A Jehovah Take-Ovah

December 5, 2004 — Jehovah’s Witnesses are knocking on DUMBO’s door, and residents are fuming about it.

With the approval last week by the City Council’s zoning subcommittee, a controversial plan to transform a three-acre plot in that old industrial enclave on Brooklyn’s waterfront into a mammoth Jehovah’s Witnesses colony is on track to begin construction next year. “I’m outraged and disgusted with the outcome,” said DUMBO resident Amanda Barrow, who lives across from the site. “The neighborhood is losing its character.”

The huge residential complex will comprise four towers, the tallest 20 stories high, a large, glassed-in welcome center, a dining hall, a church and a 1,110-car underground garage. It will house about 1,600 of the religion’s faithful working at the Witnesses’ Brooklyn Heights headquarters. There are currently about 3,500 people living in DUMBO.

Community foes claim the towers don’t conform to the neighborhood aesthetic and signal a patchwork approach to development in the former industrial enclave. Opponents say the influx of traffic will be dangerous and the new residents won’t help the neighborhood economy.

The approved plan is a compromise from the original design, which called for all four towers to be higher than 14 stories. Two of them will now rise nine stories. The new plan also includes promises from Watchtower, the religion’s business arm, to renovate two neighborhood parks and install security cameras at the nearby York Street subway station.

The zoning subcommittee’s 15-1 approval all but guarantees a rubber stamp from the full council later this month. Charles Barron, the only council member to vote against the plan, said he opposes all development that disregards community concerns.

Watchtower disagrees with that characterization. “This is going to be a real asset to the community,” said Richard Devine, supervisor of construction for Watchtower.

Moreover, the influx of people in the neighborhood will cut down on crime at the York Street station, said Devine, and the new residential units will allow Watchtower to sell some of its other properties.

Nicholas Evans-Cato, president of the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, was not persuaded. “This sets a precedent,” he said. “Rather than focusing on re-use of former industrial buildings, which are seven stories high, there will be a focus on building new 17-story high-rises.”

• Read the New York Post online

Read Another Article

French fatigue over Da Vinci Code
Finding Jesus in a traditionally Jewish celebration

Related News Articles Topic(s): Jehovah's Witnesses Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Jehovah's Witnesses Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog