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]
I would have no problem with this if it wasn’t subsidized by my tax money and the controversial emminent domain use (and yes, snatching private land for another private user is still controversial – see reactions to Kelo v. City of New London).
In other words, it’s the fact that they’re spending my money and liberties that piss me off
lifer = born, raised and living in Brooklyn my whole life (sans Birkenstocks etc)
Stupid = Hmmm
The “majority of Brooklynites” line is a total BS. The AY supporters on here are the unreasonable ones and cannot deal with the realities of the project, they just say the same things over and over and rip on the opposition. Criticise DDDB all you want, that doesn’t make what Ratner and Frank Ghery are doing to downtown brooklyn right. The tactics are dirty and the product will be complete crap. You had better be ready to censor more and more art shows as this million dollar rip-off reveals itself.
hey anon 9:08 PM, you tell em chief, pass the cheese fries! maybe they should put the stadium in bensonhurst?
or maybe there’s a reason that you don’t live anywhere near a sports stadium, i.e. msg, yankee or shea stadium?
Or maybe, sadly, the vast majority of Brooklynites are just too stupid to understand what developing responsibly entails and think that this is the only plan that could work.
7:31PM – City planners did learn something since R.Moses – they learned that it is difficult enough to get something built in this city and if you start giving every Tom Dick and Dan a voice nothing gets built.
What do you mean by more democratic? Should the approval of new developments be on the ballot? I don’t think that allowing the project to be blocked by a relatively small group of vociferous, well-to-do locals would be more democratic.
While, Ratner’s spin about how this is for the working people of brooklyn and just opposed by the wealthy newcomers is propaganda, I do think that there’s some underlying truth to it. I guess I do resent how a newcomer like Egan claims to speak for Brooklyn
I agree with some of the posters on this thread – the problem with AY and all the NYC development going on including the rezonings of Williamsburg/Greenpoint, LES is that the process has been so much less than democratic. I thought city planners etc had learned something since the era of R.Moses but obviously they haven’t or just pay lip service to what they have learned…do just enough. No wonder people are whining – it’s the cry of the powerless. Now like the woman said – if there were real political protest….It’s not fair to criticize the AY opponents for apathy – it just a brand new learning curve. NYC in the age of Bush. What do you expect.
I’m into it. Brooklyn is what, the 4th largest city in the country? It needs a better downtown area. I also think that we basically need to rezone and build as fast as possible to minimize the inevitable housing shortage and keep real estate prices as reasonable as possible.
Yes, AY would be more dense than any census track. However, it’s not a census track. You’re comparing apples and oranges there. No doubt congestion will be a problem but, with 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.
The land, in the middle of Brooklyn, near it’s largest transit hub, is simple too valuable for massive storage facilities and train yards.