This morning Clyde Haberman has an op-ed summing up how a lot of New Yorkers feel right now about the city’s grand development plans: Most believe they’re not gonna happen anytime soon. For Brooklyn, the big maybe-never is Atlantic Yards, but there’s been a pileup in the past couple of weeks of other fading prospects: the MTA’s promise to extend service is on hold; Moynihan Station is looking to be a bust; and no one knows whether the long-planned Javits expansion will occur. But it’s not like New York hasn’t faced shattered visions before, and often for the better. Haberman quotes CUNY poli-sci professor John H. Mollenkopf as saying huge projects frequently go through several design phases over many years, and so, “‘New York will come back, and we will get another crack at all these things.’” On a related score, Metro’s Amy Zimmer reports on how there are worries that a stalled AY means empty space at the site will be used as parking lots for years to come. Councilmember Letitia James says parking lots are “a revenue generator and right now [land is] sitting fallow, arguing that Forest City Ratner should not allow the property, which is now attracting the homeless and illegal dumping, to be used in such a fashion.
As Builders’ Grand Visions Dissolve, So Does Our Faith [NY Times]
Visions of Parking Lots at Stalled Atlantic Yards Site [Metro]
Photo of demolished building in AY footprint by threecee.