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September 30, 2006
Best Stubborn Activist in the Face of RAMPANT GENTRIFICATION
NY Press
Dan GoldsteinAnd we thought we were stubborn. Dan Goldstein, a bespectacled trouble-making mensch, is the last resident in his Prospect Heights condo not to sell out to Bruce Ratner (aka Ratzilla)—the pudgy Atlantic Yards mastermind. While his neighbors have accepted mega-bucks buyouts, Goldstein has spearheaded Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a grassroots nonprofit opposing Ratner’s stadium and skyscraper plans. Now, we’ve lived in Prospect Heights for four years, and we’re no fan of the proposed train yards stadium site. It’s a coal pit eyesore, as attractive as Giuliani in drag. We crave intelligent development, not brownstone-dwarfing luxury towers. But our motivation disappears as soon as we crack the night’s first beer. Not Goldstein. While Mayor Bloomberg, Dan Doctoroff and Ratner make plans to shiv Goldstein in his ghost-town condo, he fights on, sending strongly worded e-mails and waving angry, hand-painted placards. Its obstinate dedication, and it’s to him we cheer a beer from our comfy couch, far away from blocks threatened by eminent domain.
Posted by amy at 11:36 AM
Is the 8% AY scaleback a "concession"?
Atlantic Yards Report
Again, we see evidence that reporters new to the Atlantic Yards story get key details wrong. Yesterday's Times "Public Lives" profile of the Municipal Art Society's Kent Barwick stated:
Now, with the planning commission publicly on board for Atlantic Yards, based on the developer’s acceptance of the commission’s suggestion to reduce its 8.7 million square foot project by 8 percent, a concession Mr. Barwick dismisses as a nonconcession, the society has aligned itself with several community groups and declared Atlantic Yards an unfit addition to the borough.Why does the Times characterize it as a concession rather than a tactic? After all, the Times hadn't used the term before. Also, Brooklyn beat reporter Nicholas Confessore had reported the day before--in the voice of the newspaper, rather than attributing it to a critic, the new reduction only brings the project back to the original size proposed in 2003.
Posted by amy at 11:32 AM
DDDB attorney cites failure to plan, evasion of law, misrepresentation of Coney option
Atlantic Yards Report
The criticisms of the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) keep piling on, as some of the harshest responses were filed just before the deadline yesterday set by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) lawyer Jeffrey Baker, a veteran of state land use tussles, said that government entities failed to plan for the site. Also, he charged, the agency misdescribed the project under the law, ignored key evidence about the potential for an arena in Coney Island, conducted a flimsy blight study, and proceeded in a biased manner.
Failure to plan
Baker's charges set the stage for a challenge to the exercise of eminent domain, since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in the Kelo case suggests that eminent domain to support redevelopment can pass muster only if if derives from a democratically arrived at plan.
Posted by amy at 11:29 AM
Brooklyn nabes to state: Scrap Yards study
Brooklyn Papers Ariella Cohen clarifies yesterday's assertions by describing CBN's call to scrap the DEIS "last-minute".
Just hours before the close of the public comment period for the Atlantic Yards draft environmental impact statement, leaders of 28 Brooklyn neighborhood groups went to the Manhattan headquarters of the Empire State Development Corporation and demanded the state agency scrap its flawed DEIS of Bruce Ratner’s $4.2-billion mega-project.
...
“This report is missing adequate analysis that is needed to understand what impacts this project will have on the people and environment of Brooklyn,” said Tom Angotti, a professor of urban affairs at Hunter University who authored a section of the CBN’s 300-page report.
Posted by amy at 11:23 AM
September 29, 2006
CB6 motions
It has been reported in the local weekly press that on September 13, 2006 Community Board 6 adopted four motions which take a strong, vocal stand against Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal.
The final draft of these motions has been released in a letter to the ESDC, just in time for the close of today's public comment period.
Click here to download the entire letter, which explains in detail the following excerpts:
Our first resolution, adopted by a vote of 35 in support, 4 against, with no abstentions, disapproves of the project as proposed in the July 18, 2006 GPP and DEIS because it will cause irreparable damage to the quality of life in the borough of Brooklyn.
Our second resolution, adopted by a vote of 37 in support, 2 against, with no abstentions, was to include the following procedural objections as part of our disapproval of the project as currently proposed:
a) Failure to involve the Community Board and the community in a meaningful way; misleading and overstating the involvement of the public in the process.
b) Failure to provide adequate or sufficient time for the public to review the GPP and DEIS.
c) Failure to provide resources to the Community Board to assist in their review of the project.
d) Failure to subject any aspect of the project review to the City’s uniform land use review procedures (ULURP).Our third resolution, adopted by a vote of 37 in support, 2 against, with no abstentions, was to include the following general proposal-related objections as part of our disapproval of the project as currently proposed:
a) The project is out-of-scale with the surrounding community.
b) Several material project impacts have been identified as being unmitigable.
c) Portions of the data in the DEIS are insufficient, inadequate or questionable.
d) The scope of the DEIS is insufficient.
e) There has been insufficient modeling.Our final resolution, adopted by a vote of 23 in support, 4 against, with no abstentions, was to include the following specific points that must be addressed as part of our disapproval of the project as currently. (see full letter for the complete list)
The letter to the ESDC is accompanied by a timeline of all actions taken by CB6 on Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 1:00 PM
ESDC foils more FOIL requests
Apparently Norman "The Mad Overkiller" Oder isn't the only one who made a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the Empire State Development Corporation only to get the brush off.
Yesterday, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's lawyer sent the ESDC a letter objecting "to ESDC’s failure to timely respond to a Freedom of Information Law request... submitted on August 31, 2006."
Unlike Norman Oder's request, which was inadvertently overlooked for several weeks, DDDB attorney Jeff Baker's request had been acknowledged in a timely manner:
On August 31, 2006, I submitted a FOIL request to ESDC requesting a copy of the “independent economic impact analysis” referenced on page 29 of the General Project Plan. In a letter dated September 8,2006, Antovk Pidedjian, the ESDC Records Access Officer, acknowledged my request and said he would respond as to whether it would be granted within ten business days of his letter. As of today, there has not been any response.
In the same letter, Baker explains the law to the ESDC. According to the UDC Act, the public comment period for the DEIS must extend 30 days after the public hearing:
When I wrote to you on August 28 , the focus of my request was based upon the comment period required under SEQRA. At the time I was unaware of the additional requirements for public comment under the UDC Act. Since then I have been made aware of the requirement of Section 16(3) of the Act (Unconsolidated Laws Sec. 6266(3)); which provides, that when ESDC determines to override local regulations, then the public comment period must extend 30 days after the public hearing. While I was unaware of that section, obviously you were aware of it. It is also obvious that for the same reasons set forth in my August 28 letter, the community forums constitute continued public hearings on the GPP. Therefore, as a matter of law, ESDC must extend the public comment period until October 18, 2006.
The failure by the ESDC to hold the public comment period open past today's deadline might constitute grounds for legal action, adding a new twist in the battle over the railyards.
Download letter (PDF)
Posted by lumi at 12:18 PM
CBN says AY environmental review so flawed it shouldn't be approved
Atlantic Yards Report
At 1 pm today, just a half day before the close of the comment period regarding the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods (CBN) plans to deliver a detailed and harsh set of criticisms to the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).
The full response, which runs to hundreds of pages, will be posted on the CBN site Saturday, but preliminary versions released Thursday paint a disturbing picture.
Posted by lumi at 10:44 AM
Bowing to Bruce
The Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
We're not exactly sure, but we think that BP kinda missed the mark in part of this story. The purpose of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods is to review the Environmental Impact Statement, not to go mano-a-mano with Bruce Ratner (though some member organizations have taken that tack).
In light of this, the lead paragraph seems to have missed the point:
A two-month, City Council–financed study found that the environmental impact study of Atlantic Yards is flawed — but not flawed enough to merit a halt in the project.
The article also covers the debut of BrooklynSpeaks and architect Doug Hamilton's Pacific Plan.
NoLandGrab: According to our sources, CBN's conclusion is that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is so flawed that it doesn't merit approval by the board of the Empire State Development Corporation.
The NY Times quoted CBN's co-chair as saying:
"Due to the number and profound nature of the errors and shortcomings” of the draft environmental impact statement, her group “does not believe the current document can be approved.”
Posted by lumi at 10:24 AM
More Find Fault With Atlantic Yards Review
The NY Times
By Nicholas Confessore
On the final day for public comment on the state’s draft environmental review of the Atlantic Yards project, a coalition of Brooklyn neighborhood associations, churches and businesses will today be the latest to sharply criticize the review.
The criticisms are in a report that asks why the environmental review provided no evidence for its assertion that police and fire department response times would be unaffected by the project, which would house upward of 15,000 residents in an area now home to several hundred.
A 60-day period for public comment on the review, issued in late July by the Empire State Development Corporation, ends today. The state agency will consider the comments before making a final report.
...
Therese Urban, co-chairwoman of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, said in a statement, “Due to the number and profound nature of the errors and shortcomings” of the draft environmental impact statement, her group “does not believe the current document can be approved.”
Posted by lumi at 10:17 AM
Beware the Gowanus Canal Sh*t Storm
Gowanus Lounge
Nobody knows better than residents around the Gowanus Canal what happens when it rains real hard in South-Central Brooklyn. Gowanus Lounge published its own account earlier this year.
This description is from an article by Christopher Ketcham:
The sewer streams underground run down to the old swampland and surface in the storm eye into scuddable foam, two and sometimes three feet deep...Manholes pop open and dash in the stream like discuses, and from them white-brown geysers frolic, four feet in the air, and around the geysers the water bashes in boiling waves, pauses in eddies, and shoots off in a tomato-colored stream west, making for the waterfalls on the banks of the canal, which speeds in its ebb to the sea.
Don't worry, says Ratner's Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), when they're done, there will be less of that sh*t going around, causing the FROGGies (Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus) to raise their eyebrows in their testimony on the Combined Sewage Overflows.
The FROGGies point out that the weather data used by the engineering firm that wrote the DEIS is from 1988, and that data collected since then is showing that the existing problem is much worse than the DEIS admits.
This sh*t is serious, so click here for more details.
Posted by lumi at 9:51 AM
Will anti-Yards fight go on?
The Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
The public comment period for the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement is coming to a close later today. Does that mean the fight is over? What's next? The Brooklyn Papers outlines possible legal action focusing on residential displacement and "a suit if the project’s impacts are not fully disclosed in the final environmental impact statement."
Posted by lumi at 9:42 AM
Our invitation to Ratner
The Brooklyn Papers Editorial
BP got an earful from Forest City Ratner Executive VP Bruce Bender, who complained that the weekly paper is biased and distorts the truth. But when BP offered a chance for The Bruce-ster (aka Caring Bruce) to speak uncensored, the VP backed down:
Bender claims we don’t care about accuracy, but our retort has always been that we are simply covering the known impacts of the Atlantic Yards project — impacts that state officials readily acknowledged in their environmental impact statement.
Bender and his spokespeople have done little to assist our understanding of that document — not even offering us their spin so that more of our coverage might reflect the company’s thinking. As it is, we feel we do a good job pointing out what project supporters see as its benefits.
So that’s why, as we were chatting with Bruce Bender, we reiterated our long-standing invitation: We would like to interview Bruce Ratner, one on one, and print the full, unedited transcript. The reader could then judge for himself if our questions are fair and balanced. And he’ll get to hear Bruce Ratner’s vision — not edited or taken out of context. We’ll even upload the entire audio to our Web site so no one could accuse us of malfeasance.
But Bender said no.
Posted by lumi at 9:27 AM
City follows Ratner lead
Brooklyn Papers
By Gersh Kuntzman
Was the 8% scaleback conspiracy or coincidence?
Just weeks after Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner floated a plan to trim the size of his 8.65-million-square-foot mega-project by 6- to 8 percent, the City Planning Commission rubberstamped that notion on Wednesday.
...
“A lot of this was precooked,” a real estate executive who works with Forest City Ratner told the New York Times after a commission hearing on Monday.
And what happened to the idea of shaving down Miss Brooklyn?
The City decided it was fine the way it is:
As it did with its recommendation for the modest size reduction in the overall project, the commission endorsed Forest City Ratner’s intention to keep the project’s spiritual centerpiece, the “Miss Brooklyn” tower at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, at 620 feet.
...even though project supporters have been publicly calling for a scaleback:
That was somewhat surprising, given that even project supporters like Borough President Markowitz have called for that building to be trimmed so it would not detract from the 512-foot Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower nearby.
It looks like the starchitect won this round:
Earlier this month, the Times reported that Atlantic Yards architect Frank Gehry “has objected to any changes in his design for Miss Brooklyn.”
Posted by lumi at 9:17 AM
Atlantic Yards Countdown
From The Brooklyn Papers series featuring your testimony to the Empire State Development Corporation on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement:
What a strange time to live in. A humongous, for-profit development comprised of mostly condos for the rich can be framed as housing for the poor, jobs and hoops. It sounds like Bush administration-style doublespeak.
...
We are raising our children in what is sure to become known as Asthma Alley, as vehicular traffic sits gridlocked in 68 of the surrounding 93 intersections. There has been no mention of schools, parking, adding additional trains, or sewage and electrical infrastructure improvements for what will be the densest census tract in America.
...
The idea that a private developer can come in and dump practically an entire city into our town, make his billion dollars, and leave us to live in the mess seems more like Communist China than the United States.— G. Mayron-King and S. King, Boerum Hill
Read the entire published testimony here
Posted by lumi at 9:07 AM
ON PROSPECT PARK
The NY Post
By Adam Bonislawski
In recent coverage of One Prospect Park (see, The Brooklyn Papers), Richard Meier has made pointed references to the scale of the rhymes-with-hairy monster-o-city a half-mile down the road:
Unlike another big name (rhymes with "Hank Neary") with plans for the area, Meier took care to integrate his design with the neighborhood's existing structures.
"It doesn't have to do with the way it looks or the materiality," he says. "But it's a matter of scale. That's something that's important in all of my work.
Posted by lumi at 8:52 AM
Ratnerville: What Economic Impact Study?
Power Plays (the political blog of The Village Voice)
By Neil DeMause
The Atlantic Yards General Project Plan cites conclusions from an "independent economic analysis," only you don't get to read the report because it's on "double-secret probation," or something like that:
Leaving aside how "independent" a study can be when it's undertaken by the agency proposing to build the project, a bigger problem has emerged: The ESDC is refusing to let anybody see this report. Asked by the Voice last month who had conducted it, ESDC spokesperson Deborah Wetzel said she "didn't know." And now, two months after Norman Oder of the Ratnerville watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report filed a Freedom of Information Law request for the study, ESDC FOIL officer Antovk Pidedjian has informed Oder that no such documents exist that are subject to disclosure laws. The reason, an ESDC attorney told the Voice: "It is ESDC's position that internal staff memos that address economic impact are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law."
Robert Freedman of the state Committee on Open Government explains:
While the law does exempt "intra-agency materials," he says, certain categories of material explicitly cannot be withheld—one of which is "statistical or factual tabulations or data," which presumably would include economic impact number-crunching.
Posted by lumi at 8:42 AM
Kicking People in the Shins, as a Vocation
The NY Times
By Robin Finn
Kent Barwick is serving his third stint as the head of the Municipal Art Society. Today's Times runs an article featuring the man at the helm of the organization that just jumped in the mosh pit of Atlantic Yards critics with the group's BrooklynSpeaks campaign.
[Barwick is] a busy guy, mirroring the society, which was formed in 1893 to fast-forward the embellishment of the city’s public spaces with murals, monuments and fountains but evolved into a public watchdog intent not only on preserving the historic but also protecting this boisterous metropolis from, well, outgrowing itself.
...
Now, with the planning commission publicly on board for Atlantic Yards, based on the developer’s acceptance of the commission’s suggestion to reduce its 8.7 million square foot project by 8 percent, a concession Mr. Barwick dismisses as a nonconcession, the society has aligned itself with several community groups and declared Atlantic Yards an unfit addition to the borough. This new coalition’s recommendations focus on reducing the project’s size and increasing its public space and subsidized housing. “It doesn’t seem to us that making repairs to the design will be fatal to the project.”Mr. Barwick applauds the project’s ambitions (he says the site is right for high-density development and, if Brooklyn wants it, a sports arena), loves the fact that Frank Gehry and not some “off-the-rack architect” designed its “Miss Brooklyn” showpiece tower, but rejects the project’s overall bulk. In short, the society demands a redesign. Maybe two. Mr. Barwick wants the clock tower of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank unobscured: “That clock is Brooklyn’s wristwatch.”
Posted by lumi at 8:28 AM
How Low-Income Can You Go?
Brooklyn Record scoops the other Brooklyn bloggers by getting their hands on the latest Forest City Ratner direct mail piece. This time the subject is the Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing solution.
The flyer features Lacoste polo shirt-clad brownstone stoop-sitting Brooklynites.
Lauding the benefits of the Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing solution, the flyer touts "over 6,800 new units of badly needed mixed-income housing."
Here's what the flyer left out: * 4610 of those units are badly needed "delux-ury" housing units. * Only about 900 units will be available to those earning Brooklyn's median income, or less. * Of the units in the "affordable" housing plan, 40% would rent for more than $2000/mo.
For details, check out this Atlantic Yards Report article from July, 2006.
Posted by lumi at 8:21 AM
BrooklynSpeaks, But Did They Think First?
OnNYTurf analyzes the BrooklynSpeaks.net web site and tries to figure out the group's strategy:
Overall it is inescapable to conclude that the BrooklynSpeaks effort seems to be taking a go-it-alone tack. But it is odd that they have chosen this road this late in the game; and in days since the site launch they have not said anything to bring themselves closer to the existing opposition. So why choose this path? What is the possible strategic advantage?
...
My first observation on this is that, if the MAS/BS felt it could not win on fighting eminent domain and the very process by which this farce started, it certainly could have fought just the scale aspect without so publicly breaking itself off from the existing opposition. Since they have not replied to my emails for comment, I will have to continue to imagine their response. One possible response might be that they wanted to do the public letter righting campaign, which they are hosting on their site, to buttress their clout. And to do that they needed public principles. But let's consider this. What does the public letter writing campaign achieve? It lets public officials know that people think the project is too large. Well, duh, this is not news. Even Marty Markowitz and David Yassky read the writing on the wall a long time ago about public opposition to the scale of this project. So the MAS/BS did not need a new display of public opposition to scale to buttress whatever negotiating power they perceive they have. Why else then? I can't think of one. It is hard to imagine another reason why they have gone public with this division. I can not see any reason for it. I can not see that there is anything strategically to be gained, only confusion to be sown among people still learning about the project (and there are, crazy as that may sound to you reader), and a free card now for Bruce Rather to play.
Posted by lumi at 8:08 AM
U.S. Senate tackles eminent domain
From the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation:
The U.S. Senate could take action soon on a recently introduced eminent domain bill. The bill is similar to a House bill H.R. 4128, which overwhelmingly passed the House last November.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., introduced S. 3873, the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2006 that would address at the federal level the 2005 Kelo decision. The bill would prohibit federal agencies from using eminent domain for private economic development purposes, and would prohibit states that receive federal development funds from doing so as well.
The House version of the bill passed last fall by a vote of 376-38.
"One of the biggest obstacles to passage of the bill could be the tight Senate schedule and the lack of time left in this Congress," said Adam Sharp, OFBF's senior director of national and regulatory affairs.
...
The Senate could take action on the bill by the end of this calendar year.
Posted by lumi at 8:02 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Real Estate Observer, Thursday: Timeshares, Booze, Bankruptcy; All Brought To You By the Number 8!
This post was brought to you by letters REO and the number 8:
Hilariously, Forest City has unanimously approved the City Planning Commission's suggestion to reduce the Atlantic Yards development by 8%. Earlier this week we were under the impression that an 8% cutback in size--try and follow the logic here--meant an 8% cutback in size. But apparently the newly "reduced" plan is exactly what the developer had in mind way back in 2003. (Check the bottom comment here for some wise foresight). (NY1)
Crain's Cleveland, Editor's Choice, 'The Manhattanization of Brooklyn'
The editors at Crain's in Bruce Ratner's hometown took note of the NY Times article on the well choreographed Atlantic Yards "scaledown," though they don't mention that the project is now pretty much the size that was originally proposed.
It appears Forest City Ratner Cos.’ Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn has gotten a little smaller.
Bird to the North, Time Warner Building, 2 years later and the state of local retail
A visit to the Time Warner "vertical retail expression" (aka "mall") and a panel discussion held by the Municipal Art Society yielded some additional questions:
I left before the bitter end of the Q&A, so I remain puzzled: what is going on with the development community and the Planning Department that major mixed-use developments like Atlantic Yards, Flatbush Nostrand Junction, East River Plaza, and Bronx Terminal Market continue to prefer non-New York-based chains when everyone seems to like local? It seems that private and public sectors want local to stay - so is the City's rich retail fabric being unravelled by free market weavers?
Daily Politics, The Worst Thing About Atlantic Yards
On Frank Gehry from Ben Smith's style section:
Does Brooklyn really want to be cross-branded with Tiffany anyway?
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, AY SCALE DOWN?
OTBKB posts an NY1 article about the "scaledown" and asks, "What does this mean?"
A: It means that the project is now just about the same size as originally proposed in 2003.
Posted by lumi at 6:44 AM
Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods to submit extensive response to Atlantic Yards DEIS at September 29th event
MEDIA ADVISORY
WHO: Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods
WHAT: Submission of Official Response to the Atlantic Yards DEIS
WHERE: 633 Third Avenue, @ 40th Street, New York, NY
WHEN: Friday, September 29th, 1:00 p.m.
Brooklyn, NY – On Friday, September 29th, representatives of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods (CBN) will formally submit the organization’s extensive Response to the Atlantic Yards Arena and Redevelopment Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement at the Manhattan offices of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).
CBN co-chairperson Therese Urban said, “Everyone involved in this review has done an amazing job in producing this Response. Even though the ESDC denied the community a reasonable period to analyze the huge DEIS they launched at us with July’s “Summer Surprise,” the community has made an heroic effort resulting in our Response. It is CBN’s hope that the comments of our consultants and community members will be carefully studied by the ESDC and government officials in considering the many, glaring shortcomings of the DEIS. Due to the number and profound nature of the errors and shortcomings of the DEIS, CBN does not believe the current DEIS can be approved.”
CBN’s representatives expect to be joined by several of the experts who worked on behalf of the organization to craft CBN’s response to the DEIS, and have invited other community groups and elected officials to join them in delivering their written testimony tomorrow. Expert contributors to the effort are listed below, along with the DEIS Tasks and production duties they addressed.
CBN’s response to the Atlantic Yards DEIS is expected to be highly critical of the document. The experts working for CBN have identified numerous inconsistencies in the environmental study, as well as a multitude of insufficient and inadequate analyses and examples of questionable methodologies.
Complete copies of CBN’s response will be available for download from the organization’s web site (www.cbrooklynneighborhoods.homestead.com) on Saturday, September 30th.
Environmental Consultants Contributing to CBN Analysis of DEIS:
Dr. Tom Angotti (Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development)
Chapters addressed: Land Use, Zoning and Public Policy, Public Health, Construction Impacts, Mitigations, Alternatives, Overview
Dr. Arline Bronzaft (Professor Emerita, Lehman College, CUNY) Chapters addressed: Noise, Public Health, Construction Impacts
Noah Budnick (Transportation Alternatives) Chapters addressed: Transportation
Ethan Cohen (City University of New York) Chapters addressed: Neighborhood Character
Brad Lander (Pratt Center for Community Planning and Economic Development) Chapters addressed: Socioeconomic Conditions
Dr. Jesse David (National Economic Research Associate) Chapters addressed: Socioeconomic Conditions
Dr. Edgar Freud P.E. (Sierra Club) Chapters addressed: Infrastructure
Daniel Gutman (Environmental Consultant) Chapters addressed: Air Quality, Public Health, Construction Impacts
George Janes (Environmental Simulation Center) Chapters addressed: Photo Simulations
Brian Ketchum (Community Consulting Services) Chapters addressed: Transportation
Carolyn Konheim (Community Consulting Services) Chapters addressed: Transportation
Tim Logan (Sierra Club) Chapters addressed: Infrastructure
Dr. Franco Montalto (eDesign Dynamics LLC) Chapters addressed: Infrastructure
Dr. Laxmi Ramasubramanian (Hunter College CCPD) Chapters addressed: Socioeconomic Conditions, Community Facilities
Andrew Wiley-Schwartz and Phil Myrick (Project for Public Spaces) Chapters addressed: Open Space
James Vogel (ntelligence Inc.) Media Production and Website
The COUNCIL OF BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOODS (www.cbrooklynneighborhoods.homestead.com) is a coalition of recognized diverse community groups active in Community Boards 2, 3, 6, and 8. CBN is comprised of 40 community organizations that have joined together to ensure meaningful community participation in the environmental review of the proposed Atlantic Yards development in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
James Vogel
Secretary, CBN
Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods
201 Dekalb Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205
Posted by lumi at 6:27 AM
September 28, 2006
Atlantic Yards: Time to Take a Shower
Editorial commentary from Brownstoner:
Regardles of whether you're for, againt or somewhere in the middle on the Atlantic Yards project, it's hard not to be digusted by the transparent dog-and-pony show that's gone on in recent days culminating in FRC "accepting" the city planning commission's recommendation of a 8% cut in the scale of the project. Kinda makes you feel like you want to take a shower.
Click here to read the rest, including a public spanking of City Planning Chief Amanda Burden.
Posted by lumi at 10:46 AM
Have you called your Senator recently?
See that clock ticking over there on the right? The deadline for the Senate to act on Eminent Domain reform legislation is about to expire.
If you haven't done so yet, please contact Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist, and ask him to put Senate bill 3873 on the Senate's agenda and allow a vote. Let him know that the American people are strongly opposed to the abuse of eminent domain. Then contact Senators Clinton and Schumer and urge them to support eminent domain reform by passing S. 3873.
The Honorable Bill Frist
202-224-3344
The Honorable Hillary Clinton
202-224-4451
The Honorable Charles Schumer
202-224-6542
Call today! The Senate goes into recess after Friday, and if they don't vote, the bill will expire.
Posted by lumi at 10:19 AM
Her brick prison
Though the Atlantic Yards proposal has halted development within the footprint during the past three years, what about development around the footprint?
City Councilman Charles Barron calls Bruce Ratner's plan "instant gentrification." City Councilwoman Letita James riffed off that point to NY1 after yesterday's City Planning Commission vote:
"The adverse impacts of this proposed project outweigh all of the social benefits. They include traffic mitigation. They include the displacement of a significant number of poor people and people of color," said Brooklyn City Councilmember Letitia James. "It will result in instant gentrification."
If you've been thinking that Bruce Ratner is the only landlord in Prospect Heights who has been trying to evict low-income and elderly tenants in order to get on with his real estate bonanza, think again.
As reported in yesterday's Daily News, just two doors down from Ratnerville:
A Brooklyn landlord has bricked up all the windows in his Prospect Heights apartment building - except for one unit where a holdout tenant is still living.
Migdalia Barreto, her daughter and her elderly mother contend landlord Mark Scheiner is trying to drive them out of the eight-apartment building to pave way for a luxury conversion.
Posted by lumi at 9:19 AM
BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL: Public Comment Template
ATTENTION LAST-MINUTE SHOPPERS! The ESDC's public comment period ends tomorrow at 5:30PM. Please collect your thoughts and proceed to the deadline.
If you have things on your mind but haven't had a chance to put them down on paper, neighborhood activist and Fort Greene resident Lee Solomon created this handy template.
Download the PDF (MS Word available too), fill it out and email it (delivery receipt option selected) to the ESDC.
It's simple and painless. Forest City Ratner is even waiving the $25 filing fee payable to BUILD or the requirement that all answers must be written in verse (though they can be if you dare).
Posted by lumi at 9:02 AM
The CBA is Dead, Long Live the CBA
The Real Estate Observer
Last year Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement as historic. Then every overdeveloper who needed the cover of community support was cutting deals with whomever would sign on the dotted line. Bloomie put the kibbosh on the free-for-all once he realized that CBAs were circumventing the City's role in determining the pros and cons of large-scale developments. But now CBAs are back and the Mayor wants in.
Reporter Matthew Schuerman can't cure your whiplash, but he can explain what's going on.
Posted by lumi at 8:23 AM
Atlantic Yards Reporting
Norman "The Mad Overkiller" Oder is at it again. He's writing faster than we read. In an attempt to try to catch up and for your convenience, we're putting everything in a superpost.
ESDC stonewalls FOI Law request, won't release fiscal impact study
The Empire State Development Corporation claimed it "performed an independent economic impact analysis of the Project." When Norman Oder asked to see it, the agency replied:
ESDC has reviewed your request for additional documentation with respect to the financial analysis performed by ESDC. At this time there are no additional documents that are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law. It is possible that additional information will be compiled and made available at a later date. If additional information is prepared for release to the public - ESDC will certainly make the same available to you.
NoLandGrab: So the ESDC is not saying the study doesn't exist, just that it isn't subject to disclosure, but if and when they do make it public, they'll be sure to disclose it to Norman Oder.
The Times gets the scaleback right, but what about the housing commitment?
Norman Oder analyzes today's coverage of the 8% scaleback - you know, the scaleback that gets the project back to square one.
AY Phase I down to 550 affordable units; more criticism from Tish James
This article ties up some loose ends, such as the City Planning Commission's letter, Letitia James' strong criticism of the CPC's inaction (see Brooklyn Downtown Star below), NLG's addendum to the Times and Mary Campbell Gallagher's conjuring of the ghost of Robert Moses.
Posted by lumi at 7:44 AM
San Francisco Mall May Supply Concept for L.A.
LA Times
The opening of Forest CIty Enterprises's new mall in San Francisco prompted this article on vertical malls:
A new style of high-rise mall that may serve as a model for downtown Los Angeles and other big city centers will open its doors here today as the largest urban shopping center west of the Mississippi River.
NoLandGrab: On the home front, we distinctly remember that Related Cos. insisted that the Time Warner Center wasn't a mall, but a "vertical retail expression" (no joke).
Posted by lumi at 7:34 AM
If a Tree Falls in Brooklyn...
Would City Bureaucrats Be Able To Hear It?
Brooklyn Downtown Star
By Norman Oder
Coverage of this week's City Planning Commission meeting includes a strong reaction from City Councilmember Letitia James.
The day after the launch of BrooklynSpeaks, a new coalition of community groups more moderate than the established Atlantic Yards opponents, yet still calling for substantial changes, the CPC recommended an 8 percent decrease in the size of Atlantic Yards. That cut of 700,000 square feet would bring the project just below 8 million square feet, approximately the original size as proposed in December 2003 - and a far cry from the scale backs, from one-third to one-half, suggested by BrooklynSpeaks.
The reduction was hardly a surprise; developer Forest City Ratner's plans for a proposed cut of 6 to 8 percent had been predicted by confidential sources in a New York Times article earlier this month.
...
City Councilwoman Letitia James, who attended the session and shook her head in frustration several times, observed afterward, "I thought some of the comments from Regina were a little over the top. I think [DCP commissioner] Amanda Burden served as a spokesperson for Forest City Ratner, and judge and jury. The fact that they wanted to respect the Williamsburgh bank but did nothing to cut back on Miss Brooklyn is sort of a contradiction. There was no discussion of the overall policy issues, whether the city should be relinquishing its power to state, with a project of this size. They were just tinkering around the fringe."
Posted by lumi at 7:19 AM
Surprise! City Planning approves recommendations and Ratner agrees
Sometimes the press goes out and gets a story that tells the public something they don't already know and other times they just report the next scene in some carefully scripted dialogue. Yesterday's events was a case of the latter.
Predictably the City Planning Commission voted to accept their recommendations for Atlantic Yards:
NY1, City Planning Commission Votes To Decrease Size Of Atlantic Yards Project
The article contains the same dueling quotes as the WNYC press report posted below.
Then, surprise, Forest City Ratner agreed to accept the recommendations:
NY Daily News, Ratner will pare Yards plan a little
"We are committed to doing all the affordable housing," said James Stuckey, Ratner vice president, adding that the cuts will be made to market-rate condos.
Ratner has also agreed to build 550 of the subsidized apartments in the first phase of the development by 2010.
...
Critics called the cuts meaningless and said the project will still be roughly the same size as it was originally proposed in 2003, before it grew.
The NY Times, Atlantic Yards Developer Accepts 8% Reduction in Project
Ms. Burden also said the developer would ensure that at least 30 percent of the apartments built during the project’s first phase will be below-market rental units. A total of 2,250 such rental units are planned for the project, which will have 8.7 million square feet. The developer, according to the letter, has also committed to building the remaining 70 percent during the second phase.
That commitment will be stipulated in housing and infrastructure subsidies that the city is negotiating with Forest City, which is also the development partner in building a new Midtown headquarters for The New York Times Company.
AM NY, Commission recommends Ratner plan passage
A building dubbed 'Miss Brooklyn,' the largest structure in the Frank Gehry-designed arena, should be built as planned -- 10 stories higher than the Williamsburg Savings Bank building, which is currently the borough's tallest, according to the letter the commission sent to the Empire State Development Corporation.
Some proponents of the plan, such as Borough President Marty Markowitz, suggested scaling back that building.
For some reason, we don't get the feeling that the City Planning Commission strong-armed developer Bruce Ratner into making these concessions. According to Forest City Ratner spokesperson Joe DePlasco:
City Planning has been enormously helpful throughout the development process.
Since many aspects of the project and subsequent recommendations defy common sense and current urban planning principles, New Yorkers can only assume that "City Planning has been enormously helpful" in rubberstamping a project that is now just about the same size as originally proposed.
Posted by lumi at 6:53 AM
Planners to Vote on Atlantic Yards
Dueling quotes from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn spokesperson Dan Goldstein appeared in yesterday's news item from WNYC on the City Planning Commission "vote."
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz says even with the changes, it will be impossible to make everyone happy.
"There are some groups that under any circumstance will never support this, either because they're against eminent domain, which will be very modestly used in this project, extremely modestly," he said. "There are those that are against major developments and they are not going to be swayed."
...
"City Planning has no say in this project. It's a recommendation," said Daniel Goldstein of Develop-Don't Destroy Brooklyn. "I think that it's a sad day yesterday for city planning and urban planners in general, because what we have is a massive plan with no urban planning going on, just recommendations."
Posted by lumi at 6:41 AM
September 27, 2006
TONIGHT: American Masters, 9PM
SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY
Frank Gehry is a rare architect, garnering both critical acclaim and popular recognition. His designs dramatically blur the line between art and architecture, creating dynamic structures and unpredictable interiors. Directed by Sydney Pollack, the program captures the shy, elusive and creative architect and illuminates Gehry's innovative process -- including expansive depictions of the Guggenheim Museum and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington. (Closed Captioning) (Stereo)
Click here for details and other airtimes.
Posted by lumi at 12:26 PM
Coming to Times Square, an Advertising Campaign by the Nets
The NY Times
By Richard Sandomir
The Nets, at least three years from leaving the Meadowlands for Brooklyn, are taking over advertising turf in Times Square.
A 70-by-45-foot billboard featuring Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson will hang from the side of a movie multiplex and face Eighth Avenue, just off West 42nd Street, by Friday. A smaller one, featuring only Kidd, will be mounted next week above a Modell’s Sporting Goods store around the corner on West 42nd Street.
It will not be lost on those who drive past the larger billboard or stare at it as they dash out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal that the advertising is less than a half-mile from Madison Square Garden. The Nets insist that renting prime space to showcase their stars so close to the Garden is not a competitive swat at the Knicks.
Posted by lumi at 12:06 PM
Pact Reached to Redevelop Far West Side
The NY Times
By Charles V. Bagli
The Bloomberg administration is giving up on its plan to buy the development rights over the West Side railyards from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for $500 million.
Instead, under a new proposal worked out over the past week, the city and the authority would do what critics said they should have done in the first place: rezone the 13-acre railyard on the west side of 11th Avenue between 30th and 33rd Streets for high-rise development and sell it to a developer through a bidding process. In addition, the MTA will be applying the same process to the Vanderbilt Railyards in Brooklyn.
NoLandGrab: OK, we made up the last part. It does make sense though, doesn't it?
Posted by lumi at 11:15 AM
2016 Is Whenever
The Real Estate Observer
Matthew Schuerman highlights one important issue plaguing the Atlantic Yards affordable housing debate:
Rafael Cestero, deputy commissioner at the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, is the first insider to say what some outsiders had already suspected: Forest City Ratner has made no commitment to complete the second phase of Atlantic Yards by any particular date, according to Norman Oder's account of yesterday's City Planning Commission meeting.
Posted by lumi at 10:46 AM
Lights! Camera! Eminent Domain!
The Real Estate Observer
By Matthew Schuerman
Channel 13 will give the "60 remaining holdouts" at Atlantic Yards their 15 minutes of fame (or maybe 30) on "New York Voices" Oct. 6.
Program info from Channel Thirteen's schedule:
New York Voices # 616
New York Voices: Ratner's Brooklyn Redevelopment Plan -- Segments include a story on the 60 remaining holdouts in Brooklyn and studio interviews with advocates of Ratner's redevelopment plan in Brooklyn and those who oppose it. Rafael Pi Roman hosts.
Posted by lumi at 10:35 AM
City Planners Look To Shrink Atlantic Yards Project
NY1
By Roger Clark
This news report about the City Planning Commission's recommendations has some interesting tidbits which beg a couple questions.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said:
"What they are attempting to do, like I'm trying to do -- and by the way, many very excellent community organizations -- is to fine tune, continue to fine tune the project, so that it becomes an even better project."
Q: Who are the "many very excellent community organizations" who are attempting to "fine tune the project?" Could Markowitz be referring to the sponsors of BrooklynSpeaks?
This week marks the public debut of City Councilmember Bill de Blasio on this issue:
"I think you still can make this a somewhat smaller project. You can still achieve those social goals, and you can still make it fit better with the surrounding community," said Brooklyn City Councilman Bill de Blasio.
Q: Is de Blasio angling for credit in a win-win solution when the long anticipated scaledown has finally been unveiled?
article/video (dialup/broadband)
More coverage on 1010 WINS News Radio, Project Reduction Recommended for Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 9:47 AM
WESTFIELD SAN FRANCISCO CENTRE
Fashionable expansion bringing the shoppers back to downtowns
The San Francisco Chronicle
This is the second article this week in The Chronicle about Forest City's Westfield Mall. Today's article uses Westfield as an example of the trend towards "urban malls."
The Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market Street is tripling its size at a time when urban malls are tapping into the revival of downtown shopping.
As more people come downtown to spend their dollars instead of retreating to the suburbs, retailers have been responding by opening flagship stores in urban malls and putting their smaller, satellite stores in outlying areas.
Posted by lumi at 9:28 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Gothamist, City Diet for Atlantic Yards: Lose 8% (Except for Miss Brooklyn)
An excerpt from the quickie The Gothamist posted on the City Planning Commission's recommendations for Atlantic Yards:
The City Planning Commission "raved," the Post puts it, about the tallest skyscraper in the group, Frank Gehry's "Miss Brooklyn" structure that would be taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in the Brooklyn skyline. Instead, the CPC asked that another tower's height be reduced so views the bank could still be seen.
The Real Estate Observer, Tuesday: 'Green' Carpets, Yards' Yardage, East Harlem Hotness?
From The Real Estate Observer's quickie on the City Planning Commission's recommendations:
The developers readily admit that the CPC downsize suggestion was "precooked" in order to make the plans "more politically palatable."
The Wisdom of Roger Clark, From swim trunks to gray suit? It just doesn't seem fair...
An esoteric blog tracking NY1's Roger Clark got caught in our net this morning regarding Clark's report on Atlantic Yards:
Roger's in Fort Greene talking about the Atlantic Yards project. Clearly, he worked really hard on his report - he had a pre-cut montage with voice-over and everything, but geez, could he have at least presented it in his Guinness slippers and maybe a light blue terry robe? Sooo boring!
Shouting into the Void, All Eyes on Atlantic Yards
This post is a reminder that half-truths floating in the "public square" are not only a consequence of developer propaganda, but a failure of the media to publish important details concerning the project, and the difficulty project critics face in getting their message across.
The following key points from Shouting into the Void appear to be about some other Atlantic Yards:
"Forest City Ratner won the initial competition for developing this area of Brooklyn."
FACT: There was no "competition" for this site. Forest City Ratner approached the City and State for the opportunity and have had their eye on this site for years."I cannot believe this real estate project is the largest in the US."
FACT: The blogger got this one right — the project is no where near the "largest in the US." Atlantic Yards, if built, would be denser than any census tract in the nation."This project has turned these dispossessed people into millionaires, so they can move to almost anywhere they like."
To call luxury-condo owners who sold to Ratner "dispossessed" is a little hyperbolic. Luxury-condo owners did not become insta-millionaires, though they made a nice return on their investments, and the "dispossessed" have yet to be heard from since they still haven't filed suit.
We could go on, but we figure that someone is going to get out his or her fact-check bible and have a say in the comments section. All we ask is that you be nice. :)
Archinet, Atlantic yards through the wringer of NYC planning
Another CPC quickie is confused about a key fact:
Gehry's monstrosity is forced to shrink by 8% by the city planning commission. But will this appease the pissed off neighbors who think this is still too big and ugly?
CORRECTION:
NYC Planning isn't "forcing" anything on the Gehry "monstro-city." NYC Planning only made RECOMMENDATIONS (most news organizations, including the NY Times, have reported this fact). Atlantic Yards is being approved by a State (not City) process. The CPC role is only advisory in the planning phase and reactive if the project gets built.
Brit in Brooklyn, Walk Don't Destroy
Calling attention to:
A sponsored walk to help pay the legal fees for DDDB and raise awareness of the Atlantic Yards planning fiasco.
Posted by lumi at 8:24 AM
Hakeem Jeffries And The Train That Left The Station
Room 8
By Maurice Gumbs
The newly elected Hakeem Jeffries, developer madness (Ratner and Co.) and the prehistoric Brooklyn Democratic Machine — the dynamic between them will shape Brooklyn for decades to come. What effect Jeffries will have is anyone's guess, but Maurice Gumbs is optimistic that the soon-to-be-elected State Assemblyman isn't anyone's patsy.
Posted by lumi at 8:11 AM
Nets thinking Queens?
Field of Schemes gives the Brooklyn Papers props for being the first to speculate on the meaning of the NJ Nets' lease-extention escape clause for Brooklyn and Queens.
We heard it on DealScape first.
FOS mulls over the possibilities:
Could there be a secret Plan B to relocate the Nets to Queens if Ratner's contentious Atlantic Yards plan falls through? (The Papers' Gersh Kuntzman speculates that the Sunnyside Yards near Long Island City could be an option.) Or could this just be a way of putting the heat on Brooklyn pols by making them think that they have a competitor for the Nets' affections? I'm inclined to believe the latter, but then, I'm the one who didn't believe the crazy rumors that Ratner would really try to demolish buildings and streets to move them to Brooklyn in the first place.
Posted by lumi at 7:45 AM
September 26, 2006
Memo to Atlantic Yards Opponents: Can We All Get Along?
Gowanus Lounge
To: Atlantic Yards Opponents From: Gowanus Lounge
RE: Appearance of Split in the OppositionWe only have one thing to say: Can't we all just get along? ...
Not that you need us to tell you, but one of the most politically and financially powerful groups of politicians, developers and business leaders we've seen in recent years is pushing the Atlantic Yards project through before anyone can do anything to stop or change it. Relatively speaking, those fighting to block or change the project are doing so with comparatively few resources and almost no powerful friends in the political establishment. Perhaps you noticed that the City Planning Commission only called for a modest 8 percent reduction in the project yesterday and is okay with the height of Miss Brooklyn? Division in the ranks is the last thing that Brooklyn needs right now. As for you, BrooklynSpeaks, we'd take you to task for jumping in so late in the process and introducing extra confusion, but you've already done so, so what's the point?
...
The truth is, we're depressed that you didn't try to work this out privately and didn't come up with a division of labor, at it were, on Atlantic Yards before this all went public. But, it's not too late. It would be for the best if everyone involved in trying to shape the outcome of this fight were to hash out their differences and divide up the work.
Posted by lumi at 8:25 AM
BrooklynSpeaks principals say it's about strategy
Atlantic Yards Report
Yesterday, the day after the BrooklynSpeaks web site finally launched, backers of the project spoke at a press conference in Brooklyn--less than an hour after the City Planning Commission, in its only review of the project, essentially ignored many of the flaws in Atlantic Yards pointed out by BrooklynSpeaks, including interim surface parking and open space that looks more like the backyards of buildings.
While the site developers, led by the Municipal Art Society (MAS) and eight other groups, aim to get concerned Brookynites to send letters to public officials, many questions yesterday regarded the groups and their goals.
Posted by lumi at 7:47 AM
City Planning Commission weighs in
Three years after the Atlantic Yards project was announced, the City Planning Commission (CPC) chimes in with "guidelines."
For the uninitiated, City Planning would typically come up with the design guidelines first, and then the City would seek a developer. As with many things Atlantic Yards, the process has been bass-ackwards.
All three papers highlight the CPC's recommendation of an 8% scaleback (reported three weeks ago in The NY Times). None of the papers mention that such a scaleback would peg the size of the project to just about its original size, when first unveiled in 2003.
It seems like architect Frank Gehry prevailed in his objections to the reduction of Miss Brooklyn, since the CPC did not recommend a scaleback of the building Gehry has referred to as his "ego trip."
Here's the coverage:
NY Daily News, City tweaks Atlantic Yards plan, sez tower height OK
CPC on Miss Brooklyn:
"We really do believe the height is appropriate at this location," said Regina Myer, Brooklyn director of city planning, though she called for three smaller buildings to be cut by about 100 to 200 feet.
NY Post, RATNER'S TALL ORDER OK'D
The [Empire State Development Corporation], which is overseeing the project, could snub the Planning Commission's proposed changes with a two-thirds majority vote, but that's unlikely considering the city's financial backing for the plan.
The NY Times, City Planners Recommend 8% Reduction in Atlantic Yards The Times describes the project as three blocks long, but does not mention that it is two blocks wide. Also, the "roughly 8 million square feet" would make the project the same size as originally proposed:
At its meeting yesterday, the commission said the developer should cut back the massive project, which stretches three long blocks along Atlantic Avenue from Flatbush to Vanderbilt Avenues, from 8.65 million square feet to roughly 8 million square feet.
CPC ignores the view corridor to be dominated by Miss Brooklyn from Prospect Heights, but acknowledges the importance of sightlines to the Clock Tower from Park Slope:
The planning commission concluded that Miss Brooklyn’s height was appropriate for the location of the building, at the busy intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. But the bank building, which is being converted into condominiums, did figure into a recommendation that the developer reduce the height of a different tower, on an islandlike parcel across Flatbush Avenue from Miss Brooklyn. Planners said that tower should be cut by 100 feet to a height of 250 feet, because it would otherwise “detract” from views of the clock tower.
Ratner's PR guru Joe DePlasco says thank you very much:
“City Planning has been enormously helpful throughout the development process,” said Joe DePlasco.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz says thank you very much:
“They’re calling for the maximum visibility of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, and that was my intention as well,” Mr. Markowitz said. “The good news here is that the city is saying it’s the right project at the right time and at the right location.”
What else went on at the meeting? Enter the Mad Overkiller to the rescue to fill in dozens of details left on the cutting room floor by the dailies.
Atlantic Yards Report, At City Planning, 8% scaleback surfaces, Phase 2 not guaranteed, and challenges ignored
City officials admit they have no assurances that Phase 2 (est. 2016) of the project would be built on time, if at all, thus jeopardizing planned open space and most of the affordable housing
The CPC sales pitch:
The review session got off to an inauspicious start as Regina Myer, director of the DCP’s Brooklyn office, described the project as “incredibly transit-oriented,” on “primarily state-owned land,” and located “in Downtown Brooklyn,” all highly debatable assertions that got some in the crowd muttering, including City Council Member Letitia James—who represents the Prospect Heights project location.
Norman Oder found the Commissioners' Q&A period enlightening. Good questions were posed, but the standard for accuracy isn't as high at the CPC as it is on Atlantic Yards Report, which is excusable since the Planning Commissioners and the CPC staff aren't really supposed to be experts on this stuff.
Posted by lumi at 6:41 AM
Hearing Voices on Atlantic Yards: "Brooklyn Speaks"
Curbed.com
Another combatant entered the Brooklyn battleground known as Atlantic Yards yesterday evening with the launch of the BrooklynSpeaks website. BrooklynSpeaks is made up of a number of groups, most notably the Municipal Art Society and eight nabe groups. Notably absent is Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and several neighborhood groups closest to the Forest City Ratner project. BrooklynSpeaks' website runs down a long list of principles, including reducing the size of the project by 1/3 to 1/2 and a greater percentage of affordable housing for families making less than $35,000 a year. The group doesn't come out and say that it supports using eminent domain, but certainly looks like it accepts it.
Posted by lumi at 6:36 AM
Judge ponders linking land cases
Eminent domain news from Bruce Ratner's hometown from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Cuyahoga County Probate Court Judge John E. Corrigan heard arguments Monday on a request to consolidate 14 lawsuits in Cleveland's Flats eminent domain case, and said he expects to make a decision soon. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority filed the cases in May and June after property owners refused to sell to make way for developer Scott Wolstein's redevelopment plans for the area. The port's lawyers say the key arguments about eminent domain are the same in all the cases and should be tried in one trial to save time and money. Attorneys for the property owners, however, said the properties are unique and that consolidation would be unfair to their clients. They've suggested consolidating into three or four trials.
Posted by lumi at 5:58 AM
September 25, 2006
Pataki opens office in Iowa
AP, via NY Newsday
New York Gov. George Pataki this week will become the first potential presidential candidate to open a campaign office in Iowa.
NoLandGrab: To contact the Governor on Atlantic Yards-related issues, send mail to his Des Moines office, where he is busy at work on New York State's ethanol initiatives.
Pataki will also have plenty of time to familiarize himself with business owner Brad Hamilton. According to the Castle Coalition:
Des Moines, Iowa – The city is threatening to seize two buildings owned by Brad Hamilton – a T-shirt printing business and ZZZ Records – in the East Village area of Des Moines for private economic development. Since Hamilton bought the boarded up buildings five years ago, he has upgraded the plumbing, electrical work, floors, and facades, but city officials still insist it’s not enough.
Posted by lumi at 9:45 PM
Change-a-lujah! For Prospect Heights
From OnNYTurf:
Sunday, feeling hollowness in my soul from helping my girl friend pick out a new ipod last week (and enjoying it), I felt a real need to go see the Reverend Billy and the Stop-Shopping Choir. The Reverend has been performing at the Spiegeltent at the South Street Sea Port all summer, and I needed to see this special venue as well. If you are not familiar with the Spiegeltent, you should check it out. It is a spectacular 1920's hand crafted traveling venue. BUT! this is the last week of performances before it moves on. The Spiegeltent is an exceptionally ideal venue for the Reverend's revival sermon.
This Sunday turned out to be extra special, as none other than Dan Goldstein and Shabnam Merchant of Develop Don't Destroy were sainted into the Stop Shopping Church! Fortunately I caught this transformative moment on film! Here it is, so you can witness it like you were there.
Posted by lumi at 6:32 PM
Eh, what's that you say? BrooklynSpeak up.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has released a statement on its web site welcoming BrooklynSpeaks to the conversation, but asking them to be clearer on their position on two important and potentially divisive issues: eminent domain and the arena.
From DDDB.net:
We call for the BrooklynSpeaks group to be forthright and clear on their position on eminent domain and the arena, and so that individuals who sign onto their “principles” understand that by doing so, they are explicitly endorsing the arena and implicitly endorsing use of eminent domain.
From a page three levels deep on BrooklynSpeaks.net:
While demapping Pacific Street between Flatbush and Sixth Avenues would be necessary to build the Arena, the other demappings are an urban planning choice that would create "superblocks." The sponsors of BrooklynSpeaks therefore believe that the project should: Keep Fifth Ave and Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues open.
NoLandGrab: To set the record straight, the planned arena block would also be a "superblock."
BrooklynSpeaks's position rests precariously upon this one paragraph on a discreet page on their web site.
By supporting the demapping of Pacific St. between Flatbush and 6th Ave, Brooklyn Speaks supports the arena, which necessitates the use of eminent domain. Therefore, the group has taken a weaker position than many other neighborhood groups on two bugaboos of the Atlantic Yards controversy.
Posted by lumi at 3:45 PM
Brooklyn Speaks Out!
BrooklynSpeaks.net (also ...com and ...org) broke from the starting gate yesterday evening with a whopping 688 supporters as of 7:44PM.
The strongly worded web site isn't quite the invitation to serve as Forest City Ratner's community doormat that many neighborhood stakeholders feared.
However, with many community groups still not on board, and the fact that the site principles were hammered out in secrecy amongst a handful of players, BrooklynSpeaks can hardly lay claim to the silent majority struggling to be heard.
Check out Atlantic Yards Report for a detailed analysis of the content of BrooklynSpeaks.net.
A practical criticism of the web site is that it is labyrinthian. Click through to the page about the group's principles, then don't forget to click on the text links to learn more about each set of principles, and then look for the subsequent text links to find out more details (you get the picture). Buried somewhere on the site are "other concerns," which mention, lastly, "eminent domain."
Another practical consideration is that any action generated from the web site requires the user to "join them!" (697 as of 7:13AM), though you can opt out of supporting Brooklyn Speaks by unclicking the checkbox at the bottom of the registration page.
*UPDATE: Norman Oder reports that unclicking the checkbox gets you nowhere. Could that be a nifty metaphor for BrooklynSpeaks's position, that not negotiating with Forest City Ratner will get you nowhere?
Other than this nitpicky stuff and a color scheme that reminds us of the canned blogspot template used by Atlantic Yards Report (is "tangerine" the new black?), BrooklynSpeaks: * takes a tough stand on the issues covered in their "principles," * gives honorable mention to those issues not adopted into their principles, and * somehow manages to sidestep the 800-lb. gorilla... the arena.
Where BrooklynSpeaks goes from here is anyone's guess. There has been chatter in the press and behind the scenes about negotiating with Forest City Ratner, but the web site does not indicate what their next move will be.
Additional coverage and commentary: Gowanus Lounge, "Brooklyn Speaks," But Who Will Listen?
Posted by lumi at 6:46 AM
Atlantic Yards: What would Tiny Tim say?
Metro NY
By Mary Campbell Gallagher
The Ghost of Overdevelopments Past reveals himself to Mayor Bloomberg in a dream:
Surrounded by flashing yellow flames, Robert Moses crosses his fingers. Will the “public authorities” dodge fail Bloomberg on Atlantic Yards as it did on the West Side Stadium? Or will CEO Michael Bloomberg of New York City Realty and developer Bruce Ratner get to sell a traditional lowrise neighborhood, Prospect Heights, as one heckuva great new product?
In Gallagher's tale, Tiny Tim might have to dive for political cover and declare, "God seize private property for private development, every one!"
Posted by lumi at 6:34 AM
No real winners in sport facility fights
Metro NY
By Jason Notte
To some, the facilities are an economic boon that can bring jobs and improved quality of life to their respective areas. For others, the buildings will seem like scars left by the deep, angry wounds opened by their construction.
...
These battles end up being much like the sports themselves — in the end, someone has to lose. For the competing sides in this conflict, however, there is no next season — no “wait ‘til next year.” When the stakes are no less than people’s homes and livelihoods, losing isn’t an option — and the wounds suffered don’t heal in the off-season.
Documentary filmmaker, Jevon Roush, observes:
“Grassroots organizations that sprung up [around the West Side Stadium] were very fortunate to have Cablevision behind them,” Roush said. “That the organizations in Brooklyn don’t have that is surprising... considering that given the state of the Knicks, we’ll all be Nets fans if they move in.”
NoLandGrab: Roush is discounting the likelihood that once the NBA franchise owners voted to approve the Nets' move to Brooklyn, the owners of the Knicks are prohibited by their NBA franchise agreement from fighting the move.
Posted by lumi at 6:17 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Gowanus Lounge, Brooklyn Speaks Remains Mute
Guskind promises to keep checking in with Brooklyn Speaks:
Why the interest? Why does it matter? It's always interesting and it always matters when a player enters the game in the fourth quarter, especially one that might be angling to negotiate a change in the rules. Particularly one that claims the name "Brooklyn Speaks," which would seem to include a lot of people who might not want Brooklyn Speaks to speak for them. Which is why we're anxious to see what they're saying.
Greiner's Grumblings, Atlantic Yards opposition loses leader, project continues to lose public support
Links to news of Community Board 6's rejection of the Atlantic Yards plan as currently proposed and the passing of Evelyn Ortner, a community leader who "could possibly be the sharpest thorn in Ratner’s side."
Posted by lumi at 6:07 AM
Forest City in the News
SF Chronicle, WESTFIELD SAN FRANCISCO CENTRE. Old Emporium dome has turned into symbol of the new Westfield.
Shoppers who plunge into Westfield San Francisco Centre when it opens on Thursday will see plenty of shopping mall mainstays, from brand-name clothing to a nine-screen movie multiplex. But the most memorable feature is unique: a 102-foot-wide skylit dome built in 1908. ...
As developers call the package "the largest urban shopping center west of the Mississippi," they also stress the historic pieces of the old Emporium that have been salvaged and reused. But it's one thing to prop up the Market Street facade while razing everything behind it. Protecting the dome during construction was a far more complex task.
BusinessWire.com, The New York Times's New Headquarters Will Feature Space for Public Use; The Times Center Will Open in September 2007
Space for "Public Use" will open in 2007 , according to a NY Times press release:
The New York Times announced today that The Times Center, part of The Times's new headquarters designed by Renzo Piano and developed in conjunction with Forest City Ratner Companies, will open to the public in September 2007. Located in the heart of Times Square on West 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, The Times Center will include two major spaces: The Stage and The Hall. Both will serve an array of cultural offerings and will be available for rent for public and private events. Reservations for dates beginning in fall 2007 are now being accepted for both spaces.
"Public" is a keyword with big developers these days as the subsidies and use of eminent domain must somehow be justified. Is Forest City dreaming of the day when they'll issue a press release touting an 18,000-seat venue in Brooklyn for "public use?"
Posted by lumi at 5:47 AM
September 24, 2006
Crain's editor offers weak defense of poll
Atlantic Yards Report provides alternate ways the affordable housing question could have been phrased in the Crain's poll, such as "The project would include 2,250 affordable apartments, but more than half would be too expensive for people at Brooklyn's median income." AYR also speculates about the motives of the pollster:
David also offers two perhaps contradictory sentences regarding pollster Charney Research:
Mr. Charney, a professional pollster whose firm had emphasized political work, wanted to raise his company's profile within the business community and thought a joint project with Crain's might help... His company had no ties to developer Forest City Ratner or its opponents and no vested interest in the outcome, except to embellish its reputation for objective polling.So one way of raising the profile might be to produce a poll that businesses would appreciate.
I'm willing to believe that Charney did not slant the questions deliberately to favor the outcome achieved. It could have simply been ignorance. But ignorance is no excuse.
Posted by amy at 7:34 PM
Contemplating Saying Ciao to a Palazzo on Madison
New York Times announces that the Municipal Art Society is considering moving to a very interesting location:
Kent Barwick, the society’s current president, acknowledged that his group, which was formed in 1893, was looking for a new home, though he said the society was not completely committed to moving. In January the group made an exploratory bid on the current quarters of the Museum of Art and Design, on West 53rd Street, but, he said, “We were rebuffed.” Now, the group is considering space in the New York Times tower rising on Eighth Avenue, among other buildings.
Posted by amy at 7:21 PM
BROOKLYNSPEAKS: ATLANTIC YARDS MUST WORK FOR BROOKLYN
City-wide and Brooklyn civic and community groups launch website to inform New Yorkers about Atlantic Yards Project and ask decision makers to only approve a plan that works for Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, September 24, 2006 - BROOKLYNSPEAKS has been created by city-wide and Brooklyn-based civic and community groups to inform New Yorkers about the proposed Atlantic Yards development and enable them to ask the decision-makers only to approve a plan that works for Brooklyn.
The interactive BROOKLYNSPEAKS website has features found on several national internet-based advocacy sites including blog and letter writing options, and puts forth several key principles for the development of Atlantic Yards related to respecting the surrounding neighborhood; including a substantial reduction in the project's scale, a transportation plan that works; including affordable housing that meets Brooklyn's needs and involving the public in meaningful ways.
WHO: Sponsors of BROOKLYNSPEAKS website: Atlantic Avenue LDC, Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Heights Association, Fifth Avenue Committee, Municipal Arts Society, Park Slope Civic Council, Pratt Area Community Council, Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, Tri-State Transportation Campaign and others.
WHAT: Unveiling of the site and speaking with website sponsors
WHEN: Monday, September 25, 2006, 3:30 pm
WHERE: Fifth Avenue Committee at the FAC Center for Community Development, 621 DeGraw Street, Brooklyn, New York between 3rd and 4th Avenues in Park Slope. For directions go to www.fifthave.org
Posted by amy at 7:15 PM
NYC Dept. of City Planning Review Session
On the agenda for the next NYC Dept. of City Planning Review Session:
Brooklyn Non-ULURP
Atlantic Yards Civic and Land Use Improvement Project Plan; discussion of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) General Project Plan for Atlantic Yards. (K2, 6, 8)
(Note: public may observe but not participate.)
Next Review Session:
Monday, September 25th, 2006
1:00 PM
Spector Hall
22 Reade Street, New York, New York
Posted by amy at 11:13 AM
"An objective view of Atlantic Yards"
Crain's defends itself from the widespread accusations that its recent poll was conducted unfairly:
The story behind the story begins with Craig Charney, president of Charney Research. Mr. Charney, a professional pollster whose firm had emphasized political work, wanted to raise his company's profile within the business community and thought a joint project with Crain's might help. I was receptive because it fit my overriding goal to make news every week. Mr. Charney and I then focused on potential topics. A me-too poll on who was ahead in any of the statewide political races had little appeal. The opportunity was to discover public opinion on crucial New York City issues that hadn't been measured by an independent source. Atlantic Yards fit the criterion precisely. Mr. Charney and his staff drew up the questions, which are available on our Web site. His company had no ties to developer Forest City Ratner or its opponents and no vested interest in the outcome, except to embellish its reputation for objective polling.
...
Many have complained that the questions could have been worded to bring about a different result. That would be true if either Atlantic Yards opponents or Forest City had a chance to influence the poll. Opponents of Atlantic Yards are trying to shoot the messenger because the message is unpalatable.
article
While it's great to be 100% confident in the ability to conduct an independent poll, Crain's does not seem to realize that a lot of people get the information they use to answer poll questions from the poll questions themselves (especially the 56% of people who responded that they were not following the issue at all). An independent poll should at minimum brush upon some of the most controversial aspects of the issue at stake, such as, say, eminent domain abuse. Just because no one from DDDB or FCR wrote the questions does not mean they are automatically unbiased.
Full article after the jump.
When Crain's New York Business reported that an overwhelming 60% of New Yorkers supported the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, opponents of the development were sure the fix was in. Many complained that Erik Engquist, the Crain's reporter covering the Atlantic Yards controversy, must have slanted the questions to get the results Crain's reported. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's worthwhile to explain why the poll was commissioned, how the questions were drafted and what the results mean for the debate over the $4.2 billion arena and housing project.
The story behind the story begins with Craig Charney, president of Charney Research. Mr. Charney, a professional pollster whose firm had emphasized political work, wanted to raise his company's profile within the business community and thought a joint project with Crain's might help. I was receptive because it fit my overriding goal to make news every week. Mr. Charney and I then focused on potential topics. A me-too poll on who was ahead in any of the statewide political races had little appeal. The opportunity was to discover public opinion on crucial New York City issues that hadn't been measured by an independent source. Atlantic Yards fit the criterion precisely. Mr. Charney and his staff drew up the questions, which are available on our Web site. His company had no ties to developer Forest City Ratner or its opponents and no vested interest in the outcome, except to embellish its reputation for objective polling. I reviewed the proposed questions, as did a couple of other staffers. We made only one or two minor changes. Charney conducted telephone interviews with 601 New Yorkers in a way that made sure we sampled all economic and ethnic groups spanning all the boroughs. When the findings arrived, managing editor Rich Barbieri and Mr. Engquist reviewed them and discussed how to craft a story reporting the poll's findings. As is typical, I reviewed a final version of the story and made some editing suggestions. Each week we select a story to give to other media in an effort to spotlight our work, and that week we chose the poll. The story received widespread pickup in newspapers and the broadcast media because it did what we intended: It provided an objective look at public opinion on the project. Many have complained that the questions could have been worded to bring about a different result. That would be true if either Atlantic Yards opponents or Forest City had a chance to influence the poll. Opponents of Atlantic Yards are trying to shoot the messenger because the message is unpalatable. The poll shows that an overwhelming number of New Yorkers support the project because they believe the complex will transform an underdeveloped neighborhood and the affordable housing units are desperately needed. The scale of the project doesn't worry them. More broadly, the poll shows a solid majority of voters know the city must grow to be prosperous. There's a message here, too, for those jockeying to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Antidevelopment rhetoric may play well in local elections dominated by activists, but it will cripple a candidate in a citywide race.
Posted by amy at 10:46 AM
Times's AY Op-Art more questionable than funny
Atlantic Yards Report:
So, was Bruce McCall's Op-Art piece in yesterday's New York Times a backhanded defense of Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards design as presented or a suggestion that a six to eight percent cut would be meaningless and even self-defeating?I've heard both arguments and, actually, am not sure what he was after other than a springboard for some whimsical treatments of imaginary past downsizings.
I still find his premise questionable. First, it assumes the project is a done deal--and Atlantic Yards still must get state approval at two levels, and survive a court challenge. Second, the piece doesn't make sense; there's no real comparison between a finished project (like the Eiffel Tower), and a design, and McCall doesn't acknowledge that a six to eight percent cut would bring Atlantic Yards essentially back to its original proposed size. (Oops, maybe he only read one of the two Times stories.)
Perhaps most importantly, the Times devoted two-thirds of the op-ed page to fanciful drawings but it still hasn't shown the public any images of what the Atlantic Yards project would look like in the context of the neighborhood.
Posted by amy at 10:39 AM
TODAY: Reverend Billy to exorcize bad planning in Brooklyn and big boondoggles for Bruce
Reverend Billy is dedicating his September 24th Tent Revival at the Spiegeltent to the Fight for Neighborhoods Against Forest City Ratner!
Details and tickets here.
Posted by lumi at 8:54 AM
September 23, 2006
Six-to-Eight Percent Solutions
Sunday funnies came a little bit early this week due to the class clowns over at the New York Times. Mr. McCall makes a mockery of the idea of a 6-8% scaleback argument, but he could have used an example a little closer to home:.
The New York Times is planning to reduce the size of the newspaper, making it narrower by one and a half inches, and to close its printing operation in Edison, N.J., company officials said yesterday.
cartoon page
Don't forget to tell the New York Times what you think of their sense of humor. Write from the heart, and then scale back 6-8% of the vitriol.
Or, if your interpretation of the cartoon is still up in the air, take part in the Brooklynian poll.
Posted by amy at 7:21 PM
My Extroverted Introversion
Some of you might be following the controversy over BrooklynSpeaks and trying to figure out, who is this Brooklyn and what is she saying? Problem solved. BrooklynSpeaks has a blog. Following are excerpts to help you get the bigger picture...
I can see it both ways, and the fact that I can see it both ways makes me uncomfortable.
...
It makes me feel very very sick.
...
And maybe I'll just have to move out west.
Maybe BrooklynSpeaks doubts can be explained by her interests: playing basketball, coaching basketball and watching college basketball.
Posted by amy at 10:43 AM
September 22, 2006
How did Ratner get to build a downtown Brooklyn tower? The state won't say
Atlantic Yards Report:
So Forest City Ratner will build a $186-million Renzo Piano-designed tower at a site owned by the City University of New York's College of Technology bounded by Jay, Johnston, and Tillary streets. That site now includes the Klitgord Auditorium, where the Atlantic Yards public hearing and community forums were held.The building would be about 1 million square feet--almost as big as Miss Brooklyn, the largest building in the Atlantic Yards plan--which suggests it could be 50 to 60 stories tall. It will include classrooms, luxury condos, and some affordable housing.
While the size of the development is apparently as of right, given the recent rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn, other questions remain. However, as the Brooklyn Papers reported, the state won't release details about the finances or the bid process.
Posted by amy at 11:18 PM
ESDC finally acknowledges Freedom of Information Law request
Atlantic Yards Report:
So maybe it was worth it for me to comment publicly at the Sept. 12 Atlantic Yards community forum regarding the Empire State Development Corporation's (ESDC) failure to acknowledge my Freedom of Information Law request. I sent the ESDC a letter on July 26, and the agency should have responded within five business days.I sent a follow-up letter in late August, as well. Both were ignored until I raised the issue in my testimony Sept. 12. On Tuesday I received, via email, a copy of a letter (above) mailed to me.
Posted by amy at 11:14 PM
The Masses and the Mayor Fight the Good Fights; Also, Staten Island Is Radioactive
The Real Estate Observer links yesterday's NY Times article about BrooklynSpeaks:
What kind of real estate power does the average New Yorker wield? Over in Brooklyn, citizen groups have banded together to "create room for negotiation" with Forest City Ratner. (FCR has already responded well to their "reasonable middle ground" position.) Then over in Stuy Town, the young Councilman Dan Garodnick and his 25,000 neighbors are fighting against multinational conglomerates. Who will win?! Tune in next week.
Posted by amy at 11:11 PM
Brooklyn Speaks to modify AY project--but which Brooklyn?
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder does a better job than we do, or The NY Times for that matter, at explaining the issues and dynamics surrounding the BrooklynSpeaks campaign.
Essentially acknowledging that the Atlantic Yards project is a done deal, even before the most significant criticisms of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) emerge, several community groups in Brooklyn have lined up with the Municipal Art Society (MAS) to seek changes to the scale and design of the development. A new web site will be unveiled Saturday, BrooklynSpeaks.net.
Is a rift forming in the community that could play into developer Bruce Ratner's hands?
Unmentioned in the Times is the heated debate ongoing in Brooklyn, with some groups representing significant constituencies near the proposed project site, notably the Fort Greene Association and the Society for Clinton Hill, refusing to endorse the new venture yet.
Some groups endorsing Brooklyn Speaks are essentially repudiating some of the principles for responsible development for the Vanderbilt Yard that they endorsed, including no use of eminent domain and a project evaluated via the city's more stringent land use process, not the state's fast track. And the Boerum Hill Association just weeks ago reiterated major criticisms of the project, including the use of eminent domain.
The Times article suggests that "The new effort follows a series of legal and political setbacks for opponents of the project," citing a failed lawsuit and the recent losses by insurgent political candidates who emphasized their opposition to the project.
On the other hand, it's not clear what leverage--other than the MAS's capacity to earn the ear of some political leaders--this new group would have. After the Empire State Development Corporation approves the project later this year, it must receive the blessing of the three-member Public Authorities Control Board and one member, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, will be pressured to call for modifications.
NoLandGrab: What is apparent is that both voices in the debate over how to respond to the project feel that the other side is gambling on a risky strategy.
The individuals of the groups that secretly developed the Brooklyn Speaks campaign felt that relying upon a legal challenge would leave the neighborhoods surrounding the project with nothing to negotiate if the legal challenges were lost.
The groups that have led the fight thus far are wondering if Brooklyn Speaks does not go far enough and has already set a course for negotiating for a scaled-down project that is already in the hopper. These groups have what Forest City Ratner needs most, that's Dan Goldstein's condo, without which Phase 1 of the project cannot be built.
Posted by lumi at 9:11 AM
Paper Dragon at Atlantic Yards
The Real Estate Observer
By Matthew Schuerman
Talk about fighting bureaucracy with bureaucracy. The Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods is waiting until the last day to submit a 250- to 300-page response to draft environmental impact statement on Atlantic Yards.
"The deadline is Sept. 29 at 5:30," said C.B.N. co-chair Candace Carponter. "We will submit our response at 5 o'clock, maybe a little earlier, like 1 o'clock."
NoLandGrab: It's interesting that reporter Matthew Schuerman characterizes a 250- to 300-page response as "bureaucracy."
The point of the exercise isn't to bury the government in paper, but to define the weaknesses of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the largest private project in NYC history which proposes the densest residential community in North America.
In light of enormity of the project, 250-300 pages seems disappointingly thin, but is the best effort community groups could muster in the incredibly short timeframe.
Posted by lumi at 8:57 AM
Atlantic Yards Countdown
The Brooklyn Papers
The Empire State Development Corporation invited Brooklynites to comment on the agency’s draft environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Yards project by sending letters to ESDC’s Maria Mooney, 633 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 or e-mailing atlanticyards@empire.state.ny.us by 5:30 pm on Sept. 29.
We’ve asked our readers to send copies of their testimony to newsroom@brooklynpapers.com. Here are this week’s letters:
Samples from the letters follow:
Planting enormous glass towers in an area of brownstones and townhouses makes no sense other than financial sense for the developer, and shows no respect for Brooklyn, its history or its residents.
While those in the outer reaches of Brooklyn or outside the borough may find the prospect of a sports stadium exciting, I find it horrifying.
But even more horrific is the response of elected officials like Borough President Marty Markowitz. He and other elected officials who have given this project their full support are playing games with our neighborhoods. They should be ashamed.
— Daniel P. Wiener, Park Slope
Brooklyn is known for its low-rise three- and four-story brownstone neighborhoods. This building type is so appealing that it is the image that Forest City Ratner uses in its publicity brochures.
However, the Atlantic Yards project would destroy this character and replace it with 16 buildings rising as high as 60 stories. This is completely out of context with the surrounding neighborhood.
Yet the DEIS states that “the new land uses ... would be similar to, and compatible with, those in the surrounding primary and secondary study areas.” There is nothing compatible with the building types in Atlantic Yards.
Xenia Urban, Park Slope
Posted by lumi at 8:47 AM
Brooklyn Group to Propose Changes to Yards Project
The NY Times
By Nicholas Confessore
A group of neighborhood and civic associations will propose a series of changes to Brooklyn’s controversial Atlantic Yards real estate development this weekend, taking a new tack in the bitter debate over the project. The effort will diverge markedly from the strategy of other project skeptics, notably Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a coalition of neighborhood groups taking a harder line against the development.
The group will prescribe substantial reductions in the project’s size and an increase in the percentage of subsidized housing allotted to poor families, among other changes, but will not take a position against eminent domain.
...
Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City, said that the developer was “pleased to see that these groups want to talk about ways to improve what we believe is a very exciting project for the people of Brooklyn. We look forward to meeting with them and discussing their ideas.”
NoLandGrab: This handful of neighborhood groups appears to be taking an interesting tack. However, since the BrooklynSpeaks web site isn't up yet, it's difficult to talk about specifics of their proposal.
Generally speaking, from what has been reported in the press, the BrooklynSpeaks position contradicts itself more than once, which leads neighborhood residents to wonder if it is just a platform for early negotiation, and if so, which planks of the platform will be readily conceded.
For instance, the Municipal Art Society shies away from the arena controversy, but takes a stand against street closings. It will be impossible to hold strictly to this stance if the arena is built.
Another contradiction was brought to light in the article in a quote from Dan Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, who said, "One of their key principles is to respect the neighborhood, and by ignoring eminent domain and the arena, they are disrespecting the neighborhood.” That's a major concession to dev