Learning to Oppose the Atlantic Yards Project
Even though he lives within a few blocks of where the Nets arena would be built if Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project gets the go-ahead, writer Chris Smith had been long in forming an opinion on the subject. Partly in denial and partly in the interest of maintaining some kind of journalistic neutrality, it was…
Even though he lives within a few blocks of where the Nets arena would be built if Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project gets the go-ahead, writer Chris Smith had been long in forming an opinion on the subject. Partly in denial and partly in the interest of maintaining some kind of journalistic neutrality, it was not until he jumped head-first into researching this article–and witnessing first hand Ratner’s “truly chilling” manipulation of the political process–that he found himself standing firmly in the opposition camp. It’s a long, personalized article with lots of color, but his Bertha Lewis encounter was arguably the most histrionic, providing the article’s money-shot of a race-baiting quote (equalled only by the class-baiting of Assemblyman Roger Green):
“You want to talk to me about traffic, you want to talk to me about density, you go right ahead,” she says, implying she considers it all a pretext. “Talk to me about what your resolution is to the resegregation of Brooklyn. Black and brown folks have been driven out of central Brooklyn!” Lewis ladles on the “street” theatrics as she warms up, shimmying in her chair and dropping her g’s. “We’re looking at the gentrification—I don’t see a lot of black and brown folks in the wave runnin’ up in here! The overwhelming folks who are opposed are white people and wealthier people and more secure people and people who just arrived. Come on! This is about the power dynamic of who in fact is going to be living in Downtown and central Brooklyn and where the power Âreally is going to be. And we’re down to get it on! We’re tired of being pushed out. If we can stop one iota of gentrification, we’re gonna do it!“
For what, 900 apartments for the $35K-and-under set? What about all the people who will be waiting longer on crowded subway platforms and whose children will see their public school class sizes balloon? Certainly many of them will be “black and brown,” no?
Battle for the Soul of Brooklyn [New York Magazine]
NY Mag Weighs in on Atlantic Yards Saga [Brooklyn Record]
There seems to be a alot of conflation here.
Arena traffic.
Let’s be clear. We’re talking about maybe 5,000 incremental cars 75-100 nights per year. To put that in perspective, there are something like 70,000 cars that cross into lower manhattan over the 4 east river crossings during rush hour. Adding 5,000 cars at the end of the Brooklyn-bound rush hour isn’t going to be that drastic.
Even if there is an impact on traffic, as others have mentioned, this is self correcting. More traffic delays really do lead to fewer cars.
Schools.
This is only really an elementary school issue. NYC junior high and high schools are not strictly districted. I see the new residents generating a single school of new pupils at most. This seems pretty manageable. These new residents are paying taxes and the Board of Ed should make sure there are enough resources. There are big swings in population around the city all the time. This is a B of E problem, not a development problem.
Subway traffic.
There are 4-5 subway stations and 5 distinct lines that will serve the residents of AY. Atlantic/Pacific, Bergen, 7th Ave, Lafayette and Clinton-Washington. Once again, the new residents pay taxes and fares, so the MTA can add train cars if necessary.
Let’s all be honest. This isn’t about race, economics or democracy. This is about stuff like “context,” “scale,” “character” and “shadows.” (Should I really care that your $2-million brownstone is going to get less light?) These objections are way too ill-defined and impossibly subjective. The current residents don’t want to share their piece of heaven with new (and more) people.
There is a way to stop development. Get state legislation passed. I don’t see any bills.
a quick note on the word “ghetto” – while I agree that it’s loaded, I think at this point, to many people, it has come to mean a stretch of unattended poverty, dismal conditions, or just simply ugly. I have heard it used by blacks and whites in reference to not only real estate, but also clothing, or watches, etc…I don’t like it any more than you do, but then again, I didn’t really like soup nazi either – that’s pretty loaded too…
Exactly, trudylou. Also, when you get out of an event at 11 at night, most people who have cars would rather drive home, rather than stand on the platform and wait for one or more trains. I know I would, and I don’t even have a car. In fact, those are the few times I really wish I had one. Who doesn’t want to retreat from the public chaos into their own private vehicle, put on their music of choice and head directly home, without having to drop half a million people off in between?
It’s unrealistic to think that people will automatically stop driving just because it will be crowded. If that were so, the LIE and the BQE would be more like the Autobahn, not parking lots.
The problem with that, OE-from-WT, is that it isn’t always possible for kids to go to the school of their choice. Too many kids and not enough good quality schools.
CHP – I see your point. I’m just figuring that if there were a school like that in FG or PH, for example, enough people would do whatever they can to avoid it, and it would no longer be overcrowded. That won’t make the school any better, though, because it’s usually the kids who need the most help who are most likely to stay in a bad school.
Lots of people drive to Knicks games and will drive to Nets games. I can’t find the percentage, but I think it is higher than us city dwellers would expect. Despite being near all these transportation lines, a whole lot of people are frightened of public transportation at night when the games would end or it isn’t that convenient for them.
OE-from WT- you must be a cock-eyed optimist. If it were true that people being stuck in traffic for hours makes them take mass transportation, then the LIE wouldn’t be the parking lot it is twice a day. And as for your observation that the more crowded a school the better it is- my jaw hit the floor. I have no idea how you came to that conclusion, but you need a reality check, bad. And I am also a product of NYC Public Schools- and I got a great education.
As for the “mahattanization” of Brooklyn- it will happen- AY is just the first wave. Drunk fans are just another issue on top of all the rest. By the way you must not be keeping up with this topic because you would know that misbehaving drunk people on Smith St. is not considered ok with anyone. (Or as CHP said- delusional).
I can understand if you support the AY project- that’s your perogative. But I certainly get suspicious about someone who willfully denies the impact that most experts see happening. You either consider yourself more intelligent and far-sighted than the experts, or you simply do not comprehend the impact the AY will have on the area.
Misspriss- I know I might be overly sensitive to race issues, but I somehow got the feeling he was saying the old “give them the Roman circus” thing to keep em down. But then I also found Clintonhillhomeowner’s use of the word “ghetto” several times also obnoxious. Only a truly ignorant New Yorker would use a loaded code word like that, rather than simply saying it’ll be nice of the streets were busier at night or some such.
I live right near the proposed project, own a car, and I do not drive it here in the city (aside from going on trips or using it for a large purchasing/moving purposes). I do this because keeping a car in the city, even in brooklyn, is too much of a hassle and to be perfectly honest, bad for the community, environment and my wallet. I keep my car at my parents house upstate. Ive lived in FG and now PH for 13 years and my friends with families seem to get by without the use of a car. Perhaps the people moving into these residencies will have cars but not all of them will and the people who are going to basket ball games mostly would not be driving. Nobody drives to Knicks games, having 5 trains that run to the garden… no one would drive to Nets games in BK, having something like 15 subway lines and the LIRR. Its faster, cheaper and less of a hassle…
Basically I feel the traffic issue is kind of BS.
OE, it seems to me you are picturing a full classroom of eager, well behaved kids sitting at their desks looking up to the front of their classroom at an enthusiastic teacher, who is engaged in some kind of innovative teaching method which has the kids totally enthralled. Very nice.
More often than not, however, that will not be the case here in Brooklyn. Instead you will have an overcrowded room with not enough desks, with kids who want to learn, mixed with kids on medication, and kids who didn’t have anything to eat since yesterday. The teacher will have to try to maintain discipline while trying to teach. If the teacher is lucky, he/she will have a para in the room whose sole job is to help discipline the kids. More than likely, the teacher is paying for any supplies out of his/her pocket, and more kids mean more expense. Heaven help the teacher who has a couple of kids with serious discipline or attitude problems, because those kids will get the attention, not bright little Johnny or Susie, who causes no problems.
Larger classrooms cause nothing but larger problems. Nothing is in a vacuum. The problems in schools are a reflection of the problems in society. A public school is going to reflect the community around it, good and bad. The schools that the AY kids would conceivably go to are already in need of a lot of attention, funding and renewal. Another couple thousand kids will strain an already strained to the bursting system to the breaking point. No one – white or black, middleclass or not wants their children to be a part of that particular social experiment.