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December 4, 2006
"Extreme density," missed opportunities, and one partial solution
Atlantic Yards Report
As Norman Oder makes his way through the public comments section of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, he continues to tackle responses to the project, pro and con.
This one addresses "extreme density," but also could be lumped with many comments that sell Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal as a panacea for most of New York City's urban-planning transgressions during the past few decades.
There's an emerging consciousness that the off-the-charts density proposed for the Atlantic Yards project is, in part, a response to developments in recent years built at too little density. Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the business group Partnership for New York City, hinted at that in her testimony at the 8/23/06 public hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement:
Atlantic Yards provides desperately needed new housing at a scale that will have a meaningful impact on redressing the imbalance between housing supply and demand that has sent Brooklyn rents and home prices through the roof. Over the past 25 years, the Partnership sponsored development of several thousand of affordable homes and apartments in Fort Greene [above], Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace and Bedford Stuyvesant. These were low-rise developments that stabilized fragile neighborhoods and allowed working people to contribute to and enjoy the benefits of Brooklyn’s renewal. The density of these developments, however, was never great enough to impact a tight housing market in a meaningful way. Atlantic Yards will do that.
Believe it or not, Wylde's comment gets Norman Oder thinking about building over libraries.
Posted by lumi at December 4, 2006 9:06 AM