Here it is again: the before-and-after doomsday scenario for the historic views of Brooklyn’s bridges. Community Board 2 voted, incredibly, to approve the Dock Street project as proposed. Why? Because the developer, the same Two Trees known for the Atlantic Avenue huts, promised them a new school.

This is the same old divide-and-conquer tactics that the Europeans used in colonizing the rest of the world. Two Trees has pitted preservation against education, and who is going to choose preservation over education? But it’s a false choice. We can have both. Brooklyn is one in wanting to preserve the historic views of the bridges and to build new schools. Besides, why would anyone trust Two Trees after they famously tried to pass off their penthouses as ‘stair bulkheads’?

What can you do to save Brooklyn from the ugliness depicted above? Convince Borough President Marty Markowitz to recommend against the proposed height at Borough Hall’s ULURP hearing on the project.

What: ULURP hearing on the Dock Street project
When: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 from 4 to 9 p.m.
Where: Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street

What to say: that the building must be no higher than the bridges and that we will not be divided and conquered. If you don’t trust the developer’s promises, that’s fair game, too.