Park Slope Ranks Third In New Restaurant Census

Photo by Park Slope Lens

So apparently, Rupert Murdoch hacked someone's phone so that the New York Post could tell you that the last census determined that between 1999 and 2009, Park Slope ranked third among NYC neighborhoods in the number of new restaurants that opened, just behind the Lower East Side (with 233) and, (cough), Williamsburg (with 130).

Park Slope opened 108 new eateries, which seems like a lot, until you consider that we're talking about a ten-year stretch. And because this info comes from The Post, the details -- what you and I might call "facts" -- are extremely sketchy.  Are they counting restaurants that opened, but then closed shortly thereafter? Did another neighborhood have to lose 108 restaurants so that we could gain them?  Why is the U.S. Census counting restaurants instead of human people, anyway? We may never know the whole story.  

But third place? There's just no excuse for that, even if it means that we're not opening new restaurants because the ones we currently have are successful. We should always be #1. Clearly, Park Slope has just stopped trying.