Thursday, November 1, will mark not only the beginning of this year’s basketball season, but also the first day that Brooklynites will have a home team to support–something they have lacked since the last Brooklyn Dodgers game 55 years ago.
The Nets basketball team, formerly located in New Jersey, has moved to Brooklyn—and is having its very own billion-dollar stadium built just to house it.
This team has spent a considerable amount of money and time reinventing themselves, from signing top new players to redesigning their logo. They have moved into their new home with a brand new attitude, and left their pitied underdog team mentality behind—they plan to win this seasons’ national championship.
To prove just how confident they are in their new abilities as a team, they are playing their first game against the New York Knicks, a nearby neighbor.
However, despite the excitement that comes with having a team to root during the NBA finals (hopefully), the team’s management cannot build such an extravagant, state-of-the-art stadium, like the newly constructed Barclays Center, without impacting the surrounding neighborhood and its inhabitants.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, L. Frank Cabrera
The residents of Central Brooklyn, where the stadium stands, are outraged by the developing company, Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC). In a letter from the community addressed to Governor Cuomo, the writers claim that FCRC “has taken full advantage of public tax dollars and has not honored their promises to the community.”
The promises mentioned in the letter were announced to the residents of Central Brooklyn long before the construction of the Barclays Center began back in 2003. FCRC promised jobs, affordable living, and many other benefits in return for clearing out the families and businesses necessary to make room for their stadium. However, it seems that none of these promises have been upheld. In fact, the approaching opening of the Barclays Center has raised rent and living costs. The residents of Central Brooklyn are out of ideas, desperate to be lifted up out of their despair by the people they have been convinced they could trust. Hopefully, with time the residents’ pride for their new team will soon outshine their unfulfilled promises.
Nevertheless, this basketball season is bound to be an exciting one. Tune in to the Brooklyn Nets’ opening game against the New York Knicks on November 1st for what’s sure to be an exciting game!