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October 2, 2007
Are Atlantic Yards Opponents Getting Cold Feet?
Nets Fan in NY
Opponents of the Atlantic Yards development project are dropping like flies. Just a few days ago, it was announced that two of the thirteen opponents who had filed suit against Bruce Ratner are now in the midst of settlement talks. Their actions have led to a domino effect. Four more property owners whose homes are in the project’s 22-acre footprint are falling in line and undergoing similar negotiations.
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Could it be that the end of this bitter dispute is nearing an end? There may be more appeals for change and suggested reform proposed by UNITY advocates and other grassroots efforts, but it doesn’t look likely that this will turn into another deadly standstill game of cat and mouse a la Robert Moses and Walter O’Malley. Afterall, lightning doesn’t strike twice. With the way the momentum is building, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the new Nets arena.
NoLandGrab: Seeing how NoLandGrab represents, like, four or five people, depending on who shows up to work, Bruce Ratner and Nets fans who are looking forward to a new arena in Brooklyn probably don't have much to worry about — they should be more concerned with the other tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have it in their heads that Atlantic Yards is the poster project for everything wrong with development in NYC.
The point Nets Fan in NY glossed over from this weekend's article in The Brooklyn Paper is that these plaintiffs are TENANTS, who, whether they win or lose, have fewer rights than property owners. It's really a miracle that any of them had the guts to stand up to the Brucester in the first place.
Posted by lumi at October 2, 2007 6:38 AM