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July 19, 2010
Doctoroff, updated, with video: was there really any "citywide planning"
Atlantic Yards Report
Had there been citywide planning, then Winston Von Engel, Deputy Director of the Brooklyn office of the Department of City Planning, wouldn't have said in March 2006. "We concentrated on the Downtown Brooklyn development plan for Downtown Brooklyn. Forest City Ratner owns property across the way. And they saw the yards, and looked at those. We had not been considering the yards directly."
Had there been citywide planning, there would have been a fair bidding process for the railyard and for the project rather than one developer with an inside track.
Had there been citywide planning, some agency would have been responsible for the weeds that meant the railyard appeared blighted.
Had there been citywide planning, the project would have--as Doctoroff agrees in retrospect--gone through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
Had there been citywide planning, there would have been much less parking approved.
Had there been citywide planning, public transportation would be enhanced.
Had there been citywide planning, there would have been a real cost-benefit analysis.
Had there been citywide planning, Bruce Ratner would not have been able to say, as he did at the groundbreaking in March, that, when he met with Mayor Mike Bloomgerg in July 2003, some five months before the project was publicly unveiled, that the mayor declared, "Let's get this done."
Posted by eric at July 19, 2010 11:18 PM