime.

Conclusion: Thesis Statement. Why its important that it did work out for Brooklyn.

Intro- Brooklyn Bridge park is about 1.3 miles long along the Brooklyn’s East River edge. The view is so divine that you will fall in love the first time you visit! imagine seeing a beautiful view of the big skyscrapers of Manhattan and be able to see the two bridges Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridge also? You are able to see this astonishing view at Brooklyn Bridge Park!

Body 1- Talk briefly of the designer of Brooklyn Bridge Park, who was The park  Michael Van. What was the Park before?

Body 2- How long did it take to create this park? why did they make the Brooklyn Bridge park?

Body 3- talk about the history of the carousel. compare and contrast the two bridges (Brooklyn and Williamsburg)

Conclusion- re-state intro with more facts and summarize everything briefly