« For the Fightin’ Eleventh, David Yassky | Main | As we went to press… Public comment period extended! »
August 31, 2006
An evolution on Atlantic Yards
Daily Gotham
By Bouldin
I tend not to have a problem with major development projects; I like big shiny things (it's a boy thing), and I'm aware, as some seem not to be, that this City will add another million residents in the next two decades, two over the next four. Our grandchildren will live in a behemoth of ten million souls, all of whom will need to be fed, clothed, housed, and entertained. Unless the pre-existing population is willing to double up still further, and see our already appalling vacancy rate of 3% citywide shrink still further, we will need to build new housing. This new housing, if we care about the environment and our carbon footprint, will need to increase the density of the City, and that in turn implies a larger number of high-rises, ideally serviced by public transport. One thing is for certain: those two million new New Yorkers will create dislocations for those of us already here; and considering how many of us came from elsewhere (I'm not a native either), we should welcome these new arrivals, and prepare for them. New York City is a global metropolis, and draws to itself the talent and vigor of every continent; that process has been the engine of our growth for two hundred years, and whether we deplore or celebrate it, it will continue. The least we can do is be prepared.
All of that said, I can't support the Atlantic Yards development any longer. That project amounts to the urban equivalent of rape.
NoLandGrab: This gradual conversion of NYC's intellectual set is inevitable, as Atlantic Yards becomes the poster child for overdevelopment, Abramoff-style backroom dealing, eminent domain abuse, taxpayer financing of pro sports and poor city planning.
If New Yorkers can't apply the brakes on this project, then anything goes in the Big Apple.
Posted by lumi at August 31, 2006 9:36 PM