« Los Angeles Times architecture critic, aghast at a stadium proposal, thinks New York, by contrast, doesn't embrace developer-driven projects | Main | Prospect Heights bar, across the street from blight, now colonizes TriBeCa »
January 1, 2011
After snowstorm, sidewalks around perimeter of Atlantic Yards site still not cleared; if FCR and LIRR punt, will ESDC make sure something's done?
Atlantic Yards Report
One might think that developer Bruce Ratner could keep some sidewalks cleared of snow to show his gratitude to the State of New York for delivering valuable real estate to him so cheaply. The recent blizzard has provided another example of how we should expect Atlantic Yards to add blight to an area as part of a project that was supposed to remove it.
The presence of numerous un-shoveled sidewalks around the perimeter of the Atlantic Yards site suggests that the new year does not mean that old problems are forgotten.
Much in the same way the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) memorably punted when asked in 2006 if the city or the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) were responsible for "blighted" conditions--weeds and trash--on the sidewalks bordering the Vanderbilt Yard, so too has no agency nor developer Forest City Ratner yet taken responsibility for clearing the sidewalks after the December 26 snowstorm.
Dean Street resident Peter Krashes sent me several pictures take late Thursday afternoon, which depict a situation that remained substantially similar to the one I observed late yesterday afternoon.
...
Krashes said that, last year, after the Dean Street Block Association won a Citizen's Committee for NYC grant to beautify the neighborhood, they asked to meet with LIRR, because of concerns about the sidewalks. ESDC ombudsman Forrest Taylor helped arrange the meeting.
During the meeting, according to Krashes, the LIRR stated that since its umbrella authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is a state agency that operates in many municipalities, it would be onerous for them to be held accountable to the laws of each municipality.
Thus, the MTA can ignore local law and follow its own regulations instead. As a result, he said, the LIRR maintains that they do not have the same responsibility as private property owners to maintain sidewalks adjacent to their properties in NYC.
Posted by steve at January 1, 2011 9:08 AM