silverThe end-of-term politics around the Atlantic Yards project is getting very interesting. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who holds the project by the balls with his vote on the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), had the following to say about the project this weekend on WNBC:

In Brooklyn, it’s a mixed bag. There are people for it, people against it, and the proposal itself keeps changing somewhat. So we’ll look at it in a very favorable light because development is necessary down there, see how the developer responds to some of the criticism, either because of the mass of the project or some of the traffic.

In his analysis this weekend, Norman Oder theorizes that FCR “would rather compromise significantly with Silver before the end of the year than let the project carry over to a Spitzer administration that might take a closer look at the project.” How much of a compromise? As much as 20 to 30 percent, think Oder. Interesting.
Silver to View AY in Favorable Light [AY Report]
ESDC Certifies Yards Environmental Report [Brownstoner]


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  1. “It’s unbearably sad how quickly a series of tall buildings can ruin an entire civilization.”

    I agree. Remember the ConEdison outages in queens this past summer. And the electric outages the summer before that.
    Well, AY, will bring those electric outages to our doorsteps.
    What assurance do we have that these disruptions will not occur once AY is built.
    Questions need to be asked. These developers must be held accountable.
    All the AY activists that I’ve heard from all seem to have this laissez faire attitude as in, when it gets broken we’ll fix it.
    What kind of madness it that. It almost appears as if Mr. Woods gave more thought to the construction of the Broken Angel than these crackpots have given to the building of the Arena.

    And when the electric grid gets overloaded, all of civilization will come to a grinding halt; ESPN telecasts included.

  2. I predict that the world will end once AY gets built. The heavens will open and fire will rain down and sear our tender skin and subject us to ungodly pain until we all die slow and agonizing deaths. It’s unbearably sad how quickly a series of tall buildings can ruin an entire civilization.

  3. The area around Metrotech (another one of Ratner’s development) is a cesspool. The actual grounds of Metrotech is beautiful but the outlying areas are all dingy, desolate alleyways.

    You can expect more of that when AY is built. Your beautiful brownstone blocks will be instantly be transformed into dark, congested, noise, smog and traffic polluted thoroughfares. Forget about leisurely strolls through the hood or enjoying a quiet evening on your front stoop.

    If you think the Fedders buildings are an offense and glaring eyesore, wait until you encounter the increase of litter and trash that lines your block after a game day.

    These are the realities of living within the shadow of the arena that FCR tries to gloss over. They barely address these issues in the environmental impact study.

    Your cherished communities will eventually be fenced in and surrounded by a wall of skyscrapers that will hem you in and isolate you from your nearest neighbors.

    We will lose our sense of inter-connectedness.

    Get ready to lose all that you love and cherish about downtown Brooklyn. It will be a different world; so get ready for it.

    Eminent Domain: D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L

  4. Coney Island, Navy Yard, Queens West, Newark, regardless of where you go you will face the same resistance because of your failed strategies and tactics. Lesson one: build community approval and acceptance of your project. That involves more than a staged, highly publicized kiss between ACORN and FCR.

  5. Anon 6:44 AM, you’ve lost it. Please try to regroup.

    At least you are admitting that the area that, up until last week, you were categorizing as being blighted, actually consists of multi-million dollar brownstones. There is absolutely no comparison to the MCI arena in Washington, D.C.

    No one is even remotely suggesting your far flung ideas about apartheid or segregation. The point was that Manhattan has clearly, well-defined office, retail and entertainment districts.

    Sports fans are by nature loud and boisterous before and after a game. Concert and opera goers are usually more sedate by contrast. You just can’t throw all these various elements together and hope that they will mix without any foresight and measures for crowd control.

    That just go to show that you have joined on to a robotic campaign and you will use any reckless measures to achieve your goals.

    And yes, Mr. Silver if you’re listening, Mr. Ratner and his goons has used all kinds of racist and divisive tactics to try to derail meaningful discourse on the subject of AY. If you peruse the Brownstoner blog you will find an increase in rude, offensive and troll activities everytime that a thread on AY appears on the site.

  6. NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY!!! NO ARENA IN DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN IN THE MIDST OF OUR MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BROWNSTONES BUT ARENA WOULD BE GREAT IN CONEY ISLAND NEXT TO ALL THOSE LOW INCOME HOUSING PROJECTS!!! NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY!!

    “I don’t see the theatre group (BAM), mixing with the sports fan, the Fulton Mall hip hop shoppers and tourists, and the office workers from Albee/Willoughby Square who are trying to get home after a 12 hr stint at the office. That just sounds like a recipe for disaster, having all those different groups competing for the same space, whether it’s on the train or on the streets.”

    This is NYC! It’s diverse! The great thing about this city is that people have to mix on the streets, trains and buses!! Are you advocating that we bring back segregation or institute an apartheid that of separation system here in Brooklyn? This is unbelievable!

    Silver, this just goes to show you that the anti-development NIMBIES are truly the racist ones here!

    Downtown Brooklyn is close and convenient to everyone especially for weeknight games when fans would simple take a 5-10 train ride from Manhattan or walk down the block from the proposed Flatbush Avenue business corridor to support the team.

    Please note the following transportation options to Atlantic Yards/Downtown Brooklyn (all within 5 minute walk to proposed Nets arena site): Subway Lines A, B, C, D, F, G, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, 5; LIRR; Bus Lines 25, 26, 37, 38, 41, 45, 52, 63, 65, 67, 103 (and numerous bus and train transfer thereto); and Car Routes – Belt Pkwy to Atlantic Ave, BQE to Atlantic Ave, Flatbush or Kent; Jackie Robinson Pkwy to Atlantic Ave; 495 to BQE; Midtown Tunnel to BQE; Brooklyn Bridge to Atlantic Ave; Manhattan Bridge to Flatbush Ave; Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Hamilton Ave to Atlantic; Prospect Expwy to BQE to Atlantic; Eastern Pkwy to Flatbush; and Ocean Pkwy to Prospect PK SW. Also major thruways 3rd and 4th Avenues and Empire Blvd. The options are innumerable! Please stop with the excuses. AY is convenient to almost everyone in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan!!

  7. “and for whomever asked – yes Union Sq is densely developed and served by significantly less mass transi”

    no that’s not what i asked. I said it is appropriate just beause it is a hub, to build an arena there and make it even more dense. hell david, why not get rid of the park too? That’s what you said a few weeks ago about open land in general.

    The point is that just because there is a hub that doesn’t justify super density like AY proposal which will make it one of the most densely populated places in the country.
    as for population growing – that is almost entire because of legal and illegal immigration – supported by big companies and hurting the poorest and working classes by making living conditions harder and driving down wages.

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