Brooklyn, land of funny neighborhood acronyms — the best is DUMBO (“Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”) — has yet another one.
You heard it here first: it’s BECOSMI, and it stands for “Between Court and Smith.”
What’s not so amusing is the fact that a dozen or more blocks between Court Street and Smith Street, south of State — encompassing parts of Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens, but not included in the official Historic District designation of either neighborhood — are vulnerable to demolition, development, or historically inappropriate renovation.
Between State and Bergen, there are scattered buildings of historic value. Those blocks are a “gerrymandered creature,” says Sophia Truslow, a real estate attorney who is active in efforts to gain some form of landmark status for these areas, but with a fair number of “sweet buildings that deserve protection.” Between Bergen and Butler, however, it’s “wall to wall historic,” Truslow says.
She and other local activists are working on several fronts to get Federal designation for these and other unprotected areas in Brownstone Brooklyn: through the non-profit Historic Districts Council, the New York State Office of Historic Preservation, and the city’s over-worked Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The pictures in this post represent the merest glimpse of what they’re trying to save. Worth the trouble, don’t you think?
casaCARA 