I’m a Brooklynite and a resident of Prospect Heights - and as such, I’m ambivalent about my new neighbor, the gigantic development at Atlantic Yards. I tend to come down on the side of those who think it’s not a terribly great idea to plop a sports arena down in a pretty residential neighborhood, and I’m not sure that AY would bring jobs and money to those who need them most around here. On the other hand, constant development and urban reinvention is fundamentally American.

While pondering the issue, I happened to be on the left side of the plane during a recent approach to La Guardia over Brooklyn, and took some pictures as we flew right over the construction site. So here’s the mid-May 2011 photographic update on the state of the works: pretty far advanced.

The future basketball arena is, of course, the big reddish/blue thing right under the skyscraper. To see it better, here’s a crop from the next frame:

A few seconds later we had a great view of downtown Manhattan. The big orange-red cube is the giant self-storage place in South Williamsburg; the Navy Yard dominates the center of the frame; and the Williamsburg Bridge anchors the picture to the right. 

For my fellow aviation geeks, it was a straight-in approach to runway 4 at LGA, in a USAirways Express Dash 8. A great way to end a brutal night of redeye cross-country flying, with a plane change and the screaming baby in row 25 that nowadays comes as standard issue with the price of your ticket, in lieu of the meal. But opening one’s eyes and seeing this, well - you’re instantly awake and happy to be floating back home, in the sky over New York City.