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DOT cut a much more generous deal with Forest City than was initially made public and ESDC perpetuated the myth to the appelate court, according to a fascinating and detailed expose yesterday on the Atlantic Yards Report. ESDC first told the public in 2007’s Final Environmental Impact Statement that the bridge would be closed for two years. A Freedom of Information Act request by AY Report’s Norman Oder, however, revealed that Forest City has three years to complete the project with another two years tacked on in the case of an “unavoidable delay.” “The reconstruction of the bridge was not necessary,” Council Member Letitia James said. “Governor Paterson should return the bridge to a state of good repair and reopen it immediately to the community.”
Contract Gives FCR Three Years (And Maybe More) [AY Report]
Photo by Tracy Collins


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. The loss of the bridge has been a burden on us. I would walk across that bridge from Fort Greene to Park Slope a number of times each week, especially on the weekend.

    I spoke out against this and the supposed “two-year” closure and reconstruction timeframe from the get-go. And, I figured the bridge would be closed for many, many years…

    Yes, it does seem to have quieted the traffic on Carlton a bit in Fort Greene, of course, but it has shuttled that vehicular traffic to Vanderbilt and is a real inconvenience to pedestrians.

    It really does feel, as many pointed out, that it basically cut the neighborhoods of Fort Green and Prospect Heights off from each other.

    The distance from Vanderbilt to 6th Avenue is very far on foot. That is one long mega-block. I would not walk up to Vanderbilt to then walk to Grand Army Plaza, get mugged, and then walk all the way down to 7th Avenue to do some shopping…just seems like a huge, rather bleak (at moments along the walk) route.

    But frankly, I also do not love walking from Fort Greene across to 6th Avenue and up through PS because you end up walking downhill in FG and then way up hill to get to 7th Avenue in Park Slope instead of staying on a very slow slope going along Carlton to Flatbush as you would if the bridge were in place.

    I do walk the 6th Avenue route right now but I have to say 6th Avenue seems much more a place to get mugged than 7th quite frankly. There are long blocks of 6th that seem absolutely deserted at many times of day and on the weekend. I have heard of more muggings on 6th compared to 7th as well. Who knows…just doesn’t add to feelings of safety, especially irksome because it is a longer, inconvenient route compared to walking the now-gone Carlton Bridge.

    I should add, they closed the bridge last year way before it was necessary. It just sat there with barricades and nothing going on except what seemed like parking for the developer.

  2. what testimony are you talking about? link doesn’t contain any testimony. i get the point you’re making, it’s just a silly and unsupported one. not even oder’s link can sustain it. you can’t point to any promise for a two year closure anywhere, and neither did oder. i’m sure that everyone aspired to have it closed for only two years at the time they submitted those documents. what is the implication, that FCR wanted it to take longer but lied? sorry conspiracy theorists, but that makes no sense. nobody has pointed to any reason known at the time that it couldn’t have been done in the time period. as for oder’s “unanswered questions,” give me a break. you actually need someone to announce that a project like this might not get done in the aspirational, probabilistic timetable a developer announces? that makes you seem like children, really.

    AY-haters, these kind of made-up tempests are silly, and they erode the power of your more rational arguments.