Barclays Center Rising
This photo is the best one we’ve seen of the progress at the Barclays Center, the future home of The Nets and the first piece of the Atlantic Yards project. And it should: It was sent out by someone in-house to potential buyers of basketball tickets yesterday!
This photo is the best one we’ve seen of the progress at the Barclays Center, the future home of The Nets and the first piece of the Atlantic Yards project. And it should: It was sent out by someone in-house to potential buyers of basketball tickets yesterday!
Empire state dev corp was just as corrupt as ratner.
Rules/legislation to stop eminent domain abuse have been tackled almost everywhere but NY.
But what do NYers do? return the same schmucks to albany.
By Biff Champion on December 17, 2010 3:13 PM
I just realized that we live in a capitalist society and the forces of demand and supply are at work. We better stop it immediately.
Even I may become a Republican by the end of this thread.
Biff, I was trying to think of something to post in response to bas last post.
You hit it on the head. And that’s why I’m a republican.
benson- when did these people have the time or the money to do that too? Fixing the Kelo decision is going to take a hell of a lot more than a community in Brooklyn. And trying to stop AY was a much more immediate concern. It’s hardly fair to call them nimbys, first of all by ignoring all the very legitimate issues they are complaining about, and when in fact you are supporting the Kelo decision by supporting Ratner for using it.
Lenore;
Let me add one thing to what FSRG just wrote. I too would like to see the ED laws tightened up, in the wake of the Kelo decision. If you read Brownstoner often you know that I am “Mr. Property Rights” around here.
It is precisely for this reason that I have come to the conclusion that most of the anti-AY crowd, especially DDDB, are nothing more than a bunch of NIMBY’s. Why? Because they have focused virtually all of their efforts on stopping the AY project, and virtually NOTHING on developing legislation that would fix the “abuses of the process” that they claim to have ocurred with it.
I read some time ago that something like 20 states have tightened up their ED laws in the wake of the Kelo decision. Remember, that’s all Kelo did: throw the issue back to the states. And what has happened in New York? Nothing.
I just realized that we live in a capitalist society and the forces of demand and supply are at work. We better stop it immediately.
Even I may become a Republican by the end of this thread.
>I thought most of them were driven out of most of Manhattan and brownstone brooklyn years ago due to rising home costs and rents
There is still a dwindling number of rent-stabilized apartments in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, and even Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, and Park Slope, but the pressure is on, and every vacancy increase brings each apartment closer to that magical $2000 number.
Even by me in PLG rents are getting much higher – rent-stabilized studios, when they become available, go for around $1000 (vs. $650 five years ago). Witness the person (my neighbor) asking $1700 for an apartment on my block (and if he gets it will be a record for the block by a longshot), and the comments here that found it to be a good deal. Not to many of my neighbors it’s not – just a sign to start packing. The idea of a rent stabilized place is to avoid that; unfortunately many people prefer brownstones to apartment buildings.
So prices get higher and higher everywhere, as people who can no longer afford Park Slope, Prospect Heights, etc., push out people in Crown Heights, PLG, Flatbush, and Bed Stuy, who in turn move to Canarsie or Queens or Staten island or East Flatbush or who knows where.
Lenore I admire your commitment to private property rights, but unfortunately our property rights have always been saddled with the possibility that the state could seize our land for other uses – this is SPECIFICALLY written in the constitution. And while there has been a legitimate controversy about the scope of “public purpose” in regards to ED seizures (which was settled in the legal and constitutional way against your point-of-view) – the reality is that virtually all the housing seized by ED here, was within the footprint of the arena. Why is that significant??? Because such a use, has virtually ALWAYS been seen as a legitimate public purpose under ED law.
And btw the fact that the arena is “owned” by a private entity is really immaterial, just like it would be if a charter school was being built on ED seized land, or a subway system that was once “private” is being built on seized land. The issue is public purpose – not ownership.
Now I am not saying all this to tell you that you have to like it, you dont – but this horrible reality (ED seizure) that you speak, is (in almost identical application) as old as the republic and in common law far far older.
FCE/A is up 34% YTD.
Should have added, except for rich developers and their powerful friends.