while that is true, there are 53 buildings Ratner needs to demolish. he has "only" demolished 26 of them.

Posted by: brokeland at December 4, 2008 11:29 AM in response to Work on Atlantic Yards Comes to a Halt

now there's some nuance: calling a respected theater company doing radical work in and with neighborhoods "interpretive dance."

Posted by: brokeland at December 1, 2008 12:33 PM in response to Atlantic Yards Naysayers and Yaysayers

to make people like you think exactly that way and to get control of the land, and create developer's blight.

just because they can demolish, and do, doesn't at all mean they can build anything. you should be asking, if the project isn't dead, why are they not constructing anything at all 2 years after approval.

Posted by: brokeland at November 20, 2008 12:19 PM in response to FCR: We Control the Pace at Atlantic Yards

yeah, why doesn't Ratner build already? what is his problem?

Posted by: brokeland at November 17, 2008 7:15 PM in response to Closing Bell: Atlantic Yards Deathwatch

FSRQ wrote: "Not one single politician has been elected or unelected on a platform consistent with opposition to AY."

Really? Have you heard of Letitia James, Velmanette Montgomery, Major Owens and, in part, Hakeem Jeffries? Guess not.

furthermore your statement belies a political naivete. most pols in the city and state know that AY is and has been a disaster. but their silence is due to Ratner's power, not the merit sof the project.

Posted by: brokeland at September 29, 2008 2:53 PM in response to Atlantic Yards Suffers a Setback

well, of the 6,430 you really think 9,000 of those residents will be coming from outside of New York City?

Posted by: brokeland at August 4, 2008 8:58 PM in response to Nets Coming Late to Atlantic Yards and Suit Coming Soon

cmu wrote:

"The stadium by itself is not the "out-of-scale"-ness that the opponents point to, it's the 4 (or 6?) huge towers."

The arena is about 15 stories. the other 16, not 4 or 6, towers range (as per the proposal) from about 20 to 55 stories.

fsrg wrote:

"The Unity Plan calls for 1500 units of housing which is is FIVE THOUSAND (5000) less units than Atlantic Yards as currently designed."

The UNITY Plan proposes development over the 8-acre rail yards. Ratner proposes the 6,400 units over 22-acres. So you can see, they are both high density proposals, considering FAR. Admittedly, Ratner's is extreme density like never before seen in the United States, while the UNITY plan is a reasonable density.

of course it's all a nice academic exercise as AY won't be built (the WHAT is right on that one, though his delivery would have you lose the point) as proposed.

Posted by: brokeland at August 4, 2008 3:47 PM in response to Nets Coming Late to Atlantic Yards and Suit Coming Soon

Had the MTA put the rail yard out for bid (as 3 parcels as they did, or in even smaller parcels) in a non-politicized environment you'd have had multiple developers bidding. And yes, they'd all want "assistance" building a platform over the rail yards, which would have been fine. and that would have presented great upside potential, not just for the developer but also for the MTA as they would have actually gotten market rate for the property.

but instead, the MTA/Albany/Bloomberg had a wired deal, that got a well below market price for the yards, and gave the yards AND 14 other acres to Ratner with no evidence that he could build anything like he was proposing.

what are Ratner's motivations? That's easy: gain control of 22 acres in the heart of central Brooklyn.

Posted by: brokeland at August 4, 2008 1:00 PM in response to Nets Coming Late to Atlantic Yards and Suit Coming Soon