Ward's Bakery: The Calm Before the Storm
There were more protesters and members of the media than construction workers on site this morning at Ward’s Bakery. The Hagan sisters were there with their signs and Norman Oder with his camera. Meanwhile, the only instrument of destruction onsite was this Keyspan backhoe. Bulldozers for Ward’s Bakery [Brownstoner]
There were more protesters and members of the media than construction workers on site this morning at Ward’s Bakery. The Hagan sisters were there with their signs and Norman Oder with his camera. Meanwhile, the only instrument of destruction onsite was this Keyspan backhoe.
Bulldozers for Ward’s Bakery [Brownstoner]
“Have you ever tried to get on a train at the 2/3 platform at rush hour”
yup. do it every day. never had a problem.
ok David, how about this. You don’t like the density facts?thats fine.
lets be more blunt: this is the biggest turd Frank Gehry has dared to squeeze out onto planet earth. Yup , its a Frank Gehry turd! Sculpted by Bruce Ratner. and those are some facts you simply cannot deny!
1. I am simply saying, expeciting the transit upgrades to be in place or even budgected prior to the development of the housing/commerical/entertainment is not realistic.
2.Land use laws = zoning are fine; having every development go through a land use “REVIEW” process is simply a recipe for stalling and destroying all development.
3. They have not been ignored, some of the suggestions (even the dumb ones like limiting buildings to some arbitrary height b/c no one build anything tall since 1928) have been taken and others havent; interestingly, none of the so called ‘opposition’ has endorsed anything short of a project that would have no arena, no ED and no buildings taller then mid-size. Doesnt exacly give the developer much political incentive to compromise, since he’ll still face the same lawsuits, the same opposition and the same personal attacks.
4. I am sure FCRC has tons of money, however no one has better access to the media and the public then elected officials- who are voted in by us. If you choose not to vote then don’t bitch about it later. Clearly oppossing AY was not a major ‘vote getter’ and interestingly, it isnt a major priority for the majority of local and regional poiliticians.
5. One website does not makeup the ‘opposition.’ – I am not saying that reasonable concerns dont exist, only that the people who are actively oppossing AY are taking an all-or-nothing (see item 3) approach, and right now it looks like they are going to get nothing
It’s hilarious how few people attend these protests! Looking closely, it seems that there are no more than 7 or 8 people. I’d be shocked if there was a community organizing movement that has been as utterly ineffective as this one. Really, theirs should be a textbook case on how NOT to protest. They have not elected any politicians, won any court battles, or convinced a critical mass of citizens to join them. Totally pathetic.
I think there is only one way to stop these whiny Ivy League graduates – we need to bull doze every ivy league university in the country. I mean, the endless desire of these fools to control our lives in RELENTLESS. How many wretched politicians and parasitic lawyers have come from these schools? When they decide to follow the path of the usurer and money lender, they steal millions from the people then try and tell US we can’t have affordable housing!
Does any common man oppose the Atlantic Yards development? No – it is the same elites who time and again make our lives difficult.
It is time to destroy this oppressive hierarchy that afflicts our dying civilization. After the AY it’s time to eminent domain all the Ivy League universities. Let’s build a massive tower from the ground to the heavens – a tribute to the affordable housing these usurers and parasites don’t understand. Any man who can’t afford to buy a house can live for free on the land that once educated these self righteous thieves.
David,
1. There’s no such thing as transit oriented planning and development? But isn’t this the exact opposite of what you’ve been arguing up thread? That we should have increased density and, I assume, increased investment in public transit? Isn’t that planning? I really don’t follow you here.
2. Land use review is just a stalling mechanism? Now you are really being silly. Land use laws have everything to do with what our urban environment looks like. I thought exactly what you were advocating above was “reasonable balance” at AY. How do we get that without some kind of review process?
3. All local elected officials and all community boards in and around AY have asked for major modifications in the project, but have been ignored.
4. That FCRC has a lot more money to spend on getting their way than AY opponents do — how does this indicate what the electorate wants??? Doesn’t it just indicate who has more money? Are you actually think that having the power to determine what the City looks like should be solely a function of how much money one has?
5. Opponents have put forth tangible goals based on reasonable concerns. I refer you to the Brooklyn Speaks website. These tangible goals and reasonable concerns actually have a lot of community support. The problem is — the people who hold the reins here are not listening. See Item #3 above.
Land-use review is simply a stalling mechanism and way to get nothing built – there is no such thing as a ‘transit-oriented’ plan – all this is pie-in-the-sky gobblyegook.
The community has a say by electing their representatives and then pressuring their representitives to do their bidding. We don’t live in Switzerland, we dont (and shouldnt) have some sort of referrendum on everything. Clearly recent elections, low protest turnout and the dirth of $ in opponents coffers indicate that the electorate (both in the immediate vicinity and the wider NYC are) either supports AY or dont care enough to really oppose it – and so the people HAVE spoken.
However, if opponents put forth tangible goals, based on reasonable concerns, it is possible that certain negatives could be minimized by creating a groundswell of support around these goals(similar to how Park Slope Neighbors got Commerce Bank to eliminate a drive-thru – by ignoring certain ‘frige’ people who opposed a bank altogether).
LET’S GO NETS!!!!
David,
If you want a transit oriented development project, then that has to be part of the planning process. AY was done completely backwards. First there was the developer-driven plan, and then there was a process to justify that plan. You are right that politicians are beholden to short term interest. That’s why we have processes like land use review processes, to keep government officials at least half-way honest.
You have said before that AY opponents have refused to try to come up with a reasonable balance about development in Prospect Heights. But the problem is that the public as a whole has been blocked from having any voice in this thing. The way the process has gone forward, we haven’t been in the position to come up with anything.
So if you’re looking for “reasonable balance,” you’d have to start with a deformed political process that kept the public out in the first place. To point the finger at AY opponents is really to have blinders on about who actually holds all the cards and has all the power.
And as for paid shills, well, do you really believe that FCRC doesn’t pay someone to monitor blogs and post comments? It’s wrong to assume that every AY supporter is on the payroll, but it seems quite naive to assume that FCRC isn’t using every available medium to advance its cause.