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April 18, 2007
Lifting the Markowitz fig leaf from the Atlantic Yards creation myth
Atlantic Yards Report
Lift Marty's fig leaf? Ugh, Atlantic Yards Report has reached new lows with that image.
Seriously, was Marty the brains behind Atlantic Yards?
According to at least two accounts, Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner didn't start thinking about an arena near the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues until the summer or fall of 2002. And, according to Borough President Marty Markowitz, Ratner needed prompting from him to consider the opportunity.
That's highly unlikely--and it seems to contradict some recent statements by Forest City Ratner lawyers. They have claimed, in oral argument and legal papers in the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case, that the developer did not, as charged, initiate the project.
I had written that the claim seemed true only if it were narrowly interpreted as reflecting Markowitz's idea for an arena, since surely Markowitz didn't initiate the idea for a 22-acre development. Now it's questionable that Markowitz even initiated the idea for the arena near Downtown Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at April 18, 2007 10:24 AM