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April 7, 2006
Orwellian Final Scope for EIS for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards Project
Big Cities, Big Boxes on the "Final Scope of Analysis" for the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement:
This Orwellian document--usually the developer writes it, not the State, although the State releases it--urges a project requiring the State to transfer property from private owners to Bruce Ratner by eminent domain, and so it speaks of "blighted" lots and promises "improvements." In this case as in too many others, the Bloomberg administration and the State have awarded a massive development project to a favored developer and affected a community without democratic processes, and so the scoping document tells us that Mr. Ratner has arranged a so-called Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). The project will rupture the networks of brownstone neighborhoods and small businesses in Prospect Heights, and so the scoping document states that Atlantic Yards will make downtown Brooklyn a destination.
NoLandGrab: Forest City Ratner Executive VP Jim Stuckey introduced the adjective "Orwellian" to the Atlantic Yards debate in The NY Times, which resonated with critics and opponents.
Posted by lumi at April 7, 2006 7:49 AM