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November 21, 2009
Atlantic Yards Report: Myth-Buster Edition
In lawsuit affidavit, the "pay ACORN $500,000 to exit the CBA" myth still has legs
From Gib Veconi's affidavit in the case filed by BrooklynSpeaks and allies challenging the Empire State Development Corporation's approval of Atlantic Yards.
All organizations participating in the [Community Benefits Agreement] were to receive compensation from [developer Forest City Ratner] to provide various services as a function of the Project. In addition, FCRC could exit the agreement at any time by paying fees of $500,000 to ACORN and the other participants.
While the first statement is true--Forest City Ratner's MaryAnne Gilmartin confirmed it in July--the second is not.
Rather, it's an Atlantic Yards myth that still has legs. According to the CBA, Forest City Ratner doesn't have to pay anything if it abandons the project other than $500,000 to be used by Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD) to fund the Pre-Apprentice Training initiative.
Nor is a successor who buys the project bound to the CBA.
ACORN could go to court to enforce the housing obligation, but its unswerving support for the project--and bailout by Forest City Ratner--doesn't make it likely. After all, if Forest City Ratner can't build the housing because of lack of subsidies, it's (likely) off the hook.
Once upon a time, in the magical world of Atlantic Yards, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis and Republican State Senator Marty Golden found common cause, with Golden saluting “ACORN, the premier low-income housing organization.” (He had to overlook their divergent stances on housing policy in general.)
On health care, though, they look to be parting company.
Shiffman: It's time for Bloomberg to align all agencies with PlaNYC
In a Streetsblog piece headlined In Third Term, Bloomberg Must Align All Agencies With PlaNYC, veteran community planner (and DDDB board member) Ron Shiffman points to Atlantic Yards:
Together with private developers, the city's Economic Development Corporation and other quasi-government entities, the planning department has embraced outmoded redevelopment plans for Willets Point in Queens, Hudson Yards on the far West Side, Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and Columbia University's expansion into Manhattanville without any substantive regard to the principles and goals of PlaNYC.
These large-scale development plans fundamentally ignore the issue of sustainability. And they cast the form of the city in concrete for a century or more.
In these developments, the street is nothing more than square footage added to permit greater building heights and densities. Streets in these developments divide rather than integrate neighborhoods. Traffic lights are recalibrated, for instance, to facilitate the flow of traffic and hinder pedestrian movement by reducing crossing times. Perversely, these measures are dubbed “mitigation” in the environmental review process. Without them, the development would not be allowed to proceed. This is because the developments include more space for car parking than needed -- far above the norm in New York City -- creating more traffic and necessitating such "mitigations."
Posted by steve at November 21, 2009 8:18 AM