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February 15, 2008
Markowitz Fills Boro in on State of Brooklyn
Brooklyn Downtown Star
Here are the Atlantic Yards-related excerpts from Norman Oder's report on Markowitz's State of the Borough address:
He saluted his new appointee on the City Planning Commission, Shirley McRae, but still praised her predecessor, his longtime political supporter Dolly Williams, for "five years of invaluable service." (Williams resigned last November after paying a fine to resolve conflict-of-interest charges regarding her ownership stake in Atlantic Yards.)
Brooklyn's most controversial issue got a few mentions. After asserting that "Brooklyn deserves a sizzling, modern, mixed-use downtown," Markowitz cited growth in "the corridor linking BAM to downtown," then a "revitalized Fulton Mall." He continued: "Walking or biking up a spruced-up Flatbush Avenue to visit friends living at Atlantic Yards. Or going to check out a Brooklyn Nets game at the Barclays Center!"
Later in the speech, he discussed the "crisis" in affordable housing, expressing his support "for the maximum amount of affordable housing to be included in new residential projects."
"At Atlantic Yards," he continued, "we celebrate the fact that a Community Benefits Agreement will guarantee that fully one-half of those units will be priced below market rates." (Actually, only half of the rental units would be affordable.)
The crowd was not obviously enthusiastic about Atlantic Yards, but did applaud Markowitz's call for the state legislature to restore rent protections and his salute to the president of the tenants' association at Spring Creek, a.k.a. Starrett City, who fought a sale of the affordable housing complex.
Posted by lumi at February 15, 2008 5:48 AM