Weinstein Boots Boymelgreen from Pacific St.

Wow, BG. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Maybe you’ll have to take up the mantle of “Mad Overkiller” if/when Norman has to hang up his keyboard (which hopefully won’t be anytime soon).

Again, so many are trashing Daniel Goldstein about his $3M settlement after 6+ years of hell and when he had no other options left, but where’s the outrage about Ratner and the ESDC when Ratner is getting hundreds of millions of our taxes and 22 acres in central Brooklyn, and using shady dealings like this to do it?

***Rant Warning–Proceed with Caution!***

Could someone please point out how disgusting it was that FCR used this large building and the land it sits on as part of their disinformation campaign?

Sigh…Okay! I’LL do it…

They got Mr. SoylentGreen to cut a questionable (I guess we can now call it “illegal”, no?) deal for a hefty profit so they could claim/give the impression they controlled a larger percentage of the ‘footprint’ than in reality. People need to realize that the Vanderbilt Yards given over for pennies a square foot per year to FCR by (public entity) the MTA is not the majority of surface area of the proposed “project”. FCR needed to claim control over a lot of the private property to get things “moving” and also give the City cover to demap streets. Mr. Weinstein’s building and SoylentGreen deal with FCR played a bigger role in the campaign than most people realize.

They never had control of the land–it’s rather shocking they blank-facedly explained they were ripping down the building as part of the large complex of taller apartment buildings going in. I was shocked when I first learned that they did NOT own this building or have an agreement with the owner.

“Hi, I’m the sub-tenant…nice to meet you finally…we really love this apartment and the location is just super…we can really understand why you decided to rent it instead of selling this place!…hey, you never know–you may want to move back here…Um, yeah…Anyway, I hope you don’t mind but we’re going to rip out a couple of walls, move the bathroom, cause major headaches for your neighbors and show you poorly rendered artsy, and deceptive versions of the ever-changing design as an after-thought now and again when we’re forced to. Oh, we forgot to add, you’re paying for this more or less and the courts will end up giving us ownership for a low price when they take your property anyway so just cool your jets.”

The assumption in all plans, proposals and documentation put forward that FCR had the right to and would demolish this building gave a false sense of synergy, control and power. It helped create a false reality that gave certain public “officials” something to hide behind. Tissue of lies.

In the end, the whole thing simply got strong-armed through, no? Injustice across the board, a shockingly raw deal for the public purse and the community. Gee, I wonder how much that deal FCR made with ACORN will impact the affordability issue…a laugh.

Look, it’s already starting, the mess. They’ve closed lanes on Atlantic which is a major thoroughfare, there are traffic jams at off hours now, and traffic, particular illegal thru-truck traffic, is ploughing through neighborhoods, landmark districts…more noise and pollution starting earlier in the morning and lasting later into the evening. Heavier volume already. Of course, there’s no money any more out there, on the one hand, and because of the FCR-favored nation status, the City will likely never really do any traffic studies from here on in so it’ll just end up being an apparent ephemeral issue that is never accounted for but takes its toll on the community that remains silent or unaware.

Pet Peeve Alert:

I want the Carlton Avenue Bridge back and lickety split. They gave a false estimate on how long the bridge would be missing once they ripped it down.

And…

Who’s paying for all the cops all over the place on Sixth, Flatbush, Atlantic Avenues and Pacific Street? Is the PUBLIC paying for this? Are they mostly traffic cops? I wonder…I saw one officer less interested in public safety and traffic control and more focused on his efforts at dragging along the sidewalk and then stashing away a nice piece of furniture that I assumed an eminent-domained tenant had had to put out on the curb when he or she was forced out.

And FCR still doesn’t actually control Mr. Weinstein’s building…maybe they do by corrupt proxy, yes. Shame on them all. Would things be the way they are now if Mr. Weinstein could have had SolyentGreen out of the building a long time ago for breech of contract and installed businesses and other renters?

I personally think it’s a gorgeous industrial building that was renovated beautifully. I would hate to see it torn down so some cruddy, low quality FCR dumbed-down building can go up…and NOW it looks like we might get YEARS of ACRES of parking lots where buildings once stood. Maybe they’ll stick in one of their “holding buildings” like the PC Richards and twin crud on Flatbush…a middle finger to the neighborhood, disposable cinderblock, worse-than-strip-mall buildings as space holders with blank walls facing out like warehouses at arguably the biggest intersection in Brooklyn.

Look, they were obviously supposed to be “temporary”. When the whole “Atlantic Yards” project came out, it turned out it was something in the works BEFORE the PC Richards and its twin were ever built (over a decade ago). This lot was to be Tower 5, no? And now with the credit crunch I hear Tower 5 has mysteriously vanished from the plans FCR shows. So the low, cinderblock buildings that have been there for well over a decade, that we’ve had to live with may be there for ages. Couldn’t we have something decent built? Or just rip down the cruddy cinderblock one-story stores and turn it back into a garden?

Money talks. Corruption is king.

love that shot…