Gehry Backtracks, Softens Plans for Yards
Lost in last week’s holiday shuffle was Frank Gehry’s revision and qualification of his plans for the Atlantic Yards project. According to Brooklyn Papers, the famous architect even went so far as to call his original renderings “horrible”. So what’s he doing to change the design? Basically, with Ratner’s blessing, he’s softening it: Replacing shiny…
Lost in last week’s holiday shuffle was Frank Gehry’s revision and qualification of his plans for the Atlantic Yards project. According to Brooklyn Papers, the famous architect even went so far as to call his original renderings “horrible”. So what’s he doing to change the design? Basically, with Ratner’s blessing, he’s softening it: Replacing shiny facades with brick and adding more green space to the mix. All this goes a long way toward explaining why both he a DDDB stalwart Patti Hagan are both grinning ear-to-ear in the photo above. Gehry promised to tour Prospect Heights with Hagan, despite what his boss on the project might think about who he’s consorting with.
Gehry: My Design Was “Horrible” [Brooklyn Papers]
And LBJ would never have been president if JFK hadn’t been shot…and so?
Tish won the first of those two elections only because of James Davis’s death. Once again, she lost when she ran against him prior to his murder. The second one she won because she was the incumbent. To say that you did not state that she won solely because of the AY is a cop-out. Technically, you are correct, but in reality you implied as much, and certainly meant it. You stated that the Atlantic Yards was THE issue (emphasis yours), and from there said that she wouldn’t have won if there was widespread support for the AY. That is the no different than saying that her victory is a sign that the opposition to AY is strong.
What’s the deal with criticizing anonymous posts? Would it make you feel better is I said my name was Bill or Bob? Either way, it would still be anonymous, and it wouldn’t change the gist of the debate.
Go ahead, try to refrain from getting the last word.
apparently you like the last word. i wasn’t saying everyone voted her because of her arena stance. and of course i understand the power of incumbency in this city and country. BUT if there is massive support for the project why didn’t that even make a dent in her victory margin?
so don’t set up a straw man, i didn’t say everyone voted for her because of her opposition. i made the point that she could not have done so overwhelmingly well if there was massive support for the ratner plan.
am I obsessed with this issue? absolutely. do i know how Tish has done so many great things in the district and is always available to her constituents? yes.
Tish has now won two elections, so I’m not sure how pertinent James Davis’ murder is to what we are discussing here.
and yes, i can’t stop posting if anonymous people are going to create straw men arguments.
Tish won because she was the incumbent, and very few incumbents ever lose their districts. Even if she had been for the arena, she still would have won. Your theory shows just how obsessed you are with this issue. Tish has done a lot of work with many different people in her district, and her constituents are a diverse group. To say that everyone voted her in for another term simply because of her opposition to the AY is absurd. Lastly, let us not forget that the only reason she’s in office today is because James Davis was killed. Prior to that, she had lost the race.
Really, Dan, I don’t believe that the above was your last post, because you have an overwhelming need to always have the last word.
ok. my last post on this thread. of course i didn’t ask Brownstoner not to pull any posts.
as for 400 vs. 3,000. the 3,000 was for a rally, 400 for a fundraiser. the kind of promotion and outreach you do for the two are completely different. try organizing two such things and you’ll see. as for money dwindling, we have a steady flow of community donations coming in which has only Grown each month, true we don’t have a sugar daddy like Bruce Ratner giving us 5 million dollars as he’s done with BUILD.
as i said, its fine for David and you anonymous poster(s) to think there is minimal opposition, it means you’re delusional, and unprepared for the fight we, the opposition are waging.
tell me something. would Tish James have won her district so resoundingly if a majority of people in her district didn’t like her position on the Ratner project? I mean seriously, if getting Ratnerville built had such a groundswell of support within the community how could its chief political opponent win with the second highest vote percentage difference in the city council? The Ratner project is THE issue in the district over the past 2 years and she wiped the floor with her pro-Ratner opponents. Explain that.
Trying to backpedal now, Dan? I think that you’ve been caught. Either way, I think that David conclusively beat you on this one. Besides, your 60K won’t go very far. People will not continue giving money at that level anyway. Just as the number of attendees dwindled from 3,000 in June 2004 to only 400 last month, your coffers will shrink accordingly.
correct, of course i didn’t ask Brownstoner to remove posts. even if i had i asked, why would he. and why would I post something and ask it to be removed. i was being sarcastic, which i realize doesn’t translate online.
david, actually i didn’t organize the walkathon. nor was my home a million dollars. nor did i buy it two years ago. “gentrifying,” if you’ve got a problem with gentrification why do you support Ratner’s project? if 5,100 luxury units in 3 square blocks is not gentrification I don’t know what is.
MLK? that is a joke too, right? you know who thinks that Bruce Ratner is RFK? Roger Green; and Roger Green thinks he’s MLK.
and david, do you really think i’m fighting this wretched project with so many Brooklynites for my ego? its the kind of thing someone says when they don’t have a good argument about the issues at hand.
no, i wasn’t saying 400 people is like a million man march. what i’m saying is that 400 is a very good sample of the amount of opposition. show me any other community-based protest in this city (no, not union protests) that brings out 3,000 people as we had in June 2004, or that brings out 400 people to a fundraiser and raises over 60k. David, its fine that you and Ratner and his allies want to underestimate the amount of opposition to the project. Your understimation gives us an advantage.
lastly, David, the abuse of the civil rights granted us in the Constitution, to me, is a serious matter. which most people around this country seem to be up in arms about, when asked. you’re not. that puts you in a minority with development firms, vested municipal interests, and BUILD.
Maybe Dan meant you were kidding to think that 1) he would have asked that those posts be removed and 2) that brownstoner would have done so just because he asked?
Kind of like if I said I asked Bruce Ratner to pack up his toys and go back to Cleveland and because I asked, he did…
I dont know what you think im kidding about Dan – you are clearly delusional as you want to believe a 400 person walk is the equivelant of some million-man march – I am quite sure this is b/c you organized this protest and it gives you a needed ego stroke; which is what I always suspected this whole thing was about for you since it never made any sense that you have made AY into some great civil rights mission and you are MLK – but we all know you moved into your {gentrifying) million dollar condo 2 yrs ago.
Brownstone removing posts (unless offensive or harrassive) really defeats the purpose of an open exchange – I am really disappointed, not simply b/c now it looks like Im debating with myself but by removing posts you are allowing the debate to be slanted ex post facto.
I commend you for your site but your actions destroy the purpose of even having a forum/msg posting feature and I think you should discontinue such practices or at least note that the post was removed by posters request.