July 23, 2008
Say What: Vanderbilt Yards Parking Restrictions
Gowanus Lounge
This amusing image from the Vanderbilt Yards (aka Atlantic Yards site) comes to us courtesy of Tracy Collins via our GL Flickr Pool. Whatever you do, do not park in this spot. For many reasons, all of them having nothing to do with the fallen sign.
NoLandGrab: And speaking about parking, Tracy Collins informs us that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has already turned the recently demolished 640 Pacific St. into a private parking lot.
Posted by lumi at 8:18 PM
June 28, 2008
Ikea has meatballs, couches and … jams
The Brooklyn Paper
By Ben Muessig
Guess what's in store for neighborhoods around Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project if the developer builds the 19,000-seat arena next to the "temporary" surface parking lot for 1,400 cars.
Check this coverage of the opening weekend at Ikea and the 1,400-car overflow parking lot.
Quiet Red Hook streets became bumper-to-bumper traffic jams when hordes of furniture-crazed shoppers flocked to the newly opened Ikea on its debut weekend.
Once-dreary roads that connect the Beard Street big box with the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway saw such a big uptick in traffic that cops from the 76th Precinct rushed in to police the area and bolster the efforts of 17 off-duty officers hired by Ikea to handle traffic.
...
Red Hook residents say that the influx of cars made Columbia Street look more like a parking lot than a thoroughfare.“It was unreal. I’ve never seen so much traffic in my life,” said Jay McKnight, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Association. “I was fearful of crossing Columbia Street — it was bumper to bumper and everyone seemed like they were in a hurry, trying to inch up between cars.”
To handle traffic, Ikea built a 1,400-spot primary parking lot and acquired a temporary overflow lot on the neighboring site of the former Revere Sugar refinery, which it has secured at least until Labor Day.
Before opening, the furniture giant also paid to put up new signs directing drivers to the store, and hired 17 off-duty NYPD cops to form a “paid detail unit” that would help direct traffic.
But even with Ikea’s preparations, cars clogged Red Hook roads.
NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards supporters will note that Ikea is not convenient to public transportation, while Ratner's arena would be located above one of the area's largest transporation hub, which begs the question, why does the developer need so much parking?
Posted by lumi at 6:13 AM
June 15, 2008
Meet the Designer Behind the NYC Parking Boom
Streetsblog
NoLandGrab: As if free gas wasn't enough of an encouragement to drive, Forest City Ratner's East River Plaza development brings bog box stores with suburban style parking garages - right in New York City!
So, in the name of convenience, Blumenfeld Development and GreenbergFarrow are squandering the inherent attraction of urban streets -- walkable places where people actually like to linger -- and flooding the city with additional car trips.These big box stores may have been given the green light before PlaNYC was unveiled, but how does this wave of car-friendly development square with Mayor Bloomberg's much-touted sustainability goals? Between a City Planning Department that sits back and allows the willy-nilly construction of new public parking garages, and an Economic Development Corporation that actively courts big box retailers and signs off on stadium parking subsidies, the push to mitigate traffic seems to have been limited to congestion pricing. Streetsblog has a request into the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability to find out whether scaling back huge parking facilities is on the mayor's agenda.
Posted by amy at 11:13 AM
May 30, 2008
PlaNYC 2030 and the need for parking policy
Atlantic Yards Report
One glaring Atlantic Yards flaw ID'd by transportation advocates is the development project's thousands of planned parking spaces.
Last December, I described how Mayor Mike Bloomberg's much-praised PlaNYC 2030 contains a glaring omission, a failure to address the antiquated anti-urban policy that mandates parking attached to new residential developments outside Manhattan, even when such developments, like Atlantic Yards, are justified precisely because they're located near transit hubs. I called the current situation PlaNYC 1950.
(Ironically enough, the Empire State Development Corporation, which will override several aspects of city zoning to facilitate the Atlantic Yards project, chose note to override the city's parking policy.)
Last month, a year after Bloomberg's plan was announced, a watchdog group identified parking policy as among six administrative initiatives in order to implant the principles of sustainability into the city's governmental structure.
Posted by eric at 1:20 PM
May 8, 2008
Lotsa "Atlantic Lots"
StreetsBlog, Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?
With development projects across the city threatened by an uncertain economy, critics of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project believe that a slowdown in construction could burden Prospect Heights with decades of blight. A slide show by the Municipal Art Society, called "Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?," offers a bleak look into the future, like this rendering of neighborhood blocks destroyed for "temporary" surface lots that would accommodate some 1,400 cars.
MAS is calling on Governor David Paterson to suspend demolition in order to prepare an interim development plan, and has a link to a web form through which members of the public can contact Paterson directly.
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Atlantic Yards = Atlantic Lots?
Following up on this weekend’s Call Time-Out on Atlantic Yards rally, the Municipal Art Society has released renderings of what the area might look like as demolitions continue and only a small piece of the proposed project is actually built. Visit atlanticlots.com for a slide show.
Posted by lumi at 5:42 AM
April 29, 2008
Congestion pricing failure may delay BRT; Flatbush route not yet on the agenda
Atlantic Yards Report
The failure of congestion pricing threw a bit of a wrench in the city's plans for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), suggested as one solution to congestion on Flatbush Avenue, but now apparently several years away.
Though Flatbush is an obvious candidate for such service--which would have a dedicated express lane, fewer stops, offsite payment and "honor system" entrance (subject to random check), staggered stoplights, and back boarding, according to the city's pilot in the Bronx--another obvious candidate, Nostrand Avenue, was selected in 2006 for one-per-borough pilot project. It looks to be about four years away, however.
...
A PlaNYC "scorecard" clarifies that the other four SBS services are planned to be introduced by 2011. That's likely too late to start up a Flatbush Avenue version by 2010, the unreliable official target date for opening the Atlantic Yards arena, or even 2011, which I consider the likely best-case scenario.In fact, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority contradicts the PlaNYC document, estimating on its SBS FAQ page that the Nostrand Avenue route would be implemented in 2012. Though that's subject to change, it's a good bet that a Flatbush Avenue route would be at least a year after that.
Would that be in time for an AY arena? Then again, developer Forest City Ratner has six years--after the close of litigation and the transfer of property via eminent domain--to build the arena without penalty.
Posted by lumi at 5:22 AM
April 28, 2008
The PlaNYC 2030 housing update and the contradictions of AY
Atlantic Yards Report
When PlaNYC 2030 was announced last April, I pointed out how Atlantic Yards was conspicuously absent as an example of how to build new housing, even though the plan promotes the identification of underutilized areas across the city that are well-served by transit and the exploration of opportunities to create new land by decking over rail yards, rail lines and highways.
Given that the project remains high on the mayoral agenda, the omission was curious, I noted--though I'd add today that there is a built-in excuse; as a state project, the city can claim that it has no power over the rezoning.
The PlaNYC 2030 Progress Report issued last week also understandably leaves Atlantic Yards off the maps of city-initiated rezonings and rezonings with inclusionary zoning.
Does South/Central Brooklyn have the carrying capacity for Bruce Ratner's megaproject? Should the need for affordable housing supercede the debate on other urban planning concerns? Ron Shiffman, former City Planning Commissioner and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn board member, argues that there needs to be a balance.
For more reporting on the progress of PlaNYC, check out "PlaNYC gets praise from planners, but momentum must be sustained."
Posted by lumi at 4:55 AM
April 16, 2008
Times Building Continues to Discourage Bike Commuting
StreetsBlog fingers The New York Times Corporation for cracking down on bicycle commuters, but keep in mind that Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner developed and co-owns the Renzo Piano-designed building, which originally was supposed to be loaded with environmentally friendly features.
In the latest episode of the New York Times Building vs. bike commuters saga, building management is tagging chained bikes with notes threatening to clip and "remove" them.
After being promised space in the new, 1.5 million square foot building, cyclists were barred from bringing their bikes in for months. Management finally opened a small room with enough space for 20 bikes, which, not surprisingly, is apparently not enough. Rather than meet demand for bike storage in its "green" building, it looks like the Times is again taking a hard line against clean commuting.
NoLandGrab: Ha, judging from the photo, the building itself makes an excellent bike rack.
Posted by lumi at 4:02 AM
April 10, 2008
The congestion pricing votes: AY wasn't the issue, nor was overbuilding
Atlantic Yards Report
Implementation of congestion pricing was considered to be critical to offset the impact of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan. You'd think that Atlantic Yards boosters would support the plan, or that politicians who have taken a public stance on the largest single-source private development project in NYC history would factor their positions into their decisions to support congestion pricing.
Today Norman Oder tallies the scorecard:
As the recent defeat of Mayor Mike Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal suggests, local political considerations trump the long-term public policy issue. The politicians with the most at stake regarding Atlantic Yards were decidedly mixed in their approach.
For example, City Council Member Letitia James, an Atlantic Yards opponent, supported CP. City Council Member Bill de Blasio, a longstanding but increasingly critical supporter of AY, represents a district that suffers as much from traffic as does James's district. But his opposition to CP likely derives mainly from his need to court votes throughout Brooklyn in his run for Borough President.
Posted by lumi at 5:29 AM
March 13, 2008
Residential parking permit proposal moves forward, as Bloomberg cites "arenas"
Atlantic Yards Report
Yesterday, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan proposed a residential parking permit program (RPP) as part of congestion pricing legislation. Many neighborhood groups around the Atlantic Yards footprint believe it a crucial measure to prevent arena-goers from cruising around their neighborhood for free spaces.
If the legislation passes, residents would petition a Community Board, which then must hold a public meeting. Assuming the board approves it, the plan would then go to the Borough President and the local City Council member for approval.
The RPP program, Streetsblog reported, will specifically be aimed at discouraging park-and-ride activity and to help residents secure parking in "neighborhoods that face pressure from large facilities like sports arenas," Bloomberg said.
...In the comments section on Streetsblog, City Council Member Lew Fidler expressed his opposition: "I poke my head in, only poke, because I hate the new tax to park in front of my house even more than I dislike CP [congestion pricing]."
Responded Prospect Heights resident Danae Oratowski:
"If you can think of another way to discourage drivers who are going to the Nets arena from cruising around the neighborhood - just in case they can find a free parking space - I'm all ears.You supported Atlantic Yards. Now you need to help find a solution to the traffic problems brought on when you site a 19,000 seat venue in a low rise residential neighborhood."
More:
StreetsBlog, Details of the Mayor’s Residential Parking Permit Proposal
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, With Clock Ticking, Mayor, DOT Endorse Permit Parking
Posted by eric at 10:13 AM
March 12, 2008
Spitzer Sex Scandal and YOU: How Prostitutes Impact Congestion Pricing and More
Runnin' Scared (Village Voice blog)
Michael Clancy criused some popular local blogs and gathered some predictions on how Governor Spizter's downfall might affect local proposals and policies, including congestion pricing and Atlantic Yards:
Congestion pricing for downtown Manhattan, already nearing the "endgame" now looks more at risk than before, according to Second Avenue Sagas. The Wonkster took the pulse of City Council members and found support fading fast for the deal.
...
Atlantic Yards Report gives a thorough rundown of how Spitzer’s downfall could impact Forest City Ratner and the Atlantic Yards project.
Posted by lumi at 4:38 AM
March 8, 2008
Parking? Lots
The Brooklyn Paper, Letter to the Editor
Residential Parking Permits are one of several tools that the city needs to employ in the coming years to manage supply and demand of our increasingly strained roadways.Atlantic Yards, for example, is expected to generate as many as 20,000 new car trips a day. For the neighborhoods surrounding Atlantic Yards, permit parking is needed to discourage arena patrons from cruising for free parking.
But permits by themselves won’t be enough if those cars continue to drive to the arena and park in local lots. The city should insist that Forest City Ratner develop alternate plans for its “interim” parking lot, which would accommodate as many as 1,400 cars.
Without improvements to public transportation and disincentives to drive, the costs of free parking and free driving will continue to be borne by residents and pedestrians through increased accidents, elevated asthma rates, noise pollution and degraded quality of life.
Danae Oratowski, Prospect Heights
Posted by amy at 9:57 AM
March 3, 2008
Atlantic Yards Report shorts
From Norman Oder's weekend reading list:
StreetsBlog
Before AY, the necessity of congestion relief
A posting on Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn about gridlock at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues led to some serious debate on Streetsblog on the causes, solutions, and the role of DDDB.
Suffice it to say that even Atlantic Yards proponents like Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership of New York City believe the project could work only with congestion pricing.
And even a significantly dense but smaller project like that contemplated under the UNITY plan would require, as its planners suggest, “extensive traffic calming, parking reduction, and bicycle lanes to discourage vehicle use for both local and inter-borough travel.”
Play (NYT)
Why NBA team ownership can be very lucrative
Joe Nocera's article in yesterday's Play, The New York Times Sports Magazine, headlined Big time Losers describes the "Bad Owner" who runs lousy teams:
Why does the Bad Owner seem so impervious to it all?
Actually, there is a reason, a very good one. To own a franchise in any of the three major sports — football, baseball or basketball — is to enter a club in which it is nearly impossible to come away a financial loser.
His case in point is NBA's Los Angeles Clippers; owner Donald Sterling has seen his investment skyrocket from $13.5 million to $300 million.
Nocera points out that the value of the badly-managed New York Knicks has continued to rise, given its stronghold in the nation's major media market.
He doesn't mention the New Jersey Nets, but Bruce Ratner's strategy is consonant with his observation. The Nets are losing money in the Meadowlands and team managers are trying to improve the mix of players. But the key comes in the future: the new arena at Atlantic Yards would prove quite lucrative, thanks to naming rights from Barclays, 130 luxury suites, other sponsorships, and television revenue.
NoLandGrab: In three seasons Bruce Ratner has joined the pantheon of big-time losers. Nothing could feed Brooklyn's historical chip on the shoulder more than his ruining a winning franchise and moving it to "the fourth largest city in the US."
NY Times Real Estate Section
The lottery-like chances for subsidized middle-class housing
A New York Times Real Estate section article yesterday on the chances of the middle-class getting subsidized housing in New York City was headlined Winning That One in a Million.
Atlantic Yards, with 1350 subsidized middle- and moderate-income units and 900 subsidized low-income units, would seem to improve the odds slightly. Then again, if the project takes 20 years, or 30 years--or doesn't get off the ground at all--then the odds improve less and less.
Posted by lumi at 5:16 AM
February 28, 2008
Flatbush and Atlantic: Hellacious, Deadly, and Likely to Get Worse
StreetsBlog
Yesterday Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn posted this photo of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, as seen at 8:45 a.m.
"With Atlantic Yards's 17,000 new residents, and an 18,000 seat arena in use approximately 220 days per year, this gridlock would be the good ol' days," DDDB said.
Without major changes it won't get better for pedestrians or cyclists either. On Tuesday a woman was killed one block away, at Atlantic and Fort Greene Place.
...
The police account of Ms. Cattouse's death is on the Brooklynian forum, where one commenter describes the area as "hellacious." A look at Transportation Alternatives' CrashStat bears that out.
Posted by lumi at 7:32 PM
Gridlocked: What, us worry?
From Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:
This photo was taken at 8:45 am at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues.
With Atlantic Yards's 17,000 new residents, and an 18,000 seat arena in use approximately 220 days per year, this gridlock would be the good ol' days.
Posted by lumi at 5:18 AM
February 21, 2008
Down the EIS rabbit hole: how growing subway ridership was finessed in the AY environmental review
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder takes another look at the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement, analyzing the tension between the methodology used by the ESDC to estimate future growth in transit ridership [not a lot], and reality [a lot!], and how the question of ESDC's projections played out in the lawsuit challenging the EIS.
Given that subway ridership in New York City has been growing steadily and just grew 4.2% overall in one year, as pointed out in news coverage February 7, how could the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) claim an 0.5% "background growth" rate for transit when it conducted its analysis of the Atlantic Yards project?
It's another example of the tension between reality and legality, in which a judge just has to agree that an agency's analysis was reasonable, without being able to second-guess it.
Posted by eric at 10:19 AM
February 15, 2008
Down the EIS rabbit hole: Why does Fairway get counted for traffic impact but not Whole Foods?
Atlantic Yards Report
The more Norman Oder stares at the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Study, the more discrepancies and glaring omissions he finds. Today's episode is curiouser:
Delving into the rabbit hole of traffic and transit projections for the Atlantic Yards project leads to a glaring discrepancy revealed only in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and not cited in the unsuccessful lawsuit challenging the AY environmental review.
The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) belatedly added the new Fairway market in Red Hook to its list of sites that should be analyzed regarding future travel demand in the area around the Atlantic Yards site. However, the ESDC continued to exclude the coming Whole Foods Market in Gowanus because it was deemed "distant from study area."
That's absurd. As the graphic shows, Fairway is about twice as far as the Whole Foods site from the westernmost point of the Atlantic Yards footprint, the corner of Fourth, Flatbush, and Atlantic Avenues.
Posted by lumi at 6:08 AM
February 10, 2008
Would there be no way to rebuild Carlton Avenue Bridge? FCR says no
Atlantic Yards Report
One issue in the legal jousting over the appeal in the lawsuit challenging the Atlantic Yards environmental review is whether the public would be left without a new Carlton Avenue Bridge should the project be stalled.According to Forest City Ratner, the claim is overblown, though the petitioners' attorney disputes whether completion would be timely.
From a 1/18/08 affirmation by Jeffrey Baker, attorney for the petitioners:
The irreparable nature of the injury caused by the closing of the bridge is not only due to the closing itself, but the planned demolition. If, as expected, Appellants are successful on the appeal, they could be faced with a bridge that has already been demolished without the financial means for its replacement or an extended period of time before it is replaced. That will result in extended significant unmitigated traffic impacts and increase of fire department response times into the indefinite future.
(Emphasis added)
Posted by amy at 11:21 AM
February 7, 2008
Subway ridership highest since 1951
NY Daily News
by Pete Donohue
Just like its questionable estimates of on-street parking availability, the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement appears to have grossly underestimated future growth in subway ridership. The EIS cited a "background growth rate" in ridership of just 0.5% annually.
Subway ridership continued its upward march last year, hitting its highest mark since 1951, transit officials said Wednesday.
More than 1.5 billion people rode the rails in 2007, up 4.2%, NYC Transit President Howard Roberts said in a statement.
...But the surge also highlights the need for additional money to expand the mass transit system to meet the growing demand in the coming decades and to alleviate existing overcrowding during peak hours, the NYC Transit chief added.
NoLandGrab: It appears that the real world just ate up eight years' worth of "projected" growth in subway ridership. Is there anything in the Transportation and Parking sections of the Atlantic Yards EIS that doesn't significantly bend the truth?
Additional coverage:
New York Post, SUBWAYS' BIG RISE IN RIDERS
Metro, It’s 1951 all over again on subways
Posted by eric at 11:22 AM
February 6, 2008
Forum Brings Out Complexities Of Traffic and Parking Issues
There Are Simply Too Many Cars
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Dennis Holt
The conventional widsom among transportation geeks is that Brooklyn gets screwed if Atlantic Yards happens without congestion pricing, and that Brooklyn gets screwed if congestion pricing happens without implementing a residential parking permit plan.
One Atlantic Yards supporter reports from a local meeting:
Much of the detailed conversation surprised most of the audience, because for the first time it became known that this rather dimly understood concept was being carefully studied by the city’s Department of Transportation as part of the New York City Study plan for 2030.
At the meeting, one of several planned by the DOT, two distinct postulates were advanced: There cannot be a congestion policy adopted without selective residential parking permits, and there is most likely a need for a residential parking policy even if there is no congestion pricing adopted.
The latter is certainly the case in the Downtown Brooklyn area. Advocates and experts all agreed that the major development projects in the area from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Atlantic Yards and everything in between demanded a thoughtful study of parking patterns.
NoLandGrab: "A thoughtful study of parking patterns" should have been included in the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Study.
For example, according to the EIS, 35% of on-street parking spaces within 1/4-mile of the project site are available during the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. hour (1,930 of 5,590 spaces). Yet a field survey conducted by the Department of Transportation last month for that agency's recent parking workshops found that a mere 2% of the 2,660 residential (non-metered) spaces it studied in the vicinity of the Atlantic/Flatbush/4th Avenue nexus were vacant at 6 p.m. If both sets of numbers are to be believed, that would mean that 62% of the spaces not studied by DOT would have to be vacant at 6 p.m.
Do you know any neighborhoods near the Atlantic Yards footprint with on-street parking conditions like that? We didn't think so.
Posted by lumi at 4:42 AM
January 26, 2008
Senator Montgomery on the Carlton Ave. Bridge Closing
Senator Velmanette Montgomery wrote a letter to Patrick Foye, Co-Chairman of the Empire State Development Corp. outlining concerns about the Carlton Ave. Bridge closing.
Among the concerns were the following:
-The Carlton Avenue Bridge connects several neighborhoods. It is a major thorough fare between Park Avenue and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE). The closing of the bridge will cut off a major connector between Park Slope/ Prospect Heights, and Fort Greene/ Clinton Hill; not only for cars but also for other modes of transportation.-It will create even more vehicle congestion than already exists on Flatbush Avenue. There is no indication vis a vis your map of the increases in congestion on Flatbush Avenue as a result of the Carlton Avenue Bridge closing.
-The map accompanying the “Community Notice” has arrows indicating redirected traffic onto Pacific Street. In addition, there are arrows that appear to direct traffic to several streets in Prospect Heights. That would mean that this neighborhood will experience increased congestion. However, there is no discussion about proposed mitigation for that and other areas, such as Boerum Hill, that will receive impacts.
-The map does not show where other construction and traffic rerouting is taking place such as a few blocks down at the intersection of Flatbush Avenues and Hanson Place and at Lafayette Avenue.
-Other plans and schedules that will affect traffic are the proposed narrowing of Vanderbilt Avenue, another link between Flatbush and Park Avenue.
-The Notice states that traffic will be rerouted to 6th Ave. which will become a two way street; however, 6th Ave is very narrow and is next to the 78th Precinct house where official police cars need to park.
-And, finally there is no mention how long the closing of the bridge will last.
Posted by amy at 11:02 AM
January 24, 2008
Carlton Ave Bridge closing traffic
How does the closing of the Carlton Avenue Bridge affect traffic in the neighborhood?
NoLandGrab contributor and photographer Amy Greer took before-and-after photos (view flickr photoset) of traffic at the intersections of Vanderbilt and Atlantic Avenues and Vanderbilt and Fulton Avenues on Tuesday, the day before the Carlton Avenue Bridge closing, and Wednesday, after the bridge was closed.
Note, each pair of photos was taken at the same time of day.
View the slideshow
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Tracy Collins took some photos today (and here's his photostream) of the bridge closing needed to accommodate a rebuilt railyard and a platform for construction. There's apparently potential for some traffic jams. That's Atlantic Terminal 4B in the background, across Atlantic Avenue, one sign of high-rise construction in contrast to more mid-rise and low-rise buildings on the south side of the project footprint. As I wrote, this starts a three-year reconstruction clock, given that the Carlton Avenue Bridge is supposed to take two years to rebuild, and the Sixth Avenue Bridge an additional year. That suggests that (assuming pending challenges fail) the arena couldn't open until January 2011, unless work speeded up and/or the developer and city agreed to open the arena with an adjacent traffic artery blocked.
Posted by lumi at 4:57 AM
Clinton Hill Blog
Posted by amy at 11:46 AM
StreetsBlog A few weeks back Atlantic Yards Report posted a compendium of recent writings that point to the contradictions inherent in, and problems resulting from, parking requirements for urban development plans. Mayor Mike Bloomberg's much-praised PlaNYC 2030 contains a glaring omission, a failure to address the antiquated anti-urban policy that mandates parking attached to new residential developments outside Manhattan, even when such developments, like Atlantic Yards, are justified precisely because they're located near transit hubs. ... The Wonkster, Parking Paradox Then there’s reports that Bronx residents fear that lots and garages for the new stadium, rather than being used during ballgames, could become permanent park and rides, bringing more cars to an area already plagued by high asthma rates.
Posted by lumi at 5:31 AM
Brownstoner, Closing of the Carlton Avenue Bridge The Carlton Avenue Bridge, part of the Atlantic Yards footprint, is scheduled to close in less than a week for up to two years of reconstruction. Traffic is going to be rerouted to Sixth and Vanderbilt avenues. Atlantic Yards Report sees the closing as the start of a "three-year reconstruction clock," since the Sixth Avenue Bridge's one-year rehab is supposed to follow work on the Carlton Avenue Bridge. If that timetable is followed, therefore, it means the earliest the Nets arena would open is January 2011. frogma, Lunchtime Links These days, it sometimes seems like our local governments are far too eager to hand over land to private, corporate endeavours - we've got 3 of these in play in Brooklyn alone right now, Bruce Ratner's land grab at Atlantic Yards, the Brooklyn Bridge Park where there's concern that the park is going to just turn into a private backyard for the condominiums, and Coney Island. The Real Estate Observer, Move-In Day for Brooklyn's Tallest Tower! Condo Owners Get One Hanson Place Keys Jan. 16 Even with the construction of neighboring Atlantic Yards, the [Williamsburgh Bank] tower, at a cool 512 feet, will retain its title as the borough’s tallest structure, as the city pushed Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner to hold its signature Miss Brooklyn tower to 511 feet. The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Neighborhood Sustainability Standards: Where is the Community Process? [Tom Angotti] writes that, while some LEED ND pilot programs, such as Melrose Park in the Bronx, represent sustainable, community-based planning, other pilot projects, such as Atlantic Yards, Willets Point, and Columbia’s expansion in Manhattanville, are, ”large-scale developments that displace local people and businesses. OnNYTurf, Bklink: Sign on Pacific Street
Posted by lumi at 9:04 PM
Brit in Brooklyn posted this photo and mapped the location of the bridge on Google Maps.
Posted by lumi at 8:07 PM
Posted by lumi at 6:49 PM
MetroNY (print edition only) seems to be the only daily that carried the news of the planned Carlton Avenue bridge closing.
Posted by lumi at 5:28 AM
Atlantic Yards Report We've been waiting for two months for the announcement that the Carlton Avenue Bridge, located between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street in Brooklyn, will close for two years of reconstruction, and yesterday I was sent a document (below, and excerpt at right) that indicated it would close January 16. (It's not clear whether the announcement is from the state, city, or developer, though it seems they're all working together. Click to [view the community notice].) The announcement states that the one-way bridge will be closed "to accommodate upgrading the Long Island Rail Road's Vanderbilt Yard under the bridge, and also to construct a new bridge as part of the Atlantic Yards project." Meanwhile, northbound traffic will be rerouted either west along Pacific Street to Sixth Avenue, which will become two-way for the interim or east along Pacific Street to Vanderbilt Avenue. We'll see how that works, but "[t]raffic agents will be assigned to facilitate the flow of traffic."
Posted by lumi at 5:13 AM
Norman Oder checks out the Streetsfilm report from 4th Avenue in Brooklyn on a Gridlock Alert day. [Aaron Naparstek] doesn't even mention the elephant at the edge of the intersection, the planned Atlantic Yards project, which would certainly exacerbate gridlock. The only hint: one frame capture some anti-Atlantic Yards art painted by Patti and Schellie Hagan of the Prospect Heights Action Council. NoLandGrab: One thing is for sure, Congestion Pricing hasn't caught on with the public, even with Mayor Bloomberg's support.
Posted by lumi at 9:12 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Mayor Mike Bloomberg's much-praised PlaNYC 2030 contains a glaring omission, a failure to address the antiquated anti-urban policy that mandates parking attached to new residential developments outside Manhattan, even when such developments, like Atlantic Yards, are justified precisely because they're located near transit hubs. Last year, several commentators on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) questioned the provision of parking--not just interim surface lots, but also the 2570 underground spaces intended for the project's residential component and an additional 1100 underground spaces for the arena. (Map from Atlantic Yards web site.) The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) dismissed the questions, but the issue won't go away.
Posted by lumi at 5:12 AM
The Brooklyn Paper, Letters The Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of Architects supports bringing basketball to Brooklyn but does not "feel that enough thought has been given to the traffic impact of the overall development." The city should prohibit the Nets arena from providing any off-street parking at the arena site. Instead, the city should provide municipal parking for approximately 1,000 cars at one or several locations in an industrial area in the Brownsville/East New York area, within walking distance of public transportation. This parking would be used on a daily basis for business people driving to work as well as for patrons attending basketball games. Eliminate parking on all major thoroughfares going to, or coming from, Manhattan during rush hours, and meter all side streets in the area. Enforce existing “Don’t Block the Box” rules at all major intersections. Eliminate parking permits for city employees’ private vehicles to encourage them to take public transportation. Discount bus and subway fares during off hours. NoLandGrab: Eliminating "parking permits for city employees’ private vehicles" and discounting "bus and subway fares during off hours" sound like good ideas. Seriously, WTF does it have to do with Atlantic Yards?
Posted by lumi at 5:23 AM
In case bus riders aren't diligently reading NoLandGrab or didn't get the Atlantic Yards Construction Update, a sign has finally been posted, alerting riders that the B65 bus stop has been temporarily relocated. Earlier this week, local photographer Tracy Collins tried to explain to a group of riders that the stop had been moved. They didn't believe him until the bus drove by. Thanks Tracy, your good deed helped to keep spirits bright during this holiday season.
Posted by lumi at 9:27 PM
Photo and dispatch by Tracy Collins, via the Atlantic Yards Photo Pool. 534 Dean Street near Carlton Avenue this is the temporary location of the B65 bus stop, directly in front of Newswalk Condos, at 534 Dean Street near Carlton Avenue. it used to be on Dean Street at Flatbush Avenue, but needed to be moved for utility work on Dean Street for Atlantic Yards. most of the riders getting on the bus in this photo had been waiting at the original location until i told them the bus stop had been moved. most didn't believe me until a bus rolled by without stopping. luckily for them, this next bus was not far behind and they didn't have to wait too long in the cold. it would have been nice if the MTA, when it pulled down the signs at the original bus stop location, had put up signs informing passengers that the stop had moved. but, it's the MTA. unfortunately, details like keeping its customers informed fall through the cracks all too often. extra bonus points for those who noticed the mini van that's illegally parked in the bus stop. the NYPD has already been ticketing, so heads up, people. NoLandGrab: Crazy! Is it possible that the MTA and Ratner thought that notifying the public through the Atlantic Yards Construction Update would suffice to keep B65 riders informed?
Posted by lumi at 3:00 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Mining the latest Atlantic Yards Construction Update for clues, Norman Oder figures out that the recent admission by Forest City Ratner that the arena won't be ready until the 2010-2011 NBA season still does not conform to the previously released schedule of construction, unless the developer is hell bent on closing two bridges at once or opening the arena before reopening the Sixth Avenue bridge. The Carlton Avenue Bridge would take two years to reconstruct and, after that, the Sixth Avenue Bridge would take one year, according to the ESDC's Final Environmental Impact Statement. (This assumes that pending lawsuits don't delay things further.) There's no way to close both bridges at the same time without creating ruinous traffic jams. Could the arena open with the Sixth Avenue bridge still under reconstruction? ESDC spokesman A.J. Carter said last month, "Forest City Ratner tells us that while the arena might be able to open without the bridge in operation, the goal is to have the bridge open in coordination with the arena's opening." Well, the arena could open, but it would be a very ugly situation. Norman Oder reviews the potential scenarios.
Posted by lumi at 4:18 AM
El Diario/La Prenza, Editorial While Mayor Bloomberg is promoting initiatives to reduce traffic congestion, his administration is doing nothing to address concerns of more traffic generated by two mega-projects brought to you by Bruce: Years ago, advocacy organizations like West Harlem Environmental Action warned the city about the adverse effects of dramatically increased vehicular volume that East River Plaza would trigger. And recently, when the New York City Planning Commission had a chance to give a thumb down to giving the entities behind East River Plaza—Forest City Ratner (FCR) and the Blumenfeld Corporation—more garage capacity, it instead re-granted permits to them. East Harlem’s community board had rejected the renewal. With another development it is steering—the Atlantic Yards proposal—FCR says it will mitigate the traffic sure to be drawn by a new Nets Stadium at the site. Yet, it is the scale of these projects to begin with that aggravates traffic and congestion. We urge the Mayor to direct his Office of Sustainability to examine how the East River Plaza project, beyond window-dressing measures, can mitigate its effects on a community that shouldn`t be exposed to more environmental and health risks.
Posted by lumi at 5:45 AM
Streetsblog.org Here's one we missed yesterday, about the missing bike parking at Forest City Ratner's new Times Tower: There was just one problem. While the Times and developer Forest City Ratner were promoting their new Renzo Piano-designed skyscraper as a "technologically advanced and environmentally sensitive" exemplar of green construction, a lack of bike parking and policies hostile towards cyclists were discouraging employees from commuting to work by the city's most environmentally-friendly mode of urban transport. "I couldn't believe they built such a supposedly 'green' building without a bike room," Bengen said. "This isn't exactly the best neighborhood to leave a bike outside all day." Does the experience of cycling New York Times employees call into question the promise of some 400 bike parking spaces at Atlantic Yards? Despite repeated assurances from company executives that the new building would have an indoor bike storage space, as employees began moving into the new offices last spring, the bike parking never materialized. So, why didn't the Times include a bike parking facility in its original design? Ruttenberg Surfos, Renzo Piano and developer Forest City Ratner all declined to comment [emphasis, ours]. NoLandGrab: No surprise there.
Posted by lumi at 8:11 AM
The Brooklyn Paper An article about last Tuesday's parking and transportation workshop reports that residential permit parking got a lot of attention. This is one of the ideas being bandied about along with the Mayor's congestion pricing plan. Residents in Park Slope are already experiencing problems with on-street parking and fear it will get worse if Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards arena and high-rise complex is built. “As Park Slope fills up, this is not going to solve the parking problem ultimately,” said Stuart Pertz, a Park Slope architect who has consulted the Municipal Arts Society on its opposition to the Atlantic Yards project. NoLandGrab: Though Pertz has personally spoken quite forcefully against Atlantic Yards, the Municipal Art Society (MAS) has not taken a clear position opposing the project (see interview with MAS President Kent Barwick).
Posted by lumi at 5:32 AM
The New York City Department of Transportation invites you to
Come and Share Your Ideas [This announcement was distributed by Brooklyn Community Board 6.] DOT wants to address community concerns about the possible impact of congestion pricing on neighborhood parking. Participate in roundtable discussions about: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Congregation Beth Elohim RSVP Required by 11/26/07 to: Use "Brooklyn Workshop" as subject line of email. To download the official agency announcement click here, or use the following link:
Posted by lumi at 12:36 PM
Norman Oder took a field trip to the Newark arena last Saturday. Here's what he found. the two intersecting streets that lead to the main entrance are completely shut down, though emergency vehicles are allowed on both blocks and one partially accommodates some cars heading into a private parking lot. (Photo at right of four-lane Mulberry Street looking north from Lafayette Street. A police vehicle is parked at left.) Remember, on Oct. 10, the Newark Star-Ledger reported that city officials were planning to close, or partly close, one or two streets bordering the arena—a decision that caused some consternation, because it was made only two weeks before the arena was to open. The Star-Ledger reported that "the so-called 'standoff' -- the distance between the building and a potential terrorist threat -- was not sufficient on Edison [Place] and Mulberry [Street]." The solution has been to use concrete "Jersey barriers," like ones used as highway dividers, on both streets. This raised questions in Brooklyn about whether the streets around the Atlantic Yards arena would have to close, in whole or in part, to protect against potential terrorist attacks, and led to calls for a state hearing on Atlantic Yards security. So far, city and state officials, and developer Forest City Ratner have stressed their extensive security preparations, but have not answered the questions about potential street closings. NoLandGrab: Serious security and traffic issues aside, we're impressed that Norman Oder visited the Pru Center arena before Bruce Ratner did.
Posted by lumi at 6:07 AM
In addition to ranking the M23 the slowest bus route in the city, the annual survey identified these routes as the slowest by borough: the B63 in Brooklyn (4.9 m.p.h.), the Bx19 in the Bronx (5.0 m.p.h.), the Q56 in Queens (6.1 m.p.h.) and the S61 on Staten Island (11.7 m.p.h.) The B63 was promoted to the borough's #1 slowest bus, up one spot in the standings from 2006, when the route was ranked second slowest bus in Brooklyn. Folks will recall that the B63 was the bus that Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner had directed the NYC MTA to reroute, until Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report figured out that Ratner was the one calling all the shots (see, "Never mind, says NYCT: B63 reroute, Fifth Avenue closing won't happen as announced"). Ratner's transportation geniuses have suggested in the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement that the solution to slower buses passing by Atlantic Yards would be to add MORE buses.
Posted by lumi at 6:53 AM
Two days before the Prudential Center, home ice for the NJ Devils hockey team, is set to open, Norman Oder examines the transportation plan for the Newark arena, compares it to the transportation analysis for Atlantic Yards and the Barclays Center arena, and concludes that the Newark analysis "casts further doubt on the Atlantic Yards environmental review." [Click image to enlarge.] You'd expect the operators of a new sports arena and local officials to encourage those attending events to get to the area a bit early, not just to avoid traffic and transit snags but also to spend some money at the arena and neighborhood facilities. That's certainly the case in Newark, where the draft transportation plan (4.4 MB) for the Prudential Center, prepared by Sam Schwartz PLLC, the transportation engineering and planning firm founded by "Gridlock Sam," recommends that drivers "aim to arrive in Newark 90 minutes early, allowing for traffic, parking, and time to enjoy downtown." The arena opens October 25. (Emphasis on "90 minutes early" added in graphic.) The advice in Newark casts further doubt on the Atlantic Yards environmental review conducted by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), which chose the peak hour of 7-8 pm to analyze traffic conditions, even though games would most likely begin at 7:30 pm. Visitors to the planned Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn might well get the same "arrive early" advice Schwartz's firm is offering in Newark. It's reasonable to expect Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner to try to draw patrons to retail, restaurants, and bars in project buildings, and also to its nearby Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls.
Posted by lumi at 7:42 AM
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
“The Atlantic Yards has been touted as a transit-friendly development. Then why are they building 3,600 parking spaces?”
Posted by amy at 10:51 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Residents of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights attending a Mass Transportation Community Speak Out last night sponsored by Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries had a lot of things on their minds, including infrequent subway service, bus clustering, and mysteriously protracted street renovations. But the pressure of new development was a backdrop to the concerns and Atlantic Yards, the biggest planned such development, came in for some special criticism.
Posted by lumi at 8:26 AM
Atlantic Yards Report
The traffic on Flatbush was relentless. It was hard to imagine how a Saturday afternoon arena event could be accommodated unless there were significant changes to the area transportation system, beyond the mitigations--among them a free MetroCard (for basketball games, not concerts) and shuttle buses (ditto)--planned as of now.
Also, though the alternative UNITY plan Shiffman helped develop calls for a park on the triangular plot opposite the garden, between Flatbush, Fifth, and Atlantic avenues, it sure didn't seem like that salubrious a place to gather, given the traffic on Atlantic as well. Many of the major transportation changes that are proposed in the UNITY plan would have to be implemented, at the least.
Posted by amy at 11:30 AM
The Brooklyn Paper
That made sense to one of the park’s users this week, given Markowitz’s support of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project, which is expected to increase traffic along the Flatbush Avenue corridor.
“If Marty is so concerned with traffic, he should reconsider [his support for] the Ratner project,” said Park Sloper Tricia Goodman. “This is a park, not an overflow valve” for cars zipping to and from Atlantic Yards.
Posted by amy at 9:23 AM
Over half of the people who attend Giants games do not travel by car, a somewhat remarkable fact in car-crazy California. (Note to Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards bosses: Look at what San Fran is doing to encourage people not to bring their automobile to the stadium). The Knickerblogger, Going To the Horse's Mouth Note the last line: A Bloomberg spokesman declined to discuss details of the negotiations but said Forest City Ratner and city officials had hammered out an agreement this week. Since when is Forest City deciding what a tax break should be? Why negations with Forest City and not the state - the Daily News, perhaps unwhittingly has pointed out the massive corruption & influence of Forest City, perhaps the city, wishing to save time, went to the horse's mouth. Brooklynian, Another white discharge in the Atlantic Yards footprint Okay, this is weird. A few months ago, there was a discharge of the emergency fire retardant at the gas station on Flatbush & Dean. I was there and photographed it.
... Photos and video posted. Gumby Fresh, Clean Government
Posted by lumi at 6:04 PM
Atlantic Yards Report The dirty little secret in the pro-more-development-Brooklyn set is that traffic around Downtown Brooklyn already sucks (despite what any environmental impact statement claims) and it will continue to get worse, unless initiatives like congestion pricing are implemented.
Posted by lumi at 9:46 AM
One blogger repackages Atlantic Yards as a regional business center: Rather than developing strategies to facilitate long-distance travel routes, be they from Canarsie on the subway or from Suffolk County on the LIRR, why not develop job centers throughout the region, creating job opportunities closer to the homes of the region’s 18 million? Perhaps once Downtown Brooklyn, Jamaica, the Bronx Hub, the Nassau Hub, and other secondary central business districts have emerged as competitive, diverse job centers, it will become more practical for the region’s residents to walk or bicycle – or at least drive shorter distances – on their daily commutes, relieving the region’s traffic congestion. The Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, for instance, would benefit from making office and retail space the emphasis of the project. NoLandGrab: It sounds like a good idea — the only problem is that the track record for creating a regional business center in Downtown Brooklyn has been fairly poor: Bruce Ratner's MetroTech was supposed to be exactly that. However, after the tenants failed to materialize, the City moved administrative offices into the complex, becoming its largest tenant. After only three years, the Downtown Brooklyn Plan has already run off its tracks. Instead of yeilding millions of square feet of office space, developers have flocked to the luxury condo market. Streets Blog, Critical Transportation Reforms Sink With Pricing The sinking of the congestion pricing ship took other victims with it. Lost with congestion pricing was legislation approving bus lane enforcement cameras, residential parking permits, and reclassifying "block the box" as an easier to enforce parking violation. NoLandGrab: The conventional wisdom among transpo nerds is that congestion pricing and residential parking permits are necessary to mitigate some of the effects of placing an arena and 16 high-rise towers on one of the busiest intersections in Brooklyn. Pardon me for asking, Hey, We Are All Invited To Bill De Blasio's Place Bill de Blasio, everybody's favorite beamish boy, needs to sort out his
loyalties about the Atlantic Yards before he starts hustling cash around
here. He does not need a town hall meeting for that, just a published
statement. Of course, if you'd like to share your views on Atlantic Yards, you can drop by De Blasio's district office (2907 Ft. Hamilton Parkway) next Tuesday, July 24, 3PM-7PM.
Posted by lumi at 7:22 AM
Brit in Brooklyn photographed this gauntlet in Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project (link). Since my last wander round the Atlantic Yards footprint a large new fence has been erected and a footpath closed. Pacific Street is now narrower by about a quarter. Last week we missed this item, where the Desktop Day featured the Tasty Provisions building, which is slated to be demolished by Bruce Ratner. Get yours today!
Posted by lumi at 10:52 AM
The Brooklyn Paper A Park Sloper has a bone to pick with the proposal for Grand Army Plaza, but notes that problems at the Traffic Triangle nestled in Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal sucks and is about to get worse: I suspect that the willingness of the city to work on Grand Army Plaza with neighborhood folks is a diversion from focusing on the more serious traffic problems on Flatbush, Atlantic and Fourth avenues, problems that the Department of Transportation has ignored since at least the 1960s and whose solutions extend all the way into Manhattan. The city has refused offers of help from professionals and watched idly as those problems are being exacerbated by all the development in Downtown Brooklyn and especially by the proposed super mega-development of Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 7:29 AM
The NY Sun The city's latest building boom is giving some carpenters, electricians, and other construction professionals extra cash to pay for new homes, cars, and renovation projects. NoLandGrab: The article describes the commutes of two construction workers, who both — unsurprisingly — arrive at their work sites by public transportation. Ratner's claim that the entire footprint of Atlantic Yards must be razed to accommodate temporary surface parking for construction workers is deceptive. Note that there is no such accommodation for projects elsewhere in the city and, as Ratner likes to remind folks, the Atlantic & Flatbush station, a hub connecting the Long Island Railroad to 11 subway lines, is very accessible.
Posted by lumi at 9:19 AM
amNY One Brooklynite notes that the Mayor's support for Atlantic Yards is at odds with his campaign against congestion: In addition, why then would we want a stadium in Brooklyn? It will increase traffic so Brooklynites will have to pay to drive in Brooklyn. Easy answer, cancel the stadium in Brooklyn and stop the congestion pricing in Manhattan. — Thomas Healy, Brooklyn NoLandGrab, FYI: The Mayor's POV is that the region would not be able to stomach the historic megaproject called Atlantic Yards without first swallowing what some may call a bitter pill (congestion pricing). [Granted, the Mayor's office wouldn't phrase it in that manner.]
Posted by lumi at 8:36 AM
Photos of the Brooklyn skyline taken from Williamsburgh provides additional perspective on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan. As you can see below, the [Williamsburgh Savings Bank] tower is a bit of a distance away from the downtown Brooklyn business core of highrises, seen just beyond the Williamsburg Bridge on the right hand side in this shot. The Knickerblogger, ESDC Math= Adding 16000 residents and an arena won't affect subway capacity ...of course, as with everything else in Bruce Ratner's corrupt fantasy world, the reality is another story (four of the over crowded lines mentioned stop at Atlantic Avenue: ANTI-EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE ACTION Wednesday, June 27, 1 pm Brit in Brooklyn, Big Eminent Domain Rally at City Hall, Wednesday. Historic Districts Council Newsstand, A Rally, a Letter and a Lecture - all to help save Brooklyn News of the anti-eminent domain rally, a letter-writing campaign to Governor Spitzer and a lecture on PlaNYC in Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 6:35 AM
The big news today is that subways are overcrowded — as if New Yorkers couldn't tell — and it's going to get worse before it gets better. The articles in the daily papers didn't mention the possible implications of the massive new developments all around Brooklyn, including the Atlantic Yards, but Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report had something to say. The NY Times, Some Subways Found Packed Past Capacity In an unusually candid effort at self-examination for a habitually insular agency, New York City Transit yesterday presented what could be called an index of straphanger frustration. It made an analysis of each subway line that shows at a glance how often trains run late, how crowded they are and whether more trains could be added to ease the problems. What is revealed is both predictable and eye-opening. Many subway lines are simply maxed out, meaning there is no room on the tracks they use to add trains that could carry the swelling numbers of riders. And that has implications that range from day-to-day decisions about how trains travel through the system to long-term planning on how to best move people around a growing city. MetroNY, Subway crush Adding more cars to trains and extending station platforms could alleviate pressure. But that takes money the MTA doesn’t have, said Roberts, and one potential funding solution — congestion pricing — could exacerbate the problem in the short run, especially if diverted drivers choose to take trains on already overcrowded lines. “There’s no room in the inn,” Roberts explained, before pointing out that other busy lines, such as the C and the 7, can still accommodate new riders. But that does mean the MTA would have to rely on buses to meet the increased demands caused by congestion pricing. “If all those cars don’t come in, there will be more room for the buses,” Roberts said. amNewYork, Transit head: No quick fix for overcrowding The [transit] authority has gathered engineers to brainstorm ways to ease overcrowding on the No. 2 and 3 lines, as well as the notorious Lexington Line, which is served by the No. 4, 5 and 6 trains. TA officials realized that the lines are too overwhelmed after a study completed in April. The overcrowded lines cannot fit any more trains on the tracks to help with packed cars during the busiest hour of the day, according to April statistics the TA released Monday. And the No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines had the most delays systemwide in April. ATLANTIC YARDS??? Contrast [the NY City Transit Authority's conclusions] with the sunny predictions of the Empire State Development Corporation in its Atlantic Yards environmental review, predictions that were criticized again and again by transportation analysts Brian Ketcham and Carolyn Konheim. From the Atlantic Yards Final Environmental Impact Statement (Response 13-2): The DEIS includes a detailed subway line haul analysis based on 2005 NYCT passenger counts that show that all subway routes serving the project site would continue to operate below capacity in the peak direction in the AM and PM peak hours at their maximum load points in both the 2010 and the 2016 future with the proposed project. Apparently the statistics were a little bit out of date.
Posted by lumi at 7:50 AM
The Michael Bloomberg Method The New Republic Apparently, everyone knows that Atlantic Yards is the worst initiative of NYC Mayor Bloomberg's administration and that it undermines his sincerity on traffic and transportation issues: Bloomberg is so skilled at using his wealth to market himself that his plan to reduce traffic and pollution by charging congestion fees to come into central Manhattan has been hailed by Time, which put him on its cover, as if words were deeds. But congestion pricing is unlikely to be implemented, and, even if implemented, it's not clear that it would reduce congestion. Time was so impressed with Bloomberg's verbal accomplishments that it failed to note that one of the major causes of downtown congestion are the thousands of parking permits generously given out by Bloomberg's own City Hall. Bloomberg, after considerable effort, has succeeded in getting developer Bruce Ratner's massive Atlantic Yards project approved. At a time when Brooklyn is booming with new, unsubsidized housing construction, the wealthy Ratner, a friend of Bloomberg's, will receive half a billion dollars in subsidies guaranteed to sharply increase both congestion and pollution along already overburdened Flatbush Avenue, the borough's main artery. Recently, when Bloomberg went to a press conference on green initiatives, he ostentatiously arrived by subway, only to be met for the trip back to City Hall by a large gas-guzzling SUV. article (subscription only)
Posted by lumi at 6:00 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Mayor Mike Bloomberg's administration, as part of its long-term sustainability initiative, has hired some well-respected analysts and advocates who've spent a long time on the outside looking in. As Streetsblog has reported, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) vice president and transportation program director Andy Wiley-Schwartz will join the Department of Transportation's (DOT) new Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, reporting to new Deputy Commissioner Bruce Schaller. And Jon Orcutt, former director of the Tri-State Transportation Council (TSTC) has joined DOT to serve as senior policy advisor to the new commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan.
Posted by lumi at 9:52 AM
You can thank Robert Moses's "Futurama" for our network of traffic in NYC. Will Bloomberg's solution be enough when he's undermining his own bold fix? Current Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing to address Moses’ road-building legacy by instituting traffic congestion pricing as part of his clean and green PlaNYC 2030. (At the same time, Bloomberg is evoking the days of Moses with plans to build massive luxury housing, retail and business complexes at the Atlantic Yards and the West Side Rail Yards.)
Posted by lumi at 8:15 AM
Brooklyn Downtown Star Yup, you heard it right, public agencies are taking their orders from Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner, that is, until people started asking questions. Norman Oder first broke this story on his blog, Atlantic Yards Report. Last month, the Star reported plans by New York City Transit (NYCT) to revise service on the northbound B63 bus route in response to the demapping of Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic avenues for the Atlantic Yards project. The change would happen "in the near future," according to NYCT's Lois Tendler.
Because the street would be closed, Tendler said in a letter to Brooklyn Community Board 6, the bus would not continue to Atlantic and make a left to go downtown, but instead make a left on Flatbush. It was supposed to be implemented this Sunday, May 27. Well, it's not happening this week, and from what officials have said so far, it seems that the transit agency was paying more attention to Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner than to other involved agencies.
Posted by lumi at 9:33 PM
NYC DOT does not intend to pursue the implementation of the proposed 6th and 7th Avenue conversion to one-way operation. We respect the Community Board's desire to maintain the current configuration of these streets. As you know, our proposed modifications on 4th Avenue were developed in context of complementary changes to 6th and 7th Avenue. We are currently evaluating whether our proposal on 4th Avenue is feasible without the one-way conversions of 6th and 7th Avenues. If the evaluation indicates that implementation is feasible, we will present our proposal for 4th Avenue in greater detail to the Community Board Transportation Committee. A PDF copy of this letter is available on the Brooklyn Community Board 6 web site. NoLandGrab: The one-way conversion proposal was widely seen as a measure to help increase traffic throughput around the public-transportation-rich Atlantic Yards site, in advance of the construction of the arena — a charge the DOT denies. The DOT claimed that, on the contrary, this proposal had been studied and was in the pipeline for many years, well before Atlantic Yards was hatched. The catch-22 is that, if that were true, then these proposed modifications would have to have been revealed and studied in the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement; they weren't. Residents around Ratnerville are pretty used to public officials who can't or won't be honest with the public. That doesn't mean we have to accept it.
Posted by lumi at 9:15 AM
Shiffman's statement from dddb.net: Unless parking restrictions are put in place along with the Mayor's proposal to improve transit, the reality could be that if the city establishes congestion pricing–which I strongly advocate–and Forest City Ratner develops 1200 parking spaces–and eventually 3,800 parking spaces–then people from the rest of Brooklyn, Long Island and Staten Island who normally drive to Manhattan will park in those spaces. In the future they will use the parking developed for Downtown Brooklyn and the Nets as a resource for parking and will then take the subway into Manhattan. We need to eliminate the parking in Downtown Brooklyn and make Downtown Brooklyn and Atlantic Avenue and all other environmental hotspots part of the congestion pricing area.
Posted by lumi at 8:07 AM
Crain's NY Business From Erik Engquist's report on the congestion pricing foes: Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries also came out against the initiative, even though the mayor says it would reduce traffic in Mr. Jeffries' district, where few constituents drive across the East River. The assemblyman objected because Brooklyn drivers would pay more than their Manhattan counterparts under the plan. NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards supporters and critics alike agree that congestion pricing is necessary for the project to have a chance to succeed. Hakeem Jeffries has been circulating a letter co-signed by NY City Councilmember David Yassky with their traffic and transportation solutions for Atlantic Yards. Though the duo has been advancing wholly unfeasible non-starters like a traffic circle at 4th, Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues and digging a really deep tunnel to run Flatbush Avenue underneath the entire traffic mess, is it possible that the simpler and more realisitc idea of "congestion pricing" isn't on the list?
Posted by lumi at 1:54 PM
Atlantic Yards Report Doctoroff was generally unruffled, layering a slightly folky, almost professorial air over his investment banker's confidence, as he discussed Mayor Mike Bloomberg's sustainability plan. However, when pressed on Atlantic Yards, he quickly moved on to less controversial issues. And, just as Atlantic Yards serves as an example counter to those practices cited in PlaNYC2030, so yesterday did Doctoroff's examples contrast with the story of Atlantic Yards. Either developer Forest City Ratner is thankful that Atlantic Yards moved forward before the city promoted more transparent development procedures, or the city's new push will help the plaintiffs in the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case argue that the Brooklyn project was a sweetheart deal.
Posted by lumi at 11:12 AM
The Carlton Avenue Bridge closes (for two years)
January 20, 2008
SCH Meeting Recap
Atlantic Yards was mentioned briefly. The bridge on Carlton Ave is slated to be closed soon for construction of the Ratner Nightmare. This means that firetrucks will be rerouted to drive AGAINST TRAFFIC ON TWO STREETS SOUTH OF ATLANTIC. Giant trucks hurdling the wrong way down one-way streets?! This is a solution?! Maybe in the ‘burbs, but jeez! No one even pulls over for siren vehicles here!
January 16, 2008
Will the Tide Turn on City Parking Policy?
One result, in the case of Atlantic Yards and the new Yankee Stadium, is an influx of cars essentially legislated into neighborhoods that don't want them, even as the city preaches the virtues of sustainable growth.
Wonkster reblogs StreetsBlog's point about parking, and adds concerns in the Bronx to the mix:
January 10, 2008
It came from the Blogosphere...
It's a reblog of a reblog on the Carlton Ave closing.January 9, 2008
A Sign on Pacific Street
Closing Bell: New York's Finest, Leading by Example
Brownstoner posted this photo of midday gridlock two blocks from the footprint of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project. Ratner hasn't even broken ground on the 16 high-rise plus arena megaproject yet, so it makes you wonder what traffic will be like if construction gets underway or on game nights.January 3, 2008
News in Brief
MetroNY
By Amy ZimmerThe Carlton Avenue bridge will close January 16
December 25, 2007
Streetsblog: drivers at Fourth, Flatbush, and Atlantic resigned to Merry Gridlock
Atlantic Yards Report
December 24, 2007
PlaNYC 1950: why parking shouldn't be required at apartment projects like Atlantic Yards
December 21, 2007
Expert: There is a way to fix Atlantic Yards traffic
Here is the Chapter's four-point solution:
However, on game nights, either the Nets or the Atlantic Yards developer should be required to provide shuttle buses from the remote parking areas to the arena.December 20, 2007
Bus Stop Temporarily Relocated
Photo by Tracy Collins, from the Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.December 19, 2007
B65 new temporary bus stop
Prospect Heights
Brooklyn, New York
December 18, 2007
Arena in 2011? New construction schedule suggests that's the soonest
December 11, 2007
Re-think East Harlem project
December 7, 2007
New York Times Employees Say Renzo Forgot the Bike Parking
... November 30, 2007
What? Pay for street parking?!
By Mike McLaughlin
November 27, 2007
TONIGHT: PlaNYC Workshop On Neighborhood Parking In Prospect Heights/Park Slope
6:30-8:30pm
Come between 6:00-6:30pm
274 Garfield Place (at 8th Avenue)
planycpark@hshassoc.com or call 917.339.0488.
http://www.brooklyncb6.org/announcements/#10.November 6, 2007
The serious street shutdowns outside the Newark arena
Atlantic Yards Report
October 31, 2007
B63 is Brooklyn's Pokiest!
From "City Room," via NYTimes.com (emphasis added):
October 23, 2007
Newark arena transportation plan suggests flaws in ESDC's AY "peak hour" analysis
Atlantic Yards Report
October 20, 2007
Could Congestion Pricing Turn Brooklyn Into `Park and Ride’?
Charles MaldonadoBrooklyn could be turned into a “park and ride community” by Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to institute congestion pricing for commuters entering Manhattan, said Tom Agnotti, Hunter College professor of urban planning and a lifelong Brooklyn resident.
...
In his talk, he also sounded the alarm about new development that, he said, would drive real estate prices and rents up, out of range of middle-class and working-class residents.
...
Angotti, a well-known critic of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development and one of the chief designers of the alternative Unity Plan for the site, offered it as an example of how New York is not dealing with congestion the way it should.
October 18, 2007
Jeffries: ESDC's traffic/transit plans still need work
September 30, 2007
Near-gridlock at tour's end, and the effect on AY & UNITY
The walking tour I led yesterday (with the help of Ron Shiffman) of the Atlantic Yards footprint and environs wound up, after two-and-a-half hours, on Pacific Street just west of Flatbush Avenue, outside the Brooklyn Bear's Garden. (About 50 people showed up, very few of whom I recognized as involved in Atlantic Yards-related activism.)
August 18, 2007
No ‘Prospect’ for more car-free hours in park
Yvonne JurisSome, including Borough President Markowitz, believe that further expanding car-free hours in Prospect Park would only push more traffic onto surrounding roads. The Daily News reported this week that an expansion in car-free hours in Prospect Park was about to be approved, but Markowitz put the kibosh on it.
July 31, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Streets Blog, Bike Parking on Steroids
"Knickerblogger" gets his knickers all in a twist after reading last week's article in the Daily News about negotiations between the Bloomberg administration and Ratner over the special exception in the State's 421-a reform bill:
Well, it happened again.
A local cleaner gives Gumby Freshy the heebee geebees after hanging an 8x12 photo of Brooklyn's Cheerleader in Chief Marty Markowitz workin' the camera at a gathering of local businessmen. Now the photo is gone and Freshy wonders if the Arena Bagel Brigade had something to do with it.July 20, 2007
Congestion pricing still looms as an AY issue
July 19, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Zoned-In, Economic Development: The Stronger Transportation Solution
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Permits might make sense as a mitigation for reducing the "edge effect" of a congestion pricing zone and to prevent driving to major trip-generators like the proposed Atlantic Yards arena in Brooklyn.
After being elected to two City Council terms, Bill de Blasio is starting to hold meet-and-greets. "Pardonez-moi" blogger Katia Kelly shares one reader's email:
July 13, 2007
Narrow Streets: Pacific
Make plaza Grand
Letter to the Editor
July 12, 2007
As Buildings Rise, Construction Salaries Follow
By Grace Rauh
An article about one reason construction costs for projects like Atlantic Yards are rising:
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The work is not expected to stop anytime soon. The construction industry is about to feel the effects of the onset of dozens of projects, both public and private. The World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and the new Yankee Stadium are just a few in the pipeline.July 9, 2007
Mayor's mixed messages
June 27, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Velvet Sea, Another Perspective on Atlantic Yards
Photographic evidence that Prospect Heights is NOT in Downtown Brooklyn.
News of this afternoon's anti-eminent domain abuse demonstration and press conference at City Hall is spreading over the internet:
LOHO 10002, Important Events This Week
Steps of City Hall
Anti-displacement groups throughout the city join to protest eminent domain abuse, marking the second-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision which allowed cities to use eminent domain to evict residents and destroy their homes to benefit a private development. Demonstration organized by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the neighborhood group opposing Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development plan.June 26, 2007
NYC Transit Authority releases sobering data, contradicting figures used to justify Atlantic Yards
Atlantic Yards Report, NYCT contradicts ESDC, saying subways are too crowded
Norman Oder ties in the latest news to the little we do know about Atlantic Yards, which, after yesterday's revelations, isn't much:
June 22, 2007
New York's mayor buys his way to popularity.
By Fred Siegel
June 18, 2007
Two from BrooklynSpeaks member groups join Bloomberg's administration
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Both PPS and TSTC have offered savvy criticism of Atlantic Yards both independently and as part of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition. Should the project continue to move forward, at least some city government officials will have taken a close look at the challenges.June 8, 2007
A Futurama of Pollution and Congestion
The Indypendent
By Samantha Gorelick
May 24, 2007
OK, B63 Reroute Plan Won't Happen as Announced
By Norman Oder
May 4, 2007
DOT One-Way Park Slope proposal is dead
If seeing is believing, then have a look at the letter from the DOT to Community Board 6 (click image to enlarge), which states:
April 25, 2007
Warning on Ratner Parking and Congestion Pricing
Develop Don't Destroy Advisory Board Member and former City Planning Commissioner Ron Shiffman explains that the Mayor's congestion-pricing plan will overwhelm Central Brooklyn with park-n-ride commuters if the City doesn't implement a residential-parking-permit plan for Central Brooklyn.
April 24, 2007
Congestion pricing opposition builds
Doctoroff's discomfort: Atlantic Yards is an "extreme case"
Norman Oder analyzes Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's interview on The Brian Lehrer Show, as "Lisa in Brooklyn" references Atlantic Yards in a call about congestion pricing and Lehrer revisits the issue when talking about appropriate density:
April 23, 2007
Atlantic Yards Report on PlaNYC
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The silence of PlaNYC regarding Atlantic Yards (and the right way to develop railyards)
Norman Oder scours the Housing section of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC for signs of Atlantic Yards:
Yesterday, when discussing PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York, Mayor Mike Bloomberg called congestion pricing "the elephant in the room." When it comes to the housing section of the plan, however, the elephant in the room is Atlantic Yards.
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While numerous examples of past, present, and future projects are provided in the Housing chapter, Atlantic Yards is conspicuously unmentioned.Given that the project remains high on the mayoral agenda, the omission is curious. Is Atlantic Yards so controversial that it's wise to avoid it?
Or has the production of the new plan pointed out the flaws in the process that led to Atlantic Yards? Indeed, the report recomments a planning process before decking over a railyard--a distinct contrast to the city's embrace of one developer's plan for the Vanderbilt Yard at the heart of the Atlantic Yards plan.
Congestion pricing plan announced; backlash continues
Is congestion pricing the "elephant in the room?" Norman Oder looks at the plan and the implications on Atlantic Yards:
But the big one is a congestion pricing pilot scheduled to begin by Spring 2009, aimed to charge drivers who enter the Central Business District in Manhattan in certain hours. The money would be directed toward improving public transit and thus offer opportunities to those most burdened by the charge, though obviously the transition period could be dicey.
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The concept gains support from left-ish transportation advocates (who are holding a rally at 10:30 a.m. today, noting that the mayor's plan results in "reducing car use and giving more space and priority to bus riders, pedestrians and bicycles"), wonky transportation analysts, and business groups.It has been opposed by outer borough politicians and officials, mindful that it would hit some of their constituents--who lack good public transit access to Manhattan--the hardest. It's also been opposed by trucking companies and garage owners.
Congestion pricing is seen as necessary for the Atlantic Yards plan to have a ghost of a chance, though political backers of the plan like Borough President Marty Markowitz, as well as developer Forest City Ratner, have remained quiet about the issue.
Flatbush Avenue BRT: not until 2015?
While the city plans to pilot five bus rapid transit routes, one in each borough, in the next few years, the first one in Brooklyn would be Nostrand Avenue. A second round of five routes, likely including Flatbush Avenue, would not be completed until 2015, according to p. 4 of Appendix B to the mayor's PlaNYC report, issued yesterday.
There may be room for certain routes in the second round, including Flatbush Avenue, to open before that date. Still, transportation advocates believe that BRT is part of a package, including congestion pricing (which the city hopes to begin by Spring 2009) crucial to make any Atlantic Yards transportation plan work. The arena is scheduled to open in 2009, though that schedule seems unlikely.
City plans new push for solar energy; could "solar zoning" emerge?
New York City's energy-related initiatives within PlanNYC2030 include a new push for solar energy.
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Might the city entertain the notion of "solar zoning"? No such proposal is specified; however, the exploration of the tension between scale and solar likely will increase.
Posted by lumi at 7:32 AM
April 22, 2007
Congestion pricing, AY, and Bloomberg's sustainability plan
Atlantic Yards Report covers Mayor Mike's PLANYC 2030 for congestion pricing:
Interestingly, transportation consultant "Gridlock Sam" Schwartz, who Forest City Ratner hired to design the Atlantic Yards traffic mitigation plan, is a strong proponent of congestion pricing. Apparently that systemic change could not be feasibly recommended for one project.But it's likely that Forest City Ratner will be a strong supporter of such a change, because it's crucial--though insufficient alone--for any Atlantic Yards transportation plan to have a ghost of a chance.
In Saturday's Times, the congestion pricing plan was described as facing "daunting obstacles." The article stated:
Samuel I. Schwartz, a traffic consultant who favors congestion pricing, said that it would take at least four years before a plan could be approved and put in place. He said that completing an environmental impact study could take at least three years, and fighting the inevitable lawsuits would take another year.So, four years from now would be the spring of 2011. Does that mean that, in the best-case scenario, the Atlantic Yards arena wouldn't open until 2011? Forest City Ratner must be calling Newark regarding an interim arena for the Nets right now.
Posted by amy at 11:34 AM
$8 'congestion fee' for Manhattan - congestion for Brooklyn
The KnickerBlogger
The ever duplicitous Mayor Bloomberg seems awfully concerned about traffic in Manhattan :Drivers To Be Charged $8 To Enter Midtown Bloomberg Ready To Fight Albany For Congestion FeeYet, ready, willing and able to pour millions of city money into a plan that would create more congestion for Brooklyn - including building more parking lots - which of course encourages people to drive (and destroying historic properties like the duffield street homes - and using eminent domain to obtain them). Pointing out this double standard isn't just academic - hap-hazard application of such principles could actually mean sky rocketing traffic rates for parts of the city, like, well, Brooklyn - by creating a dis-incentive to drive into manhattan - and an incentive to drive to Brooklyn (readily available parking lots).
Perhaps the Mayor realizes that Ratner's ill conceived boondoggle can't survive without surburban style strip mall parking....which is the more reason to indicate that it's bad for Brooklyn.
Posted by amy at 11:04 AM
April 20, 2007
Will DOT come clean on the closure and "demapping" of Fifth Avenue?
Atlantic Yards Report
Is the Department of Transportation acknowledging that it is stonewalling Norman Oder?
In my article in this week's Brooklyn Downtown Star, Closing Fifth Avenue for Atlantic Yards, But Why So Soon?, I expand on my previous coverage of the plan to close Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic avenues to accommodate Frank Gehry's flagship Miss Brooklyn skyscraper.
I contacted the Department of Transportation (DOT) four times to ask about the timing of the closure--why so soon, by May 27?--given that the construction schedule will inevitably be delayed by litigation. I also asked whether the street could actually be demapped by then.
I got an acknowledgement of my query but no answers.
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Though a New York City Transit (NYCT) official cited "the closure and demapping of Fifth Avenue," the street can't be demapped until it's been acquired by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).
Posted by lumi at 9:44 AM
April 19, 2007
Closing Fifth Avenue for Atlantic Yards, But Why So Soon?
Downtown Brooklyn Star
By Norman Oder
An interesting article trying to get to the bottom of the announcement that the 5th Avenue bus will be rerouted because the street north of Flatbush will be permanently closed on May 27, is a chilling vignette depicting how Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner gets government agencies to comply, even behind the back of the major player sponsoring the project, the Empire State Development Corporation:
Everybody following the Atlantic Yards plan knew that it would involve the closing and demapping of Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic avenues to accommodate Frank Gehry's flagship Miss Brooklyn skyscraper, which would straddle the street and open, if all goes as predicted, by 2009 or 2010.
However, no one knew exactly when it would be closed until last week, when Brooklyn Community Board 6 got a letter from New York City Transit (NYCT) indicating that NYCT and the Department of Transportation (DOT) intended to revise service on the northbound B63 bus route on May 27, eliminating one stop.
The reason? "The closure and demapping of Fifth Avenue" between Flatbush and Atlantic "in the near future," according to NYCT's Lois Tendler.
But why so soon, given that several cases affecting and potentially blocking the project remain in court, and will not be resolved by the end of May? NYCT spokesman Charles Seaton said that the agency was simply reacting to DOT's plans: "If they demap the street, we can no longer run a bus."
But NYCT seems to be overstating the case. While DOT can close the street, it can't be demapped until it's been acquired by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the state agency overseeing Atlantic Yards.
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DOT, apparently, is the agency that could explain the timing of the change and the claim that the street would be demapped. However, despite four requests for comment over four days, the DOT did not respond by press time.
Posted by lumi at 8:13 AM
April 14, 2007
Robert Moses, transportation, and the question of Atlantic Yards
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder covers a forum about the Robert Moses legacy held last Wednesday at the Museum of the City of New York. A pamphlet provided to forum attendees by Theodore Kheel, President and CEO of Nurture New York’s Nature, describes a key element missing in Moses' planning: support for public transportation.
The moderator, Robert Yaro of the Regional Plan Association, and panelists "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz, Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign and Lee Sander, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, all have some connection to Atlantic Yards, and Oder wonders:
But what would Robert Moses think of the Atlantic Yards plan? Nobody got to ask that question., but it would've been interesting to hear the answer.
After all, Schwartz was hired by developer Forest City Ratner to develop the Atlantic Yards transportation plan, though his web site curiously does not mention Atlantic Yards in the list of projects.
Russianoff’s group has joined the lawsuit against the environmental impact statement, an implicit attack on Schwartz's transportation plan, and he has warned that the project’s density “would bring more havoc to drivers and transit riders.”
Yaro's RPA, for example, has offered conditional support for Atlant