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July 3, 2006
Atlantic Yards, Still but a Plan, Shapes Politics in Brooklyn
The NY Times
By Nick Confessore
An interesting article summarizing how the neighborhood opposition to Atlantic Yards is affecting local politics:
It will be months, if not years, before a single brick of the Atlantic Yards project is laid near Downtown Brooklyn. But as the fall election season draws near, the unbuilt, unapproved, multibillion-dollar development is shaping up as a major political issue in this corner of the borough.
"This is a litmus test for brownstone Brooklyn," said City Councilwoman Letitia James, whose district includes most of the Atlantic Yards site and who is perhaps the elected official most outspokenly opposed to the project. "But the issue is nonetheless important for all Brooklynites, whether or not you're a brownstoner, someone who lives in public housing, or you live in a condo."
Over the last two and a half years, the project's gravity has warped the political space nearby, as if a black hole had settled at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues. It has bolstered some candidacies and bedeviled others here, where mostly white, affluent neighborhoods like Park Slope shade into the more diverse yet rapidly gentrifying confines of Fort Greene and Prospect Heights.
Norman Oder analyzes the article at Atlantic Yards Report, noting that the story fails to mention what appears to be a quid pro quo between Yassky and his supporters at BUILD.
Oder also raps The Times for yet again referring to the Vanderbilt rail yards as "Atlantic Yards."
Posted by lumi at July 3, 2006 10:26 AM