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April 29, 2008
Atlantic Yards Is Very Much Alive,
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Raanan Geberer
The various uncertainties, plus Forest City Ratner’s insistence that the project is going through, are why groups critical of the Atlantic Yards project haven’t been celebrating the facts reported in the Times article. Several of these groups, plus local elected officials, have joined together to sponsor a rally set for this Saturday. The rally, scheduled for 2 p.m. at 752 Pacific St., is asking new Gov. David Paterson to “Call `Time Out’ on the Atlantic Yards Project.”
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One of the main complaints of this coalition is that demolition of large areas in the “footprint” is continuing, even though, according to the announcement, “Forest City Ratner Company has acknowledged that the Atlantic Yards project won’t be built according to the schedule and plan that was approved.”
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Jim Vogel of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods said, “They [Forest City Ratner] say they have a commitment to the project, but they haven’t put a timeline on it. I do project management for a living, and if you don’t have times for deliverables, you don’t have a project plan.”
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The main day-to-day complaint in the neighborhood, Vogel added, is the continuing jack-hammering and construction noises, often at night. “Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue have become a continual construction zone from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every night,” he said. “I live at Fourth and Pacific, and I hear this every single night.”Riegelhaupt of Forest City Ratner responded that “The work we’re doing is massive infrastructure improvement, replacing 80-year-old water mains that have never been replaced. We’re upgrading, water, sewer lines, and work on the rail yards is also proceeding.”
The company is coordinating with the city to work at night, he explained, because major daytime projects on major streets like Atlantic Avenue would severely impact daytime traffic.
Vogel replied that it’s not only on Atlantic Avenue – night work is also proceeding on smaller streets such as Dean Street.
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Gib Veconi of BrooklynSpeaks says, “Forest City Ratner is still moving ahead with demolitions and infrastructure disruptions as though they were proceeding with the original plans.“One of the reasons the Atlantic Yards was announced was to combat blight – now, they’re creating blight. All of Block 1129, between Pacific, Dean, Vanderbilt and Carlton, is slated to be demolished.”
Posted by lumi at April 29, 2008 5:44 AM