With the impending move of the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn, plans for a new arena to house the team call for decidedly un-Brooklyn-like skyscrapers to accompany the project, causing consternation among the natives.

“Our fear is that towers breed towers,” said Jon Crow, a graphic designer who was working at a community garden whose organizers have clashed with [project developer Bruce C.] Ratner in the past.

He added: “Office towers, high-rise towers, sports arenas, that’s not a community. Brooklyn doesn’t want to be Manhattan. If we wanted Manhattan, we’d live there.”

Assuming Manhattan would let you in… (Just kidding.)

Given that this is still in the planning stages, there’s no guarantee that Brooklyn’s skyline would undergo this transformation. Still, residents are mobilizing.

It’s odd to think that a sports team can really alter an urban landscape so dramatically. Of course, the usual hype that goes along with expansion/relocation efforts always makes such claims, but grown-ups know that’s so much fluff: The arrival of a major pro team grants a “we’ve arrived” status to a town, but by itself doesn’t make a city world-class. Ironically, Brooklyn leaders have held onto this false hope, buying the theory that the Dodgers‘ departure a half-century ago led to a decline.

I can’t believe they’re really going to rename the team the “Brooklyn Nets”, rather than the more regional (and, by conventional wisdom, marketable) “New York Nets”. Apparently, Ratner is a outer-borough homeboy, so he’s in favor of the former name. And it’s got an old-school feel to it, plus a distinctiveness. I wouldn’t be surprised if they balk at the last minute, though, and go with “New York”. Or maybe take a page from the MLB Angels and go with “New York Nets of Brooklyn (and the Tri-State Area)”.