Atlantic Yards Opponents Actually Win One
Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project won their first major legal victory yesterday when Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) hadn’t sufficiently studied the community impact of a construction schedule that is now expected to last closer to 25 years rather than the ten initially put forth. Atlantic…
Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project won their first major legal victory yesterday when Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) hadn’t sufficiently studied the community impact of a construction schedule that is now expected to last closer to 25 years rather than the ten initially put forth. Atlantic Yards Report explains that while the ruling will not immediately effect construction, it could subject the Atlantic Yards project to further arguments in court. For now, the case has been sent back to ESDC for reconsideration. It requires the ESDC to provide a “detailed, reasoned basis for [its] findings” on environmental impact while taking construction delays into account. “The Court properly found that ESDC misrepresented the facts of the contracts and there were no requirements that FCRC complete the project” says DDDB counsel Jeffrey Baker. “ESDC’s lack of transparency was not just with respect to its own deliberations, but extended to trying to hide material facts from the Court. We are very pleased that Justice Friedman did not tolerate that behavior.”
Justice Friedman Slams ESDC… [Atlantic Yards Report]
Court Slams NY State on AY, Rules in Favor of DDDB [DDDB]
“They got passed over like bologna at a gourmet salad bar.”
Best. Line. Ever.
🙂
ENY, when the MTA announced they were selling the yards, there were other people besides Ratner interested in it. One group actually offered the MTA more money, a group that had a plan ready to go. It wasn’t as flashy or ambitious, and didn’t have a starchitect attached to it, but it was much more sensible and realistic in its goals. They got passed over like bologna at a gourmet salad bar.
What really irks me about the housing promised is that it was pretty obvious that affordable housing was only promised, 1) because projects are required to include it, on site or off, in order to be eligible for gov’t subsidies. 2) It was a marketing ploy deliberately planned to sucker people like Bertha Lewis and ACORN and Rev. Daughtry in, who ordinarily would be against it. 3)To create a class and race war between poorer people, mostly minorities, desperate for housing, against what were perceived to be gentrifying, granola-eating, NIMBY white folks who wanted to keep things as they were.
It was a brilliant, almost Machievellian strategy. The only thing they didn’t plan on was a stubborn SOB like Goldstein, and his organization, the political opposition by all of the local pols except Marty, some damn good lawyers, and disparate groups of people from all over, who could see through the smokescreen. The opposition may have lost the battle, but in the long run, Ratner lost the war.
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“Does the “opposition” just want to “win” or do they want whats best for Brooklyn – seems clear to me.””
Does anyone honestly think Ratner cares more for Brooklyn? Is that why he started this entire megaproject with sweetheart deals, lack of real oversight, and decimating the neighborhood he had his eye on? Please. Say whatever you want about this project but the idea ratner cares more about what’s good for Brooklyn than the opponents is sheer folly. Take off those rose colored glasses.
I live a block away from it and can see the construction from my apartment, but it does not really bother me.
For a city of its size, NYC has a shortage of large arena/event/concert spaces, and this is by far the best place in the city to locate an arena in terms of transit accessibility and current land use.
It seems like the the people against this fall into two camps: the “preserve the city in amber” crowd who don’t want anything to ever change, and drivers who are upset at the thought of more traffic on Flatbush and Atlantic.
Did Ratner get sweetheart deals? yes
Did he lie? almost certainly
Could the MTA and city gotten a better deal from other developers? yes
Would those deals also have included super-dense housing? of course
Would the construction time lines for those have been delayed due to recession? Duh
Will this be good for Brooklyn in the long term? I think so
Agreed, this ruling will have very little impact on final outcome of Atlantic Yards. But anything that further costs Ratner or the ESDC at this point is a reminder to developers and government agencies to think twice before they try this in my (or your) neighborhood.
The arena is the least of the issues here. It is the rest of the development. Basically, the plan for it kinda sucks, both as urban design and as a development project. I mean – 25 years – who’s kidding whom? Who thinks FCR is going to be throwing money at this thing years from now? They need to get that sorted out, and, when a private developer is taking so much from the public to build a project and returning so little of benefit, the least they can do is plan to mitigate the impacts.
I’d rather have a nice big park there. A little Prospect Park baby. That way the public can actually play basketball instead of watching the overpaid Nets lose.
As for my sentimenets, of course I’m against Atlantic Yards (especially the evil Russian billionaire associated with it) and I will never step foot inside of it. And yeah, I did giggle with glee myself when learning of this news. However, like everyone has already said, this victory is essentially meaningless but should be a forewarning to other massive and irresponsible development.
fsrq, the near-term plan is already “an arena surrounded by emptiness (which will quickly be co-oped into parking).”
I think BrooklynSpeaks is going to try and leverage this into positive improvements … or at least I hope so.
“Does the “opposition” just want to “win” or do they want whats best for Brooklyn – seems clear to me.”
Indeed. I couldn’t agree more.