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May 29, 2007
Rhetoric check: AY "same site" as proposed Dodgers stadium? Nah
Atlantic Yards Report
Journalists, politicians, and other commentators have readily--though incorrectly--repeated a central fudge in the Atlantic Yards saga, that the site would be the same as that proposed by Brooklyn Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley before he moved the beloved Dodgers to Los Angeles.
That's a great tale, only Bruce Ratner already built a mall on the site coveted by O'Malley.
(Graphic from Henry Fetter's book Taking on the Yankees: Winning and Losing in the Business of Baseball, which was issued before the Atlantic Yards plan was officially announced. Click to enlarge. More from Fetter below.)
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Yes, O'Malley's idea was to move the Dodgers near Brooklyn's busiest transit hub. But no one at the time was proposing to build over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard between Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, as with the Atlantic Yards plan above. That would’ve been too costly.
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Fetter's book, issued in September 2003, should have been a useful resource for anyone writing about the Dodgers stadium location, as previous books could have been. Instead, some writers and observers have perpetuated a myth.
Norman Oder cites at least ten examples of the developer, politicians and writers perpetuating one of the most enduring myths of the Atlantic Yards saga. Nearly half of them are from the NY Times (maybe they'll publish another astounding correction).
Oder also summarizes Fetter's history of O'Malley's bid to move the team to Atlantic Avenue.
Posted by lumi at May 29, 2007 8:02 AM