Beep's Flip-Flop May Lead to AY Changes
After being one of the Atlantic Yards’ biggest cheerleaders, Marty Markowitz attracted lots of attention for the moderation of his tone and his call for scaling back the project. Trying to retain some old-school Brooklyn cred, he’s now saying that none of Ratner’s new buildings should trump the size of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. Cynics,…
After being one of the Atlantic Yards’ biggest cheerleaders, Marty Markowitz attracted lots of attention for the moderation of his tone and his call for scaling back the project. Trying to retain some old-school Brooklyn cred, he’s now saying that none of Ratner’s new buildings should trump the size of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. Cynics, including The Times and some commenters on yesterday’s thread point out that this is too-little-too-late political opportunism and that he should have been pounding the table on issues like traffic and infrastructure months ago. We’d tend to agree. Regardless, though, Markowitz change in tune may have a measurable impact: The Post reports that Ratner indicated yesterday that he would consider reducing the height of Miss Brooklyn.
A Little Change of Tune from AY’s Biggest Fan [NY Times]
Ratner Yields a Bit to Building Anger [NY Post]
I predict that once the project is complete the world will end. Yes, folks, Armageddon is imminent, so enjoy life while you can.
[Insert primal scream here]
This City’s infrastructure can’t even handle a heat wave or a small rainstorm …how on earth will it handle this??
In the end the BP’s opinion is only advisory so how much does his “change of heart” even matter? (Markowitz’s boosterism helped rally pro-Ratnerite constituents from outlying Brooklyn neighborhoods, and now he’s leading his “flock” in a slightly different – but still pro-Ratnerite – direction. Big deal.)
What’s more interesting is a story that the NY Times ran yesterday – the impact that Spitzer is beginning to have on the Bloomberg administration’s most cherished proposed mega-developments, including AY. IN the end, could Spitzer be the one to radically alter the planning and site design of AY?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/nyregion/24spitzer.html?ex=1156564800&en=bcf32d2806af1104&ei=5087
If “Ms Brooklyn” (how embarrassing is that?) gets cut down a hundred feet, the press will dutifully report that “the developer responded to community concerns”. But AY will still produce the most crowded census tract in US history, gridlock for several miles in each direction, and a major drain on public resources. By the last phase of the project, when the “affordable housing” is to built, that will turn out to be economically unfeasible. ACORN will get a make-good check for $50,000, and Brooklyn will be screwed forever more.
“Car Routes – Belt Pkwy to Atlantic Ave, BQE to Atlantic, Flatbush or Kent Aves; Jackie Robinson Pkwy to Atlantic Ave; 495 to BQE; Midtown Tunnel to BQE; Brooklyn Bridge to Atlantic Ave; Manhattan Bridge to Flatbush Ave; Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Hamilton Ave to Atlantic; Prospect Expwy to BQE to Atlantic; Eastern Pkwy to Flatbush; and Ocean Pkwy to Prospect PK SW. Also major thruways: 3rd and 4th Avenues and Empire Blvd.”
Can you say endless, eternal, beep and creep, park and bark traffic gridlock?
Oh, that’s right – no one is going to drive, according to past threads on the subject.
The subway lines? Sure, fine. But on the UES if 1st Avenue is jammed I can try 3rd or the FDR. Here, if Flatbush is jammed I can try — what?
To Eryximachus, Because the water and sewer services along with with the roads are not built to handle the additional demand, because they stated flat out that possible terrorism was not considered in their plan (while they are building a huge glass covered statium right next to Flatbush and Atlantic), because there is not one additional school teacher, policeman or firefighter allocated for 20000 new people, basically because we don’t have Manhattan’s infrastructure and not a penny has been allocated to deal with these issues.
scary how the press didn’t report this information on the same day as the hearing coverage and the press conference the pro-ratner-paid-off folks had.
How silly, if Marty wants reduced density, he should just say so…. creating some sort of height limit based on the fact that one very attractive skyscrapper is now the tallest in Brooklyn is plain nonsense.