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November 28, 2005
A Boy from Brooklyn Grows Up
Gotham Gazette
When Gotham Gazette's Book Club interviews Brooklyn native Jonathan Lethem, Calvin Johnson pops the question about the author's views on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards.
Lethem is careful about commenting on details without being better informed and defines competing opinions about development in NYC before offering his views.
Community Outreach
But, as far as I can tell, Ratner has done just the worst possible job of including community voices in the dialogue. That’s just such a fundamental error, to not begin there. It’s both offensive and naïve. It’s not going to work, I think, because I think the neighborhood is going to be militant against it.
Ratner in the Red
The other thing to say is that all you really you know of Ratner, all that’s tangible of Ratner, is that horrific shopping mall. And if he wants to begin to negotiate aesthetics and the community’s wishes in that neighborhood, his first act would be to tear the thing down. And then, we can talk. Okay, you want to make something good; you’re already in the red, with that thing that’s there.
Traffic, Potential and Money
The traffic prospect is frightening. And there’s a lot of other things that you can imagine, happening with that space. But, there’s a lot of money being brought in, too.
Posted by lumi at November 28, 2005 10:11 AM