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September 23, 2008
Atlantic Yards: The $4 Billion Game of Charades
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
DDDB connects the dots on the fate of Atlantic Yards, and wonders when New York's elected (and appointed) leaders will catch on, as well.
Atlantic Yards isn't gonna happen. So can we stop pretending now?
Yeah, Bruce Ratner and his government enablers continue the charade that all is well in Ratnerville—what with his planned "ground breaking" in December and all. But that's absurd, and impossible, unless they plan some nonsense ribbon cutting kabuki of shovels and fanfare signifying nothing meaningful about actually constructing their arena and skyscrapers.
C'mon. Get real.
Haven't any of them noticed we are in the biggest financial crisis since World War 2 or the Great Depression depending upon who you ask? Didn't they just watch Wall Street's meltdown? Didn't they witness an extremely skeptical State Court judicial panel on September 17th? Haven't they seen the credit market? Are they not privy to the real estate crash? Are they unaware of the office vacancy rate in NYC? Have they not heard the "NO" from government officials in response to their continual lobbying to suck more money from the taxpayer? Have they not taken note of escalating construction costs? Did they not notice that the Barclays Center Arena is the most expensive ever proposed at $950 million and is sure to rise in cost? Don't they remember saying that the project was supposed to provide "affordable" housing? Have their calendars malfunctioned to such an extent that they didn't notice that the arena that was supposed to open in 2006, at the end of 2008 still languishes with its required land still in the hands of other owners?
Surely someone with political power has noticed that Ratner no longer even shows Phase 2 of the project in his model—that's the phase that purportedly was going to bring the bulk of the "affordable" housing and the "privately-owned, publicly-accessible open space." Right?
Posted by eric at September 23, 2008 11:57 AM