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August 3, 2006

Endgame at Atlantic Yards: Mark Your Calendars

ErrolLouis-OTP.jpg In his latest column in Our Time Press, Errol Louis cleverly calls Atlantic Yards critics:

Meanwhile the people Louis holds up as "local leaders with deep roots in our community," who "have been fighting the good fight" — "organizations like ACORN and leaders like the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, Freddie Hamilton and James Caldwell" — have all received money from the developer Bruce Ratner, or, as in the case of ACORN, will financially benefit from an administrative contract for the project.

Louis brings up an important point:

The opponents constantly insist they are not antidevelopment, but do not have a serious answer when asked if they have ever supported any large-scale development project in Brooklyn or elsewhere in New York.

Louis may have written this before touring properties built and managed by the Fifth Avenue Committee or the Hoyt-Schermerhorn community-based development plan, both projects developed by some of the groups in the community coalition who have publicly stated concerns about Atlantic Yards.

Errol Louis also hastily calls the August 23rd hearing the "Endgame." Footprint resident Daniel Goldstein would probably ascribe that distinction to the inevitable eminent domain litigation.

A big suprise in this month's column is that Errol Louis cites David Reiss's commentary on NoLandGrab (Who could tell that Louis reads Brooklyn's pre-eminent anti-development blog devoted to anti-development liberal anti-everything yuppie middle-class kooks and screamers?). David Reiss points out that only 15% of the legal challenges to NY State Environmental Impact Statements are successful. Facing the largest private project in NYC history that proposes to build the densest residential community in the nation, project critics will gladly take 15%.

Posted by lumi at August 3, 2006 12:01 PM