A Sham Indeed
You can disagree over whether you think Ratner’s plans will ultimately be good for Downtown Brooklyn or not, but it’s hard to dispute the fact that the process that ultimately awarded him the project reeked of cronyism and back-room dealing. Which is why we got a kick out of reading the following snippet from yesterday’s…
You can disagree over whether you think Ratner’s plans will ultimately be good for Downtown Brooklyn or not, but it’s hard to dispute the fact that the process that ultimately awarded him the project reeked of cronyism and back-room dealing. Which is why we got a kick out of reading the following snippet from yesterday’s MTA board meeting:
Few speakers – whether supporters or opponents of the plan – voiced any passion at the public hearing before the vote, in part, because the outcome was never in doubt. However, a local resident, Shabnam Merchant, who lives near the project site at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, stepped up to the microphone to say, “It’s a sham.” She said she could not pretend otherwise, then spent the rest of her allotted two minutes standing there not speaking.
Arena Project Wins Approval from M.T.A. [NY Times]
Anyone who built the Atlantic Center and the Atlantic Terminal should not be allowed to build a newspaper stand, no less “design” and destroy downtown Brooklyn. These are the most dysfunctional, architecturally bankrupt pieces of crap ever built. For politicians to turn over the heart of Brooklyn to this hack is immoral. Go to Forest City’s website and look at their “Projects”. I’d like to put their entire pallete of multi color bricks through the right window.
At 60 stories this project will put the “Heights” in Prospect Heights.
Keep fighting the good fight Dan/DDDB. This deal reeks something awful and our so-called elected officials should be ashamed of handing Ratner the keys to the store. He should have to pay fair market value like any other “bidder”.
New Jork City…one giant ugly expensive Disneyfied wastelend of mall stores and tourist ripoffs.
To Amanda, yes there is a way to reduce the #. First, since the housing market is flattening and likely to decline, Ratner may scale back the project out of economic necessity. Also, he may have the abilty to completely back out of his commitment to provide both low-income housing and jobs in the neighborhood if housing declines (again this is likely) and construction materials costs rise (given Katrina, extremely likely). He might even have to go with another architect, a cheaper one, say the genius who designed that beige blob called the Atlantic Center Mall (which by the way is riddled with DOB and ECB violations)
I am utterly amazed that neither the anti-ratner forces nor city officials seems to be aware and/or addressing this very likely scenario.
linus and bubba,
I don’t understand your opposition to people protesting the destruction of their neighborhood.
What neighborhood??? Seriously, right now the area in question is a hole in the ground, a PC Richards, empty lots and a couple of residential buildings where virtually all but a handful have already sold or moved. What is this neighborhood called?
Subway rules. Blimpie sucks!
Blimpie’s rocks, baby!
nyc disneyland spreads like vines killing all delicate points of interest. lunchtime, off for blimpies now.
For neighborhood’s like Bed Stuy this is great:) hehe The ConSpiraCY continues. New York will soon be to expensive to live in…I’m moving
In ten or twelve years, when I’m ready to sell my house in CH (The Heights (of Crown)), I can imagine getting top dollor from a professional basketball player.