Glass and Darkness: Harbingers of Things to Come for Brooklyn and Its Prospect Park?

Protesters were out Saturday near the Lincoln Road entrance to Prospect Park, right near the fenced-in lot that may soon be a 21-story residential tower.

If Henry Herbst, the developer, gets his way, the building would be the tallest within sight of the great park that was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead.

Curiously we have never gotten an argument when we've told others that Prospect is undeniably prettier and more human than Olmstead's other more famous park, the one in Manhattan with the comparatively pedestrian (hmm) name.

Maybe 'undeniably'  frightened them off.

But now comes Henry Herbst with a plan that, if it goes through the process, could cast a virtual (and for all I know, real) shadow the refuge that we have sometimes called our place of worship.

Even beyond that, it represents a raising of the Brooklyn skyline that other developers, Honorable Bruce Ratner included, are attempting to carry out with projects that greet visitors and returning home Brooklynites even as they cross over Manhattan Bridge onto Flatbush Avenue.

The Borough of Churches is becoming a borough of condos and while we assume that some good must come from that, there is much that will be taken away from the beauty and tradition that have defined Kings County for centuries.

[Image on right is a rendering of the tower by Gilman Architects.]

Venerable Herbst was not exactly hailed as a person of vision on Saturday.

The protesters chanted:

"Henry Herbst
You're no good.
We won't let you
Wreck our neighborhood."

[Image to left is of Prospect Park, as scene from site of the planned tower.]

Whether the disenchanted and determined opponents ultimately get their way depends of much beyond the signatures they collected, especially the positions that will be taken by elected officials on the matter.

This planned development has not become a household phrase, like Atlantic Yards, but it has serious implications for the park, the surrounding neighborhood of Prospect Lefferts Gardens and for Brooklyn.