Local Pols Want to See Ratner's Shrinkage
The Daily News reported this weekend that a group of six local politicians wants to cut back the size of the Atlantic Yards project by about a third. Led by Assemblyman James Brennan (D-Brooklyn) Assemblyman Roger Green (who’s been a big supporter of the project thus far) are introducing a bill that would reduce the…
The Daily News reported this weekend that a group of six local politicians wants to cut back the size of the Atlantic Yards project by about a third. Led by Assemblyman James Brennan (D-Brooklyn) Assemblyman Roger Green (who’s been a big supporter of the project thus far) are introducing a bill that would reduce the project to 6 million square feet. In exchange for the 3 million-square-foot reduction, they’re offering to cut the amount Ratner has to pay to the MTA from $450 million to $140 million; in addition, under the proposal, the state would subsidize the 2,000 affordable apartments that have been proposed–the logic being that therefore Ratner wouldn’t have to build as much to clear a profit.
Pols Try Cutting Ratner’s Yards by a Third [NY Daily News]
I’m not Patti Hagan, just one of the many other Brooklynites who could give a damn about the Nets (NBA championship- muhahahaha) and who don’t believe in selling out. I guess you’re willing to have Gehry’s awful design built just so you can go see the Nets? You can’t get shallower than that. BTW, “pompous, elitist, sport crazed “- wouldn’t be proud of it if I were you.
Whatever Patti Hagan! Crawl back into your little self-righteous hole and allow us pompous, elitist, sport crazed men to have our little fun! In five years, I hope to be one of perhaps 1 million Brooklynites celebrating the Brooklyn Nets first NBA Championship along Flatbush Avenue!
And you Brownbomber, sound like a petulant, immature little brat. I’m glad you know the difference between a statium and an arena- it’s wonderful that you’ve learned something in your lifetime. Probably the same place you learned to suck up to people with money. As far as DDDB, it seems to me you’re much closer to that philosophy of the “common folk nimbyism” than they are. After all, aren’t you the big bucks elitist who wants downtown Brooklyn to be upgraded so the likes of you have someplace to shop? And have you not noticed how the design will accomplish exactly what you accuse DDDB of wanting- keeping out the “common folk?”
I may be a retard about arenas and stadiums, but at least I’m not an egotistical, moneygrubbing Ratner suck-up.
BrownBomber, I’m interested in where you get your data that “the majority of Brooklyn residents want their own sports franchise and thus willingly aprove of AY.” I can see that you are an ardent sports fan, Bklyn booster, and you know the difference between an area and a stadium, but I think you are projecting your own opinion on the rest of Brooklyn. Most of the people I speak to in the borough, and I speak to quite a few in the course of my job, don’t care one way or another. The poorer people know they aren’t going to be going to games: too expensive. Most of the women I talk to of any income group don’t care either. That really only leaves a dedicated group of people, mostly men, largely upper income. Hardly “a majority”. I think there is an opinion poll out that basically backs that up as well.
Whether stadium, arena, or the Circus Maximus, I doubt the average Brooklynite will be visiting this Fortress of Solitude looking piece of industrial violence. The sports edifice is only an excuse for the rest of the AY development.
Enough already! Stop calling it a freak’n STADIUM. You sound like a damn retard. It’s an ARENA. Basketball and hockey are played in arenas. They hold approximately 20k fans. Football, baseball and soccer are played in STADIUMS which hold any where from 65k to 110k spectators. Do you not know the difference between an ARENA and a STADIUM? Attempts to demonize the development project by referring to the basketball venue as stadium (invokes images of massive crowds, traffic and congestion) is so transparent. DDDB is against the arena PRIMARILY BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT “COMMON FOLKS” TRAVELING THROUGH THEIR NEWLY MINTED GENTRIFIED NEIGHBORHOODS FOR WORK OR ENTERTAINMENT. No one is buying DDDB’s garbage. The entire population of Brooklyn knows that without the arena there will be no Brooklyn Nets. The majority of Brooklyn residents want their own sport franchise and thus willingly approve of AY. DDDB support is thin because you guys cannot comprehend this simple fact. Anon, if you don’t want to live near an arena then simply move (displacement is a fact of life). I guarantee there will be a horde of potential buyers willing to relieve you of your burden.
I am most certainly not knocking construction and union jobs. Let’s not put words in people’s mouths, shall we? But in comparison to the type and quality of jobs that will be generated by the complex, well there has been plenty of reports. Read them yourself. And yes, I do consider unemployment the ultimate dead end job, but unless you’ve ever worked a dead end, crappy, depressing job for minimum wage just to make ends meet, I hardly think you’re an expert on what decent as opposed to dead end means. I object to you and the other pro-AYers who don’t give a rat’s ass for anything but a stadium (please, lets not talk about subway efficiency again or the future of Brooklyn), complain about the DDDB (you put words in their mouths too) and use “job creation” purely as a carrot. My first concern is not the unions, but the residents who live and work in the area and are being told how good this will be for them. Great PR, the reality is another thing.
Anon @ 11:43 do you have any statistics to backup your “dead end job” comment or did you just make it up.
and now your knocking Union construction jobs too, which if there is no construction does not have “good pay” and “excellent benefits”
BTW – There is no more ‘dead end job’ than unemployment
ltjbukem- you are joking right? Was that your best shot at a valid argument?
http://ltjbukem.blogspot.com/2006/05/similar-views-or-not.html