Georgetown

Georgetown

As a part of the Bergen Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, Georgetown’s history illustrates a tug-of-war of development.

Streets were paved and sidewalks were put in place for the Georgetowne Greens development on a landfill area at Ralph Avenue and Avenue L. Developers planned 400 two-story semi-attached colonials to be placed on landscaped lots until Mayor John Lindsay proposed a middle-class housing project instead.

Lindsay’s proposal was eventually defeated but the competition slowed development of Georgetowne Greens, forcing completed homes to be sold before more developers came in to build three and four family houses.

The area is now referred to as Georgetown and is filled with mostly Italian and Jewish families.

Brooklyn-born Norm Goldstein is retired, after working 44 years for the Associated Press, the global news agency, where he served as a reporter, feature writer, editor, author and administrator. He also worked for AP as director of Educational Services and editor of the AP Stylebook.

He graduated from Brooklyn College and the Penn State Graduate School of Journalism.           

He currently lives in Brooklyn Heights.