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June 10, 2009
At DDDB update on AY, talk of changed public opinion, potential strategies, and a crucial next six months
Atlantic Yards Report
Like a modern-day version of You Are There, Norman Oder recreates yesterday's DDDB-hosted Atlantic Yards update meeting, for those of us who weren't.
The tide may not have turned regarding Atlantic Yards, which has been officially approved and likely heads for new approvals, but public opinion is shifting, with the widespread disapproval of new designs for the arena.
Yesterday New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff called it a “"stunning bait-and-switch" and a "shameful betrayal of the public trust" and today the New York Daily News quotes general disdain from locals.
So last night was an opportune time for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn to hold a long-scheduled community update on the project, drawing some 130 people to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.
I saw a good number of unfamiliar faces, and there was a distinct energy in the crowd; they enthusiastically applauded speakers and gave City Council Member Letitia James a partial standing ovation.
The project, as a DDDB handout (below) explained, is neither a dead deal nor a done deal, and the next six months will be crucial, as project backers pursue revised approvals. They hope to get the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to accept a new deal for the Vanderbilt Yard--perhaps $20 million down, instead of $100 million--and get the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) to issue a revised Modified General Project Plan (GPP).
Here's more coverage of the meeting, in pictures, from photographer Tracy Collins: 2009 DDDB Atlantic Yards Community Meeting
Posted by eric at June 10, 2009 1:48 PM