Mega-developer Forest City Ratner's plan to build a 19,000-seat arena and 7.7 million square feet of new housing, office and retail space at Brooklyn's Atlantic Railyards doesn't have to be a quality-of-life cataclysm for the neighborhoods of north Brooklyn. If locals would accept the possibility of an arena in their midst, the project could be used as a springboard for historic, once-in-a-generation quality-of-life improvements. Unfortunately, these issues aren't even being discussed. While jobs and housing advocates have seats at the table and are wringing all kinds of concessions out of FCR, the neighborhoods are locked out.

The first step in a winning strategy is for the neighborhoods to accept the fact that the Atlantic Railyards is a good spot for serious development and a big-events venue. An urban arena atop a mass-transit hub is infinitely better than the Nets' Continental Arena, adrift in its asphalt sea of parking, generating thousands of car trips every time it opens its doors. Likewise, everyone living in a tall, mixed-use, residential tower is one less person clamoring for space on former farmland in the suburban fringes. Car-oriented American sprawl is one of the most destructive forces at work on the planet today. Urban density is its antidote.

People who argue that there is absolutely no value to an arena in Brooklyn, write-off the intangible, emotional value of a professional hoops team in Brooklyn. I used to work for Seeds of Peace, a conflict resolution camp in Maine where Israelis, Palestinians and teens from other warring countries came and lived together for a summer. Two things consistently worked in bringing these kids together – sports and Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It.”

Brooklyn could use a little more togetherness. New York City's most populous borough may be the ultimate American melting pot but the only place its citizens truly come together and speak with one voice is the Navy Yard impound lot. That’s where, on any given day, the entire diversity of Brooklyn can be found cursing that their car shouldn’t have been towed. The idea of Sunset Park Chinese, Crown Heights Orthodox Jews, Flatbush West Indians and Brooklyn Heights lawyers all under the same roof cheering the same team is exciting. If seats are affordable (and that is a big “if” in the most expensive arena ever built), Brooklyn Rats games will be major cultural happenings and the best ticket in the NBA.

Despite my own concerns about what the project will do to my neighborhood, I can’t help but look forward to the idea of someday walking our son to a pro basketball game, circus or some other big event just down the street from our house. I once lived next door to the massive abortion of a cineplex that FCR built on Court Street in Brooklyn Heights. I know exactly how heavily one of these projects can tread on a quiet residential neighborhood. The 12-theater high-rise , looming over Brooklyn Heights like a gigantic, misplaced argyle sock, essentially turned the street outside of our apartment into a cineplex parking lot. On summer evenings when the windows were open and the blockbusters drew crowds, life on our block became an intolerable barrage of slamming car doors, bleating alarms, revving engines and idiotic horn-blasting.

This is why it is incumbent on the developer, city, and state to acknowledge that density on the scale proposed at Atlantic Yards only works if neighborhood quality of life is placed at the top of the agenda. Since the biggest threats to urban quality of life in New York City are all related to excessive motor vehicle traffic, to protect neighborhoods, FCR's new development should be completely transit-oriented. The arena should include minimal parking (like Toronto's SkyDome) and event tickets should include discounts and incentives for transit users (as is being discussed for Staten Island's new NASCAR track). Second, to discourage through-traffic, the city should establish residential parking permits and traffic-calming measures in the neighborhoods adjacent to the arena. Finally, Atlantic Yards should be the impetus for congestion pricing—London-style tolls for those who wish to drive on the gridlocked streets of downtown Brooklyn. A significant portion of the funds collected must be used to improve mass transit and cycling access, to make it even easier to get around the city without a car.

The community can win because these quality-of-life improvements benefit the city and profit FCR as well. In pressing their case, the neighborhoods must remind Mayor Bloomberg that each of New York City's European competitors for the 2012 Olympics is making quality-of-life and automobile-reduction strategies a centerpiece of its sales pitch. Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White reports that Madrid, Paris and London are all developing major expansions of mass-transit and bicycle networks as key components of their Olympic bids. Madrid is planning a completely "car-free Olympics." It's no wonder residents of these cities are more enthusiastic about the games than New Yorkers.

Enhancing urban quality of life isn't just a Brooklyn neighborhood issue. It's one of the critical global environmental missions of the 21st century. Atlantic Yards is an opportunity, not just a threat.

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