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]
9:39, you are ignorant on the facts and wrong about the op-ed; i thought it was pretty balanced.
consciously changing the subject, has anyone read egan’s new novel, “the keep?”
Someone please explain how AY could possibly be MORE dense than the densest housing tract in America. What is the densest housing tract in America? I may not have a good hold of the facts, but at least I’m not creating ‘facts’ out of whole cloth…
Just give it 5 years, 9:46. By then we’ll all be waxing nostalgic about that dump hole in the ground. Holes will look mighty good compared to what Bruce is gonna build.
Thank God my property isn’t in Brooklyn.
I am in agreement with Anon 9:46 – I’m always astounded that people see Brooklyn as something other than a city and see Atlantic Ave. as some bucolic paradise needing to be saved. I moved to NYC from a rural area in order to BE in a city. I think a mix of building styles and usage is dynamic and exciting and adds to my experience of the city. Someone once remarked that “New York City would be a great place to live, if they ever finished it”. That’s the deal – New York ISN’T ever finished. Brooklyn isn’t some remote bedroom community, it’s a vibrant living changing landscape.
I say bring on AY.
I agree with #2. I just don’t feel the pain of these people. Do I like Ratner – No. He is scum who is ripping the public off. But to think that the project should be squashed is rubbish. The place is a dump right now. If these trampled upon people cared to venture from their precious brownstones to take a look at Atlantic Ave. they would see the same thing.
Anon at 9:39 — why do you perpetuate lies? Atlantic Yards is not a vast, garbage-filled hole in the ground. It is a WORKING rail yard and the foot print for the project includes viable businesses and homes, as well as empty lots. But don’t you think those empty lots would already be under construction, given the current building boom in Brooklyn, if Ratner weren’t holding them vacant? What could be more dense than the UES, Battery Park, or any of a number of neighborhoods in Manhattan? Why, that would be Atlantic Yards, slated to be TWICE AS DENSE as the densest housing tract in the entire United States, with an open space per person ratio that’s a tiny fraction of what Battery Park City has.
This is the problem with the AY debate — people like Anon at 9:39 who are simply not in possession of the facts.
I’m also concerned about the effect on the zoned public schools, but I note that Egan (an FG, not PS resident, she says) sends her child to a lottery school. (I’m guessing she means the Children’s School or maybe New School?) AY will probably mean that it will be much harder to get into the exclusive lottery schools, many of whose slots are filled by legacies or by privileged parents using their connections. But if crowding means that local yuppie parents will actually have to roll up their sleeves, use and support their zoned public schools–rather than fleeing to some lottery or variance school that somebody else has already done the hard work to improve for them — I’m all for that.
It’s simple: They’re just aren’t enough people who think this development portends doom and gloom for the borough of Brooklyn. What’s annoying about this essay is that she presumes to speak for everyone in Brooklyn. Or, worse, to presume that everyone in Brooklyn should care about the personal opinions of people who live close to the project. I just lost my views of downtown Manhattan to a new development across the street. Too bad for me; that’s life in the big city. And all this talk of ‘density’ issues? What could be more dense then the upper east side, battery park, or any of a number of neighborhoods in manhattan? Sutton Place was once a skid row. Atlantic Yards is a vast, garbage-filled hole in the ground. Despite what people say, it will be developed following a democratic process. In this country, money and influence are a huge part of that process; always have, always will. Too bad for you…
Its interesting it was published on a Saturday, the day with the least amount of readers. I’m guessing that this is a way that the times can be “balanced” in reporting the story, since they totally dropped the ball on the court ruling and the beginning of the demolition.
The editorial was very, very well written and brings up points of pain all of us who live close to this project have been discussing.