DDDB Signs On Brooklyn Star Power for AY Fight
The group most widely associated with the fight against Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project just made a big move to broaden its public appeal by putting together a 33-member advisory board studded with such high-profile Brooklynites as Steve Buscemi, Heath Ledger and Jonathan Safran Foer. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) is hoping the addition…
The group most widely associated with the fight against Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project just made a big move to broaden its public appeal by putting together a 33-member advisory board studded with such high-profile Brooklynites as Steve Buscemi, Heath Ledger and Jonathan Safran Foer. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) is hoping the addition of the celebs will make it harder for Ratner and others to portray the group as some fly-by-night lightweight organization and provide some counter-balance to the starpower Ratner himself has enlisted to sell his vision to the borough. One new board member, actress (and Ledger fiancee) Michelle Williams, isn’t too keen on what the development would mean for her newly adopted neighborhood of Boerum Hill: “His vision will increase traffic, pollution and asthma,” she said. “If Mr. Ratner lived here, he would understand what we love about it and why we want to preserve our open skies.” “It’s very frustrating to realize that something with such a massive scale can be imposed upon from people who don’t live here,” said author and Fort Greene resident Jhumpa Lahiri. Maybe all these stars can pool some funds together to offer Bertha Lewis more money to sell out to them than Ratner did. Heck, Heath could even throw in a kiss that would top the smacker Lewis gave Ratner last year!
Celebs Join Ratner Foes [NY Daily News]
Announcement of Advisory Board Formation [DDDB]
I was soley speaking about Fontana who is apparently a member of D.Goldsteins “blue-ribbon’ panel of ‘experts’.
The statment DDDB is attributing to her is pretty clear, she considers skyscrapers unsafe. Which of course is an opinion she entitled too and I certainly sympathize with her anquish; but being oppossed to skyscrapers doesnt exactly make you capable of looking at AY development objectively in 2006. But it sounds like Bx2Bklyn you are saying that DDDB is misquoting her (or at least mischaraterizing her position) which if true is very sad.
I said that safety was Marian’s issue. As far as what would satisfy everyone, is there any such thing?
So all Ratner has to do is build AY to NYC fire code to satisfy everyone? For some reason, I don’t think that’s what DDDB is aiming for….. :-/
Brownbomber- She is not against ji-rises. Their intent is not to stop hi-rise development but to make sure hi-rises are built to codes and safety issues.
So Fontana is against high rise development in Brooklyn. Does that mean that she’s thumbs down on the entire island of Manhattan too? In a city of 8 million plus where should people live and work? If we can’t build up what’s the alternative?
Marian was speaking as a supporter of Sally’s work. Again- they are not against skyscrapers, just against those that don’t come up to fire code.And of course, to build for evacuations in terrorist attacks. The Towers had stairwells too narrow and no real emergency evacuation plans. There were other structural details that made the evacuation more difficult.
David- you would be speaking about Sally Reganhard who lost her son, not her husband, on 9-11. She is not against all skyscrapers- she is against them not being built to NYC fire codes, which is exactly what the Towers were. They didn’t have to follow the more stringent NYC codes because they were built by the Port Authority, and they weren’t up to code in many aspects. She has been objecting to allowing the Port Authority again bypass the fire codes when they rebuild at Ground Zero. That is certainly not opposing all skyscrapers.
Hey Deg what was said about Fontana that was close-minded or wrong – she said:
As a firefighter widow, we cannot overlook the myriad issues concerning the safety and security of the Ratner project. Not only have skyscrapers been proven unsafe, but terrorism preparedness is a key issue the development review process has not addressed.
Sounds like she is against skyscrapers
get a clue david. it is a diversified board, in race and in areas of expertise. just because YOU personally are clueless on who these people are doesn’t make what you say so.
“Dan either have a diversified “board’ of people who actually have some expertise in RE, infrastructure and urban planning or a board made of ‘real’ Brooklyn residents (you know the ones who dont have websites and have to get up and go to a real job each day) – otherwise please STFU.”
you mean like Frank Gehry, Jay Z, Bernard Kind, Darryl Dawkins, and Bruce Ratner?
or do you mean like most of the people on the board who have lived in Brooklyn for decades, contributed more to the borough than you or i ever will, AND many are natives.
right, boards of orgs are always made of people who have narrow areas of expertise. right.
and, if you hadn’t noticed, Atlantic Yards has serious issues for everyone, in all areas, and how dare you talkl about Marian Fontana in your close-minded pinhead manner, spouting your BS.
STFUYSYF.