As Julie Satow begins the extensive profile on Amanda Burden, she depicts a businesswoman ready to start her day as the director of the New York City Planning Department. Satow praises the work that Burden has done through her 12 years of public service with the city and conveys how her dedication to the city allowed her to accomplish many things that New Yorkers have come to love.
“On Ms. Burden’s watch, the Brooklyn waterfront has been transformed from a landscape of derelict industrial structures to one of glossy condominiums and parkland…” Satow writes. She uses a powerful word, transform, to depict to the readers that she pioneered and spearheaded the improvement of many areas throughout the city.
As much as Satow applauds Burden’s success with her career she does inform the readers in a small portion that she does have critics and they feel that she is transforming New York into a place for only the upper class.
While she discusses her career in the public sector, Satow then takes the reader into Burden’s past and explains how her life could have been different because of her family’s connections. Discovering whom she was married to and the different jobs she had that eventually lead up to working with Mayor Mike Bloomberg, she is represented as a very hard working individual.
Satow continues the profile with problems that she was faced with rezoning, and how Burden handled what she thought was right. Satow leaves the reader with a quote from Burden that makes the reader feel that she cares for the average New York citizen. Wanting to create a neighborhood for every part of the city is an ideal thought, but resident can feel appreciative after looking at everything Burden has accomplished thus far.
