Atlantic Yards, How You've Changed
This chart put together earlier this week by the Brooklyn Speaks coalition pretty much, well, speaks for itself. You can check out the entire presentation here. Atlantic Yards Then and Now [Brooklyn Speaks]
This chart put together earlier this week by the Brooklyn Speaks coalition pretty much, well, speaks for itself. You can check out the entire presentation here.
Atlantic Yards Then and Now [Brooklyn Speaks]
You said it, bxgrl.
It beggars the imagination that anyone besides Bruce Ratner and those whose pockets he is lining could be in favor of this dishonest boondoggle.
While what has happened — and will happen — is “legal,” that doesn’t make it right. The process and likely its result are wrong in every sense of the word. Other places have passed laws to stop this sort of thing, and if we ever have real reform in Albany (one can dream), more transparency will have a shot of preventing such a travesty from reoccuring.
Just wanted to make sure everyone realized this – we’re already paying higher utility rates because of AY. The infrastructure upgrades needed to support the initial 6,000 housing units were used as leverage to increase our rates 2 years ago.
Note that since the residential portion of the plan has been reduced and none of the utility infrastructure upgrades have happened, the rate increase we pay every month has not been retracted.
And we can’t afford to give kids a free ride to school on the subway.
The Brooklyn Speaks website not only has an eye-catching example of “AY then and now” but it also carefully outlines the significant problems associated with the whole approval process – which, again, never had a public referendum, nor an opportunity for public input, although the public is paying through the nose for AY – both in terms of taxpayer subsidies and the kinds of reduction in MTA service we are now seeing (not to mention the environmental impact). Blaming DDDB for the changes in scope is really blaming the victim – this has been, from the very beginning, a political boondoggle – Grandpa’s checklist outlines it very well. And no, not everybody hates DDDB – a lot of us are grateful for DDDB and Brooklyn Speaks.
(Hope all the pro-AY proponents like the parking lot that will be on 4th between Atlantic and Pacific – that’s sure going to help efforts to improve 4th Ave, ease traffic, and make the neighborhood more livable)
The massive corporate welfare aside, the traffic is going to kill this entire area for decades. Several hundred million tons of construction equipment and material will clog the streets, forcing cars that currently took the main roads onto the Brownstone streets.
And at the end of it, when hundreds of millions of our tax dollars have been spent, the Nets renegotiate for even more tax subsidies or they head to Newark and the costs to the taxpayer continue to pile up.
Go take a look at Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights at rush hour. Now imagine that everywhere within a 20 block radius. You gotta hand it to Ratner, using our own money to $%#$ ourselves is a scam Lex Luthor would’ve been proud of.
Epic fail. On our dime.
Wasn’t one of the things most touted was that the Arena would not have acres of parking- people would depend on public transportation to get to and from events and there would be minimal impact on traffic and streets? Another lie exposed for what it is.
This project has been frightening from the outset (not withstanding a utopian view of a designer’s easel and a bit idealism). Now it’s just depressing.
Looks like there’s plenty of green space…on Ratner’s balance sheet.
What I find pathetic is that the MTA is now taking free passes away from school children (in the middle of a recession/depression) while selling the train yards to Ratner for millions of dolloars less than their value. Truly reprehesible behavior on the part of the MTA and the government.
My bet is that the additional acreage will continue to flourish as rat hotels. The chain link fences and bales of hay aren’t going anywhere for a long time.