PACB Gives Ratner What He Wants
After an Oscar-worthy head fake on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, along with the two other members of the Public Authorities Control Board, George Pataki and Joseph Bruno, gave the thumbs up to Bruce Ratner’s vision for Atlantic Yards. “I am pleased the developer is committed to addressing numerous community concerns through several specific actions…
After an Oscar-worthy head fake on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, along with the two other members of the Public Authorities Control Board, George Pataki and Joseph Bruno, gave the thumbs up to Bruce Ratner’s vision for Atlantic Yards. “I am pleased the developer is committed to addressing numerous community concerns through several specific actions that will result in significant neighborhood improvements,” said Silver. Last time we checked, traffic congestion, overcrowded schools and a surfeit of chain stores didn’t exactly qualify as improvements (though there were some last minute changes, including 200 more units of affordable housing and $3 million more for improvements to neighboring parks) but then again, pols who live upstate must have a better grasp of what’s better for Brooklyn than the four assembly members closest to the site. So where does this leave those who oppose the project? Eminent domain lawsuits, scale negotiations and a guy named Spitzer. From the beginning, the project has been a public-private partnership in which the public has not been represented, said Kent Barwick, president of the Municipal Art Society. The vote today reflected a process that simply did not allow New Yorkers to shape the project, and the result is a plan that will not work for Brooklyn.
State Approves Major Complex for Brooklyn [NY Times]
NY Board Approves Atlantic Yards Plan [Bloomberg]
The Nets Win! [NY Post]
Photo by f.trainer
“Please – people move to Brooklyn b/c they cant afford Manhattan!”
I second this statement. The only possible exceptions are the “celebrity” types who are choosing to live in Brooklyn so that they can build “street cred”.
There is so much hyperbole and misinformation here I dont really know what to say – but one thing that I think is amussing is that people move to Brooklyn b/c they dont want Manhattan. Please – people move to Brooklyn b/c they cant afford Manhattan!
Please identify the Brownstone owners who wouldnt gladly trade their Brownstone in Brooklyn for the same one on the Upper Eastside, Westside or Village, Gramercy whatever…. Please show me the 2-3br Condo/Coop owner who could afford the equivelant in their favorite Manhattan neighborhood as well as the parking and the schooling who simply chose Brooklyn b/c he/she liked it better.
Does anyone with any knowledge about real estate history have opinions on how this could affect property values in Clinton Hill?
Wow, I thought I was an angry person – this is some pretty intense dialogue.
The housing projects in Fort Greene were built back in an era when city planners actually had a say over size, and scale of projects. They are all set back from the street, not built very high up, and have thought out places for kids to play (playgrounds, basketball courts) and schools and police stations, fire houses, parking and greenways with benches. Atlantic Yards will offer its residents none of the ammenities that the housing projects offer in near by Fort Greene. So Bruce, dream on. There is no good reason why anybody would want to live in your high rises. Ha, ha. The joke is that your horror story will probably increase the prosperity in the other parts of Brooklyn as people will certainlly know the difference between your vision of the future and what they really want. Also it will be a boon to areas like Montclaire, and Morristown. People like space and air they can breathe. And when they flush their toilets they would rather not see their waste floating around in the canal behind the new Whole Foods on 3rd Ave.
The Politicians are all whores, from Pataki to Bloomberg to Markowitz and in a come-from-behind, winner-take-all, Silver.
I wouldn’t let Ratner build me an outhouse. Crap-ass huckster cinderblock developer. For all of you who think Ratner’s AY is a good thing, you are either hypnotized or on the take. I can’t wait for this “vision” to be realized. Kiss downtown Brooklyn and all it could’ve been goodbye. Welcome to bait & switch “Frank who?… oh he did the stadium, then we got someone else”… who could make the ceilings lower, the windows smaller, the bricks uglier, and the overwhelming feeling that the last place on earth you would want to be is in downtown Brooklyn.
Why don’t all of you supporters go hang out together on the second floor of the Atlantic Mall. You can marvel at the architectural vision, the blue dry wall corridors, the amazing planning and flow between stores, buildings and parking.. and then extrapolate it across 22 acres.
We are so fucked!
Here’s a hail mary for a a judge with the cajones to derail this corrupt stinky mess.
11:06, 10:57 here. One wo/man’s “shithole” (your word) is another’s home “close to the action” (for lack of a better phrase.) I still maintain that Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, and northwestern Park Slope will remain desirable, only now desirable to people who want to live closer to a certain type of urban vibrancy, as opposed to what makes them attractive now, especially since not all of those desirable features will be lost in the transition. My apologies if that doesn’t square with your (or my) opposition to the project.
Well said, anon 12:07. In the end, DDDB members care more about being right then being effective. That’s why ever last one of their efforts – elections, legal action, meetings, marches – have accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Their lawsuit will fare equally well.
12:07PM – anonymous — dude, you are so clearly working for Bruce. You want to talk about aggressive tactics? How about your penchant for paying off young children to wear ACORN shirts and threaten to rob and steal from residents in Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and Park Slope if AY isn’t built? How about the kids in Endeavor shirts threatening to spit on people against the project at a public hearing? How about lying about the whole scale and cost of the project consistently?
Anon 12:00pm — just be glad I deleted the paragraph railing against the Ratner mailings with happy African American families on them. I thought that would be overkill.