Yards Scale-Back: Token or Meaningful Move?
Big news on Atlantic Yards on Friday. First, Ratner announced that he was axing 440 market-rate condominiums for a total of 475,000 square feet. According to James P. Stuckey, the new plan “allows for more open space, narrows the scale of the buildings and reduces overall bulk and density, but it also gives us the…
Big news on Atlantic Yards on Friday. First, Ratner announced that he was axing 440 market-rate condominiums for a total of 475,000 square feet. According to James P. Stuckey, the new plan “allows for more open space, narrows the scale of the buildings and reduces overall bulk and density, but it also gives us the flexibility to maintain our commitment to affordable housing.” While the overall number of floors would shrink, some buildings would be even taller than originally planned. (Hmmmm.) Separately, the Empire State Development Corporation said it would expand the main geographic area under study and increase the number of intersections where the traffic impact will be examined. Marty says he’s “delighted” by the changes but not so Dan Goldstein: “The whole thing is still bigger than it was when it was announced.”
Arena Complex Shrink by 5% [NY Times]
Final Scope Document [DDDB]
Okay, scratch the transit strike example Jimmy, because that seems to be only thing that you can take away from these postings. Talk about being tunnelled-vision.
Okay, now that the transit strike arguments are gone…what exactly are your other points? I take it that you’re pro AY. How do you propose addressing the transit problems that will occur as a result of AY.
David, I actually think trolley cars are a better solution than buses because they have dedicated rails that only idiots would think of driving on. Buses compete with other vehicles (even if they’re bus only lanes…people end up ignoring that most of the time). Trolleys with shorter routes would be a better solution because they can carry more people to and from AY.
Anon at 3:44,
Why should the fact that it was difficult to get around Brooklyn during the strike have ANYTHING at all to do with whether the AY project should get built? It is a little like saying that high rise buildings are a bad idea because elevators don’t work during a power outage. It might be true that we would all be better off living on the 1st or 2nd floor during a power outage, but that is not practical? It is just another throw-away argument by the Anti-Ratner people.
Ive taken buses my whole life…
Street cars/trollys are just buses with a dedicated lane (called a track) – when is the protest for the bus only lane??? How exciting, I cant wait I’ll be there!
Oh wait you dont want a bus only lane, because it will reduce available car lanes and then it will increase traffic; silly me I thought you were concerned about the enviroment.
Like you’ve ever taken the bus a day in your life, David. How ridiculous. I stopped doing buses years ago. Won’t make any difference anyway, because those buses are gonna c..r..a..w..l….. down Atlantic ave, flatbush and where ever else they’re going.
Now if you told me to take the street-car trolley, I would be elated.
Anon@4:54 meet the Bus; Bus meet Anon @4:54.
So that still begs the question, driver, what alternate routes will the ‘locals’ take in order to get to get from one nabe to the other. If people start avoiding flatbush and atlantic aves they will end up on the other aves (vanderbilt, washington, 4th ave, 5th,6th,7th aves, fulton street, myrtle ave, court st, clinton st, etc).
To the “silent majority”, opposition to AY is a case of classic NIMBY. Same thing happened when Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center, Brooklyn Bridge, etc. were built. Get over it folks. AY is a positive move in the right direction and it’s in the best long term interest of Brooklyn.
David, jps, etc, I think you’ve just made some new converts to the anti-Ratner, anti-AY team.
CrownHeightsProud,
You are completely, totally wrong. In a place like Downtown Bklyn where there is lots of mass transit, when roads become less accessible to cars, people don’t drive there. Traffic congestion goes away. London Transport did a big study of the phenomenon. Here are 70 case studies:
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/reading/disappearing-traffic/.