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November 16, 2006

Ratner Project Could Soon Face Its Final Showdown

The NY Sun
By David Lombino

Before the end of the year, the fate of Atlantic Yards could fall into the hands of the Public Authorities Control Board, a once a little-known Albany bureaucratic backwater that has become something of a graveyard for large projects.
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The board of the development corporation is expected to sign off on the environmental statement and the general project plan as early as a November 28 meeting, according to a state official. This could set up another showdown at the Public Authorities Control Board next month, where the spotlight once again will fall on the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, as one of three voting members of the board. Mr. Silver used his vote on the control board to kill Mayor Bloomberg’s West Side stadium project and Governor Pataki’s Moynihan Station plan, enraging both leaders.

Mr. Silver, whose direction is famously hard to read, has said he backs the Brooklyn project. When Mr. Silver halted Mr. Pataki’s efforts to break ground on the Moynihan project before leaving office, some political observers suggested he was running interference for incoming governor, Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Silver said he merely favors a much larger plan to move Madison Square Garden.

With the Atlantic Yards project, Mr. Silver’s political calculus is still emerging, experts say. Unlike Moynihan Station, Atlantic Yards has vigorous support from Mr. Bloomberg and a host of elected officials, who cite jobs and increased housing.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr. Silver said he had not yet received the final environmental impact statement.

This article is one of the first in the mainstream media to note that the project size has hardly changed since the project was initially announced:

The project, however, appeared to change little. Three buildings were reduced in size,the number of residential units contained in the project decreased by about 8%, as expected, and the amount of commercial space was more drastically reduced, along with assumptions about related office jobs. Despite complaints from opponents on the scale of the development, the total square footage of the project remains close to the amount that was initially planned. The state agreed to add a school to the project’s footprint.

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Posted by lumi at November 16, 2006 7:29 AM