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A new guide in Brooklyn for measuring access to opportunity. How does your area stack up?
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Aug 28, 2025
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By
Arun Venugopal
Published Aug 28, 2025
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A resident of Starrett City in East New York spends 50 more minutes commuting to work than a resident of Williamsburg. Bushwick had 169 times the rate of failed rat inspections as Flatlands and Canarsie in 2024. Residents of Borough Park have a life expectancy of 91.9 years, while residents of Brownsville have a life expectancy of 70.5 years, a difference of more than 21 years.
These are just a few of the stark intraborough differences detailed in a mammoth new report issued by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, “The 2025 Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn,” which his office says is the only one of its kind among the five boroughs.
The 377-page document, a follow-up to a comprehensive plan released by his office in 2023, focuses on inequities across a range of subject matters, including incarceration rates, fertility rates, earnings and exposure to environmental hazards.
The report contends the data isn’t merely interesting; it also notes there are “causal relationships” between where someone lives and social outcomes. “Like the rest of the United States, the Brooklyn neighborhood where a child is born and raised significantly influences their future opportunities and health,” the report states.
Brooklyn-born Reynoso, who as borough president plays a role in shaping development, said he hopes the document will help guide key land-use, housing, economic development and other important planning decisions.
He said he first recognized inequities in the borough as a 12-year-old growing up in Williamsburg. He said he had to take the J train or walk over the Williamsburg Bridge in order to swim at Hamilton Fish Pool, a.k.a. “the Pitt Pool,” on the Lower East Side because he didn’t have access to a pool in his own neighborhood.
He described the plan as “outlining the existing conditions of our borough, where opportunity exists, where it doesn’t.” He said he hopes this data-driven portrait of Brooklyn and its 2.6 million residents will lead to better planning and help reduce inequality.
Here’s what to know now about the new comprehensive plan, how it is being received and how Reynoso hopes it will help guide the future.
What’s different about Brooklyn’s new planning guide?
Another leading tool for measuring the vitality for a community – the Forum for Youth Investment’s interactive Opportunity Index – grades Kings County at B-minus, based on a host of societal conditions, including economy, education, community and health.
But unlike that index, which only zooms in to the county level, the Brooklyn comprehensive plan drills down to the census block level in order to create its own measure for assessing access to opportunity. The index measures existing conditions in five areas: education, transit, jobs and job resources, health and active living, and climate risk.
What picture emerges in Reynoso’s guide?
A map detailing the findings displays dark green in the northwestern parts of the borough, indicating areas with the highest opportunity scores. These include parts of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Downtown Brooklyn, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill. The neighborhoods with the lowest scores include Coney Island, Canarsie and Red Hook.
“This visualization can help the Borough president’s office, advocates, and other government actors identify areas in need of interventions,” the report states, “ensuring that investments in health care, economic development and social services are directed where they are most needed.”
What does Reynoso see as a key takeaway from the color-coded maps?
Reynoso said the Brooklyn “brand” that has gained commercial traction worldwide doesn’t necessarily align with actual living conditions within the borough.
“ We wanted to make sure that we didn't glorify Brooklyn in a way that made us forget about these pockets of poverty,” Reynoso said. “There are still people that are hurting. There are still people that need opportunity.”
Reynoso said he wants to see more affordable housing located in the borough’s “amenity-rich” neighborhoods, such as Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Williamsburg and Dumbo. Doing so would allow more people to have access to opportunity in those communities, he said.
Reynoso said "NIMBY" pushback and “political interests” prevented this from happening.
“They want to keep the opportunities that exist to themselves and they don't want to see anyone else come into their neighborhood,” Reynoso said. “We disagree with that, completely disagree with that.”
How is the new plan being received?
Rebecca Karp, who runs an urban planning firm based in Lower Manhattan, called the plan “an extraordinary body of work.”
“And now I think the call to action is, how do we take the information in here and move on it?” Karp said. “How do we make sure this isn't just a plan that sits on a shelf, but instead we use this to advance work in a way that really helps folks who are living and working in Brooklyn?”
Others said it’s prompting a much-needed discussion of disparities within the borough.
Barika Williams, the executive director of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, a group that assisted with the 2023 plan, said currently, some neighborhoods in Brooklyn have a disproportionate share of “the good stuff,” while avoiding the less glamorous dimensions of urban development.
“How come this one neighborhood got seven new bike lanes and another neighborhood that said they'd wanted one for 10 years is still in line?” she asked.
How can better planning make a difference?
Marcel Negret, the director of land use at the Regional Plan Association, said something as simple as reducing commute times for residents of a transit-starved neighborhood can have a dramatic impact on their lives.
“If you're able to shorten your commute time by an hour to get to your workplace, that's an hour that you could spend doing something better: cooking a healthy meal for yourself and for your family, spending time with your kids, exercising,” or devoting that time to further studies or another job, he said.
Karp, the urban planner, said a neighborhood without good transit can also suffer from a lack of economic development.
“ Companies might be less likely to open a physical presence in a neighborhood like Red Hook if they're concerned about employees commuting to that neighborhood,” Karp said. “Those are all urban planning decisions.”
What’s an example of a concrete change the plan could help bring about?
Reynoso said he wants to use the data to better inform development decisions, and to make sure that there is a more equitable distribution of resources across neighborhoods in Brooklyn, whether that’s in the form of a new school or health center.
“We don't wanna build a new park in a place that has a ton of parks,” Reynoso said, “but that happens often based on politics.”
Tagged
Race And Justice Unit
brooklyn
economy
new york city
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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