Gail Robinson, the Wonkster at the Gotham Gazette, has a theory as to why people love to hate the Slope. Here’s an excerpt:
Why does everyone hate Park Slope, Lynn Harris asks in yesterday’s Times. Too many over the top parents? Jealousy on the part of those of us who can’t afford to live there? Gentrification run amok?
Here’s a possibility Harris does not mention. Maybe we’re all just sick of reading about the brownstone Brooklyn neighborhood in the Times.A search for articles with “Park Slope” over the past 30 days brought 43 matches, far outpacing other well-known New York City neighborhoods. Bedford-Stuyvesant showed up in 17 articles, Washington Heights in 16 and Jackson Heights in 11. Included in the Park Slope total: two lengthy, prominently featured articles on the suspension of alternate side parking in the area’s streets for several weeks.
Let’s not forget “graffiti girl” from 10th Street some months ago; the child who abandoned all propriety by brazenly using sidewalk chalk in front of her house, and whose parents subsequently received a $300 ticket because of a neighbor complaint. And the follow-up citizen rally to cease and desist with the use of sidewalk chalk to announce stoop sales, you got it, that too is graffiti …..I have a neighbor who basically has way too much time on his hands it seems to me; he appears exceptionally well situated financially even for Park Slope, and spends a LOT of time complaining to every city agency day in and day out. I am looking for an alternative place to live where people have more important things to worry about than a child using some sidewalk chalk.