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July 2, 2008
Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls...Not These, At Least
Fans for Fair Play
That's not a rainbow FFFP sees through the mist... it's Atlantic Yards.
Not a day goes by without a clear example of why Bloomberg's New York is such a maddening, offensive and increasingly soulless place to live.
For today's example, we offer you this:
Olafur Eliasson's "Waterfalls" -- four Erector Sets leaking water into the East River -- cost $15 million (say that with a Dr. Evil voice, especially over the $2 million in public money). The vampiric steward of our decaying city (above, right) blathered something about $59 million being generated for the city's coffers. That's government officials like Bloomberg's go-to excuse for wasting money and resources. All of NYC's new stadiums (and the one not going up in Brooklyn). Big "because we can" fartworks like this or last year's "Gates" in Central Park. The Bon Jovi concert just announced for the Great Lawn, where Mayor Mike's construct is that what's good for white rock'n'roll fans isn't good for RNC demonstrators.
...River water tumbling meekly off scaffolds isn't nearly the problem that the Atlantic Yards is, of course. Dopey and disappointing as Eliasson's efforts are, they're not really hurting anyone. Well, not counting whoever could've used the $2 million the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation stuffed in Eliasson's pocket, likely at the mayor's behest.
Part of the problem is timing, as it always is with Atlantic Yards. The economy's crashing, so Ratner asks for more public money for his failing luxury-condo development. The AY arena is a billion-dollar money pit, so Ratner declares his Nets are "rebuilding," sports-world code for "we'll really blow the next few years."
...Ratner, emboldened by state officials he counts as both pals and sugar-daddies/mommies, keeps pushing Atlantic Yards as though it's still 2003, when the economy, at least, wasn't one of the dozens of reasons the Atlantic Yards superblocks are such a bad idea on so many levels.
Posted by eric at July 2, 2008 5:35 PM