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October 24, 2011
The Unfulfilled Promises of Atlantic Yards
What's missing from the controversial development site? Not just the jobs and housing, says this writer, but the independent monitor required by the community benefits agreement.
City Limits
by Norman Oder
Atlantic Yards Report's Norman Oder pens an appraisal of (some of) Atlantic Yards's failures.
How is developer Forest City Ratner fulfilling its ambitious promises of jobs, affordable housing, local/minority contracting, and more at its controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn?
Not so well, though the developer won't admit it, nor fund the independent monitor that's supposed to tell us.
After all, the only construction now involves the Barclays Center arena, due to house the relocated (from New Jersey) Brooklyn Nets in fall 2012, plus associated infrastructure work. Yes, the economic downturn has slowed the promised 16 towers, but the first residential building, slated to include 50 percent subsidized housing, was never supposed to be delayed—and it's more than a year late.
There are more fundamental problems.
Related coverage...
Park Slope Patch, Opinion: Ratner Breaks Atlantic Yards Promises on Jobs, Housing—and Oversight
Norman Oder, the man behind Atlantic Yards Report, writes a piece on CityLimits.org today arguing that Forest City Ratner has failed to live up to promises on several fronts, and, because he hasn't hired the required independent monitor to oversee the project, there is nobody to call him on it.
Posted by eric at October 24, 2011 8:18 PM