Curbed Best Hood: Let The Voting Begin

We say we're the best. Nate Silver says we're the best. Now it's time to confirm this shit on Curbed NY too.

Vote for Park Slope! (if only b/c loosing to Roosevelt Island would be P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C).

Round One: Park Slope vs. Roosevelt Island. Just so you know, we are not the underdogs. In fact, we're the top seed, which will undoubtedly come back to bite us because even I like a scrappy underdog...

Not only does Brooklyn's Park Slope head in as the people's choice (it received double the reader nods of the next most popular Curbed Cup nominee), but this year it was scientifically proven to be NYC's most "livable" neighborhoodand got the city's most controversial new bike lane. Quite the achievements, and so the Slope is our top seed. Did the economic downturn ever make it down here? The retail and restaurant scenes continue to expand, starchitects are showing up, wealthy Googlers are renovating $8.5 mansions and $18,000/month rentals are on the market. But every giant has weaknesses. The neighborhood's outskirts still leave something to be desired, and even some Slopers loathe the place. But as one reader put it, "If it's good enough for New York magazine and the American Planning Association, it should be good enough for Curbed."

And in the other corner, the Curbed Cup's scrappy underdog, Roosevelt Island. It's been a banner year for the forgotten isle, headlined by the stunning/font-plagued newRoosevelt Island tram. A makeover of the depressing retail drag looks imminent, and the under-the-radar Four Freedoms Park shook off decades of controversy and funding troubles to finally break ground. Roosevelt Island, everyone: A place that actually exists!

I just voted ten times. Not sure it counted. Very scientific, though.