« Documents clarify FCR's obligation to state, but not city, if AY abandoned | Main | Ward's Watch: Prepping By The Parapet »
February 21, 2008
It came from the Blogosphere...
Found in Brooklyn, Meanwhile back at Freddy's, this one is mine.
First, some Toll Brothers rage, where the author hurls the ultimate invective at the development company's Gowanus proposal, calling it "the mini Atlantic Yards." [Congratulations Bruce, your Atlantic Yards plan is now the poster child for really crappy overdevelopment that only a politician could love.]
Then on to art in the footprint of Bruce's controversial plan:
ANYWAY back to pimping the art show at Freddy's. This was my contribution to the show. I painted on found book covers and then collaged them together. Any of the images look familiar?
I will be continuing to feature the artists that participated in the show and I remind you to stop by Freddy's and see it for yourself. The demolition surrounding dear Freddy's is enough to drive one to drink. Freddy's is in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards and Bruce Ratner is the man they write their rent checks to, sick isn't it?
Metroblogging NYC, Why Is The Government So Stupid?
An explanation of one of the many stupid things about NYC and Atlantic Yards:
While mayor Bloomberg and many city agencies are actively trying to reduce the problems caused by private vehicles in the heart of Manhattan, fund improvements in mass transit and provide affordable housing; city mandated policies in the outer boroughs promote driving and car ownership by requiring building owners to build parking garages even in areas reasonably well served by mass transit.
...
Like any market distortion, parking requirements have created their own set of absurd choices.
...
One such area is Atlantic Yards, in which at least 4000 parking spaces will be put in with over 2000 required for residents in spite of the fact that the site is a major transit hub served my multiple subway lines and the Long Island Railroad. Many of these will come in the form of hugely expensive and potentially dangerous underground parking. Doesn't anyone remember the first World Trade Center attack which thankfully did not involve plastic explosives?"Last year, several commentators on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) questioned the provision of parking--not just interim surface lots, but also the 2570 underground spaces intended for the project's residential component and an additional 1100 underground spaces for the arena."
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The Big Apple, ProHo (Prospect Heights)
An examination of the name "ProHo" (ugh!) uncovers this interesting boo boo in the Wikipedia entry:
Prospect Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Flatbush Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Eastern Parkway to the south, and, Washington Avenue to the east, at the end of Prospect Hill. However, real estate brokers with a vested interest often misrepresent the eastern boundary as being as far as Classon, Franklin, or even Bedford Avenues. In its northern section are the Atlantic Yards.
NoLandGrab readers know that the railyards are named "Vanderbilt Yards." "Atlantic Yards" is the name that Bruce Ratner bestowed on his megaproject — the brand name fits nicely with his Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal Malls.
California Real Estate, California Tenants Fight to Save Rent Control
Congratulations Bruce, your Atlantic Yards plan is still a national poster child of eminent domain abuse:
Emboldened by a national outcry against the use of eminent domain to seize property for private developments like Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards, California landlords have devised an ingenious attack on the state’s local rent-control laws: Disguising a statewide referendum to ban them as a measure to reform eminent domain.
Walking Off the Big Apple, The New York of Raymond Hood, Architect: Final Thoughts
In thinking about comparable urban developments of our own era, the kind that fuse private economic power with state ambition, the extraordinary projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai come to mind, or maybe, the building of contemporary Berlin. But what new projects await Gotham? Well, several developments of some scale are in the works - the High Line/Hudson Yards redevelopment projects on the west side of Manhattan, Atlantic Yards in downtown Brooklyn, designed by Frank Gehry, and the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site downtown.
Still, whichever of these large projects come to fruition in this uncertain economy, contemporary architects and urban planners could learn a few lessons from Raymond Hood's skills and visionary design. A trip to Rockefeller Center is a start, watching people take pictures of friends and family in front of the fountain and enjoying the scene of people falling down on skates. Sure, the Rock's often crowded, but isn't that precisely the point?
NoLandGrab: Sorry to be a wet blanket, but it seems that Atlantic Yards has defied as many lessons from Rockefeller Center as it has absorbed. Ratner is hoping that if he builds it, they will come.
Posted by lumi at February 21, 2008 4:14 AM