We can at least excuse the awful blank street-facing blank walls of New York buildings like Manhattan Plaza or the Atlantic Center mall because, when these buildings were built in the 1970s, nobody knew better.

But why would anyone build this in a busy Brooklyn neighborhood today? And will someone in the NYC government please stop disasters like this? As with the buildings from the ‘70s, we’ll be stuck with them for a long time.

(Gowanus Lounge via Streetsblog)

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.