I always read the Real Estate section of The Sunday NY Times first. It's kind of like a game to me. Where are the biggest sales, where can I find that big fantasy Victorian with the wrap-around porch for a few hundred thousand....I did say fantasy. Well this Sunday, Dec.8th 'Living In' article featured Windsor Terrace. I was so excited! Then I read the title: 'Less Way Station, More Destination'; a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one. The article may as well have been titled ' Windsor Terrace, Live There if You Have To'.
Read 'The Schools' paragraph> the only elementary school mentioned was PS 130. Now, if I am correct, PS 154 is named 'The Windsor School'; how could this reporter miss that.....not to mention, PS 10 was no where to be found. We have always served Windsor Terrace families. We are proud to be an 'A' school for 3 straight years, which is attractive in a newspaper article. More importantly, people want to move to a neighborhood with good schools.....what are we, chopped liver?
I immediately wrote a letter to the Times Real Estate Section. If you feel the same way, you should also write. Here's mine:
Please forward to the Real Estate Editor:
I have been a home owner in Windsor Terrace, Bklyn for the last 17 years. Not unlike other transplanted residents, I had lived in Park Slope for 18 yrs prior. I am slightly offended by the misconceptions offered by the reporter who wrote The Sunday Dec. 8th 'Living In' page about our beautiful neighborhood entitled 'Less Way Station, More Destination'. The aforementioned (and might I say lackluster) title proves to me that this reporter has little knowledge of the people or lifestyle in our quiet little enclave. 
I agree, Maddie, that this reporter is uninformed about the Windsor Terrace neighborhood. I have been a resident here for 15 years, and I am happy to live in a wonderful neighborhood that is tucked away between the Greenwood Cemetery and Prospect Park. I like that it is not crowded and overflowing with people who want the next big thing or the newest hip neighborhood. I enjoy being able to park on the street, walk to my church and school, and know everyone in the neighborhood, if only from sitting in the laundromat for a couple of hours together that one time.
ReplyDeleteSo let them blow by our little nugget of gold neighborhood that is characterized by residents who grew up here, raised their families here and now their kids are raising families here combined with new young families that love the warm loving neighborhood feel that is Windsor Terrace.
I agree, Maddie, that this reporter is uninformed when it comes to our Windsor Terrace neighborhood. I have lived here for 15 years, since I was married, and am raising my 3 children here. I love that I can park on the street, walk to my church and the school my children attend (PS10) and that there are a number of playgrounds and parks that we frequent, including the Vanderbilt Playground you mentioned, Greenwood Cemetery, Prospect Park and the East 5th Street Playground. I love that I know most of the people I see in the neighborhood, and that many people don't know what a gem this neighborhood is since it is tucked between the Greenwood Cemetery and Prospect Park, and divided by the Prospect Expressway.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think that it is a bad thing that this reporter is uninformed. I like the small neighborhood feel, that the neighborhood is made up of a nice combination of young families and families where those raising children here were also raised in the neighborhood by parents who are still living here. If word gets out that we are this gem of a neighborhood, we will be inundated by lots of people trying to move into Windsor Terrace, and the entire character of the neighborhood will change.
Maribeth Dono