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March 19, 2004
Get in on ground floor, minorities, females told
NY Daily News
Plans to redevelop downtown Brooklyn and to build a basketball arena are far from final, but elected leaders are urging minority and female entrepreneurs to get ready to bid for contracts in case the plans go through.
UPDATE, 03/25/07: This article is no longer available on line.
Posted by lumi at 6:54 AM
March 18, 2004
A Resistance Mounts to Ratner's Brooklyn Project
NY News Network
by Maurize Pinzon
Brooklyn residents held a news conference today to announce their opposition to Bruce Ratner’s proposed development in Brooklyn, a project purportedly anchored by a basketball arena for the Nets.
Posted by lumi at 8:45 AM
Condemnation foes rally 'round ruling
Chicago Sun-Times
"I don't think they can take property from functional taxpaying property owners anymore and just turn it over to somebody wealthier and more powerful, so they can make more money and throw off more taxes" to government, he said. "I don't think condemnation on a flat-out economic basis exists anymore."
UPDATE, 3/18/07: This article is no longer available online.
Posted by lumi at 8:37 AM
My tiff with TIF: It's misleading
Saint Paul Pioneer Press
By Edward Lotterman
Economists, trained to look at costs and benefits to society as a whole from any policy or action, generally see TIF as, at best, a futile exercise that distorts market incentives and leaves society no better off.
article (login required)
Posted by lumi at 8:20 AM
Nets Developer Bruce Ratner Hoping For A Slam Dunk
NY1
By Michael Scotto
Ratner says his latest project could end up defining his legacy.
Posted by lumi at 8:18 AM
March 16, 2004
RENT WARS SUES BCAT OVER MARKOWITZ CONTROL
RentWars.com
Amano likened Markowitz' television excesses to the Brooklyn Borough President's efforts to take private land via Eminent Domain for Bruce Ratner's Nets Arena. "He won't stop. Once he had thirty minutes over the alloted time. Now he has 8 hours over. He's trying to take people's homes and now he's trying to take control of the airwaves."
Posted by lumi at 8:16 AM
March 13, 2004
Cruise Line Piers May Have As Much Impact as Downtown Plans
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Dennis Holt
For weeks now, people have been tossing and turning, publicly and privately, over two major plans for Downtown Brooklyn: the Downtown Brooklyn Plan; and the project advanced by developer Bruce Ratner and architect Frank Gehry known as the Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 7:58 AM
Hearing from the Ratner Side
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Henrik Krogius
While Forest City defends its plan for the office and housing blocks surrounding the planned Nets arena, the response suggests an openness to reasoned criticism. Perhaps some plan modification is not out of the question.
article (login required)
Posted by lumi at 7:48 AM
LANDMARK EFFORT
The Brooklyn Papers
By Deborah Kolben
Preservationists seek to save buildings threatened by Nets arena and Downtown Brooklyn condemnations.
Posted by lumi at 7:39 AM
Ratner: Arena deal with state, MTA near
The Brooklyn Papers
By Deborah Kolben
Forest City Ratner is close to an agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Empire State Development Corp. for development of the Atlantic Yards arena, office and housing development in Prospect Heights.
Posted by lumi at 7:08 AM
March 12, 2004
Sports projects underachieving
Most sports facility-r.e. projects lag the hype; location, private players boost the successful few
Dallas Business Journal
By Don Muret, Bill King
The sports projects that have come together most quickly have been integrated into communities rather than dropped into the middle of them and expected to swim on their own.
Posted by lumi at 8:04 AM
N.J. Cardinals are the good guys in sports
The Bergen Record
By columnist Jeffrey Page
A story in The Record hinted that Bruce Ratner might be having trouble lining up investors to buy the Nets and take them to Brooklyn.
How delightful.
Posted by lumi at 8:00 AM
March 11, 2004
Bloomberg lets our cruise lines sail away
NY Newsday
A true picture of the cost of the Bloomberg administration's fixation on building stadiums is emerging.
UPDATE, 03/10/07: This article is no longer available online.
Posted by lumi at 11:05 AM
New Jersey Nets' Owner 'Confident' in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sale of NBA Team
Bergen Record, via Miami Herald By John Brenna
The sale of the Nets to Brooklyn real estate investor Bruce Ratner remains on track to be concluded within the next few months, said the president of the group that agreed to sell the team to Ratner in January for $300 million.
UPDATE, 03/10/07: This article is no longer available online.
Posted by lumi at 10:56 AM
Forest City Reports Results for Year Ended January 31, 2004
From FCRC Press Release:
Also in the fourth quarter, Forest City announced plans for Brooklyn Atlantic Yards, a large mixed-use project in downtown Brooklyn whose main attraction is expected to be a new 800,000-square-foot arena for the Nets NBA basketball team. Forest City will have a minority interest in the Nets and the arena, which will serve as a catalyst for this long-term development project. Brooklyn Atlantic Yards is expected to include as much as 2.1 million square feet of commercial office space, 300,000 square feet of retail space and approximately 4,500 units of affordable, middle-income and market-rate housing.
Posted by lumi at 10:49 AM
Purchase of the Nets is called on track
The Newark Star -Ledger
"If the team comes back on the market, we would be interested in purchasing the team to keep it in New Jersey," Stadtmauer said.
UPDATE, 03/10/07: This article is no longer available online.
Posted by lumi at 10:44 AM
Losing bidder keeping close tabs on proposed Nets sale
AP, via NY Newsday
He lost out in the bidding to buy the New Jersey Nets, but developer Charles Kushner is keeping a close eye on Bruce Ratner as he raises the $300 million needed to buy the team, according to published reports.
UPDATE, 03/10/07: This article is no longer available online.
Posted by lumi at 10:31 AM
Sunday at Freddy’s: A Neighborhood Pulls Out the Stops
Brooklyn Rail
By Brian J. Carreira
Ever since Forest City Ratner’s January bombshell, community opposition has been mounting. More and more residents of this quiet neighborhood have been speaking out at Community Board meetings, committee meetings of the Borough President, on the web, and on the street in an attempt to make more people aware of the implications of the Atlantic Yards development.
Posted by lumi at 9:57 AM
He's down with plan Marty: It's 'urban America' model
NY Daily News
But despite addressing the important issues of housing, traffic, mass transit, parking, employment and displacement of residents, the development plan does not have the overwhelming approval of the community.
With its call for massive rezoning to allow for new high-rise office space, commercial development and more than 1,000 new units of housing, the plan is so hotly contested that a recent Community Board 2 vote on the issue ended with no decision.
UPDATE, 3/10/07: This article is no longer available at NY Daily News online.
Posted by lumi at 9:52 AM
March 10, 2004
HEVESI SLAMS TAX BREAKS
NY Post
In a scathing report on the state's Empire Zone economic development program, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said yesterday 47 percent of the businesses getting tax breaks created fewer jobs than they promised.
Posted by lumi at 11:08 AM
Arena Controversy Comes to Slope As Crowd Jeers Atlantic Yards Plan
Forest City, Gehry Reps Appear At Public Forum for First Time
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By John Doyle
The forum, she said, proves there is a strong and growing opposition to Ratner’s development plan. “It showed people are going to fight against this bypass of the democratic process and win.”
article (login required)
Posted by lumi at 9:56 AM
Jets Get Museum If City Gridiron Rises On 33rd St.
The NY Observer
"Trying to dress the stadium up in some fashion does not in any way obfuscate the real issue," said Gerald Schoenfeld, chairman of the Shubert Organization, which owns 17 of some 35 Broadway theaters. Mr. Schoenfeld and many theater owners have been among the stadium’s vocal opponents. "Is a stadium the right use in this part of New York? My answer is no," he said.
UPDATE, 3/10/07: This article is only available through The NY Observer subscription-only online archive. The full text appears after the jump in accordance with 'fair use' of the information as allowed under section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
Jets Get Museum If City Gridiron Rises On 33rd St.
The NY Observer
By Blair Golson
On the latest act of the mayor’s West Side development drama, the New York Jets are pursuing talks with several cultural institutions to build a museum and performing-arts theater at the base of their proposed stadium there, The Observer has learned.
According to team officials, the Jets are particularly interested in partnering with the Queens-based New York Hall of Science to create a "Science of Sport" museum.
"We’ve been considering for some time how to incorporate other community uses into the facility, and in the past few weeks we decided on a theater and a museum," said Matthew Higgins, vice president for strategic planning with the Jets.
Restaurant and retail space will also be added to the eastern side of the stadium, in a bid to make the face of the stadium more friendly to neighbors who imagine a windswept canyon on non-game days.
Mr. Higgins’ comments, along with the team’s decision to add ground-level cultural space to the facility, come as the Jets are under fire from community groups, elected officials and business leaders, who claim that the proposed 75,000-seat stadium will discourage, rather than attract, street life on non-game days. The issue is critical because the Jets and the Bloomberg administration claim that the stadium will act as a catalyst for the redevelopment of the far West Side.
"Trying to dress the stadium up in some fashion does not in any way obfuscate the real issue," said Gerald Schoenfeld, chairman of the Shubert Organization, which owns 17 of some 35 Broadway theaters. Mr. Schoenfeld and many theater owners have been among the stadium’s vocal opponents. "Is a stadium the right use in this part of New York? My answer is no," he said.
The proposed stadium is located on a stretch of M.T.A.-owned railyards from 30th to 33rd streets, between 11th Avenue and the Hudson River. The museum and theater will be located on the western, waterfront side of the facility. Mr. Higgins said the museum would probably be around 10,000 to 15,000 square feet, and the theater would have 199 seats. He also said the eastern side of the stadium, along 11th Avenue, would contain between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet of ground-level retail or restaurants.
Officially called the New York Sports and Convention Center, the stadium will double as expansion space for the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which lies one block to the north. In addition, the NYSCC would host the 2012 Olympic games in the case of a successful American bid. The Jets have pledged to pay $800 million for the construction of the stadium, and the city and state will contribute $600 million for a deck above the railyards at the site, in addition to a retractable roof and an air-conditioning system.
The NYSCC has emerged as the most contentious aspect of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to redevelop the Hudson Yards district. Jets and city officials estimate that the stadium will generate $75 million in economic benefits to the city, largely from tourists and visitors who attend the facility’s convention shows. But many critics argue that the stadium will prove a poor convention hall, and will generate far less revenue for the city than is being claimed. In December, the Jets dropped plans to construct the area in such a way that it could serve as an arena—to host events like medium-sized concerts—which fueled criticism that the stadium will prove even less of an economic boon to the city.
Bloomberg administration officials maintain that the stadium will prove a magnet for development and pedestrian traffic in the area. The Jets’ decision to add cultural and retail elements to the stadium is an attempt to buttress that claim.
"This is another way to get the message out that this facility is going to serve many uses beyond a stadium," said Mr. Higgins. "In fact, the majority of uses won’t be stadium-related."
At least at first glance, however, that argument doesn’t seem to have much traction among the local officials opposed to the stadium.
"This is just window-dressing," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who represents the area. "You can dress up a monstrosity, but it’s still a monstrosity."
The Jets’ decision drew praise, however, from the city’s tourism bureau, NYC and Company, whose president, Cristyne Nicholas, said that coupling the stadium with cultural offerings will help to make the far West Side a tourist destination. The Municipal Arts Society, one the city’s most respected urban-planning organizations—which has yet to take a formal position on the stadium in general—said that anything that encouraged street life around the facility would be a welcome addition.
Eric Siegel, director of planning and program development at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, said the Jets first contacted him about a week ago with the idea of opening a branch at the NYSCC.
"It looks like a very attractive space, and we could imagine a facility that would be about the science of sports that would fit their goal of making a community and visitor destination," said Mr. Siegel. "There’s a lot of great science in sports."
Mr. Siegel said the museum and the Jets are still in a very preliminary phase of their talks. At the earliest, the stadium wouldn’t open before 2009. (Incidentally, the Hall of Science is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park—the very site many activists are pushing as an alternative for the construction of the Olympic stadium.)
The Jets are also carving out between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet of retail space on the eastern side of the stadium. According to real-estate agents, that’s about enough room for a Pottery Barn and an Anne Klein Store. The theater the Jets are proposing will have 199 seats. That puts it in the league of a very small Off Broadway or community theater. Mr. Schoenfeld, of the Shubert Organization, said that such theaters can be difficult to sustain economically, as their small size prevents them from incorporating the infrastructure necessary to support multi-set performances.
Mr. Higgins didn’t dispute that claim, but pointed to the lack of performance space in the city to support the team’s choice.
"Community theater is an integral part of the theater industry in New York, and such space is in short supply," he said. "It’s unfortunate that Schoenfeld doesn’t see the need for it—but we do."
You may reach Blair Golson via email at: bgolson@observer.com.
This column ran on page 1 in the 3/15/2004 edition of The New York Observer.
Posted by lumi at 9:33 AM
Shining light on N.Y.'s Shadow Government
NY Daily News
New York has two governments: The familiar one that answers to the public every four years at election time, and another vast empire that operates in the bureaucratic shadowlands accountable to no one. This is the realm of the state's public authorities.
Posted by lumi at 9:27 AM
TROUBLE FOR NETS AS BEEP OKS NEW B'KLYN
NY Post
By Patrick Gallahue
Opponents of the arena have joined with those who stand to be displaced if the Downtown plan passes, launching a massive lobbying campaign against the idea.
UPDATE: This article is no longer available on NY Post online. The full text appears after the jump.
TROUBLE FOR NETS AS BEEP OKS NEW B'KLYN
By PATRICK GALLAHUE
March 10, 2004 -- The city's ambitious $100 million plan to build massive office and residential towers in Downtown Brooklyn got its first thumbs-up last night.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz approved the city's Downtown plan - but it's far from a sure thing.
The proposal has become embroiled in a related clash over a proposed arena for the NBA's Nets in neighboring Fort Greene - and this has led to new complications.
Developer Bruce Ratner bought the team and wants to bring them to Brooklyn.
Both plans involve using eminent domain - forcing owners of private property to sell out so government agencies can use the land - to clear out existing homes and businesses.
Opponents of the arena have joined with those who stand to be displaced if the Downtown plan passes, launching a massive lobbying campaign against the idea.
"The feeling is, these projects are tied together," said Heloise Gruneberg, president of Brooklyn Vision, one of the many groups founded to oppose both the Downtown and the arena plans.
"These plans impact one another," she added, stressing her group's major problems involve traffic concerns and eminent domain.
Markowitz - who also supports the arena - gave a thumbs-up to the Downtown plan.
But he set some conditions.
Among the changes he called for are:
Better subway service.
Residential permit parking.
A jitney loop connecting Downtown to ferries and public transit hubs.
He also raised the possibility of building a new subway tunnel to Manhattan.
Markowitz further suggested that corporate tenants in existing office buildings should give up some private parking spaces to city agencies, to reduce congestion.
Markowitz said he's happy with most aspects of the plan - which the city says will bring 8,000 construction jobs - and eventually 18,500 office jobs - to Downtown.
He expects local residents and businesses owned by minorities and women to be among the prime beneficiaries.
The plan, which was launched last year by city officials, would rezone swaths of Downtown Brooklyn to create an estimated 4.5 million square feet of office space and around 1,000 units of housing.
The proposal is intended to stem the flight of companies in need of affordable "back-office" space to New Jersey.
Markowitz has asked that 20 percent of the new housing be "affordable."
The crush of cars that the arena and the Downtown development project stand to attract has already prompted the city to undertake a new analysis of the traffic in the area.
The borough president's approval is the first favorable endorsement in the public review process. The local community board rejected the proposal last month.
Now the plan goes before the City Planning Commission. Should the commission pass it, the plan will go before the City Council.
The city plans to spend $100 million for several projects, including infrastructure improvements and transit upgrades.
Posted by lumi at 9:14 AM
March 9, 2004
Angry Tanenbaum quits over AGO's new design
Toronto Star
The move reveals a bitter feud over the gallery's plans for a $194 million transformation by revered architect Frank Gehry.
In a letter sent Friday to Matthew Teitelbaum, the gallery's CEO, Tanenbaum describes the Gehry project as "needless destruction" and "a blatant attempt to eradicate the recent history of the gallery."
UPDATE, 3/10/07: This article is only available through the Toronto Star online archive.
Posted by lumi at 9:45 AM
March 8, 2004
FCR Pushes for Arena Memorandum
From Crains New York Business:
Forest City Ratner hopes to sign a Memorandum of Understanding within the next month with State, City and MTA officials for its new sports arena complex in Downtown Brooklyn.
The Memorandum will outline the responsibilities of each entity, timetable, and the developer's access right to the Downtown Brooklyn Railyard. The developer is also trying to delay City Council hearings, one insider says, so that it is clear that the project will proceed under State rules. The Council's Economic Development Committee had planned hearings this month.
Posted by lumi at 10:52 AM
B'klyn Nets' foes sing out
NY Daily News
By Amy Sacks
Rep. Major Owens (D-Brooklyn) said the current plan would hurt the city's economy.
UPDATE, 3/10/07: This article is no longer available at The Daily News online. Full text after the jump
B'klyn Nets' foes sing out
NY Daily News
By Amy Sacks
Opponents of the proposed Brooklyn Nets arena rallied yesterday against the Prospect Heights stadium - not with shouts, but with a song.
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot," dozens of protesters sang from the steps of City Hall, conjuring Joni Mitchell's 1970 hit "Big Yellow Taxi."
"This plan in its current form does not make sense," said Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), who urged the city and state to consider alternative proposals.
Developer Bruce Ratner, who bought the NBA's New Jersey Nets in January for $300 million, wants to build a 21-acre complex that includes a 19,000-seat arena, 17 skyscrapers and 4,500 housing units at Atlantic and Flatbush Aves.
James instead backs a blend of commercial and affordable housing buildings over the Long Island Rail Road yards.
Rep. Major Owens (D-Brooklyn) said the current plan would hurt the city's economy.
Owens suggested the city-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard as an ideal place for the massive project.
Amy Sacks
Posted by lumi at 9:11 AM
Opponents Of Nets Arena In Brooklyn Plan Alternative
NY1
By Bobby Cuza
“We are not against development,” City Councilwoman Letitia James said at a rally on the steps of City Hall Sunday. “But we are for development that makes sense – development on a human scale.”
Posted by lumi at 9:01 AM
March 7, 2004
Hardhats and residents clash over stadium plan
The Villager
By Albert Amateau
“We want jobs,” chanted construction workers in favor of the stadium.
“We want our neighborhood,” replied residents and elected officials from the redevelopment area — roughly between Ninth and 11th Aves., from 29th to 43rd Sts"
Posted by lumi at 8:52 AM
New arena for build battle: Downtown park plan would oust dozens
NY Daily News
While a battle rages over the fate of several blocks in Prospect Heights where developer Bruce Ratner wants to build a home for his NBA Nets, another urban revival plan quietly inches closer to ousting dozens of downtown property owners.
Posted by lumi at 8:37 AM
March 6, 2004
Exec: Arena for mall a no-go
Brooklyn Papers
By Deborah Kolben
Many opponents complained at the meeting that they have had to “fight to be heard” and are asking for more community involvement.
Posted by lumi at 8:34 AM
EMINENT DOOM - targeted by Downtown Brooklyn Plan, they vow to fight
Brooklyn Papers
By Deborah Kolben
“It’s not just a business — it’s my life,” says Battista, whose father, Vito, a former assemblyman and political gadfly in the 1950s and ’60s, founded the architecture and construction school nearly 60 years ago for servicemen returning from World War II.
Posted by lumi at 8:29 AM
March 5, 2004
Economists Not Sold On Pitch For Basketball Arena In Queens
However, Jonathan Bowles, research director for the Manhattan-based Center for an Urban Future, believes that the best way for the city to build its economy is to “think small” and help build neighborhoods by putting the emphasis on homegrown businesses.
“Stadiums are not the greatest thing for a city’s economy, as any economist will tell you,” Bowles said. "
Posted by lumi at 8:20 AM
James aims to slam-dunk Ratner plan
NY Daily News
Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Fort Greene) will announce Sunday that she has her own blueprint for the Prospect Heights site where developer Bruce Ratner would build a basketball arena and a complex of residential and office towers.Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Fort Greene) will announce Sunday that she has her own blueprint for the Prospect Heights site where developer Bruce Ratner would build a basketball arena and a complex of residential and office towers.Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Fort Greene) will announce Sunday that she has her own blueprint for the Prospect Heights site where developer Bruce Ratner would build a basketball arena and a complex of residential and office towers.
Posted by lumi at 8:08 AM
Man Behind the Scenes Steps Up to a Big Task
The NY Times
The N.B.A.'s board of governors is awaiting paperwork on the numerous investors involved in Ratner's deal, and a vote to ratify his purchase is not expected for a few months.
Posted by lumi at 8:04 AM
March 4, 2004
Neon ‘Nightmare’—Elmhurst Residents Protest Queens Place Signage
Queen's Chronicle, via UrbanPlanet.org
“It’s an abomination,” said Tony Moreno, a member of Community Board 4 and the Borough President’s Queens Boulevard Retail Task Force, who lives two blocks from the site. “This is an architectural beauty that has been converted to a horrendous sight.”
The community has been working for the last three years to find a compromise on the mall’s signage with its developer, Forest City Ratner"
FULL TEXT
Neon ‘Nightmare’—Elmhurst Residents Protest Queens Place Signage
by Keach Hagey, Chronicle Reporter - March 04, 2004
[Photo caption: The new neon signs at Queens Place Mall in Elmhurst have angered local residents, who think they are “tacky” and “overbearing.” Photo by Michael O’Kane]
Piccadilly Circus. Coney Island. Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. Elmhurst?
According to residents living across Queens Boulevard from the new neon signs of Queens Place Mall, their community now belongs on this list of light-filled locales, and they’re not celebrating.
“It’s an abomination,” said Tony Moreno, a member of Community Board 4 and the Borough President’s Queens Boulevard Retail Task Force, who lives two blocks from the site. “This is an architectural beauty that has been converted to a horrendous sight.”
The community has been working for the last three years to find a compromise on the mall’s signage with its developer, Forest City Ratner, best known as the developer of the proposed stadium for the Brooklyn Nets.
The original design had the signs for Starbucks, Outback Steakhouse and the 18 other mall tenants scattered all over the building. When the community protested the excess of neon shining into the windows of the one- and two-family homes on the south side of Queens Boulevard, Borough President Helen Marshall requested a redesign.
According to Nick Pennachio, also a member of the community board and task force, the redesigned signage was received with disappointment at Borough Hall four months ago.
“Helen Marshall was shocked when she saw the presentation of what they proposed. She said it wasn’t any better,” Pennachio said. Calls to Marshall’s office were not returned.
But Ratner’s representatives argued that it was too late to do anything more about the signs, and it was the tenants’ right to display them as part of their rental agreement with the mall, according to Pennachio.
“The new design of the store signs are larger, brighter and more overwhelming than the initial design,” he said. “The attitude of the ‘public be damned’ prevailed.”
He was also angry that the developer’s other promises to the community-including a community room for civic meetings, seating areas and landscaping-were ignored as well.
Forest City Ratner spokeswoman Joyce Baumgarten would not confirm that the developer had made any of these promises, but said they had discussed the community’s concerns about the new signs and offered a compromise.
“They made the offer to turn off the new red bar that goes around the signage, if that will help. We are still waiting for a response,” she said.
Pennachio said the red border is “one percent” of the candlepower, which “lights up the sky” and is “a nightmare.”
He has requested that the City Planning Department investigate whether the signs are legal, since they are displayed along an arterial highway and might distract drivers.
In general, Elmhurst residents view the neon signs as merely the latest battle in the greater war over development in the five-block area containing the Queens Place Mall, Queens Center Mall and soon a new multiplex movie theater.
“The impact on traffic and concentration in this very small area is disastrous,” Pennachio said. “It’s as if there has been no city planning at all.”
From The Queens Chronicle
Posted by lumi at 8:44 AM
March 3, 2004
Introduction of Fans of Brooklyn Basketball
Fans of Brooklyn Basketball
That's right, there is $67 million available for an Amateur Arena to be built right in Brooklyn. The arena can be designed and operated in the same way as the "Island Garden" in West Hempstead or "Basketball City" in Chelsea Piers. The arena would also include a swimming pool, a track, a concession stand etc...The local politicians who are controlling these funds and they have plans to give it ALL to RATner for the Nets' arena.
Posted by lumi at 7:28 AM
Wang determined to build new Coliseum
The Stamford Advocate
Wang wouldn't say whether he would ignore the Nets should the $300-million sale to Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner disintegrate.
Posted by lumi at 7:20 AM
March 2, 2004
Arena concerns hit home
NY Daily News
By Hugh Son
READ THIS ARTICLE.
If you think that traffic on game night could be a nightmare, it would be nothing compared to the 9,000 vehicles and 29,000 subway and 10,000 bus riders that would be a daily result of the 7 million square feet of office and residential space included in the project, according to preliminary figures from Community Consulting Services, a Brooklyn-based transit think tank.
Compared to the rest of the development, the arena traffic "is not a big deal," said CCS engineer Brian Ketcham, who authored the study. "The community should be concerned about the bigger picture; that's the Catch-22."
A spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corp. said the city's environmental impact analysis of the Ratner project will be available for public review at a March 24 hearing.
- UPDATE: This article is no longer available from The Daily News online. Full text after the jump.
Arena concerns hit home
Net effect of housing will be road woes, say foes
It's not the home games - it's the housing.
By HUGH SON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Brooklyn residents afraid that sports fans flocking to Bruce Ratner's proposed Nets arena will create a traffic nightmare have something else to worry about.
Basketball games will generate a fraction of the traffic compared to Ratner's nearly 7 million square feet of planned residential and office space, the Daily News has learned.
According to preliminary figures from Community Consulting Services, a Brooklyn-based transit think tank, the other parts of the project, which Ratner has named the Atlantic Yards, will bring 9,000 vehicles to the neighborhood on a regular weekday.
Arena events like Nets games will add 2,500 vehicles to that total - but that would be limited to nights there are home games and other happenings.
Compared to the rest of the development, the arena traffic "is not a big deal," said CCS engineer Brian Ketcham, who authored the study. "The community should be concerned about the bigger picture; that's the Catch-22."
While a Ratner press release stated that the project's proximity to the Atlantic Ave. subway and LIRR terminal will "drastically reduce vehicular traffic," that location also may pose its largest hurdle. Transit experts, politicians and commuters deem the intersection of Atlantic, Flatbush and Fourth Aves. - adjacent to Ratner's 21-acre dream development - a traffic black hole.
"It's definitely a bottleneck," said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign. "That intersection is always the choke point when you're headed from Manhattan to Brooklyn."
State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn), who represents the area where the arena would be built, has a view of the clogged intersection from her district office. During rush hour, she says, "those streets are pretty much a parking lot."
If Ratner's entire project becomes reality, "the traffic there is going to be a nightmare - just unbearable," said Montgomery, who is opposed to the plan.
"It's no leap of faith to say that what is already a bad intersection will get much worse with more development," added Robert Perris, district manager of Community Board 2.
According to Ratner spokesman Barry Baum, part of the plan includes a widening of two blocks of Flatbush Ave. between Atlantic Ave. and Dean St. The new northbound lane would likely be used for bus service.
The extra capacity doesn't hurt, Ketcham said - "but it's not even scratching the surface when it comes to fixing the problem."
The traffic engineer believes that even a widened Flatbush Ave. will be "overwhelmed" by cars from Ratner's development - as well as the extra traffic stemming from the downtown Brooklyn development plan.
Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Boreum Hill and northern Park Slope will also bear the burden of increased traffic as cars make use of local side streets - not just the location of the arena and Atlantic Yards, sources said.
Brooklyn straphangers and bus riders won't be spared, either. The CCS study estimated there will be 29,000 more subway riders and 10,000 more people on buses pouring into the redeveloped neighborhood.
Russianoff said he thought the project's location was a good one in terms of public transportation, but he had questions about the impact of all those riders.
"What will this mean for crowding? A big issue is whether there is enough existing capacity on the subway and LIRR," Russianoff said.
A spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corp. said the city's environmental impact analysis of the Ratner project will be available for public review at a March 24 hearing.
While the success and scope of Ratner's project may depend in part on whether the billionaire developer can ease concerns about traffic, one Brooklyn resident has already decided she's against it.
Astrid Tsang, 25, said that she is regularly caught in gridlock for 10 minutes at Atlantic and Flatbush Aves. when she takes a cab to Park Slope after a night out in Manhattan.
"I think it's going to be an absolute nightmare," Tsang said of the arena and Atlantic Yards. "It's already a nasty intersection."
Originally published on February 29, 2004
[Photo caption: Crowded intersection of Flatbush, Atlantic and Fourth Aves. will see 9,000 more cars and 40,000 more transit users per day if the Atlantic Yards project goes through.]
Posted by lumi at 5:53 PM
Wal-Mart lake grab sleeps with the fishes
Denver Post
Urban renewal authorities have long used eminent domain to favor big-box retailers that generate big tax dollars. But the game is coming to an end.
"This decision is part of a nationwide trend of courts placing limits on cities using eminent domain for the benefit of private parties," said Dana Berliner of the Institute for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that tracks such cases.
Posted by lumi at 7:40 AM
Brooklyn Papers Continued Coverage of the Nets Deal
Brooklyn Papers
Posted by lumi at 7:30 AM
Lehman Brothers executive said to be buying NHL's Devils
San Francisco Chronicle
"The breakup of YankeeNets, a sports conglomerate that owned the Yankees, Nets and Devils, has led the way to the recent sale of the Nets to Brooklyn, N.Y., developer Bruce Ratner and the purchase offer that could give Vanderbeek control of the Devils."
Posted by lumi at 7:22 AM
March 1, 2004
Thinking Big Again
Gotham Gazette's overview of the large-scale projects currently proposed. See the reference to NYC 2050 for a hint of the way a city's future can be imagined by its residents.
BASKETBALL ARENA IN BROOKLYN
This January, the real estate developer Bruce Ratner presented a plan to develop the area near Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, centered on a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets, a team which he now owns. The plan proposes 2.1 million square feet of commercial office space, 4.4 million square feet of mixed-income residences adding 4,500 homes to the area, and 300,000 square feet of retail for the 21-acre site on the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues.Like the Ground Zero and Hudson Yards plans, Ratner’s plan uses architecture as a way to sell a larger development project. Frank Gehry, who designed the famous Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain – and who also envisioned a huge museum on the waterfront in downtown Manhattan that was never built – drew up preliminary plans for a wavy, glass-and-metal building that looks nothing like a conventional stadium.
Sports arenas have the reputation of sucking up public money, rarely producing the promised payoffs. This one, though, has won the support of many local politicians. Even some who regularly criticize such projects said that this one has promise because of access to public transportation – nine subways and several commuter trains meet at the site.
"The numbers work," Mark Rosentraub, a sports economist who regularly criticizes sports arenas, told the New York Times. "You'll have the best arena in the country to service a market of more than 6.3 million people."
Such arguments have not convinced those who will be directly affected, and local residents and businesses are opposing the plan intensely, skeptical of the plausibility of its financial promises, and reluctant to make the sacrifice that Ratner is asking them to make.
The major controversy surrounding the plan is Ratner’s intention to condemn four city blocks, displacing up to 1,000 people and businesses providing 200 jobs. Some have suggested that Ratner instead raze Atlantic Center, a shopping center across the street which he owns, to avoid using eminent domain.
While some worry about the plan because they may have to find new places to live, others are concerned that the public will have little to say as this plan – still in its preliminary stages – moves forward. If land is condemened and placed under the control of the state - as the plan calls for - the arena itself would avoid the city's land use review process, the major opportunity for public input.
Posted by lumi at 7:43 AM