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September 3, 2006
Rockefeller Group Urges Brooklyn to Build to the Sky With Atlantic Yards
Courier-Life
By Stephen Witt
At last, the definitive reason to build Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards:
“New York is a city of such grand scale that the leaders of the past, the Rockefellers, the Astors and the Morgans, all recognized to have an impact or do anything meaningful in the city required it to be both spectacular and at a grand scale,” said "Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership For New York City (PFNYC), an organization founded by David Rockefeller."
Reporter Stephen Witt mistakenly placed Wylde's speech after Marty Markowitz at the "public hearing." Wylde may have submitted written comments, but her speech in support of what could be the densest residential community in the nation was in fact delivered at the Forest City Ratner press rally BEFORE the hearing.
While Forest City Ratner Companies is among the PFNYC members, it also includes a who’s who list of corporate giants including Microsoft and Bloomberg LP, both considered good corporate citizens.
The PFNYC board is currently co-chaired by the CEOs of Citigroup and the Hearst Corporation, and boasts such Brooklyn-born and bred alumni as Richard Parsons, CEO of Time Warner; Sy Sternberg, CEO of New York Life; Fred Wilpon owner of the New York Mets; and Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs.
Wylde critiques the post-Robert Moses world and explains why high-density projects not in her back yard are important:
Wylde traced the anti-development sentiment in the city to the 1960’s as a response to some of the massive public works projects undertaken by Robert Moses.
“That led us to change the city charter in a way that allows the very parochial interests to triumph over the larger interests of the city,” Wylde said.
“I live in Bay Ridge and as far as we’re concerned, high-density development in the downtown corridor is one of the most important ways to preserve the borough’s residential neighborhoods and to regain the vitality of the local economy,” she added.
Posted by lumi at September 3, 2006 7:30 PM