« The Greatest Off Season in the History of the World | Main | The wild card regarding arena financing; could Build America Bonds take up the slack if tax-exempt bonds were insufficient? »
October 6, 2009
Bloomberg's biographer offers gentle treatment of development issues, and barely a mention of the Nets arena (but no AY)
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder critiques Joyce Purnick's bio of NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, where, through the lense of rezoning and development shortcomings, Atlantic Yards is the 800-lb. gorilla.
For Purnick's verdict on development issues, consider this summary paragraph (p. 4):
And in every rundown corner of the city he aggressively cleared the way for renovation and real estate development, to the chagrin of serious city planners and devotees of city landmarks, to the delight of builders, construction unions and pragmatists who share his preference for imperfect development over neglect.
A reader might conclude that casual city planners and those who care partially about landmarks are fine with Bloomberg's record. But Purnick sets up a false dichotomy between imperfect development and neglect, fails to look into project like Atlantic Yards, and does not even hold Bloomberg to his own standards, as I point out below.
Posted by lumi at October 6, 2009 5:56 AM