“The greatest threat to Windsor Terrace’s character is not new development, but the status quo. If we continue to resist growth, we risk becoming an enclave accessible only to the wealthy, losing the diverse, family-friendly essence that makes our neighborhood special.”

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As a parent raising children in Windsor Terrace and a professional dedicated to strengthening communities and keeping families in their homes, I appreciate how special our neighborhood is and how challenging it has become for families to afford to live here. Windsor Terrace has long been a haven for families, offering a perfect blend of urban convenience and small-town community. With Prospect Park as our backyard, excellent schools within walking distance, and easy access to public transportation, it’s no wonder that demand for housing here has surged in recent years.

My family’s story is deeply intertwined with this community. Our children walked to the local elementary school every day, growing up alongside their peers. We’re fortunate to live a few blocks from my husband’s childhood home, allowing our kids to benefit from having grandparents nearby. This multi-generational connection to Windsor Terrace is emblematic of the strong community bonds that define our neighborhood.

However, this experience of a Windsor Terrace for families is under threat—not from development, as many of my neighbors believe, but from a lack of it.

In recent years, our neighborhood has seen a surge in housing demand, thanks to its notable proximity to transit, schools, and parks. But as demand has risen, housing supply has not kept up. Since 2015, neighborhoods on the east side of Prospect Park have built three times the number of homes that Windsor Terrace has. On many blocks in our neighborhood, the number of homes is actually shrinking as wealthier families purchase townhouses with multiple units and convert them into fewer units or even single-family homes.

The consequences are stark: since the pandemic, housing prices have skyrocketed by 30 percent, with family-sized units experiencing even steeper increases.

This failure to act is taking a toll on our community. I’ve lost count of the neighbors I’ve seen priced out, many forced to leave the city altogether in search of affordable housing. Parents should not be forced to choose between housing stability and a neighborhood that meets their family’s needs.

The proposed redevelopment of the Arrow Linen site on Prospect Avenue presents a valuable opportunity to start to address this crisis. The project would transform a sorely underused industrial space and parking lots into hundreds of homes for families near good schools and transit. Many of these homes will be subsidized, allowing low- and middle-income New Yorkers to experience the incredible quality of life Windsor Terrace provides. All of them will be served by elevators and wheelchair accessible, a rarity in our neighborhood with its old housing stock.

The research on housing cost is clear: building homes in a community mitigates housing costs. Further, it helps to maintain socioeconomic diversity, especially in high-demand areas. Windsor Terrace and South Slope are exactly the kinds of neighborhoods where we should be building new homes.

Moreover, this project furthers environmental sustainability goals. Building denser housing in areas well-served by public transit reduces the need for long commutes and decreases our carbon footprint. It’s a step towards sustainable urban planning, which is crucial in our fight against climate change.

The greatest threat to Windsor Terrace’s character is not new development, but the status quo. If we continue to resist growth, we risk becoming an enclave accessible only to the wealthy, losing the diverse, family-friendly essence that makes our neighborhood special.

Some opponents claim they support new housing, but only if it’s 100 percent affordable. This is a common tactic that opponents of all development employ to block any construction, knowing that 100 percent affordable projects are not financially feasible. Affordable housing often requires additional density to be economically viable and to maximize the number of affordable units created.

In order to preserve the Windsor Terrace we know, we must let it grow. Our community should support initiatives like the Arrow Linen redevelopment to ensure that our neighborhood remains a place accessible to families of all backgrounds.

Let’s choose inclusion over exclusion, growth over stagnation, and a vibrant future over a static past. By doing so, we can ensure that Windsor Terrace remains the perfect neighborhood for families—not just for those of us already here, but for generations to come.

Jessica Yager lives in Windsor Terrace with her family.

After watching him struggle to make an impact on the field, the Vikings have decided to cut bait on cornerback Andrew Booth Jr.

A source confirmed to the Pioneer Press on Friday afternoon that the Vikings have traded Booth to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for cornerback Nahshon Wright. It will be a fresh start for both players as they attempt to get their respective careers on track.

The trade will be completed pending physicals.

It’s been tough sledding for Booth since the Vikings selected him in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He has struggled with injuries throughout his career and hasn’t seen much playing time as a result. It didn’t seem that was going to change this season with the Vikings as a number of his peers had already passed him on the depth chart.

As for Wright, he also hasn’t done much in his career to this point, playing mostly on special teams since the Cowboys selected him in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. The most intriguing thing about Wright is his 6-foot-4, 185-pound frame, which falls in line with the size defensive coordinator Brian Flores looks for at the position.

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PARIS (AP) — Egypt’s Olympic committee says Tokyo bronze medal-winning wrestler Mohamed Ibrahim El-Sayed will be investigated by the sport’s governing body for an alleged groping incident in Paris.

French prosecutors said Friday it had arrested a 26-year-old Olympic wrestler from Egypt on sexual assault charges. The athlete, who was not named by prosecutors, was detained early Friday after allegedly groping a woman from behind outside a Paris cafe, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.

The Egyptian Olympic committee later said that el-Sayed would be investigated.

The athlete faces disciplinary measures, including a ban from domestic and international competitions, for “irresponsible behavior” just hours after he had finished his Olympic competition and was scheduled to travel home, the statement also said.

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El-Sayed is a Greco-Roman wrestler who competes at 67 kilograms. He wrestled in one match in Paris, a 9-0 loss to Azerbaijan’s Hasrat Jafarov, on Wednesday. He is a five-time African champion and a two-time under-23 world champion.

In a complex deal brokered by the U.S. government, Russia has freed reporter Evan Gershkovich and 15 other political prisoners in exchange for the release of eight of its nationals in the West — including Vadim Krasikov, a killer especially valued by Russian President Vladimir Putin who was serving time for murder in Germany.

This agreement was, as President Joe Biden said, a striking diplomatic feat and a testament to effective cooperation among the U.S. and its allies. Unfortunately, if the U.S. and its friends take no further steps, it will do nothing to deter, and might very well encourage, future hostage-taking.

The regimes ruling Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela all use opaque and corrupt legal systems to advance their interests, and they’ve found “hostage diplomacy” especially useful. It works because it weaponizes the value that Western democracies place on the safety of their citizens.

Gershkovich’s prosecution was also a direct attack on the principle of press freedom. He was arrested and charged with espionage while reporting on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a war that has spurred a vicious crackdown on dissent.

In Putin’s Russia, journalism is a crime. The regime has banned dozens of media outlets, including the Moscow Times, a highly regarded English-language newspaper that the Kremlin called an “undesirable organization.” Most foreign media have pulled staff out of Russia; those remaining are at risk of harassment and arrest.

Western governments have no good options when it comes to winning the freedom of nationals seized by hostile states. It would be inhuman not to work for their release and naive to think that refusing to negotiate would act as a credible deterrent. (Invariably, governments that promise not to deal eventually do.)

Still, rewarding hostage-takers puts other potential victims at greater risk — not to mention lets ruthless assassins walk free. In recent years, the U.S. has improved its institutional tools for negotiating and winning the release of its people, led by the State Department’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. The successes should be celebrated, without losing sight of the fact that many others have been wrongly imprisoned or forgetting the dangers posed by rewarding evil.

What more can be done? Governments need to be more forthright in warning citizens about travel to offending countries. They should publicize arbitrary or wrongful detentions. Most important, the U.S. and its friends need to cooperate in punishing the perpetrators, including mid-level and local officials. Sanctions, travel bans, asset freezes and other measures should be deployed more widely — and, to repeat, in concert.

The United Nations’ 1979 convention against hostage-taking was written for a different era and is too weak on the question of penalties. It needs to be recast. Such conventions may seem toothless, but note that Russia and other autocracies take the trouble to cloak their hostage-taking with a facsimile of judicial process. That hypocrisy should be more thoroughly exposed and shamed. The goal should be to increase the costs and risks of such conduct through every available forum.

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