We have to admit we haven’t found anything to get us particularly excited by Fernando Ferrer. But we were interested to hear him stake out a fairly clear position on the Atlantic Yards project in his conversation with the Daily News:

“We’re talking about a lot of mass in that project, a lot of mass. And if we don’t deal with a lot of the other issues – like traffic, like schools, like police protection, like sanitation and health care – I think we have a problem,” Ferrer said. “We’ve got to make this human-size now,” he concluded. “This can’t be the mother of all real estate deals. If it is that, then, I think it’s wrong.”

He did fail, however, to offer any concrete suggestions for how he would cut the project back.

Within 24 hours Marty Markowitz was following suit, calling for a reduction in size without a reduction in benefits for the community. “The urban design challenge is how do we [preserve] the benefits and downscale the heights of the buildings proposed,” Markowitz said. Where were you six months ago, Marty?

Freddy Fires Net Salvo [NY Daily News]
Beep’s Downsize Call [NY Daily News]