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September 30, 2007
Near-gridlock at tour's end, and the effect on AY & UNITY
Atlantic Yards Report
The walking tour I led yesterday (with the help of Ron Shiffman) of the Atlantic Yards footprint and environs wound up, after two-and-a-half hours, on Pacific Street just west of Flatbush Avenue, outside the Brooklyn Bear's Garden. (About 50 people showed up, very few of whom I recognized as involved in Atlantic Yards-related activism.)The traffic on Flatbush was relentless. It was hard to imagine how a Saturday afternoon arena event could be accommodated unless there were significant changes to the area transportation system, beyond the mitigations--among them a free MetroCard (for basketball games, not concerts) and shuttle buses (ditto)--planned as of now.
Also, though the alternative UNITY plan Shiffman helped develop calls for a park on the triangular plot opposite the garden, between Flatbush, Fifth, and Atlantic avenues, it sure didn't seem like that salubrious a place to gather, given the traffic on Atlantic as well. Many of the major transportation changes that are proposed in the UNITY plan would have to be implemented, at the least.
Posted by amy at 11:30 AM
One more day to see Future Perfect, an interactive view of AY
Atlantic Yards Report
After walking around the Atlantic Yards footprint yesterday, trying to describe, with some visual aids, what Forest City Ratner aims to build, it was a trippy experience to see the Future Perfect installation at the d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival.(It's showing through today--from 1 to 6 pm, maybe later--at 20 Jay Street, M24, on the Mezzanine floor.)
The video shows the streets of Prospect Heights, but as you walk closer to the installation, architectural renderings of the project appear on the screen, while taped phone calls of residents expressing their opinions about the project are heard. (A majority, I think, are negative, but the voices are tough to decipher in places.)
Walk even closer and we see instead images produced by local schoolchildren--their vision for the streets. As the designers state, "The installation is interactive in that both these 'futures' are only revealed by someone's physical presence."
Posted by amy at 11:19 AM
September 29, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Gothamist: Extra Extra
An interview with the creators of a multimedia presentation that represents a post-Atlantic Yards development Brooklyn.
PRNewser: Dan Klores to continue ‘The War’
Ever wonder what happened to Joe DePlasco? He' s now working on publicity for the less controversial Ken Burns "War" documentary for PBS:
This is a huge PR buy for PBS, with Klores Managing Director Joe DePlasco leading the account with a staff of four (an SVP, VP, AS, and one other). It seems like relatively easy sledding for DePlasco, whose name is strewn all over articles about the plan for a Nets stadium in Brooklyn (DKC represents Forrest City Ratner developers). The only controversy over the Burns film was the drumbeat to include Latino and Native American subjects in the final cut, which added to the quality.
Posted by amy at 10:00 AM
TODAY — WALKING TOUR: The Atlantic Yards Footprint and Environs
Here are multiple reminders that Norman "the Mad Overkiller" (and licensed NYC tour guide) Oder and former City Planning Commish Ron Shiffman are leading a walking tour of "Ratnerville" and "Environs" this Saturday.
The tour is free and open to the public and we're pretty sure that Norman Oder will NOT be quizzing "tourists" on the material afterwards.
The Brooklyn Paper, Civic Calendar
Saturday, Sept. 29
Walking tour of Atlantic Yards footprint led by former Planning Commissioner Ron Shiffman and journalist Norman Oder. Meet in front of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower (Hanson Place at Ashland Place, in Fort Greene), 2 pm.
The Villager, Jane Jacobs on foot
If the name Jane Jacobs conjures just a vague notion of the urban activist, that’s all the more reason to get acquainted with her legacy during the city’s first “Jane’s Walk” series of tours this weekend. Begun last year in Toronto, where the Canadian-born Jacobs relocated after spending many years in the West Village, they make their debut here in time for the Municipal Arts Society exhibit, “Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York,” which opened Tuesday.
Six of the eight tours will be led by people who do not normally work as guides. But just as Jacobs herself was a self-taught city-planning scholar, that doesn’t make them any less qualified. “They’re not professional tour givers,” explains Jane’s Walk director Jane Farrow. “These are people who are locals who know their neighborhoods really well.”
NoLandGrab: The Ratnerville Footprint tourists are fortunate to have their own real-live licensed tour guide and an actual urban planning expert. For your own safety, we ask that you do not hand feed them.
Brownstoner, Weekend Events
Atlantic Yards Walking Tour
Join Ron Shiffman (Pratt Center) and Norman Oder (Atlantic Yards Report) tomorrow for a guided tour of the Atlantic Yards footprint and surrounding areas. The tour kicks off on Saturday at 2 p.m. in front of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank at One Hanson Place and will take at least two hours.
NoLandGrab: B-stoner posted a HUGE list of weekend events in Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 9:59 AM
All drawn out, The Brooklyn Paper
The Real Deal: Two more tenants give way at Atlantic Yards site
Two tenants in the footprint of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project have decided to settle with the developer out of court, dropping lawsuits asking compensation for their removal by eminent domain. Four other tenants represented by the same lawyer, Jennifer Levy, are in settlement talks with Ratner. The legal battles have significantly delayed the project, with the first phase's completion slated for 2010.
The Real Estate : Atlantic Yards Case Loses Two Plaintiffs
Posted by amy at 9:52 AM
Exorcising the Dodgers, redux
Atlantic Yards Report
A good backdrop to that recent New York magazine article on "Exorcising the Dodgers" would be The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957, a bang-up exhibit about the rivalry and cultural presence of the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants, running through December 31 at the Museum of the City of New York.Both the Dodgers and Giants have left and, of course, it was a different era a half-century ago. One exhibit panel states:
Why do the Glory Days continue to exert such a hold on the fans who experienced them? In part, is is because baseball was the big game in town, not yet truly challenged by the other league sports such as football or basketball. But while it was the big time, it was not yet the big business it is today--players lived among the fans and there was a sense of shared identity...
Posted by amy at 9:43 AM
Real Estate Round-Up: September 28, 2007
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Are Dolly Williams’ days as a member of the City Planning Commission numbered? The Daily News reported that she’s been serving on the board for three months without an official reinstatement from Borough President Marty Markowitz. Some speculate that she hasn’t been officially appointed to a second term because, during her first term, she had to rescue herself from voting on major projects, such as Atlantic Yards and the Gowanus rezoning, because she stood to gain financially from the outcome.
link
NoLandGrab: The correct word is "recuse" not "rescue."
Posted by amy at 9:33 AM
September 28, 2007
PLAINTIFFS LEAVING "ONE BY ONE," "DROPPING LIKE FLIES"
THE BROOKLYN PAPER: Lawsuit against Atlantic Yards is losing its plaintiffs one by one
Ariella Cohen reports in The Brooklyn Paper that tenants are leaving the eminent domain lawsuit and that "opposition to Brooklyn’s largest real-estate project may be entering its endgame."
One tenant commented that Forest City Ratner wants "to be able to say that the plaintiffs are dropping like flies."
Um, pretty much the Brooklyn Paper already did.
Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report explains why tenants have few options compared to property owners.
NoLandGrab: This is the first that we've heard of any tenants leaving the eminent domain suit. It wouldn't surprise us if any did or more followed suit.
What surprises us is that there have been tenants brave enough to sign on in the first place, especially in the face of Forest City Ratner's threat to not negotiate with renters who filed suit and the fact that renters have fewer options than owners.
Posted by lumi at 12:29 PM
No love for ‘UNITY’ from city, state
The Brooklyn Paper
City and state officials say they don’t intend to consider a community-based alternative development plan for the Prospect Heights site of Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project that was unveiled this week.
The so-called UNITY proposal includes mostly affordable apartments, no arena and doesn’t require condemning land via eminent domain. But to be anything more than a few planners’ dream of ideal, community-driven development, support from city and state officials is necessary.
That support is not there.
NoLandGrab: This is news?
From day one, every move made by the City and State has furthered the goal of delivering the Atlantic Yards project into Bruce Ratner hands, via zoning overrides, subsidies, eminent domain and political favoritism.
Real news would have been if the ESDC and City had pulled up stakes on Atlantic Yards and started looking at the UNITY community-based plan.
Another piece in The Brooklyn Paper, "UNITY Plan: Why now?," explores two what-if scenarios that might make City and State officials (heck, maybe even Ratner?) take another look at some of the ideas in the UNITY 2007 plan.
But isn’t the Atlantic Yards deal done?
Yes, if you ask city and state officials. But even they admit that the real-estate market is a volatile beast.
But isn’t the real estate market hot hot hot?
Not exactly. Financial markets are tightening, making it harder for Ratner to line up investors. At the same time, tighter money means higher mortgage rates for his potential luxury buyers. Plus, there is a glut of luxury units coming on line, a factor that has already started to squeeze profit margins for high-end builders. any delays in construction cost Ratner $4.15 million a month in carrying costs.
Is there any other way the plan can be stopped?
Two lawsuits are percolating through the legal system: One is an eminent domain lawsuit charging that state planners abused the state’s condemnation power to line Ratner’s pockets. It was dismissed earlier this summer, but the federal appeal will be heard on Oct. 9. The other pending lawsuit challenges the project’s environmental review. It’s awaiting judgment in state court.
Posted by lumi at 12:07 PM
Jane Jacobs was wrong about a stadium, but Toronto ain't Brooklyn
Atlantic Yards Report
Jane Jacobs admitted she was wrong about the Toronto stadium, but would she have approved of Atlantic Yards?
Norman Oder poses the question to himself:
A 5/31/93 New York Times profile of Jacobs... reported:
Because the Sky Dome is amid downtown office buildings with ample parking and easily accessible by public transit, it did not require the sort of vast parking lots that turn the areas surrounding most stadiums into wastelands. The Sky Dome also incorporates stores and hotels that make it active even during the off season.
"Before it was built, I had thought that would be a terrible site for a stadium, blighting the area like other stadiums," Mrs. Jacobs admits. "But I was wrong. I am wrong plenty of times, you know.
But the site in downtown Toronto did not border a residential neighborhood, as in Brooklyn and could rely on empty office parking rather than nearly 1600 spaces of interim surface parking.
Posted by lumi at 11:50 AM
De Blasio Talks Real Estate With Brooklyn Bloggers
Brownstoner reports on City Councilman Bill de Blasio's pow-wow with bloggers. Here's the excerpt about Atlantic Yards:
Thus, he thinks City Planning's initial framework for the rezoning of Gowanus is "legitimate," particularly in terms of the height and density that are being proposed for the Public Place site (where towers may be allowed to rise as high as 14 stories), since he believes that sort of height is necessary to support the creation of affordable housing. Similarly, he said he approved of Atlantic Yards in large part because of its "tiered approach" to affordable housing (whereby units are set aside for low- to middle-income residents), and that the project deserved the special subsidies it received through the revamp of 421-a tax abatement legislation because of the number of affordable housing units that Forest City Ratner has pledged to build. The councilman was critical of Forest City Ratner's lack of "transparency," especially in terms of keeping community members abreast of demolitions.
Readers should be aware of a few things:
For many large development projects which include affordable housing, it is common to have a "tiered approach."
De Blasio is using the large amount of affordable housing units (some of which on a per-sq-ft basis would cost more than the market-rate units) to justify Ratner receiving a larger affordable-housing subsidy than any other developer who would qualify. On the flip side, he said at the last meeting with bloggers that "I still think it's too tall.
The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) has been keeping community members abreast of demolitions by posting demolition updates on the ESDC web site every two weeks, though they have turned down requests from communtiy members to distribute the updates via email. NoLandGrab can forward them to the Councilmember's office upon request.
The general impression we get from de Blasio is that he is plugged into the Brooklyn Party Machine and will not do anything to upset the apple cart; he knows way more about the backroom dealings concerning Atlantic Yards than we do; but he is remarkably under-informed about significant details and impacts of the project, especially those about which his own constituents are most concerned.
Posted by lumi at 11:19 AM
On the Road with "the Lid"
On the Road
A description of Atlantic Yards and Frank Gehry's totally insipid story of how he named "Miss Brooklyn" turns into a laugh riot when the original Chinese gets mangled by machine translation (via babelfish.altavista.com).
BTW: "The lid" they keep mentioning is "Gehry."
All these motley colors, all these sincere Victoria type construction, took his starry night recollected a monochromatic background will be very wonderful. [Gehry] rides in a carriage along the urban district seeks the inspiration, and not only pays attention to a block or a resident organizes, moreover pays attention to a bride, in a movie slow motion. In the lid, this building domain movie direct, had found the lead which he imagines. He calls her to be called "Miss Brew Kelin" (Miss Brooklyn), and uses in an architectural complex central construction □□wave shape this name to do by the white glass the wall surface the tall building. In the Brew Kelin, the picture in Los Angeles, in the lid is designing a medium city. In the lid and the developer all cannot undertake a simple mistake. With "the Atlantic field" the central area will relate in together, after will peacefully have peacefully 住宅街, the busy key communication line, "the Long Island railroad company" the station, a subway central station, will leave uncultivated "the industrial district", the magnificent and expensive long street, a shopping market, a fast-food factory, the new office building, "the Brew Kelin conservatory" the periphery cultural area, has the historical significance the street. Nearly all these facilities all are revolving the space which Ratner vainly hoped for. 抗议者 in art is correct: "The Atlantic field", "Miss Brew Kelin" and the competition location, all violates the spirit which the Brew Kelin constructs. But if the neighbouring area successfully causes this plan to suffer setbacks, they possibly finally feel the regret. They possibly use massive "sensitive" and "and the environment coordination" the plane brown decoration □□slightly big spot development, but far is also mean spirited than the lid in design. This kind of choice looks like a little likes a Ratner recent project □□"the Atlantic center market" (Atlantic Center Mall).
NoLandGrab: It's hard to tell exactly what the author thinks about "the Atlantic Field" critics, but here are some hints: "mean spirited" and "they possibly finally feel the regret" (i.e. "they'll be sorry") if they stop the project.
We're looking forward to the "fast-food factory" because the one Ratner calls Atlantic Terminal Mall isn't "cheesy" enough.
Posted by lumi at 10:49 AM
The road not taken: City Council limits high-rise buildings... on the Upper West Side
Atlantic Yards Report
From a New York Times article Wednesday headlined Council Approves Plan to Limit High-Rises on Upper West Side:
The City Council unanimously passed a rezoning plan yesterday that limits the spread of high-rise buildings along 51 blocks on the Upper West Side, an area that officials say has undergone a significant increase in development.
The plan is intended to preserve the physical character of the community. It generally limits buildings to 14 stories along Broadway; 10 to 11 stories along the other avenues; and 6 to 7 stories on the side streets. Additionally, it imposes design restrictions so that new developments more closely match the neighborhoods around them. ...
By contrast, for the Atlantic Yards project, the state will override zoning, to which City Planning Commission Chairwoman Amanda Burden concurs, explaining last February, "Tall buildings are aspirational... We’re a city that welcomes growth, we welcome innovation.”
Posted by lumi at 10:39 AM
Mixed-use project near transit hub moves ahead
LA Daily News
BY Rick Orlov
Another developer was chosen over Forest City, the developer of Atlantic Yards, this time for a megaproject in LA.
A $1 billion development that would shape the North Hollywood skyline took a big step forward Thursday as the Metro board approved negotiating with Lowe Enterprises for the massive mixed-use project.
...
Metro staffers recommended Lowe's plan over proposals by CIM Group and Forest City, based on an outline of the development - which includes extensive environmental considerations - the mix of residential and commercial space and the firm's financial abilities.Robert Lowe, head of the company that has been doing business in Los Angeles for 35 years, said he is looking forward to the project and negotiations.
...
The deal to negotiate with the Los Angeles-based real estate company came after the Metro board resolved an unusual conflict-of-interest snag.The key vote become tangled after 11 of the 13 Metro board members were barred from casting ballots because they all had received campaign contributions connected to projects considered for the site.
NoLandGrab: Though Forest City Enterprises lost this bid, the article seems to insinuate that Lowe, the winning developer, has as tight of a grip on the political process in LA as Bruce Ratner does here in NYC. Which leads to the question, is turnabout fairplay?
Posted by lumi at 9:25 AM
Trinidadian Contractor's Re-Appointment To NY Commisison Up In The Air
HardbeatNews.com
By Philomena Robertson
Will Trinidad-born, Brooklyn-based entrepreneur, Dolly Williams, be reappointed to the New York City Planning Commission amidst allegations of non-payment to several sub-contractors?
That question burns uppermost in the minds of many three months after the expiration of her appointment to the powerful zoning body and amidst allegations in a CRAIN news report that she owes millions to contractors her company hired.
NoLandGrab: Though the article notes the scandal that resulted in Dolly Williams's recusal from decisions regarding Atlantic Yards due to conflict of interest, unmentioned was Dolly's Gowanus rezoning conflict of interest and her illegal-parking conduct.
Also unmentioned was the "NoLandGrab" photo credit (crazy!). Note to for-profit media organizations: stealing from unpaid bloggers is not halal.
Posted by lumi at 8:42 AM
Cleaning up
Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
After complaining about neglect along the Ratner-controlled railyards, volunteers filled 30 contractor bags with debris at the Sept. 23 event, dubbed “People Still Live Here” day.
City law holds property owners responsible for litter in front of their buildings, but the Department of Sanitation and the Empire State Development Corporation declined to comment on the mess. No wonder activists want ESDC to finally appoint the long-promised construction ombudsman
Posted by lumi at 8:19 AM
September 27, 2007
Future Perfect: Interview with creators Ed Purver and Chris Croft
Experience the first interactive display featuring Prospect Heights and what it might look like if Bruce Ratner has his way.
Future Perfect will be showing beginning tomorrow at the d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, 20 Jay Street, Unit M24, Mezzanine Floor.
Visit www.futureperfectbrooklyn.org for more information.
Last night we sat down with creators Ed Purver and Chris Croft, who met at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Purver used Future Perfect as his thesis for the program.
Purver and Croft come clean about how they did it, how long they've lived in Brooklyn, when they first learned about Bruce Ranter's megaproject and what they like about Atlantic Yards.
NoLandGrab: How do you describe Future Perfect?
Ed Purver: It’s an interactive video installation, a visualization on the proposed Atlantic Yards development.
There’s a video projection on the wall, and if there’s no one in the room you just see street views of the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. As soon as someone enters the space, a strip of this proposed architectural future is immediately revealed in front of them and follows them around the room in direct proportion to their size. The closer they get to the screen Bruce Ratner’s vision of the future crossfades into the architectural future as imagined by local children.
NLG: How did you come up with the title?
Chris Croft: We just did a quick brainstorm over email, it just seemed to fit.
NLG: What do YOU call the person who is taking in your piece? I’ve been at a loss to come up with the right word, because the individual isn’t a part of an audience and isn’t merely a viewer.
E.P.: User, participant, I’d probably say visitor or viewer. I know viewer sounds a bit sedentary because we’re asking them to walk around, but they are just watching. I like visitor.
NLG: What do you call the type of artwork you do?
C.C.: This is interactive art, but it’s also community-centered. I would say new-media art. A lot of new-media art, at least the stuff I like, tends to be activist.
NLG: Do you do this work full time?
E.P.: I’m freelancing with some really fun stuff that is quite similar to this piece.
NLG: Stuff you can talk about?
E.P.: I can talk about it to a certain extent. I’m freelancing for a company called Light Projects and we’re making a permanent video installation for the lobby of the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. But we can’t tell you what the display is or content is because I’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement.
NLG: Chris, are you still in the program at ITP?
C.C.: I decided to stay on an extra semester. I’m doing my thesis right now.
NLG: What is your thesis?
C.C.: My thesis is a machine that fills out standardized test forms.
[Nervous laughter by interviewer.]
E.P.: You didn’t see that one coming, did you?
NLG: It seems like the most important question in Brooklyn these days #151; especially if you are fighting over this piece of land, the 22 acres Bruce Ratner calls “Atlantic Yards” #151; is “how long have you lived in Brooklyn?”
E.P.: I’ve only lived here for two years.
C.C.: Two years.
NLG: Where did you guys grow up?
E.P.: In England, outside North London.
C.C.: Athens, GA.
E.P.: That’s actually the reason why our own voices are not in the piece at all.
We are very aware that we’ve only lived in Brooklyn for two years and we wanted to visualize the facts so that people can access the information and then we wanted to invite the voices of people who live here and provide a forum for other people to speak.
[It was] the same when I introduced the kids' drawings -- people who are born here, people who are growing up here -- having their visual vocabulary in there to counter the architect’s view.
NLG: Who’s the third collaborator on your piece?
E.P.: Ariel Efron, who helped link the video in.
NLG: In your thesis, you describe your frustration with interactive art employed in dance or dramatic works, because the interactive components aren’t always recognized or apparent to the audience. Generally technology strives to seamlessly enhance or enable human experience, to become transparent, almost human. It seems to me that Future Perfect works in the opposite direction, trying to create a work where the moment in which a human interacts with technology is very apparent and substantial. Why?
E.P.: Actually, I think that when you experience the installation you realize that the technology itself it not really taking center stage.
People tend to walk towards light, they tend to walk towards video and as they do, they discover, things are changing. If they work it out, then they have a bit of control and then there’s something for them to play with. But I don’t think it’s technology for its own sake. It’s a really effective way of contrasting different moments in time.
NLG: So would you say that the interactivity is more apparent in this case than in a lot of other theater or dramatic works?
E.P.: I think that the interactivity is more apparent because the participants are getting to use it instead of being asked to watch a demonstration of somebody else saying, “look at this thing, it changes when I do this.” People discover it by walking in it themselves. There’s no voice telling them to “now move left, now move right,” or there’s no trained performer who knows exactly what’s going to happen.
It has to be well designed, it has to be simple and well integrated into the piece for people to just discover it for themselves.
NLG: Frank Gehry is famous for using cutting-edge technology to push the envelope to come up with design innovations. As part of Future Perfect, you're using cutting-edge technology to render and present his design. Did that occur to you when you were working on it?
E.P.: Not really.
C.C.: You’re taking the architect's version and looking at it and making your own. It’s using THEIR tools to visualize something they wouldn’t have, to give an unbiased perspective, because of how architects’ renderings are usually placed, at a very flattering point of view.
NLG: That’s something we’ve noticed too. That a lot of time the renderings are not from a perspective that’s even real.
E.P.: Yeah, you’d have to be hovering in the air.
C.C.: And the people in the images are always immobile. They're these clip-art images of people — not actual people on the street. I think that the movement is really key, to key-in that this is the way of life as it is now and these people will continue to be there.
E.P.: By using 3-D modeling, we’re using tools that architects use. I was thinking [how] so many of the renderings from the development company were shown. I understand why they do that, they have a job to do, it’s their job to sell. I felt like it was our job to represent a bit of a broader view.
As far using newer technology, the sort of surveillance technology we use to provide the interactivity is also becoming more and more fashionable in new buildings, in lobbies of fancy hotels and interactive displays. It’s satisfying to use fancy IM [interactive media] stuff, to use it for sharing information in more of a community way.
NLG: What kind of equipment is involved? Is there a CRAY supercomputer missing from some lab in the world?
E.P.: Yeah, it’s true. Every time [we] put it up, we actually connect via our own secret web to an enormous computer the size of my house. It’s the only way it works.
C.C.: It’s powered by pigeons.
So, it’s green?
E.P.: It’s a bit of a sweatshop though.
NLG: Seriously, what kind of equipment are you using?
C.C.: Macintosh laptop computer, iSight web camera and video projector and speakers for audio.
NLG: A fellow blogger over at a web site called OnNYTurf put up the YouTube video. He was hoping that you guys would release the specs and a tutorial on how to do this. Can you do it at home?
E.P.: You can do it at home if you have a spare computer and a video projector – those things aren’t cheap. We would have to release the code and we’d have to supply the media assets, but it’s feasible.
C.C.: Was he asking specifically about using our models?
NLG: No.
C.C.: Then the barrier to entry would be knowing how to do 3-D modeling.
E.P.: The video work is quite tricky. It’s a lot of modeling, a lot of texturing and then there’s compositing as well.
NLG: What technical limitations did you encounter and how did it affect or shape the piece?
E.P.: A technical limitation was not having access to all the information we wanted. We grabbed all of the maps, all of the heights and statistics that were already in the public domain by the architects and so on. But we had to estimate the textures of what those buildings are going to look like just from looking at photographs of the architect’s models. That could have been done better.
To clearly represent the proper scale, the proper look of those buildings, it was quite tough to estimate at some points.
And speed of computing — I would like the video to be higher resolution and to look better, but only having access to a laptop, there’s only so much you can do. We had to compromise the look of the video with the speed of the interactivity.
C.C.: One limitation we had was when we were putting up flyers around the neighborhood they wouldn’t last very long. They would get taken down by the City.
NLG: A lot of those flyers are taken down by people who live in the community, just the kind of people you were trying to reach.
E.P.: Just so you know, the flyers were not publicity, they said please give us a phone call and give us your opinion.
NLG: Did you take extra footage that you had to leave out?
C.C.: We took a lot of footage that we didn’t use.
E.P.: Yeah, we did.
We wanted to keep the file sizes fairly small so the computer could run nicely. We didn’t want a huge loop of video.
A tricky thing is we wanted to shoot when there weren’t many clouds moving around, just to match up the 3-D models with the way the light is changing on the street. So that really caused a problem.
NLG: How much did Future Perfect cost to create?
C.C.: Timewise?
E.P.: I’d have to think about that. We had most of that stuff. I had the webcams and all the cabling we needed, we would use [Chris’s] laptop or my laptop, Ariel already had the projector. We already had the software that we use. It’s really time, right?
C.C.: Promotional materials, like cards and stuff, maybe a thousand dollars.
NLG: How long does it take to set up this piece?
E.P.: When we went to California, we had union help; they did everything for us really quick. It was part of a big tech convention.
Tomorrow we’ll be setting it up ourselves. I hope it takes three hours.
C.C.: Eight.
E.P.: Did you say eight? Please don’t say that.
C.C.: Hopefully not.
NLG: Do you guys remember what your first reaction was when you heard about the project, Atlantic Yards?
E.P.: I was shocked and I was really curious. My neighbors didn’t really know much about it. They would only sort of vaguely reference it, “Oh yeah, apparently there’s going to be some big thing, it’s really close.” I was like, “really?”
So when I actually sat down and read about it, I was blown away. It seemed so vast.
C.C.: The first time I was exposed to it was a Village Voice article the second or third month after I moved here. I live in Greenpoint, there’s a lot of similar real estate stuff going on there. The Village Voice painted it in a negative light. I’ve done a lot of a research on it and was really shocked by how closely related the developer is to the MTA and to the NY government.
And then, I [went] to a concert in Prospect Park one weekend and there was some guy handing out pro-Atlantic Yards flyers. I got into an argument with him, like, “why do you think this project is good?” We had a good discussion. He thought that it would bring a lot of jobs to the neighborhood.
I think that the red flag for me was the basketball stadium. I never like neighborhoods with stadiums. I’m from Atlanta, so that’s partially why.
E.P.: Living on Dean Street, we have a roof, so it’s pretty easy to visualize: “Christ! It’s going to be a radical change.”
Also, I’ve been really aware that the neighborhood is doing fine by itself. In two years I’ve seen it changing. It’s not like it’s going down in a horrible spiral. It’s improving and it’s safer than it was ten years ago, people tell me.
NLG: Like NoLandGrab, I would say that Future Perfect has an editorial point of view, which, correct me if I’m wrong, is basically, the more information that one has about the project, the more one is inclined to form an opinion AGAINST the project. Did you set out to create a work with a point of view on the project, or did it evolve? Tell the truth.
C.C.: I’ve always wanted to make an editorial statement.
Ed was the one who was always holding back on that, like “let’s make something that tries to shows as much unbiased reality as possible.” I think that was a good choice to make.
In our audio, my opinions come through because 90% of the calls we got are anti-project. We didn’t have to edit any of the audio to put forth our own agenda; it was just the community’s voice.
E.P.: I did start out definitely wanting it to be documentary: let’s just share the information. But the further I went along, the more disingenuous I realized that was, because I DO have a point of view. My view is that the development is too much and I am against it.
That WAS coming out. It was coming out in subtle ways, when I was doing color correction on compositing the models for the videos I tweaked.
You are making artistic decisions all the time, even if you think it is just to make it look better. But better for ME would be to make it look more dramatic, the new buildings more imposing and vast. I was doing that at the same time I was saying, “Oh no, I’m neutral.”
I had to let go of that and be honest and say, “No, I do have a point of view,” and that was when I said “OK, I’ll go ahead and bring in the kids’ drawings as well,” which is when I let go of just sharing information and making it a bit more poetic.
NLG: So [the kids’ drawings] came in afterwards?
E.P.: That came in later, yeah.
NLG: In recent years, Bruce Ratner has become a patron of the arts. Has he called either of you guys seeking to buy Future Perfect for his “permanent collection,” if you know what I mean?
C.C.: No
E.P.: No. You know, he calls me for drinks sometimes. He puts his hand on my leg, I don’t like it that much.
NLG: I hate it when he does that.
[Legal disclaimer: we were being sarcastic, ya dig?]
E.P.: Yeah, he does it in a way that you feel like it would be rude to ask him not to.
NLG: Complete this sentence: the one thing I really like about the Ratner project is…
E.P.: The unintentional humor value of some of his rendering: of this beautiful dream paradise, where people are happy, where children play free. There’s no mention that this little grass playground will be covered in shadow.
C.C.: If I lived in the area, I would say my airconditioning bill, but it won’t reach Greenpoint.
E.P.: The thing I like about the Ratner project is it hasn’t happened yet.
NLG: Fair enough.
C.C.: And we were able to make this project.
NLG: So, thank you Bruce Ratner. [Hey Bruce, that was sarcastic too.]
Posted by lumi at 11:03 AM
In appellate court, AY renters' case finds little sympathy
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder went to court yesterday to cover the case against the "friendly condemnations:"
Can the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), pursuing "friendly condemnations," override the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), which typically must grant permission to a landlord who wishes to demolish a building housing residential tenants with rent-stabilized leases?
The answer, not previously decided by the courts, appears more likely to be yes, allowing such "friendly condemnations," in which Forest City Ratner-owned buildings are transferred to ESDC ownership, thus ending the leases far more speedily than the process would occur under DHCR.
In May, State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub dismissed a challenge from 13 tenants (all but one rent-stabilized) in the Atlantic Yards footprint, saying that the case belonged instead in the appellate court designated to hear eminent domain determinations, but without the advantages to the plaintiffs of a trial.
Appealing Tolub's ruling to a different appellate court, the tenants, represented by attorney George Locker, found it tough going yesterday. A five-judge panel of Appellate Division, First Department was steadily skeptical of his argument that the tenants are not actually condemnees, with an ownership interest in their leases.
Posted by lumi at 7:54 AM
Marty Markowitz may pull plug on Dolly Williams
NY Daily News
By Jotham Sederstrom
The News has the next scoop on Dolly:
Goodbye, Dolly?
Borough President Marty Markowitz's controversial appointee to the city Planning Commission has been serving the board for three months without an official reinstatement, fueling speculation her days are numbered.
What's the problem with Dolly?
Dolly Williams, who as an Atlantic Yards investor was forced to recuse herself from voting on the $4.2 billion project, wants Markowitz to reappoint her to a second term.
Besides recusing herself from voting on Atlantic Yards matters, Williams will not be able to vote on a Gowanus rezoning effort because she owns land in the area.
Williams' development company also was involved in a billing dispute at a Harlem mega-mall being built by Forest City Ratner, the developer behind the Yards project.
Adding to her embarrassment, bloggers posted pictures in August of Williams' yellow Porsche, which was parked illegally in Park Slope and boasted city Planning placards.
A NYPIRG spokesperson sums it up:
"If a person is actively engaged in ongoing construction projects and has to recuse themselves on projects of importance, it raises questions of whether they can represent the borough properly," said New York Public Interest Research Group government reform coordinator Neal Rosenstein.
NoLandGrab: In addition, Dolly typically does not volunteer her conflicts of interest, and it's usually up to vigilant reporters, residents and public officals to call her on them.
Marty is still mulling over his decision, but the fact that he has to think so hard about it indicates to voters where his loyalties lie.
Many will surely miss Dolly if she isn't reappointed and loses her Goverment Official parking placard — she has been one of the low-hanging fruits for critics of Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 7:24 AM
City Living: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
amNY
By Patrick Verel
There's a big story today in amNY about Prospect Heights, the neighborhood that's being forced to host Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards developement plan.
If Prospect Heights was ever in the shadow of Park Slope, its ritzy neighbor across Flatbush Avenue, those days are long past.
...
"It's the gold coast of Brooklyn, in a sense, with these institutions grouped together," [Ellen F. Salpeter, director of Heart of Brooklyn] said. "It has a diverse housing stock and an extraordinarily diverse group of residents, too. It weaves together a wonderful community."
But...
The looming Atlantic Yards project in the neighborhood's northeast [actually it's "northwest"] corner has the potential to upend sections of the neighborhood for years to come.
...
While taking a wait-and-see attitude on Atlantic Yards, Salpeter said she was confident that retail will follow the residential boom that has brought condos to once empty lots.The Buzz
There is no bigger issue facing Prospect Heights than Atlantic Yards, the Frank Gehry-designed development that is being spearheaded by Forest City Ratner.
One local cites Atlantic Yards for spurring development, though feelings are mixed:
Many new developments have sprouted up alongside car-repair shops on Washington Avenue, but he said the jury is out on the sale numbers there.
"A lot of that land was very cheap, and the people saw the dollar signs," he said. "They saw the Atlantic Yard project was coming, and they figured 'This is my time.' We're watching to see how it does; it's not quite the garden spot that everyone wants it to be."
NoLandGrab: From our vantage point, what's interesting about the article is that all the great stuff about Prospect Heights has NOTHING to do with Atlantic Yards — it could even be argued that the neighborhood is the antithesis of Bruce Ratner's megaproject. Also, many of the owners of the unique neighborhood amenities listed in the article are publicly opposed to the project.
Posted by lumi at 7:00 AM
Unifying Brooklyn Across Atlantic Yards
Group Offers Alternative to Forest City Ratner Plan
Brooklyn Downtown Star
By Jeffrey Harmatz
Responding to the large and vocal resistance to Forest City Ratner’s planned development at the Atlantic Yards site, the Unity Project unveiled their design for a more sustainable, probable, and community-oriented alternative plan.
On display at the Soapbox Gallery on Dean Street near the Yards site, the design incorporates green architecture, public open spaces, and affordable housing in a design that has gained the support of many local politicians and members of the community.
...
"This development alternative makes Frank Gehry look like an amateur," said Dr. Tom Angotti, professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College and one of the lead designers of the Unity Plan. "We had 80 individual experts working on this, which is a tremendous amount of collective intelligence.""Our basic site strategy was to bring the surrounding neighborhoods together," said designer Marshall Brown. "We’re adding new streets and trying to provide a much more diverse program of schools, community theaters, senior centers, retail, and on top of that, housing."
Posted by lumi at 6:40 AM
Forest City News
The NY Times, Planned City Rises Within a City in the Southwest
Forest City builds a city from scratch:
A 25-square-mile stretch of flat acreage here with sweeping views of the Sandia Mountains — said to be the largest tract of undeveloped land in the United States within one city’s limits — is being transformed into a master-planned community that may take 30 years to build.
Albuquerque Studios, an anchor at the Mesa del Sol development, has invested $74 million in building six sound stages ranging up to 48,000 square feet, with two more planned.
The development, called Mesa del Sol, will be a high-tech economic development center, and it is expected to become the site of 60,000 jobs, 38,000 homes and a town center.
It is being developed by a partnership of Forest City Enterprises, based in Cleveland, and Covington Capital Partners, based in Santa Monica, Calif. (Forest City Ratner, a subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, is a partner in developing the new headquarters of The New York Times Company.)
dBusinessNews, Forest City Declared Quarterly Dividend
Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:FCEB) announced today that the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per share (annual rate of $0.32 per share) on the outstanding shares of both Class A and Class B Common Stock, payable on December 17, 2007, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 3, 2007.
Posted by lumi at 6:21 AM
Jay-Z and Rocawear Vying for Name-Rights to New Jersey Nets’ Arena
XXL News
The headline is not a joke, but it is referring to the Meadowlands.
As if being a part owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets wasn’t enough, Jay-Z and his Rocawear clothing line are vying to win the naming-rights to the Nets’ arena. Currently called Continental Airlines Arena, the stadium, which is located in the Meadowlands area of East Rutherford, NJ, has opened up bidding to secure a new name.
As an investor in Bruce Ratner's Nets, maybe Jay-Z sees the value in the naming rights for the Meadowlands arena because he understands that the team won't be moving to Brooklyn anytime soon. Any hedge fund would do well to hire Jay-Z.
Posted by lumi at 6:11 AM
A Bit Of Editing On Bill De Blasio's Wiki Page
As a prelude to Bill de Blasio's meeting with local bloggers last night, Pardon me for asking takes a close look at changes to de Blasio's Wikipedia entry, which has been edited and scrubbed regarding his position on Atlantic Yards, by someone with a City of NY IP address.
First, "De Blasio is also a supporter of the generally popular Atlantic Yards development proposed by Bruce Ratner."
Then, "De Blasio is also a supporter of the generally popular Atlantic Yards development, a major affordable housing initiative currently under development."
Next, "De Blasio is also a supporter of the generally unpopular Atlantic Yards development, which critics contend will be excessive in size,provide major tax subsidies to the developer and will have a detrimental impact upon the neighborhood."
Followed by, "On the other hand, De Blasio has supported some popular development projects. De Blasio is a supporter of the generally popular Atlantic Yards development, which is a major mixed-income housing, retail, office and sports complex."
Finally, the paragraph was removed all together. Maybe one of the bloggers from yesterday's meeting (we couldn't attend) will set the record straight.
From our notes from the last pow-wow with bloggers:
BDB told us:
"What led me to support it from the beginning was the development of the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA)."
"The number of the affordable units is an extraordinarily postive impact for this part of Brooklyn, an area that's unrelentingly gentrifying. It's government's role to create the maximum amount of affordable housing. This was a way to create some guarantees of affordability. I think you've never seen these kind of precentages in this kind of project before."
"I still think it's too tall. Aesthetically problematic, to say the least. A lot of the look should blend in more with the surrounding neighborhoods. Minimize negative impacts on the community and mass transit."
In a nutshell, BDB supports Atlantic Yards because some handpicked groups signed an agreement with Bruce Ratner (including groups formed for the sole purpose of promoting the project and the CBA) and because it will bring more affordable housing than any other project, but it's too big?
Posted by lumi at 5:56 AM
September 26, 2007
The great Jane debate: Opening salvo
Time Out NY Blog
After reading portions of Jane Jacobs' “Death and Life of Great American Cities,” Dustin Goot from the Time Out NY blog has heard enough to declare that “Jane Jacobs would approve of Atlantic Yards,” though he admits he’s not “intimately familiar with the plans.:
If you’ve looked on newsstands at all this week, you know that we’ve posed the question, “Has Manhattan lost its soul?” (and attempted to answer it). What you may not know is that our criteria for assessing the “soul” of each neighborhood derived largely from the ideas of Jane Jacobs, the famous urbanist–Robert Moses opponent–West Village savior. We did some research on her and everything. To wit, many of us read (portions of) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, her seminal 1961 tome on what makes cities work. The book puts forward some interesting assertions about what’s good for cities (e.g., parks tend to be useless), and sparked a lot of discussion among the edit staff. So we thought it would be fun to draw out that exchange and share it with you, our beloved readers. (There will be multiple updates later today and tomorrow.)
Since the goal is to make this interesting, I’m starting it controversially: I think J.J. would approve of Atlantic Yards. Actually, she was a cranky broad who no doubt would have found many faults with it. Let me rephrase. I think Atlantic Yards largely follows Jacobs’s principles and would enliven that neighborhood in a way she would admire.
Let’s look at it through the J.J. lens. That neighborhood right now is an ugly traffic confluence and not much else. It’s full of chain stores and terrible for pedestrian traffic. Atlantic Yards would add an amenity where there is none. Though I’m not intimately familiar with the plans, I know it includes extensive mixed-use and varied street-level commercial space, along with many residential units (and a hotel, I believe). It would increase the density of that area, as Jacobs prefers.
NoLandGrab: That’s so-o-o-o-o keuwt! Thanks for being honest Dustin, we would have NEVER figured out that you weren't "intimately familiar with the plans" by reading your curious Jacobsian defense of Bruce Ratner's megaproject.
For the record, Jacobs submitted a friend of the court brief in favor of the homeowners in the landmark eminent domain case of Kelo vs. New London; she was highly skeptical of removing streets to create gigantic superblocks; and she would have figured out by now that it’s an “arena,” not a “stadium,” which would represent only a fraction of the entire largest-single-source private “megaproject” in the history of NYC. Call it a hunch, but we highly doubt that she would have favored increasing the density of the neighborhood to the extent that it would be more than two times the density of the densest residential community in the nation.
Also, the chain stores Dustin cites are owned by Bruce Ratner. Though they may seem blighted, they are not part of the Atlantic Yards plan and there isn't much hope that Atlantic Yards would be very different.
We could go on, but that's really Norman Oder's job. [Click here for his response to Dustin's post and subsequent commentary.]
Posted by lumi at 10:15 PM
We are all Jacobsian now--but what about process?
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder reports on Monday's reception and awards ceremony, which was keyed to the opening of the Jane Jacobs exhibit at the Municipal Art Society. Oder examines many of the movers, players and shakers in attendance:
At the ceremony Monday, Jacobs medal winner Omar Freilla, founder of Green Worker Cooperative in the Bronx, in his acceptance speech, talked about how reading Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities “resonated with a lot of of what I’m feeling.” Jacobs bequeathed “a love of humanity and a love of democracy,” an inspiration to his own work for environmental justice and economic development, aiming to establish a facility to transform construction waste “green collar” jobs.
Freilla, however, challenged the general air of civic self-satisfaction. “Do we have a say in our lives and decisions?” he asked. The answer: infrequently. It was a bracing reminder of the importance of process and one that Jacobs, I’d imagine, would have applauded.
Posted by lumi at 8:42 AM
Ratner's Atlantic Center, Site V gain attention as "worst buildings"
Atlantic Yards Report
Since its opening nearly a decade ago, Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Center Mall has been at the top of local residents' lists of the best-of-the-worst buildings in NYC. Now, the Mall gets a couple minutes of fame on WNYC.
Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Center Mall didn’t improve much when it received its face lift after the opening of the same developer’s Atlantic Terminal Mall. Photos: left, Forest City Ratner Companies; middle and right “Brooklyn Token” via flickr.
Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Center Mall made WNYC listeners' 11-building list of the city's worst buildings. Guest expert and New York Times columnist Christopher Gray's list, by contrast, was limited to Manhattan--and he said he didn't agree with listener choices of buildings by name architects.
Note that Atlantic Center, and its sibling, the Shops at Site V across Flatbush Avenue, are great work. Indeed, during the episode yesterday, host Leonard Lopate led off by disparaging the bunker-like P.C. Richard store, which shares Site V with Modell's.
Lopate noted that some people criticize ambitious-but-failed works by major architects, while "there are other people like me that think that the P.C. Richard's store on Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush has to be the worst thing.... Whoever did the P.C. Richard should have been designing army barracks."
The buildings at Site V, clearly built by Forest City Ratner as short-term structures on urban renewal land, are scheduled to be demolished for the Atlantic Yards project. A 400-foot building was initially planned; now, a 250-foot building would occupy the site, nonetheless looming over the adjacent Brooklyn Bear's Garden and the row houses of adjacent Pacific Street.
Talk about "stiching" — this photo-quilt by "Brooklyn Token" shows both malls together.
Posted by lumi at 8:07 AM
Atlantic Yards: Future Perfect
OnNYTurf on FuturePerfect:
This is another exciting development in independent journalism/reporting/whatever. Here is a video of the installation:
These kinds of technological projects are really exciting! Professional and innovative tools, that citizens and grassroots groups can use to seriously evaluate things happening in their environment, are developing at an impressive rate. Big papers, tv, and project planners simply can not dominate public discourse any more. It would be great to see detailed instruction on how to implement the Future Perfect system so anyone can put the technology into practice with minimal learning curve.
You can interact with Future Perfect at the d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival this Friday through Sunday (September 28th to 30th).
Posted by lumi at 7:41 AM
Tish James on the UNITY plan
Atlantic Yards Report
The UNITY plan launched yesterday may not have the backing of numerous public officials, but it does have Council Member Letitia James, the elected official most prominent in opposition to Atlantic Yards. Since I missed her appearance at yesterday's press conference, I asked her for a comment.
She said that UNITY "truly respects the character of this historic community. Open space and low-rise residential growth reflect the wishes of community residents regarding what should be built over the rail yards. The community and I do not oppose development, just eminent domain abuse and out-of-scale buildings."
Posted by lumi at 7:34 AM
SATURDAY — WALKING TOUR: The Atlantic Yards Footprint and Environs
Meeting Location: In front of Williamsburgh Savings Bank, tallest building in Brooklyn, Hanson Place at Ashland Place
Time: Saturday, Sept 29 2 PM
Tour Guides: Ron Shiffman and Norman Oder
Walk this area of Brooklyn with Ron Shiffman, planner and founder, Pratt Center for Community and Environmental Development (PICCED) and former New York City Planning Commissioner and Norman Oder, the journalist behind the Atlantic Yards Report and veteran New York City tour guide.The walk reveals the historic and political context behind the controversial Atlantic Yards plan—beginning at the edge of Downtown Brooklyn, where the borough’s tallest building is being converted to luxury condos, a dip into the embryonic Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) arts district, a peek at revitalized Fort Greene. The walk will then take in the fruits of urban redevelopment—1970s tower apartments, 1990s low-rise housing, and two malls—before traversing the footprint itself in Prospect Heights.
The walk, which will last at least two hours, provides an opportunity to discuss highly-charged elements of the Atlantic Yards design, including significant density, the creation of superblocks, the challenge of creating (and paying for) affordable housing, and the possibility of persistent interim surface parking. An update on legal challenges to the project will also be provided.
Ron Shiffman founded PICCED and still teaches urban planning at the Pratt Institute. He is on the advisory board of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the coalition leading opposition to the Atlantic Yards project.
Norman Oder has written a comprehensive and often critical blog about the project for the past two years; his Atlantic Yards Report has broken numerous stories. A licensed New York City tour guide, he has operated New York Like A Native, which specializes in walking tours of Brooklyn, since 2000.
"Atlantic Yards Photo Map" by Tracy Collins, from his photo book "Atlantic Yards, [De]Constuction of the Neighborhood"
Posted by lumi at 7:25 AM
Seeing the city through Jane Jacobs’ eyes
MetroNY
Reporter Amy Zimmer checks out the Municipal Art Society's Jane Jacobs exhibit:
The exhibit’s project manager, Tim Mennel, said the show isn’t really about Jacobs — the journalist, activist and West Village resident whose 1961 book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” celebrated community participation over professional planners’ superblocks. “We want people to walk out and say, ‘OK, what am I going to do?’”
The Municipal Art Society is an advocacy organization, not a museum. “[The exhibit is] a jumping off point to get people involved in asking questions about the city now,” considering large-scale developments such as Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project.
...
Pointing to that supermarket, Mennel said, “Practically every neighborhood wants a little gentrification. But something Jane Jacobs talked about is ‘oversuccess,’” — when dynamic neighborhoods start attracting more money and change. This idea is discussed by developers like Douglas Durst in of one of the seven public programs and eight walking tours accompanying the exhibit.
NoLandGrab: Norman Oder and Ron Shiffman's walking tour of "The Atlantic Yards Footprint and Environs" is this Saturday. Details here.
Posted by lumi at 7:25 AM
Forest City in the News
The Express-Times, Bank's plans changing
BETHLEHEM TWP. | The American Bank targeted for Hope Road and Freemansburg Avenue has once again changed construction plans because of problems stemming from [Forest City Enterprises] Summit Lehigh Valley's delayed construction.
The planning commission on Monday reviewed a proposal for American Bank to handle its own storm-sewer management with an on-site sewer detention system. Developers had planned to utilize the Summit Lehigh Valley's detention pond.
If the bank decides to go it alone, then it will add further complications to Forest City's Summit Lehigh Valley project, which is currently "mired in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation review process."
Posted by lumi at 7:11 AM
September 25, 2007
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn Advisory Board Member receives "genius grant"
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn Advisory Board Member Lynn Nottage was one of 24 recipients of the MacArthur Foundation $500,000 fellowship grant, frequently referred to as the "genius grant."
From the AP, via MetroNY:
Lynn Nottage, 42, playwright, Brooklyn, N.Y. Nottage's works include "Crumbs from the Table of Joy," "Mud River Stone," and the prize-winning "Intimate Apparel," a story of a young black seamstress in the early 20th century.
NoLandGrab: Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there are some very serious problems with Bruce Ratner's controversial historically dense megaproject, otherwise, WE wouldn't be here.
Congratulations Lynn!
Posted by lumi at 4:15 PM
UNITY 2007 Photos
UNITY 2007
Community Forum
September 24th, 2007
[Click hyperlinks below, to view more images from yesterday's forum.]
By consulting and working with stakeholders first, participants in UNITY2007 turned the Atlantic Yards process upside down.
Passersby can view the UNITY2007 window exhibit at the Soapbox Gallery.
University of Cincinnati architecture professor Marshall Brown talked about the collaborative design process and the architecture and planning sections of UNITY2007.
Pages from the UNITY2007 report and photos of the April 2007 UNITY workshop by Jonathan Barkey are part of the Soapbox Gallery exhibit.
In a photo of more Barkey than we bargained for, the photographer was captured wrapped in a projection of one of his own photos.
Posted by lumi at 2:39 PM
Jane Jacobs, Foe of Plans and Friend of City Life
The NY Times
By Edward Rothstein
Since NYC is on the precipice of radical change in some neighborhoods, now is as good a time as any to revisit Jane Jacobs. "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York" opens today at the Municipal Art Society:
Under Jacobs’s influence, there arose new ways of thinking about cities; community groups became active participants in city planning, and new developments started to take street life into account. Jacobs died in 2006, receiving encomiums from both the political right and left.
But as New York seems to be revving up for another generation of urban development — including the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s environmental projects — as new neighborhoods have taken shape, like Battery Park City, and old ones change in function and status, like Dumbo in Brooklyn, the issues that Jacobs and her opponents raised remain as vital as ever.
Two heads up:
"Last year’s series of major exhibitions about Moses at the Museum of the City of New York, the Queens Museum of Art and Columbia University," was actually early THIS year.
The Times critic mischaracterizes Jane Jacobs's mistrust of 20-Century city planning orthodoxy. Rothstein states, "Jane Jacobs did not believe that planners could ever restore life to American cities. Instead she put her faith in the chaos of urban life, in diversity, in people."
This is the enduring characterization Jacobs, but a closer reading of the Introduction of , "Death and Life of Great American Cities," will reminds us that first and foremost Jacobs was promoting an observational approach to planning, where the qualities of a successful community could be measured, studied and allowed to persist.
On page 13 she writes:
"The pseudoscience of city planning and its companion, the art of city design, have not yet broken with the specious comfort of wishes, familiar superstitions, oversimplifications, and symbols, and have not yet embarked upon the adventure of probing the real world."
Simply, she was promoting the idea of introducing the scientific method to the art and science of urban planning, and, from real study, deriving an understanding of what really works.
Jacobs even understood and hoped that her own observations and ideas would be "corrected" in the future when she wrote ("Death and Life," page 16), " I hope any reader of this book will constantly and skeptically test what I say against his own knowledge of cities and their behavior. If I have been inaccurate in observations or mistaken in inferences and conclusions, I hope these faults will be quickly corrected," which is probably more than we can expect from the NY Times.
Posted by lumi at 1:20 PM
Who are the buildings in your neighborhood?
A charming yellow clapboard townhouse is a building in your neighborhood,
in your neighborhood,
in your neigh-bor-hoo-ood.
Meet 474 Dean Street, a three-story clapboard townhouse across the street from the footprint of Bruce Ratner's arena superblock. If Ratner has his way, this three-story 1,800 sq-ft house will be facing the south side of the Nets arena and Building 3, which, at a planned height of approximately 21 stories-high, would be the shortest high-rise on the arena superblock.
According to the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement, "the New York City Zoning Resolution prohibits arenas within 200 feet of residential districts as some of the operations could be incompatible with districts limited primarily to residential use." Because the State of NY is using its power to supercede the NYC Zoning Resolution, Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan circumvents this regulation.
In other words, the Atlantic Yards plan goes beyond the Manhattanization of Brooklyn, because even in Manhattan, you will not find an arena across the street from a home, such as 474 Dean St.
Photo by Tracy Collins, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
Posted by lumi at 12:10 PM
The Ratnerville Demolition Hot Spot Map, September 24 through October 7
Posted by lumi at 11:51 AM
ATLANTIC YARDS RATNERVILLE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Atlantic Yards demolition block and lot map here.
ATLANTIC YARDS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Weeks beginning September 24, 2007 and October 1, 2007In an effort to keep the
Atlantic YardsRatnerville Community aware of upcoming construction activities, ESD and Forest City Ratner are providing the following outline of anticipated upcoming construction activities.Please note: the scope and nature of activities are subject to change based upon field conditions.
Long Island Rail Road/Vanderbilt Yard Work
- Mid-block piles: drilling is complete; excavating down a few feet then installing lagging.
- Drilling piles at Southeast Gas Station (block 1121, lot 47).
- Continue test piles for Temporary Train Trestle foundation piles.
- Test pits on Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues are complete.
- Mobilization to East Portal; preparation for drilling of piles.
- Mobilization to drill foundation piles for cable bridge (adjacent to 6th Avenue Bridge).
- Continue soil excavation and removal in block 1121 west to east.
- Continue construction and debris removal.
Abatement and Demolition Work
All work described below will comply with the additional oversight and protocols by the Department of Buildings (DOB) that were established on April 30th.
- Completion of the roof abatement at 800 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 25) is underway with an anticipated duration of two-four weeks. Once all of the abatement is completed, demolition of the building will commence.
- Demolition at 546 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 54) will be underway for the next two–three months.
- Demolition is anticipated to be underway at 814 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 45), 818 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 46) and 542 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 50) within this two-week period. Abatement will be completed at 538 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 46) after a parapet is removed, per the instructions of the BEST Squad.
- Demolition is anticipated to be underway at 465 Dean Street (block 1127/lot 54) within this two-week period.
Posted by lumi at 11:32 AM
NAY! (Not in Atlantic Yards)
Here's just the type of column that the Post never wrote about the astroturf coalition that Bruce Ratner assembled in support of Atlantic Yards. Can you blame Columbia University for taking a page out of Ratner's tried-and-true landgrabber playbook?
NY Post, COLUMBIA'S ASTROTURF
FAKING GRASSROOTS SUPPORT FOR EXPANSION PLAN
COLUMBIA University is making great efforts to pre vent community objections from derailing its plan for a massive expansion in West Harlem. But its methods seem to rely more on big-money power politics than on listening to the folks who live and work where the school wants to build.
At a meeting held last month by West Harlem's Community Board 9, for example, a good chunk of the school's "local supporters" looked to be patients from an East Harlem drug-rehab clinic.
Several people were outside handing out pamphlets castigating area business owner Nick Sprayregen, the expansion's most vocal critic. Visnja Vujica - a recent Barnard grad and member of the anti-expansion Student Coalition on Expansion & Gentrification - says she discovered that the pamphleteers were patients from East Harlem's Addicts Rehabilitation Center (ARC).
Posted by lumi at 10:49 AM
UNITY 2007: a new, Jacobsian plan for the Vanderbilt Yard
Atlantic Yards Report
At the same time last night that the legacy of noted urban thinker Jane Jacobs was being celebrated at the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan, a prelude to an exhibit opening today, the much more modest Soapbox Gallery in Prospect Heights hosted a community forum introducing the UNITY (Understanding, Imagining and Transforming the Yards) plan, a much more Jacobsian way to develop the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard.
The idea is that if Atlantic Yards does not get built as planned, or is scotched altogether, an alternative plan, with significant bulk but not “extreme density,” limited to the railyards and an adjacent plot, could emerge.
According to a draft report issued by its organizers, planners and architects engaged under the banner of AY critics and opponents, UNITY would offer “a larger proportion of truly affordable housing, sustainable jobs and start-up businesses for local residents, improved transit, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, solutions to neighborhood and downtown traffic problems, accessible public open space that connects the Yards with our neighborhoods, and a planning and development process that is transparent and accountable.”
Notably, the tallest and bulkiest buildings would be moved east, to Vanderbilt Avenue, while the triangle of land between Flatbush, Fifth, and Atlantic Avenue, currently slated for the Urban Room and part of the Miss Brooklyn tower, would be used for a park.
NoLandGrab: Norman Oder couldn't make the 6pm UNITY forum and missed the question from a Prospect Heights resident concerning why the tallest building would be located at the corner of Atlantic and Vanderbilt.
Marshall Brown explained that the model illustrated the concept that the corner of Atlantic and Vanderbilt could handle higher density. The tall building is only a representation of how that could be achieved. It doesn't necessarily mean that the building would have to be taller in order to achieve that goal.
Posted by lumi at 10:14 AM
Blight-n-After
Deb Goldstein, organizer of last weekend's blight clean up on Pacific Street, posted photos taken throughout the afternoon on flickr (slideshow).
If you're in the neighborhood you may want to check it out yourself. The clean-up made such a difference that you won't need a map or friendly Brooklyn tour guide to figure out where the group left off.
Posted by lumi at 10:05 AM
Atlantic Yards Opponents Re-introduce `Unity Plan’
They Predict Ratner Will Lose Lawsuits Challenging Project
Brooklyn Daily Eagle's Raanan Geberer treks through the footprint of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan to attend the unveiling of the latest incarnation of UNITY:
Right across the street from the shrouded former Ward Bakery building, slated for demolition, where workers were doing preliminary work, a group of opponents of Atlantic Yards gathered to unveil an update of an alternative proposal, the Unity Plan developed by architect Marshall Brown back in 2004.
The updated proposal is the result of several community workshops earlier this year. Like the original Unity Plan, it would contain both residential and commercial development, it would contain a large amount of affordable housing (now, 60 percent). It would be lower-rise than Atlantic Yards (the tallest building would rise 400 feet), and it would confine itself to the area directly over the Long Island Railroad’s Vanderbilt Railyards.
Posted by lumi at 9:34 AM
San Francisco Soars
Business Week
By John King
We've already made fun of Forest City for losing a competition in San Francisco with a losing bid — Bruce in Wonderland usually wins with a losing bid — so we'll try not to mention it again. Biz Week has a brief description of the losing losing bid (doh!):
Rogers Harbour Stirk + Partners worked with SMWM and Forest City Enterprises on a plan that set an airy terminal alongside an Erector-Set-like glass tower topped by an enormous wind turbine.
Posted by lumi at 8:52 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Curbed.com, Prospect Heights Residents Get Trashy at Atlantic Yards Site
Most little neighborhood cleanups aren't noted, unless the neighborhood is Prospect Heights and the property being cleaned up has to do with the Atlantic Yards mega-development.
The Real Deal, Atlantic Yards activists fear blight
This blurb and a link to yesterday's MetroNY article:
Some activists living in the Atlantic Yards area say developer Forest City Ratner is creating blight in the neighborhood by letting streets deteriorate.
Brownstoner Forum, Converting from 3 family to 2 family
A prospective brownstoner is looking for info in the forums on the pros and cons of Atlantic Yards in Ft. Greene and Prospect Heights. If anyone participates in these online Atlantic Yards cage matches, you may want to surf on over and point "U510545" in the right direction.
Tim in Budapest, Buda
A student in Budapest learns more about Brooklyn's pest:
I also attended a lecture on the future of New York City, delivered by a professor of Political Science and Sociology at CUNY. Nothing like discussing Atlantic Yards with a guy who lives in Park Slope five thousand miles from home...
Not another freakin blog, UNITY plan press conference
the latest iteration of The UNITY Plan, a community driven plan for development on the Vanderbilt Yards site, was unveiled at a press conference this morning at The Soapbox Gallery in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 7:30 AM
September 24, 2007
The departing "middle-class" and AY affordable housing
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder examines a new demographic report and compares it to the income bands of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards housing program.
New York City Comptroller William Thompson on Sept. 12 issued a report on New York's 2005 outmigration patterns involving various income groups, and it was quickly used by columnist Errol Louis to argue for projects like Atlantic Yards that would include subsidized housing for the middle-class.
Not so fast. It turns out that moderate-income residents departing the city would not be helped much by Atlantic Yards, given that those in their (approximate) income bracket would be eligible for only 450 of the 2250 affordable units. In fact, when the affordable housing deal was first announced, 900 units were aimed at this demographic; developer Forest City Ratner instead shifted more of the affordable units to higher income brackets.
Thompson's press release, headlined THOMPSON: MODERATE-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS MOST LIKELY TO LEAVE NYC, made some somewhat subtle points: Moderate-income ($40,000 to $59,999 annual income) and higher-income households ($140,000 to $249,999 annual income) were most likely to leave the city, while middle-income ($60,000 to $139,999) and wealthy households ($250,000 and above) were least likely to leave.
Posted by lumi at 9:15 AM
Brooklyn ‘blight’ renewal
MetroNY
By Michael Rundle
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN. Weeds and plants four feet high have turned the cracked sidewalk on Pacific Street between 5th and Vanderbilt avenues into a jungle, and any paving slabs still visible are thick with soda cans, old newspapers and broken glass.
A group of community residents and activists set out to change that yesterday, but their civic enthusiasm was also a form of protest. This street lies in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards project, and the group of trash collectors said they wanted to show developer Forest City Ratner they aren’t going to abandon their neighborhood.
Some even speculated the streets had been left to deteriorate on purpose.
“They’re trying to take away people’s homes, claiming blight. And yet they’re creating the blight,” said Jon Crow, a member of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and several community gardens. “It isn’t fair to create blight so the state can take away people’s homes and give it to a private developer.”
Posted by lumi at 9:09 AM
Blight Site Clean-Up
Posted by lumi at 9:05 AM
Bye, bye Pacific Street blight, thanks to citizen action
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder filed a report from yesterday's clean-up:
What a difference a handful of people and some garden tools can make. After yesterday's clean-up effort on Pacific Street bordering the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard, a 50-yard stretch was bushwacked, clearing overgrown weeds (four feet high, and blocking the sidewalk), significant amounts of waste and debris, and recyclable bottles, all the result of governmental neglect of a site the Empire State Development Corporation deems blighted.
(Above: Deb Goldstein and Jon Crow get to work shortly after noon. Below, some of the result nearly five hours later.)
The tally, according to organizer Deb Goldstein, included 17 42-gallon bags of garbage, a large assemblage of weeds and greenery for composting (below), and 13 bags of recyclables. The area next to the railyard seems to be a magnet for Poland Spring water bottles, other drink containers, foot tins, random glass, some clothes, compact discs, fast food wrappers, and even diapers.
A representative of the Department of Sanitation came by, I was told, and said the agency might stop back. At the least, the department has garbage bags and recyclables to collect.
Posted by lumi at 8:48 AM
We Are NOT Blighted! Don't Dump On Us!
not another freakin blog
Tracy Collins showed up late to the blight clean-up day, but managed to take a bunch of photos and post his observations and thoughts:
today was the first (and hopefully the last) day of a volunteer clean up of a notoriously neglected and garbage-strewn stretch of Pacific Street.
by law, a New York City property owner is responsible for cleaning up the sidewalk in front of their property, even if the owner is not responsible for causing the mess as this stretch of Pacific Street runs along the MTA's railyard, the MTA, a New York state entity, and therefore the State of New York, is responsible for keeping this sidewalk clean. unfortunately, sidewalk cleaning rarely, if ever, happens. just on the short walk on Pacific Street from 6th to 5th Avenue today i saw a tire, carpeting, many bottles and cans, broken glass, broken furniture, a mattress, construction scraps, clothes, shoes, fast food wrappers and dog shit. that's when i could actually see what was under the 4-foot tall weeds. i didn't want to look too closely, fearing there's probably much worse.
Posted by lumi at 8:37 AM
TODAY: The Unity Plan for Brooklyn's Vanderbilt Yards
Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods
Please join us for the presentation of
UNITY
A realistic, community-sensitive proposal for the development of Brooklyn's Vanderbilt rail yards.
Press Conference
11 AM, Monday, September 24th
Presentation by project designers Marshall Brown, Ronald Shiffman, and Dr. Tom Angotti
Community Forum
6 PM, Monday, September 24th
Presentation and Q&A with Marshall Brown and Dr. Tom Angotti
Location
The Soapbox Gallery
636 Dean Street (between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues)
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11238DIRECTIONS:
Take the 4, 5, B, or M trains to Atlantic Avenue
Take the D, M, N or R trains to Pacific Street
Take the 2 or 3 trains to Bergen Street
Posted by amy at 8:36 AM
Unity vs. Godzilla/Unidad vs. Godzilla
El Diario
The UNITY plan proposed for Atlantic Yards significantly raises the bar for the development of affordable housing. If New York City and state leaders are truly committed to this priority, they will champion the UNITY alternative to Forest City Ratner’s Godzilla-sized, ill-conceived, monster of a project.
UNITY—Understanding, Imagining and Transforming the Atlantic Yards—emerges from a collaborative planning effort facilitated by the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods. The plan calls for a legally-enforceable community benefits agreement with broad community participation.
El plan UNITY propuesto para Atlantic Yards eleva significativamente la barra para el desarrollo de vivienda asequible. Si la ciudad de Nueva York y líderes estatales están verdaderamente comprometidos con esta prioridad, capitanearán la alternativa UNITY para Forest City Ratner, tamaño Godzilla.
UNITY— siglas en inglés por Understanding, Imagining and Transforming the Atlantic Yards— (Entendiendo, Imaginando y Transformando Atlantic Yards) reemerge de un esfuerzo de planeamiento en cooperación facilitado por Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods. El plan pide beneficios comunitarios que se hagan cumplir legalmente con amplia participación de la comunidad.
Posted by lumi at 8:21 AM
Brooklyn marks 50 years of singing the Dodger blues
MetroNY
By David B. Caruso
Wow, Atlantic Yards opponents aren't the only Brooklynites who "boo the hell out" of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz:
But when Markowitz speaks to crowds of youngsters and tells them the story of 1955, "the year the Dodgers finally beat the hated Yankees," he is met with confusion, then ire.
"The kids and the little leagues boo the hell out of me," he said.
These young New Yorkers, he explained, don't want to hear about anyone beating their Yankees.
As Brooklyn commemorates (or not) the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers' departure, the borough is on the upswing and soon order will be restored to the universe:
Prosperity has returned. The streets are safe again. Its gorgeous old brownstones are filling up with investment bankers, artists, authors, even a few movie stars. Struggling neighborhoods have been revived by new waves of immigrants. People aren't talking about leaving Brooklyn anymore, they're praying they can afford to stay.
And soon enough, it will be back in the major leagues. The NBA's Nets are scheduled to move to a new arena in Brooklyn, to be built near the spot where Walter O'Malley once sought to build a new home for the Dodgers.
Posted by lumi at 8:06 AM
Bids due Monday for Meadowlands arena naming rights
AP, via amNY
By Janet Frankston Lorin
Though lucrative naming-rights deals have been signed recently in the NY metro area, the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority is having some trouble generating interest in the Meadowlands arena since its biggest tenants are planning to leave:
George Zoffinger, CEO of the authority, said a tour of the arena by potential bidders earlier this month didn't go as well as expected.
"With the uncertainty of the building, it's a very difficult sell," he said.
...
Naming rights for new arenas in the New York metro area have proved lucrative.Barclays Bank PLC announced in January it would spend as much as $400 million over the next 20 years to put its name on the new pro basketball arena planned as the Nets' future home in Brooklyn. The 18,000-seat facility designed by the architect Frank Gehry will be called The Barclays Center.
Prudential Financial Inc. will pay $105.3 million over 20 years, for the right to call the Devils' new arena the Prudential Center.
The New York Giants and New York Jets are working on naming rights for the stadium they are building next to the arena, expected to open in 2010.
Now that the Devils are moving to the Prudential Center, a new arena opening next month in downtown Newark, the Meadowlands arena in East Rutherford, N.J., is left without a long-term marquee tenant.
The New Jersey Nets basketball team, which plans to move to a proposed megacomplex in Brooklyn, N.Y., has signed a lease to play at the Meadowlands until 2012 but can opt out earlier, Zoffinger said. Another tenant, the men's basketball team from Seton Hall, is also moving to Newark.
NoLandGrab: The NJ Nets' lease extension seems beneficial to both parties: it gives the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority some minimal value to offer potential bidders, and provides Bruce Ratner a place to park the Nets while things drag out in Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 7:54 AM
Forest City Marketplace
Newsletter Value Investor Insight carried an interview August 31st with Third Avenue Management's Michael Winer. Since inception, his now $3 billion fund has earned 18.6% annually, vs. 5.8% for the S&P 500. Here's an excerpt from the interview, in which Winer describes why he thinks The St. Joe Company (JOE) and Forest City Enterprises (FCE.A) are mispriced.
MW: We're generally not interested in companies that pay full market prices to acquire properties, hoping to finance them in a way that creates a spread between financing costs and the yield on the assets. What have they really done to create value? We prefer companies that are experts in complex projects and that creatively develop or redevelop projects to build long-term value. Forest, for example, goes into blighted urban areas and works with government officials and agencies to develop projects that will improve the areas in which they build. They're creating new cash flow streams that generate both an attractive return on their invested dollar and increased asset values. That's how you make real money in real estate.
NoLandGrab: What Michael Winer means is that they "prefer companies that are experts" in securing massive government subsidies for their projects "to build long-term value.... That's how you make real money in real estate."
Posted by lumi at 7:50 AM
Forest City Fresno
The Bee takes a look at the track record of Forest City as the Fresno City Council rolls out the red carpet for the Cleveland developer:
Can Forest City Enterprises deliver for downtown Fresno?
With billions of dollars in assets and a record of urban revitalization projects around the country, the Cleveland-based development company has earned a reputation for success.
But the company also has come under fire for using public subsidies to pay for its projects, as well as for pushing cities to force out existing property owners to make way for its mixed-use urban developments.
The Fresno City Council, which last month approved a preliminary Forest City proposal to build more than 700 homes south of Chukchansi Park, will wrestle with these challenges as it moves forward with the project.
Fresno Bee, Business owners don't want to budge
[Bruce Baskin's] voice and temper rise when he talks about eminent domain and the city's plans to replace Baskin's Auto Supply and other businesses just south of Chukchansi Park with town homes and apartments.
"We don't want to go anywhere," says Baskin, 48.
Baskin's is in the middle of a six-block area that the Fresno Redevelopment Agency has targeted for homes, stores and fountains promised by Cleveland-based developer Forest City Enterprises.
Posted by lumi at 7:28 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Curbed.com, Frank Gehry to Have Prospect Heights Historic Dist. Neighbor?
How Prospect Heights will look against the background of a future Atlantic Yards is anyone's guess, but there may be some comfort in knowing that the neighborhood will probably be a Historic District.
Un an à Brooklyn, This is the last time
While working as an au pair in NYC, a French student found an interesting subject that deserves further study:
Je vais donc finalement en Master de Géopolitique, spécialité Enjeux territoriaux et gestions des conflits de pouvoirs... à Paris 8. Et cours, euh uniquement 1 jour par semaine, le reste du temps, je dois bosser sur mon mémoire, que je fais sur devinez quoi ??? Un projet d'urbanisme très controversé à Brooklyn, Atlantic Yards. Du coup, je suis obligée (trop dur), d'y retourner pour mener mon enquête de terrain quelques semaines en Février.
Lost in translation:
I thus go finally in Master de Géopolitique, territorial Enjeux speciality and managements of the conflicts of capacities... in Paris 8. And, euh only 1 day per week, the remainder of time, I run must work on my report, which I make on guess what??? A project of town planning very discussed in Brooklyn, Atlantic Yards. Blow, I am obliged (too much hard), to go back there to carry out my survey of ground a few weeks in February.
Foodantics, Recess
A Brooklynite finally finds time to meet up with friends, but is apparently not impressed with Bruce Ratner's controversial megaproject:
After dinner Hope went back to the city and Stephen and Stefan and I went to Freddy's, a bar which may well be destroyed due to the (evil) Atlantic Yards project.
The Knickerblogger, Some Idiot....
on the yet to be seen design for Beekman Tower - another Ratner-Ghery 'masterpiece:'
Nor am I willing to take the word- site unseen, - that the building is 'drop dead gorgeous' because I have yet to see anything by Gehry that would remotely be called beautiful, and I am highly skeptical of the taste of anyone who would describe a building as 'drop dead gorgeous'
Posted by lumi at 6:14 AM
September 23, 2007
TODAY: Kids Disco Don't Destroy!
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
TODAY!!!
Kids Disco Don't Destroy, 2-6 PM
The Grand Space (previously home of the "Footprint" art show)
778 Bergen Street at the corner of Grand Avenue in Prospect Heights (not Downtown), Brooklyn
Fabulous event for kids of all ages and parents. Feel free to dress in your favorite disco outfit. Funds raised go to support the Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn legal fund against the Ratner mega-project which threatens to harm our children's health. Great DJ, art corner, dance lesson, wine, beer, snacks, teenage helpers, big child-friendly space, meet other families, cool raffle items...
DJ professional: DJ Nicole Leone
Balloons by "A Child Grows In Brooklyn" http://www.achildgrowsinbrooklyn.com
Suggested family contributions $25, $50, $100
Drinks and snacks available
Dance lessons at 4 pm with Bija Brooklyn (http://bijabrooklyn.com/)
GREAT RAFFLE PRIZES:
One hour massage from Stana Weisburd, LMT- value $80
One year membership to Brooklyn "Play" Spot from Kate Myers- value $975
$50 gift certificate from Olea Restaurant, plus 2 hour gift certificate of free babysitting so you can enjoy your meal sans baby
Maitri Health and Wellness class: Nutrition for your chi