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July 6, 2009
Atlantic Yards beginning to look like pie in Brooklyn sky for pols
NY Daily News
by Erin Durkin and Jotham Sederstrom
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and City Councilman David Yassky are none too pleased with the latest iterations of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan.
Five and a half years later, a state agency's recent vote to adopt a plan for a new Nets arena and 16 towers - which will take longer, cost more, and look radically different than the original - has left Jeffries and some other officials disillusioned.
"The way in which the project was sold is dramatically different than the one in which the developer appears prepared to deliver," he said. "The promises made by this developer have disappeared like a house of cards."
...City Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) said he always thought the towers were too big, but supported the arena because he was "excited about a professional basketball team in Brooklyn and an architecturally significant arena."
He soured on that as it became clear taxpayers would end up footing much of the bill.
"The MTA changing the deal just added insult to injury," he said. "This was already a bad deal for taxpayers and now it's an appallingly bad deal."
Posted by eric at July 6, 2009 11:20 AM