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March 13, 2010
Transit-oriented development? Allegedly. Transit-oriented groundbreaking? Not when Dean Street's "a parking lot."
Atlantic Yards Report
The Atlantic Yards project has been pitched as transit-oriented development because the site borders a transit hub and is near other stations, but, as urban planner Tom Angotti has pointed out, it doesn't add any transit capacity--except, I'd add, a new entrance to the Atlantic Avenue station.
But it would add some 3600 parking spaces--PlaNYC 1950, as I've suggested--and, for an indefinite amount of time, 1044 (or more) surface parking spaces.
So a good number of people would still be driving, and that was quite clear at the Barclays Center groundbreaking on Thursday, which drew perhaps 1000 people, a good number of them coming by car.
That meant traffic was backed up on Dean Street near the site.
...
Among those contributing to the congestion: vehicles like the one at left, ferrying Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
On Brownstoner, "architect66" commented on the urban design of AY:
It's a lost opportunity. Development over the yards could have been better, could have connected Park Slope with Fort Greene, could have promoted more economic growth by extending and connecting commercial strips on 5th Ave, Flatbush Ave. and Vanderbilt Ave., could have provided thousands of lineal feet of vibrant streets and graceful public places, but no, this design doesn't do that. A squandered opportunity.
Posted by steve at March 13, 2010 8:54 AM