For Atlantic Yards, Someone to Watch Over
The embarrassing (but luckily non-harmful) partial collapse of Ward’s Bakery a couple of weeks ago gave the ESDC the swift kick in the pants to announce its plans for improving the oversight of the massive demolition and construction project planned for the Atlantic Yards site. According to a Daily News report yesterday, the ESDC will…
The embarrassing (but luckily non-harmful) partial collapse of Ward’s Bakery a couple of weeks ago gave the ESDC the swift kick in the pants to announce its plans for improving the oversight of the massive demolition and construction project planned for the Atlantic Yards site. According to a Daily News report yesterday, the ESDC will appoint an ombudsman to act as a liaison between government agencies and the public and an owner’s representative to watch the constuction; in addition, two other groups will be formed to review transportation and other issues. Our concern is that the community is still not involved, said Candace Carponter, co-chair of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods — one of the plaintiffs involved in a lawsuit against the ESDC and Ratner over the project’s environmental review. added. The two committees are made up of representatives from [city and state] agencies. There are no community members.
Brooklyn Arena Project Gets Safety Net [NY Daily News]
Ombudsman Slated for Brooklyn Project [Metro]
ESDC Plans Ombudsperson, New Working Groups [AY Report]
Photo by Tracy Collins
The independent on-site monitor was promised by ESDC and Forest City Ratner as part of the Final Enviromental Impact Statement. Yes, it’s good they are actually going to hire someone but that someone should have been in place from Day 1. It’s a real breach of faith with the neighborhood that it has taken such a serious accident before they were spurred to take action.
I’m sure it won’t be long before AY opponents begin whining about this, too. It’s amusing to see how much their blogs are cross-referenced. If you read posts on one, you’ve read posts on all of them. At this point, ‘no land grab’ is little more than a link to the ‘atlantic yards report’.
Hey there,
I really like your site. My dad grew up in a Brooklyn brownstone and he’s taken me back to revisit his neighborhood. I added a link to your site on mine, I kindly request that you return the favor by linking my site, Bought A House, on yours. At least stop by and leave a comment some time!