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August 9, 2007
BrooklynSpeaks, pols propose new AY governance structure; ESDC wary
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder covers yesterday's announcement by Brooklyn Speaks, in which the coalition and local politicians called for increased community oversight of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan:
The BrooklynSpeaks coalition, which has taken a “mend it don’t end it” posture toward Atlantic Yards and thus gained the support of several local elected officials, yesterday proposed a new governance structure for the project, which, under the best scenario, could take a decade to be built, but might last 20 years, according to the project landscape architect.
The coalition, spearheaded by the Municipal Art Society along with several Brooklyn neighborhood groups, citywide groups, and even a couple of national ones, recommends that a Planning and Oversight entity, involving government agency representatives and local elected officials, be set up to oversee implementation of the project, including future changes. Also, a Stakeholder Council involving local groups would play an advisory role. (See diagrams from BrooklynSpeaks.)
However, there's no assurance that such a structure could actually impose changes (like a significant reduction in the project's size)--that would depend more on political forces--and the initial response from the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), was lukewarm.
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I couldn’t make the press conference—there were infrastructure issues with the subway after yesterday's storm—but did gather reactions from a variety of stakeholders.
Posted by lumi at August 9, 2007 10:01 AM