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September 23, 2009
Still No Place in New York for Qaddafi’s Tent
The New York Times
by Joseph Berger
This item about where Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi might pitch his tent while in New York for U.N meetings could better be titled "Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)."
New York, of course, has several arenas big enough to house a large tent. There is the old Yankee Stadium, which sits unused while the Yankees are heading for the playoffs in their new home next door. There is also a site near Downtown Brooklyn that may one day become the home of basketball’s Nets — Atlantic Yards.
Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City Ratner, the site’s developer, said Colonel Qaddafi “could do it but he’d probably be hit by a train.”
“Most of Atlantic Yards is being built over the Long Island Rail Road, which is a functioning railyard. So it would be rather precarious for a tent.”
NoLandGrab: For crying out loud. DePlasco is so used to lying about Atlantic Yards that, even for some throw-away story that has nothing to do with the toxically controversial project, he can't help but to make the patently false claim that "most of Atlantic Yards is being built over the Long Island Rail Road."
It's not. The 8.3-acre Vanderbilt yard comprises less than 40% of the 22-acre Atlantic Yards project footprint.
Is this important in the context of the Qaddafi story? Not at all. But it illustrates how lying about Atlantic Yards has become habitual among project supporters. And the truth is, Ratner has created several acres of empty, rubble-strewn lots in Prospect Heights — more than enough room to pitch a tent.
More coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Times quotes DePlasco as saying most of AY "is being built over the Long Island Rail Road"
Posted by eric at September 23, 2009 9:43 PM