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December 12, 2010
Who Wants to Turn Brooklyn into a Big Parking Lot?
Change.org
By Zachary Shahan
This blog post points out the folly of building acres of parking in Prospect Heights and suggests signing an online petition to oppose it.
What is one of the absolute worst uses of land, environmentally speaking? A surface parking lot. In other words, the type of parking lot you see in front of Wal-Mart—one level, not above or below any buildings. (They're also just plain ugly...can you think of anything uglier than a large, surface parking lot?)
Where is the worst place to build a surface parking lot? How about in the middle of the downtown areas of one of the most densely populated counties in this nation.
A 1,100-space surface parking lot is being proposed as part of the Atlantic Yards project, a controversial planned $4.9 billion mall, residential development, and sports stadium, in the downtown area of Brooklyn, New York. While the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and project developer Forest City Ratner are portraying this as a temporary parking lot, it has been revealed that the parking lot may sit there for up to 25 years.
The environmental review for the Atlantic Yards project used ESDC and Ratner's initial estimate that the project would take 10 years. With the project expected to last up to 25 years, the environmental review does not meet legal requirements, and, thus, a number of groups are pushing for a halt to the controversial project until this review is adequately performed. The 25-year potential time frame is apparently written into the development contract between New York City and Ratner, but was not revealed in legal battles over the project last November.
Posted by steve at December 12, 2010 12:06 PM