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June 13, 2009
Catching a Ratner - Post Gehry, Atlantic Yards opponents plot their next moves
The Architect's Newspaper
By Matt Chaban
Here is coverage of a public meeting last Tuesday, June 9th, sponsored by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn that reviews possible strategies to be used in the coming months to stop the proposed Atlantic Yards project.
While the news that Frank Gehry is officially off Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project may not come as a surprise, it has certainly stirred up new feelings for the project, most of them negative. Whether or not the departure of the famed Santa Monica architect will have any political impact remains to be seen. But at a public meeting held last night by anti-Yards group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the “bait-and-switch” was mentioned, but also pushed aside as a tactic in what the group sees as the final, crucial fight for the site through the end of the year.
Instead, the activists, politicians, and attorneys who spoke focused squarely on the same battlefield that has carried them throughout the process: The courts.
Factors that will influence DDDB's strategy include:
- A deadline for developer Forest City to issue tax-exempt bonds before the end of this year.
- Meetings of the MTA board and the ESDC as they consider accepting changes to the project.
- A possible requirement of the ESDC to perform a supplemental environmental impact review and convene a public hearing.
- A need for the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) (a.k.a. "Three Men in a Room") to reconsider approval for the project.
Depending on what the State does, further litigation could be brought by DDDB.
The article ends with Daniel Goldstein, DDDB spokesman, advising all concerned to stay vigilant and active.
“As you saw in today’s Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote that the departure of Frank Gehry was a betrayal of the public trust,” Goldstein told the audience of about 100 at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. “It is, but this project from the beginning was a betrayal of the public trust, the way it was conceived, the way it proceeded. It’s all been one big bait-and-switch.”
“We don’t know, but we suspect this may be make or break time for this developer,” he continued. “We’ve held them at bay for this long, so it would be a real shame to hold back in the next few months.”
Posted by steve at June 13, 2009 10:21 AM