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February 2, 2011
For the Nets, a Brooklyn Stars Can’t See
The New York Times
by Harvey Araton
Sounds like we have this Times columnist to blame for the whole Atlantic Yards mess.
There are some in the news media and even N.B.A. sophisticates who didn’t or still don’t see the pragmatism in the Brooklyn transfer because their familiarity with the borough began and ended with Junior’s, if not the Dodgers. Having lived for many years in downtown Brooklyn, I once had to explain to a league official how accessible the arena site at the Atlantic Yards would be by subway and rail and how surrounded it would be by restaurant-rich neighborhoods full of upscale young people with disposable income.
On the other end of the telephone was the longtime Westchester resident David Stern, the N.B.A. commissioner.
If Stern had to be sold on what Brooklyn might become as an alternative to the failed Meadowlands experiment, what can we expect from the league’s reigning prima donnas?
Travis Outlaw isn’t one of them. As a consolation-prize free agent last summer, Outlaw, a 6-foot-9 forward from Starkville, Miss., received a rather generous deal from the Nets: $35 million over five years, at least two to be played in Newark.
Asked Monday night if he and the typical N.B.A. player had a sense of the approximate location of the new arena to Midtown, or to Madison Square Garden, Outlaw shrugged.
“I don’t think guys think it’s too far, but they probably don’t really know if it’s that close or not,” he said.
Told the arena was only about a 15-minute subway ride from the Garden, Outlaw said: “That’s it? That ain’t bad at all. That’s crazy. I didn’t know that at all.”
Of course, most future Nets won’t be inclined to ride the No. 2 train, so Outlaw promptly said, “What about driving?”
NoLandGrab What about driving? Yes, that's the problem with siting an arena with thousands of parking spots at Brooklyn's worst intersection.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Times columnist suggests Brooklyn arena would be only 15 minutes from MSG. Nah.
New York Times Sports columnist Harvey Araton thinks the Atlantic Yards arena would be only 15 minutes by subway from Madison Square Garden, but he's off by about 100 percent--it's nearly twice as long a trip, according to HopStop (and likely even longer, given the underground passageway planned).
...Click on the graphic to enlarge, and see the contradiction.
Posted by eric at February 2, 2011 10:40 AM