Egan: Apathy and Resignation To Blame in AY Fight
In her NY Times op-ed piece this weekend, author, Fort Greene resident and DDDB board member Jennifer Egan contrasts the wily public relations machinations of Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner with the relative apathy and inaction of those who claim to oppose the project that would indelibly change the landscape and character of the borough….
In her NY Times op-ed piece this weekend, author, Fort Greene resident and DDDB board member Jennifer Egan contrasts the wily public relations machinations of Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner with the relative apathy and inaction of those who claim to oppose the project that would indelibly change the landscape and character of the borough. The combination of presenting the project as a fait accompli from day one and casting himself as the champion of the working class was, she opines, effective in a race-baiting sort of way. In the end, she laments the passive role it has placed the borough in, to be molded and shaped by profit-seeking developers, not the people who live here.
What was mostly lost in this caustic debate was the biggest question of all: what do we Brooklynites — a diverse and even divided collective — want our borough to be? Do we want it transformed from a sunny, low-lying place into knots of vertical superblocks? Are we content to let our borough’s future be imposed on us by developers and politicians? A strong girding of power and ideas is our best defense against developers who might wish to control the process. And an active and vocal public will send a healthy warning to elected officials who might consider placing these developers’ interests above our own.
What surprised us most was the tone of resignation that underlay the essay, playing right into Ratner “formidable spin machine “.
A Developing Story [NY Times]
D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L!!!
for the record 11:41 “black faces” was the phrase used by the poster above. look before you leap. I have no problem with my people just sick and tired of Ratner’s crumbs.
The mall is shitty.
11:32. packed mall=a hit. you shop there and so do the “black faces” as you so tastefully called them. the mall is crowded because people want to shop at those stores whether they are discount stores or not. maybe you buy quickly and then leave because you have a hang up about not shopping at whatever you consider to be “cool” retailers. whatever. ..
Zoo- in my opinion people flock to the Atlantic Center mall because it’s like one huge 99 cent store. It’s like a smorgasbord of discounted stores. When I visit Target or Circuit City I buy and leave quick not cause of the black faces but because it’s a disgrace to all malls and the design is terrible. The mall is not a hit.
If it was up to me Id tear down the mall and build the stadium there and build an outdoor park over the entire rail yard.
Various points:
Mr. Brooklyn, and a lot of others, dismiss the density issue — “it’s not a census tract” “it’s not a square mile”.
Maybe it would help to look at it this way: Atlantic Yards is slated to have 311 apartments per acre. In constrast, Stuyvesant Town has 140 apartments per acres, Battery Park (when complete) will have 152 apartments per acre, Lefrak City has 125 apartments per acre. Co-op City has 51 apartments per acre, and Starrett City has 38!
Think about it. Atlantic Yards is slated to have more than twice as many apartments per acre as any other large scale residential development in New York City.
It’s simply untrue to say that only wealthy newcomers to Brooklyn oppose AY. Ratner successfully mobilized race tensions and class tensions by promising to give certain groups a say in construction hiring, etc. You’re really buying into the spin when you say that.
Anon at 9:08, the great Brooklyn booster — I really wonder why you are such a supporter of this project if you are as concerned about downtown Brooklyn as you claim. Ratner’s projects are so ugly and contribute so little to the borough. Yeah, people like to shop at Target, but those malls are so unpleasant to be in. Metrotech — do you really like that structure? Do you think it enhances downtown Brooklyn? And now Ratner is being given 22 acres to turn into something that will probably look airlifted in from Dallas. And I’m puzzled by your excitement and insistence over having the arena at Atlantic and Flatbush. What’s wrong with Coney Island? Coney is an existing entertainment area, already has another sports arena, would draw in fans from Long Island, is accessible from the highway, could accommodate water transport from Manhattan, and so on. I’m really puzzled as to why one would want to put an arena at a traffic chokepoint.
The problem I have with the public subsidies going to this project are that there is a complete lack of transparency as to what we are getting for our money. Yes, of course that is a complaint that could be made about a lot of things in government, but that doesn’t make it an illegitimate complaint about this project. What exactly are the subsidies per “affordable” apartment? FCRC and its political supporters won’t say — I wonder why.
Mr. Brooklyn above says: “I’d hope that downtown Brooklyn becomes like downtown Manhattan in that people just know better than to drive into it and I’d also hope that Brooklyn becomes even less of a car culture.”
Umm, Mr. Brooklyn, have you ever been to downtown Manhattan? Have you noticed the horrible traffic that people have to live with there? As for Brooklynites giving up their cars, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but public transportation for moving about WITHIN Brooklyn (as opposed to commuting to Manhattan) just isn’t that great. Look at a subway map.
Regarding whether property values will rise or fall — it’s sad to me that this is so often the only consideration. It seems entirely likely to me that property values in the vicinity will rise even as quality of life — in terms of schools, traffic congestion, and pollution — declines.
Finally, to argue that because FCRC and its political backers won on AY means that they made the better case as to costs and benefits is really pretty silly. As we all know, Bush was put in office twice by about half the population. Would you like to argue that because he won in 2004, Bush is a good president?
Worth a read:
http://brooklynviews.blogspot.com/2006/05/its-scale-stupid.html
I hate how people disparage the Atlantic Center… the fact is the community HAS spoken: do you see how packed that place is? Maybe all the black faces scare some of you, but the fact is, that complex is hugely successful and many in the surrounding communities love it. My girlfriend has dragged me there on three straight weekends…
I’m not sure why people get so up in arms about the Prospect Heights vs. Downtown Brooklyn thing. Pick any neighborhood in NYC and you’ll find people who disagree on where its borders are. Again, this is an example of how AY opponents continue to fight a losing battle. For several years they’ve been trying to get the press to consider the site in Prospect Heights and it has, by and large, failed. At this stage, why not drop this campaign and focus on the legal battle?
As an AY opponent I agree that the falling property values is false. Falling property values as far as I know as never been part of the arguments against this deal. Quite the contrary, rapid gentrification with rapid rising prices is likely to be the result of the AY project – which pretty much sucks for everyone living or running a small business within a mile of the project. Not a small matter.
But I would like to get onto the really amusing hyperbole:
“AY presents a unique opportunity to do something truly special and creative downtown”
Do you actually talk like this all day about other subjects too?
PS – its not downtown Bklyn, I know you hate that reality, but it’s not. Note, the city put in a massive program for building in downtown Bklyn but its been a complete failure – have you questioned your local politicians about that?
Anon 6:56 dire prediction about falling property values is a typical example of the dramatic approach used by AY opponents. They are always trying to instill fear in people. Of course, it hasn’t worked, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from continuing to use it.