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May 23, 2012
Atlantic Yards’ Transportation Demand Management Plan is too little too late
BrooklynSpeaks
The BrooklynSpeaks sponsors expressed frustration with the Atlantic Yards Transportation Demand Management Plan (TDM), released today nearly six months after its initially scheduled announcement, and only four months before the opening of the Barclays Center Arena. The TDM as presented by Sam Schwartz Engineering emphasized marketing of transit use to prospective arena patrons over disincentives to drive, and reduced the scope of the demand management strategies previously agreed between Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in December of 2009.
“Effective demand management is a lot more than advertising,” said Ryan Lynch, Policy Director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “But the plan released today doesn’t even include the free subway fare for Nets ticketholders promised in 2009. The TDM assumes the public will bear the cost of adding transit capacity after arena events. Instead, the developer should be paying for service enhancements.”
...“It appears that the TDM is still primarily geared to the 40 Nets games planned each year, with adoption of its elements for the other 180 events at the discretion of Forest City Ratner,” said Jo Anne Simon, Democratic Leader of the 52nd Assembly District. “With little more than four months before the arena opens, Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg need to get in the game. Government must play a constructive role in making demand management of streets around Barclays Center accountable to the public. It’s time to put politics aside and do what’s necessary to implement meaningful demand management strategies—like residential parking permits—so that arena patrons will leave their cars at home.”
Posted by eric at May 23, 2012 11:54 AM