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August 14, 2007
CULTIVATE THE GRASSROOTS: A NEW DEVELOPMENT MODEL
Promises of affordable housing are leading to unexpected alliances in Brooklyn.
City Limits
By Curtis Stephen
Oy, who knew that three years into the Atlantic Yards controversy, we'd still be fact-checking lead sentences?:
As controversial and lawsuit-ridden as it may be, the proposed Atlantic Yards redevelopment program in downtown Brooklyn has one reliable reply to anyone who criticizes the project on the basis that it creates more rather than less inequality in the world – or at least in Brooklyn.
For the record: Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan isn't in "Downtown Brooklyn" despite what Ratner's web site says. Whatever Ratner spends on AtlanticYards.com is totally worth it just for perpetuating this myth alone.
The lead paragraph continues:
And that is: the solid backing of poor-people’s advocate ACORN. Now, at least two new development proposals in the borough are mirroring that developer-advocacy group relationship, some say, prompting debate over whether other private developers are taking a page from Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards playbook to win helpful grassroots support for their upscale residential ventures – or whether actively seeking that support may lead to genuine discussions that create greater community benefits than would have been generated otherwise.
Read about how developers are seeking to divide and conquer the community in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
Atlantic Yards Report follows up ("City Limits sees AY housing echoes in New Domino plan; Yassky, DePaolo differ") on the City Limits article, reporting on City Councilmember David Yassky's defense of the New Domino plan.
Citing the provision of affordable housing, Yassky Friday submitted comments to the Department of City Planning (DCP) fully supporting the New Domino, which would bring some 2200 apartments, including two 30-story and 40-story towers each, to an 11.2-acre site on and near the Williamsburg waterfront.
Posted by lumi at August 14, 2007 9:39 AM