Rally Round the Mega-Project
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and AY Report bring word of a rally Forest City Ratner is organizing at Borough Hall this Thursday afternoon to demonstrate support for Atlantic Yards. The event is called “Brooklyn Day,” and, as AY Report writes, it suggests FCR isn’t considering Atlantic Yards a “done deal.” The poster for Brooklyn Day…
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and AY Report bring word of a rally Forest City Ratner is organizing at Borough Hall this Thursday afternoon to demonstrate support for Atlantic Yards. The event is called “Brooklyn Day,” and, as AY Report writes, it suggests FCR isn’t considering Atlantic Yards a “done deal.” The poster for Brooklyn Day says it’s being held in honor of “Brooklyn’s renaissance; The progress of Atlantic Yards; Affordable housing, union jobs and community development; and The return of professional sports to the borough.” The event seems primarily pitched to construction workers (they got their own invitation separate from the poster above) and, aside from the promise of union jobs, the promo material emphasizes that AY will bring the Nets to Brooklyn. Per AY Report: “The rally poster suggests that the developer is de-emphasizing the promises of affordable housing—after all, the developer has 12+ years to build Phase 1, and no deadline for Phase 2—and returning to the old mantra of basketball. After all, the basketball motif dominates the poster and, at the top, ‘The Nets moving to Brooklyn!’ appears in larger type than ‘support the Atlantic Yards Project.’ Can the iconographic power of the flag and the Brooklyn Bridge nudge the stalled project forward?” Desperate times call for desperate rallies? It’ll be interesting to see how many legitimate supporters of Atlantic Yards the event draws and whether any anti-AY people show up for a counter-rally.
At Borough Hall on Thursday, Another FCR-Organized AY rally [AY Report]
Ratner Calls Rally In Support of…Ratner [DDDB]
The Cyclones count far more than the Nets and have done far more for Brooklyn. besides seeing as the Cyclones are baseball, not basketball, what’s your point anyway?
But back to the issue at hand- the AY area is a mess and I have no doubt that ratner will not do one-tenth of what he promised in terms of housing and parks. that Brooklyn Day poster sounds a little desperate and I think ratner is trying to take the pulse of what support he has.
Picking on the Trades is unfair- but on the other hand, too much business in the city is dependent on the finance and the construction industries. We can’t afford to be that narrowly focussed if we are to have a healthy economy. Just my opinion.
Legitimate opponents are those whose taxes are building this mess.
The anti-AY crowd, including the Brownstoner staff, are hilarious (“It’ll be interesting to see how many legitimate supporters of Atlantic Yards the event draws…”) WTF? Who are “legitimate supporters”. Anytime someone makes a positive comment about AY on this blog, the Anti-AY folks accuse you of working for Ratner….as if it’s inconceivable that (a) there are some folks who would prefer something other than a hole in the ground at Atlantic and Flatbush and (b) there are some folks who would love for us (Brooklyn) to have a professional sports team like every other fricken borough in NYC (and no, the Cyclones don’t count!)
Damn, I’m conflicted. I despise AY’s corporate welfare and eminent domain abuse as much as anyone, but if Darryl Dawkins is really visiting from Planet Lovetron to sign autographs, I might have to swallow my convictions and get him to autograph my basketball.
AY opponents will definitely show up, and I imagine they won’t be inconspicuous. But, how exactly does Gabby (or anyone else for that matter) plan to indentify “legitimate” supporters of Atlantic Yards from “illegitimate” supporters? I’d really like to know.
There are no new sewage pipes going in, what on earth are you talking about? And where are those supposed pipes going take all that crap? The Gowanus Canal?
for the person who had the comment about all the new pooh. the streets around the atlantic yards footprint are being dug up right now. I’m pretty sure it’s a lot of sewerage piping that is going in the ground. but yeah, I’m sure the gowanus canal could do with some help.
For the millionth time, if being paid means that one cannot be a “legitimate” supporter of the project, then Shabnam Merchant (Daniel Goldstein’s wife and DDDB employee), who is also paid to attend these events, cannot be considered a legitimate opponent.
AY “parks” are private parks! That means that, like MetroTech, there is a rent-a-cop in a car running 24/7 (all those emissions)in the middle of the “park” just in case someone tries something that FCR doesn’t like — like giving out flyers for a retaurant. Yes, a woman was arrested for just that last year at Metrotech. The parks will likely be availabel to the market-rate residents and difficult for anyone else to enter let alone use.