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November 30, 2006
"Atlantic Yards" as synonym...
Daily Intelligencer, the New York Magazine city blog, was being sarcastic in yesterday's headline in reference to The Gowanus Lounge's comparison of the Coney Island developer Joe Sitt to Bruce Ratner, "Let's Just Call Every Land Deal ‘Atlantic Yards’ From Now On."
But that got us thinking. "Atlantic Yards" is has become the poster child for overdevelopment, boondoogles, sorely needed reform of public authorities, Frank Gehry kitsch, extreme density, and eminent domain abuse.
Is it enough to use "Atlantic Yards" as a synonym? Ex., "Coney Island will be so like Atlantic Yards." Or is there enough room to create adjectival or verb forms of the project name?
In reference to threatening to use eminent domain one could say, "Don't make us do an Atlantic Yards." Or when considering a project that is 20 times bigger than anything across the street, one could say, "Whoa! It's so Atlantic Yards."
Naturally, we're reserving "Ratnerian" for any situation involving a politically connected powerbroker who feeds at the public-subsidy trough or is awarded public land for dirt cheap.
Posted by lumi at November 30, 2006 8:43 AM