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December 25, 2006
It came from the Blogosphere...
Gumby Fresh, When The Ship Goes Down...
Ponderings from across the pond:
I remember reading, but can't be arsed to search for, an article in the times about the growing power of Park Slope liberals in city politics. That's bollocks right there. This nasty little deal was cooked up between Albany, the Manhattan real estate elite, and the morally bankrupt liberal/Democratic establishment in Brooklyn.
NY Sports Blog, Nets To Brooklyn - What Does it Mean to YOU?
A sports fan offers his take:
Now this is what has been my concern from the very beginning. Ratner and his group could have garnered support without lying to his supporters. Those same supporters will not benefit from the arena in any way, shape or form. The Brooklyn Basketball Community that supported Ratner have already felt the disrespect when Ratner went across the bridge to Chelsea Piers in Manhattan to tap the owners of Basketbll City to run the Nets camps and clinics in Brooklyn. After showing Ratner all sorts of support, the Brooklyn Basketball community (many who already operate camps & clinics) was completely overlooked when it came time to operate a Ratner funded camp/clinic program, complete with a budget.
Karrie Jacobs, A White Xmas in Brooklyn
The design/urban planning writer is troubled by one of the big flaws with the Atlantic Yards project:
I don’t have a problem with the idea of developing the air rights above the Atlantic Avenue rail yards. I think it’s basically a good idea. And while a basketball arena isn’t exactly the thing I believe the neighborhood needs, I figure that if you’re going to build one, you might as well put it above a transit hub. Yes, I believe the project is clearly too big and its plan — from what I’ve seen so far — is hostile to the surrounding neighborhoods. But that’s not what makes me angry. The thing that I find outrageous is the process…or the lack of process.
What Goes Around Comes Around, [PSN] State approves Atlantic Yards; fate of project now lies with the Courts
A blogger posts a year-end message from Park Slope Neighbors:
This past Wednesday, New York State's Public Authorities Control Board voted to approve Forest City Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project. While the approval was widely anticipated, given the support for the project of the Governor, Mayor and Borough President - and the developer's relentless lobbying and public relations efforts - the vote still comes as a bit of a surprise, if only because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver ignored the wishes of the four Assemblymembers whose districts will be most affected by the project: Hakeem Jeffries, Annette Robinson, and Park Slope's own Joan Millman and Jim Brennan. All four had called for postponement of the PACB vote, citing a number of issues, including a lack of information about the project's financing, the development's overwhelming scale, and the insufficiency of proposed mitigations for the project's potentially adverse effects.
The Assemblymembers were joined in their opposition by Park Slope's two State Senators: Velmanette Montgomery, who's been an outspoken critic of the project, and newly elected Eric Adams, who has voiced numerous concerns and called for a review of security issues.
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What happens next? While the project has passed its final political hurdle, it still faces multiple obstacles in the courts.
Posted by lumi at December 25, 2006 8:19 AM