AY Appeal Denied, Construction Headaches Begin
Yesterday there was word that another legal challenge related to Atlantic Yards had been denied, and construction on the complex began to inconvenience Dean Street residents. The New York State Appellate Division denied a motion for an appeal for a case that was tossed in November related to the legality of the ESDC’s relocation plan…
Yesterday there was word that another legal challenge related to Atlantic Yards had been denied, and construction on the complex began to inconvenience Dean Street residents. The New York State Appellate Division denied a motion for an appeal for a case that was tossed in November related to the legality of the ESDC’s relocation plan for 13 renters (12 of them rent-stabilized) in the Atlantic Yards footprint. According to Atlantic Yards Report, however, attorney George Locker plans to file the same motion before the Court of Appeals. If the Court of Appeals decides to take the case, the lawsuit could stay alive for another year, said Locker. Meanwhile, there’s an article in the Daily News this morning about how construction on the mega-project is starting to hit home for people who live nearby: Hundreds of Dean Street residents woke up yesterday morning without water as contractors began to work on replacing an old water main. “This is just the beginning, and it’s already starting up,” said one person who lives on Dean Street. “Imagine when it’s midway through the project. It’s gonna get worse.”
Yet Another Atlantic Yards Appeal Dismissed [NY Observer]
The “Other” AY Lawsuits Might Take a Year to Resolve [AY Report]
Pipe work at Atlantic Yards Shuts Water Off for Residents [NY Daily News]
Atlantic Yards Renter Relocation Lawsuit Tossed [Brownstoner]
Photo by threecee.
I like the idea of Brooklyn being approproriately developed and intergrated in an urban way. That’s why Metrotech doesn’t work for me: streets are closed and the back sides of the building’s face the rest of Brooklyn.
The scheme for Atlantic Yards seems to make these same mistakes: insular, over-scaled office park like sensibilities. A fine piece of urban architecture could be profitably constructed on the site but NY has chosen to go with the company that developed that hideeous office tower over the Target and next door that banal shopping center where the City rents office space to keep it afloat.
Then the arena, at what could one of the liveliest public spaces in Brooklyn…. When there are no events the space will be dead and since people will only go to events the streetscape is likely to be erratic, corowded at times, dead and dirty at others.
So I guess it’s not politically correct to tell people who don’t live nearby to shut up about AY but it is to assume that every anti-AYer is a “johnny come lately”? So now born in Brooklyn is the new litmus test? Hold on, I have to sit down and stop laughing. Well, you can believe that if it makes you feel better, but itdon’t make it so.”
11:49- Are you sure you are Pro-AY? Of course the big problem is that the major effects will be felt after the fact. And then it’s too late. I’m also not surprised, but rather saddened by how pro-AYers are so rabid on having this monstrosity of urban bad planning go up and think it’s all about improving Brooklyn. It hasn’t occured to them that everyone will be paying for this project in terms of inconvenience, traffic,noise, polution and overcrowding, while they line ratner’s pockets. Does anyone seriously think Ratner gives a Rat’s ass about Brooklyn?
That said, Metrotech was a plus for the area- I lived over that way and it’s the truth. But Metrotech is in a main city center, and is in scale to the area. It was a much more intelligent plan than AY, which as far as I can tell is simply an architectural testosterone trip for him and his friends.
Someone I know working at the Trade Center site says they plan to permanently close one lane of the Tunnel to allow the concrete trucks access. It has something to do with mix time/strength of concrete and how long the trucks can wait before they must pour. My point being that when they start the AY project expect similar lane closures confusion and delays for all of Brooklyn, not just the people who live in the footprint. That said, Long live AY.
“Have you ever walked around Metrotech at night? How is this a success?”
I’m a Brooklyn native who attended LIU (which is nearby). If you had walked around that area BEFORE MetroTech was built, you could have scored some drugs or got yourself a hooker or gotten stuck up. Those things are far less likey to happen there now, and the site now has real restaurants, nice and clean open spaces and employment opportunities for hundreds. It’s definitely a success in my book.
“This bucolic view that some “Prospect Heights” and “Clinton Hill” residents have of the neighborhood is an invented ideal of a swath of land that for decades was a neglected embarrassment for Brooklynites. What should have been the commercial center of our borough was a literal hole without any sign of life. If you’re that upset about the next 10 years, I suggest a move to Williamsburg where people also love to pretend they live in Brooklyn.”
As a Brooklyn native and lifelong resident (I live in Crown Heights), I couldn’t agree more. It’s time for something to happen at that site, and AY sounds like a relatively good deal to me. Is it perfect? Probably not. Should there have been more public review? Yes. But I’m willing to take what comes. We’ve been waiting for something to happen there for GENERATIONS, much longer than Johnny-Come-Latelies like many of the Anti-AYers.
Well, 10:51, if we apply your suggested boundaries, then Norman Oder, Lumi Rolley (of nolandgrab), Letitia James, the bulk of DDDB’s advisory board, and many neighborhood bloggers should just shut up. Thanks for the clarification, though. Plus, you’re the first person who has provided a specific answer to this question. Usually, anti-AY crowd simply refuses to answer it.
Metrotech was built as an Office Campus for Blue Chip companies. It is, was and continues to be nearly fully rented with high quality tenants and their white-collar professional employees. It was designed to prove the viability of Brooklyn as a 3rd business district in NYC as well as the outer borough’s as a whole (at the time many people believed that the outer boros were essentially relics of a rust belt past)
Metrotech was not designed to be an “urban center” or to be a “night”-time destination and no surprise it isnt either of those things but make no mistake – Metrotech is a complete success and without it Brooklyn would be far worse off.
Not only is the comment about proximity being the exclusive litmus test for opinion ludicrous, it’s ass backwards wrong. As a lifelong Brooklynite, I’ve been incensed by the seemingly endless stream of “Develop Don’t Destroy” demagogues who moved here in the mid to late nineties and claimed some uber-etitled ownership of the area. The real litmus test for opinion is people who take a realistic and long view of the ability of that area to be an economic tool for the future of the borough. If you believe it can or believe it can’t is the real argument, and it’s a fair one. I personally believe in Atlantic Yards and have no guilt whatsoever about the more than fair buyouts most residents took from The Ratner Group. This bucolic view that some “Prospect Heights” and “Clinton Hill” residents have of the neighborhood is an invented ideal of a swath of land that for decades was a neglected embarrassment for Brooklynites. What should have been the commercial center of our borough was a literal hole without any sign of life. If you’re that upset about the next 10 years, I suggest a move to Williamsburg where people also love to pretend they live in Brooklyn.
Have you ever walked around Metrotech at night? How is this a success?
Traffic is a mess, it’s not any kind of urban center, it feels desolate (even though its not)… and on.
How is metrotech a success? These ‘superblocks’ don’t work, and I think Metrotech supports that.