George Will on Atlantic Yard's 'Cognitive Dissonance'
“The Atlantic Yards site, where 10 subway lines and one railway line converge, is the center of the bustling Prospect Heights neighborhood of mostly small businesses and middle-class residences. Its energy and gentrification are reasons why 22 acres of this area — the World Trade Center site is only 16 acres — are coveted by…
“The Atlantic Yards site, where 10 subway lines and one railway line converge, is the center of the bustling Prospect Heights neighborhood of mostly small businesses and middle-class residences. Its energy and gentrification are reasons why 22 acres of this area — the World Trade Center site is only 16 acres — are coveted by Bruce Ratner, a politically connected developer collaborating with the avaricious city and state governments. To seize the acres for Ratner’s use, government must claim that the area — which is desirable because it is vibrant — is “blighted.” The cognitive dissonance would embarrass Ratner and his collaborating politicians, had their cupidity not extinguished their sense of the absurd.” — George Will in The Washington Post
A unique opportunity to link four great neighborhoods and revolutionize the character of Brooklyn has been utterly wasted. Google “Melrose Arch, Johannesburg†for an example of how city planning, tax dollars and civic pride could have been far better utilized on these 20+ acres. I’m so sick of the smug attitude that anyone who is anti-AY is anti-development. This sight had so much potential to bring NYC back to the forefront of urbanism. Instead, we got a shitty deal. Period. There is some comfort from this back room boondoggle-mockery of “progress.†A stadium and parking lot are the perfect place holders, that can be easily be taken down, when this city finally gets its mind together, and builds something truly remarkable and fitting for a revitalized Brooklyn.
I see the spittle-flecked demagogues have come out of the woodwork. (Donatella, Brenda- you guys called it!).
Before Ratner decided to show everyone how big his dick is, this was a bustling neighborhood. Goldstein’s building was a prime example of how it was an up and coming neighborhood, for all the reasons Will elucidates that made it so attractive to Ratner. And what Ratner did was systematically set about destroying the evolution of a neighborhood. Of course it’s blighted- he made sure of it. I’m always shocked when I agree with George Will. Not so surprised to see how the conservatives here now disown him because he doesn’t toe their party line.
There were alternatives- Extell offered both more money and a better plan. Yet Ratner gets the rights. Only by backroom deals and spurious maneuvering by politicians and ESDC. Sorry but I don’t see the reason for rewarding Ratner for offering so little in return for so much public funding. Remember that the next time some of you complain about subsidized housing.
thanks northsloperenter, that’s a cogent argument. I’ve noticed desolation but wasn’t sure if it was pre-existing or a result of the ED so far
that’ what i thought. you argue out of both sides of your mouth, you’re full of it. if you say that middle class income is something less than $600,000 homes, than you have argued, without a doubt, in light of the “economic reality” than the AY area is at certainly a middle class neighborhood at least, and “the reality in this country” would be that virtually anywhere could be suject to ED
“the neighborhood is bustling, no matter what you called it.”
Prospect Heights may be bustling, but Atlantic Yards is a pit.
Atlantic Yards is not really part of Prospect Heights. It’s in no man’s land between between Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Boerum Hill, and Fort Greene.
Some of the development is spilling out into the nearby neighborhoods, but much of the area between Flatbush and Atlantic and between 4th Avenue and 6th Avenue is pretty awful (esp. the stretch along pacific all the way to vanderbilt).
and i’m even more interested to hear why an upper class individual would choose to purchase a home in blighted neighborhood as his primary residence
frsg you haven’t tried to explain middle class to me. I’d love to hear your criteria- go ahead.
blowfish – you have serious reading comprehension problems and clearly have no idea of the true economic reality in this country and city… (maybe the two are related)
If someone cares to explain how to read or what middle class means to blowfish please feel free…I give up
fsrg, again, i said the name of the neighborhood is irrelevent. the neighborhood is bustling, no matter what you called it. I have many a middle class friends there. And since when does purchasing a $600,000 condo in NYC at the age of 33 make you upper class? That is really interesting. That’s great news, to find out I’m upper class, when I live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t give a flying f that one guy also has a trust fund, its weak to put that forth as evidence that Will’s whole article can be thrown out.