Atlantic Yards: Time to Take a Shower
Regardles of whether you’re for, againt or somewhere in the middle on the Atlantic Yards project, it’s hard not to be disgusted by the transparent dog-and-pony show that’s gone on in recent days culminating in FRC “accepting” the city planning commission’s recommendation of a 8% cut in the scale of the project. Kinda makes you…
Regardles of whether you’re for, againt or somewhere in the middle on the Atlantic Yards project, it’s hard not to be disgusted by the transparent dog-and-pony show that’s gone on in recent days culminating in FRC “accepting” the city planning commission’s recommendation of a 8% cut in the scale of the project. Kinda makes you feel like you want to take a shower. Opponents have been warning of this political gamesmanship for a while–ask for the moon and then look like you have compromised when you agree to a smaller size. It’s pretty disgusting stuff and frankly we had thought Amanda Burden (who had always struck us as a pretty straight shooter) was above that. Apparently not.
AY Developer Acepts 8% Reduction [NY Times]
Sorry I missed the hilarity.
Are some of you 10 years old? No doubt you have no familiarity with the blight caused in NYC areas by abandoned, or rundown high-rise “affordable” housing projects in harlem and the bronx. Or money-losing stadium projects all over the country:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0377/is_n132/ai_20913158/pg_3
May I also remind the inane soul who wrote that “TEMPORARY” jobs are better than none -the entire reason for approving this project, and a large reason for justifying the land grab, was hinged upon the promise of PERMANENT jobs as well as affordable housing– p.s. those temp jobs are not going to construction workers who live in the neighborhood, they’re going to guys in NJ. No one benefits bot the private construction company and its largely nonresident employees.
Unless you’ve lived through the blight of half-finished, abandoned housing and recessions in NYC, you have no idea what nasty outcomes could lie ahead in this project.
Ratner is out to make money on this, period. He has no interest in serving the public -unless it helps his bottom line. And market conditions do not help his bottom line now.
Done deal.
Sorry this is too much for me to stomach.
Go away.
This is business as usual with the Planning Commission. They feel the need to respond to community concerns (which is a good thing really) but this puts developers in the position of having to overstate their project so that the downsizing won’t kill it. (Which can happen, given the low short-term profit margins developers operate with, though I have no knowledge about the financing of AY.) A similar phenomenon occurs with the provision of amenities like open space and affordable housing. Where not strictly required by zoning, the CPC has no real discretion to impose such requirements unless an environmental study shows the need for them, but they will essentially make developers agree to them in order to get an approval. Since the Commission will always demand more than the developer is voluntarily proposing, it makes more sense for developers to propose less than they can actually afford to give. Then, for the majority of rezoning projects that have to go before the City Council, the same process happens again. The council members have to show their consitutents that they are getting something for them. So, from the developer’s perspective its isn’t so much slimy gamesmanship as a strategy made necessary by the realities of city politics. And at the end of the day, one will always be able to speculate that any initial proposal was a sham if the developer ultimately agrees to build something smaller, but who’s to say they just weren’t optimistic about what might get approved?
We really have to start thinking about dismantling the Historic Districts which are beginning to constrain further growth in the city. The city is growing like crazy and we need to build denser housing and we can’t as long as all these historic districts and brownstones are standing in the way. Let’s get these racist nimby obstructionists out of the way and build UP! And some more big box stores would be good too; people got to work and we need cheap stuff to buy.
For those who use the term NIMBY in relation to this project doust think you don’t know perhaps what this means.
Nimby is folks like the Cobble Hill Gang that exposed a domestic violence shelter because they thought that was a poor person’s issue and thus harmed the lives of many.
Someone not wanting their home for a sports arena and one rich white guys aresenal of money…ain’t NIMBY
I still think they should build a golf course.
Careful! Don’t interfere with the worship of the almighty dollar!
“If you can make more money making software then by farming you are crazy if you run a farm.”
what if you love farming? Sorry i have to say this josh, but money isn’t everything. We wouldn’t have prospect park if money was everything. we wouldn’t have great artists, great music, and open land…to me open land and farm land is priceless.
“A country’s ability to feed itself is about as fundemental to its existence as national defense”
That’s just silly. We don’t do lots of things that can be done more cheaply elsewhere. If you can make more money making software then by farming you are crazy if you run a farm.
“we’re losing open land an an alarming rate”
What rate is that? Most of the US is just wide open country.
“that those who talk a free market … makes a ton of money off the government and regulation.”
Classic Adam Smith. Everyone wants to get the gvt to do something to their advantage. Ratner is just one advantage and all are prime examples of why we should reduce government involvement as much as possible.