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June 12, 2011
Bruce Ratner finds vindication as Nets' new digs take shape in Brooklyn, but residents still angry
Daily News
BY Stefan Bondy
In this item about the state of the Atlantic Yards project, the Daily News drinks the Ratner Kool-Aid in an abdication of journalistic responsibility. The piece is chock-full of errors.
It's a moot debate now, no longer a fistfight. Ratner was a perfect 35-for-35 in judicial decisions throughout the eight-year process, even as the recession that nearly killed his construction project forced a downgrade of sorts. He dumped the original architecture plan, a Frank Gehry design, for one less grandiose and less costly, and has put off related proposals such as the residential buildings that were supposed to be erected adjacent to the arena. Ratner says the apartments should start going up in December or January, but he's waiting on a $100 million bank loan.
Can anybody explain what 35 judicial decisions are being referenced? It's very trusting to think that Frank Gehry was ever anything more than window dressing to entice supporters and that jettisoning him wasn't part of a plan. Also, the promised housing has yet to materialize, but we should just trust Ratner that it will somehow appear ... sometime... eventually... if a loan comes through... or something.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Daily News basketball writer declares Ratner has found "vindication" since "The proof is in the construction site"
The article begins:
Bruce Ratner's triumph stands tall on the corner of Atlantic & Flatbush Avenues, his horizontal battleground finally transformed into vertical steel beams.
Ratner and the opponents of this Brooklyn arena were never going to see eye-to-eye, no matter how many court fights, press conferences and protests were staged. But Ratner has won, in part by buying off the last remaining combatants. The proof is in the construction site. His image was damaged and his wallet is lighter, but Ratner, the millionaire developer who fought so hard to relocate local residents, feels closer to exoneration with every rivet pounded into his $1 billion project.
(Emphases added)
For whom does an arena, without all the promised jobs, housing, and open space, count as a triumph? Sports fans, maybe, but certainly not the elected officials who joined the Ratner bandwagon based on air promises.
Is "his horizontal battleground battleground finally transformed into vertical steel beams"? Not at all, if you consider that a larger piece of the battleground will become interim surface parking and other large chunks remain unchanged.
Bondy quotes his eager subject:
"Groundbreaking alone was vindication of sorts," Ratner says. "But, of course, the final frosting on the vindication cake will be when we open the doors."
The final frosting? Only for sports fans.
Posted by steve at June 12, 2011 5:17 PM