For continuing in-depth news on the Atlantic Yards project, we recommend you tune your internet dial to the following websites:

Atlantic Yards Report

Atlantic Yards Watch

Develop — Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Noticing New York

Thanks for sticking with us these past eight-plus years!

— The Editors

Eric McClure got to 19,268 blog posts. Enough. It was time, he decided, “to hang up my keyboard.”

Eight years ago, after having sold an advertising business, he joined the convulsive battle over what would fall and what would rise on a plot of land in the heart of Brooklyn, 15 blocks from where he lived. Now he was spent. As the final editor on the nolandgrab.org blog (succeeding his wife), he halted daily posts on Sept. 29, to start sifting for the next chapter in his life.

Neglected home projects summoned his attention. Mr. McClure began refinishing his front door. He painted a bathroom.

He finds he can wake up in the morning without his first thought being Atlantic Yards.

From its initial stirrings in 2003, the huge Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn evolved into something of a reluctant career for a panoply of passionate opponents, not all of them aligned and with uniform priorities, but who saw democracy being trampled in the interest of a developer whose methodology they found offensive. It has been a clenched battle in which eminent domain was used to gobble up homes and transform a neighborhood.

It has gone on and on and on.

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NoLandGrab: We thought it would be ironic to resume publishing, albeit briefly (sorry, devotees), to post an article about us ceasing publishing.

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

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Atlantic Yards Report, As predicted, Times reports on how Atlantic Yards opponents are exhausted by losses; neglects to cite court win, other news validating critique

I can't say I didn't predict it, the New York Times feature today headlined Opponents of Atlantic Yards Are Exhausted by a Long, Losing Battle. The Times, I wrote last month, would report that opponents were diminished and disempowered.

Which they are--duh. Some have left the neighborhood or left town. Then again, so too have many paid exponents of Atlantic Yards, including Forest City Ratner's two point men (both of whom left under ethical clouds), several state executives, union executives, as well as a criminal lobbyist and a criminal legislator. (Where was the headline "Atlantic Yards Proponents Shamed, Indicted, Convicted"?)

Then again, the (nearly all) unpaid activists--groups organized by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and BrooklynSpeaks--also won a big lawsuit, requiring Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing and shepherding Atlantic Yards, to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), to study the community impact of a project lasting 25 years, not ten years, as long promised.

There's no mention of that lawsuit in this article. Nor, for that matter, recent news that validates the "opposition's" critique of Atlantic Yards: the demise of Community Benefits Agreement signatory BUILD, and the slippery behavior of developer Forest City Ratner in challenging project tax assessments and then withdrawing that challenge.

Nor any connection between the opposition and the Times's belatedly tough coverage of developer Bruce Ratner this past September, describing as "his reputation for promising anything to get a deal, only to renegotiate relentlessly for more favorable terms"?

Five groups challenging the Atlantic Yards project, bolstered by some Occupy Wall Street participants and two former project supporters, held a press conference this morning on the Barclays Center plaza, moving under the oculus (which dripped somewhat) to get out of the rain.

"Welcome to the tale of two Brooklyns," said Candace Carponter of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, leading off the event and citing the arena as an example of "crony capitalism." The groups' goals include a plan that prioritizes "the creation of housing affordable to working families in Brooklyn" (for which, however, Ratner's modular plan may be billed as a solution) and to reform project oversight.

"Many Brooklynites may attend events here," Carponter declared, but profits will be reaped by the developer Forest City Ratner and the retail chains. She didn't mention Mikhail Prokhorov, majority owner of the Nets and 45% owner of the arena.

(Videos by Jonathan Barkey.)

Drinking "Ratner's Kool-Aid"

Carponter introduced two people she described as having drunk "Ratner's Kool-Aid," including "my friend" Kathleen Noreiga, who demonstrated for the project as a supporter of BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development), the controversial job-development organization.

Noreiga (video start) is one of seven people (of 36) who went through BUILD's highly competitive 15-week, pre-apprenticeship training program lawsuit and filed suit last November regarding what they say were guaranteed jobs and union cards at the arena.

"Instead of providing us with jobs and training, we were made to do heavy labor, including demolition and debris removal, at a private house in Staten Island for our instructor's private company," she said. The seven plaintiffs have sued for payment for their unpaid training.

A message to Jay-Z from a Marcy neighbor

Umar Jordan, he of the dramatic pro-project testimony in August 2006--"If you haven't been to the Marcy Projects, you haven't been to Brooklyn"--was introduced by Carponter as having "since determined that Brooklyn has been played."

Jordan was forceful but brief: "I need you to call the police and tell them that we've been robbed. Brooklyn's been robbed. This is not a personal attack on you, Jay-Z. We've been robbed, and I've seen people go to jail for less."

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NoLandGrab: You know what they say — if you haven't somehow been screwed by Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards boondoggle, you ain't from Brooklyn.

Highlights from the moving speeches at last night's candlelight vigil at Barclays Center where clergy, elected officials and community organizations emembered the people and families displaced by the Atlantic Yards project’s use of eminent domain, as well as recognized those at risk of displacement today, and families still in need of affordable housing.

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Norman Oder serves up a typically comprehensive report on last night's opening of the laser-shooting Barclays Center.

Traffic flowed fairly well outside at the Barclays Center debut with Jay--Z last night, and the event appeared relatively orderly, given the sold-out house, which drew a crowd wearing everything from flashy nightclub duds to Brooklyn Nets gear.

Though he'd been on many stages around the world, Jay-Z told the crowd, "Nothing feels like tonight, Brooklyn." (While the fans I spoke to all said they enjoyed the show, and people chanted "Hova" as they left--and, of course, inside--I heard multiple secondhand reports, including this tweet, that said that Jay-Z's performance, actually, was subpar.)

"Welcome to the house that Bruce built" was flashed across the arena screen, as reported on Twitter; I countered that developer Bruce Ratner had a "wee bit" of government help.

Perhaps the most prominent disorder, according to reports on Twitter, was lots of pot-smoking inside the arena, as well as a wait, which lasted until about 8:45, just to get past security into the building.

The vigorous promotion of transit coupled with mostly pleasant weather and the generally young audience meant few drove automobiles--at least to paid parking. (Watch out when Streisand appears.) The surface parking lot, in fact, was perhaps 20 percent full.

Lots, lots more if you click through.

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Thank goodness for digital photography. Otherwise, Tracy Collins would need a cut of Bruce Ratner's $billion-plus Atlantic Yards subsidy to pay for all the "film" he's shot over the past nine years documenting Ratner's boondoggle.

Photographer Tracy Collins has been chronicling the rapidly changing urban landscape since the Atlantic Yards project was announced in 2003. His exhibit Atlantic Yards Deconstructed traces the “on the ground” impacts of the development over the past 9 years through photography, video and other media.

Stop by for the opening reception Saturday, September 29 from 6:00 to 800PM at the Soapbox Gallery, 636 Dean Street (a block and a half from the arena).

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Be sure not to miss today's events protesting Bruce Ratner's basketball arena bait-n-switch.

FUREE's 10th Annual Convention concludes with a 4:00pm march for accountable development starting from Bridge Street and Willoughby Street, and ending at Barclays Center.

Join FUREE and local residents for a march through communities under attack from greedy developers and their friends in government.

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8pm film screening of Battle for Brooklyn is on, free and outdoors at the Dean Street Playground. Dean Street between 6th Avenue and Carlton Avenue. [MAP]

Bring some sort of plastic sheeting to sit on the damp astroturf. Chairs not allowed. See you there.

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Atlantic Yards – It's A Crime! Community Organizations Join to Call for a New Plan at Atlantic Yards Brooklyn Was Promised Much More Than an Arena

On the day of the opening of Barclays Center, a coalition of community organizations today joined in a protest of Atlantic Yards' failure to deliver on the promises of local jobs and affordable housing used to win approval for the $5 billion project, and called on Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State of New York to present a new plan for the site that prioritizes public benefits over the development of luxury housing.

BrooklynSpeaks, Brown Community Development Corporation, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) and the Fifth Avenue Committee were joined by numerous civic groups and block associations in demanding that the State:

• Conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), as ordered by the State Supreme Court, that is a timely, transparent, truly impartial study of alternatives to the current Atlantic Yards plan, and which includes meaningful measures to mitigate the project's negative impacts.

• Adopt a new plan that prioritizes the creation of housing affordable to working families in Brooklyn.

• Bring in other developers to reduce project risk, create more living wage jobs, and accelerate delivery of public benefits.

• Reform project oversight to represent the people of Brooklyn in decision-making on a continuing basis so that Atlantic Yards' promises to the public are kept.

• Change State regulations under which development projects are approved to ensure local communities are guaranteed input—and local elected officials are guaranteed a vote—before public subsidies are granted.

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Michael D.D. White, in the photo at right, captures an image from the vigil last night that drew about 150 people to gather outside the Barclays Center and then circle it twice in fairly quiet protest. Inside Jay-Z's 40/40 Club was opening for a private, pre-arena-opening party, as detailed in the New York Post video at bottom.

White's photo captures the "Boondoggle Basics" flyer given out by protesting groups (more events today and tomorrow; rain venue 669 Atlantic Avenue, corner of S. Portland Avenue) framed by the digital advertising in the arena oculus for the 40/40 Club.

The main sponsors are Brown Community Development Corporation, BrooklynSpeaks, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), the Fifth Avenue Committee, and Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), which took different postures on Atlantic Yards before it passed, with only DDDB going to court to try to block the project.

Since then, for example, DDDB and BrooklynSpeaks were joined in a successful lawsuit challenging the inadequacy of the environmental review, given that 2009 deal revisions gave developer Forest City Ratner 25 years to build the project. A Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) has been ordered but has not yet begun.

Perhaps two dozen people came from Occupy Wall Street; some intended to sleep overnight, but the police seemed unwilling to allow that.

Below, there are several more videos, most of them brief, that I shot.

Click through for more coverage of last night's protest.

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Security presence in the now un-cordoned plaza. Occupy tenants sleeping in front of Nets shop. Four news vans, that weren't there yesterday, already parked in unloading zone and one talking head getting ready in the media bullpen.

Norman Oder cleans up a flawed WNYC report on the opening of the Barclays Center, and the controversy surrounding it.

As Barclays Opens, Neighbors Still Grumble, reports WNYC. Those grumbling neighbors--could it be that Bruce Ratner doesn't keep his promises (as noted by the Observer).

The most interesting part of the article concerns the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), which prompts Candace Carponter of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn to call it unenforceable, and Gib Veconi of BrooklynSpeaks to point out the inherent conflicted role of signatories, which rely on Forest City Ratner for support.

Why can't neutral experts on CBAs make this point as well?

Ratner's support

WNYC reports:

As of 2005, Forest City Ratner provided more than $100,000 to BUILD to begin to develop community outreach. The developer also committed at least $50,000 in funding to DBNA.

Hold on--these groups have received hundreds of thousands of dollars--surely over $1 million for BUILD, which in the most recent year got $340,000--from Forest City.

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NoLandGrab: BUILD apparently could use another $115,000, toot sweet.

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WNYC, As Barclays Opens, Neighbors Still Grumble

Here's the best part, regarding the much-derided (and totally worthless) Community Benefits Agreement...

The document even called for a meditation room to be built inside the arena.

“I can’t tell you exactly where it is, but there is a meditation room [in the arena], that will be open during events, a non-denominational quiet space for people to get away from the arena,” said Ashley Cotton, executive vice president of External Affairs for Forest City Ratner Companies.

As Norman Oder writes: "The arena's opening tonight, so perhaps they will find it by then."

WFUV, Some Brooklyn Advocacy Groups Upset with "False Promises"

With the NBA gearing up soon, a lot of hoopla is surrounding the Barclay's Center and the Nets first season in Brooklyn. Michelle de la Uz says that's not helping. She says too many people are focusing on the entertainment side of the stadium, and ignoring the needs of local residents.

"We're not hearing about when is the housing going to be built, to what extent is it going to be affordable, or what size families will be able to live in the properties," she said.

The New York Times continues Synergy Week™ with an Arts section report on its Development Partner's new arena.

In Barclays Arena Rivals the Garden’s Glow, a New York Times Arts piece today reports that the Brooklyn arena has already established itself by booking some major acts and offering dates, and rates, unavailable at the busy, expensive Madison Square Garden:

“I consider it a godsend Barclays arena is there,” said Randy Phillips, the chief executive of AEG Live, one of the largest promoters in the country. “Prior to this we were really kind of held hostage on a tour to the availability of Madison Square Garden.”

The new $1 billion arena rises at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues like a modern sculpture, evoking a crashed alien spacecraft with its rusted-steel-and-glass facade and swooping lines. Inside, it is a sleek study in gray and black broken only by bright digital banners, with steeply raked rows of black seats that descend from the street level into the arena’s bowl. With clear sightlines and acoustic panels over hard surfaces to minimize reverb and noise, the space seems intimate yet open. For some, it is a symbol of Brooklyn’s cultural and economic renaissance, a sign the borough has come back from the long slide that started when the Dodgers left in 1957. But it is also a symbol of the borough’s growing stature as center for the arts.

It's also a symbol of the Culture of Cheating.

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The New York Times, Barclays Arena Rivals the Garden’s Glow

Anyone walking around and near the Barclays Center, especially on the Flatbush Avenue side, can see there are empty retail spaces--or non-consumer ones--that are surely to be transformed. The New York Post reports, in Eateries in mad dash to Barclays ’hood:

With rap mogul/Nets co-owner Jay-Z christening the venue with an eight-night concert run starting tonight, Danny Meyer burgers-and-fries joint Shake Shack plans to soon move into prime Flatbush Avenue real estate across the street from the 18,200-seat arena, sources said.

Landlord Michael Pintchik refused to comment on the deal but confirmed two other restaurants were coming to nearby Flatbush Avenue property he owns by Dean Street that should also have foodies salivating.

The owners of super-trendy Delicatessen and Macbar in Manhattan are opening an offshoot eatery called Elbow Room a block away on Flatbush Avenue that also specializes in gourmet mac-and-cheese dishes.

Moving in next door will be a Texas-style barbecue joint “featuring a top pitmaster from Austin, Texas,” Pintchik said.

More than a dozen other new eateries are also in the works within three square blocks of the arena.

That's a little confusing, because there's a place called Elbow Room in the arena, on Atlantic Avenue.

See the Post for more, including reports of a tripling of retail rents.

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NY Post, Eateries in mad dash to Barclays ’hood

Yearly leasing rates on commercial space near Barclays Center ran about $55 to $65 a square foot when the arena broke ground in 2010, but now runs roughly $160 to $200, local brokers and property owners said.

“Every landlord was of the firm belief that the Messiah was coming and [Barclays Center] would drive up property values,” recalled Timothy King, a managing partner at CPEX Real Estate Services.

NoLandGrab: They were expecting the Messiah and all we got was Bruce Ratner?

Arena Parking in Play, the Wall Street Journal reported last night:

Some Brooklyn parking garage owners are jacking up prices and preparing special event rates in preparation for the thousands of people who may defy the warnings of city officials and drive to the Barclays Center when it opens Friday.

Ok, but what about the plan to provide nearly 2,000 pre-apaid parking spots "seamlessly," as promised by Sam Schwartz, consultant to the arena.

The Journal reports:

Only about 650 on-site parking spaces—including 150 for VIPs—were set aside, with the purpose of discouraging driving to Nets games, concerts and other events at the 18,000-seat capacity arena. Another 700 will be available through arrangements with private garages.

So there's a deficit, as I reported 9/6/12. (Also, there are only 541 on-site spots, by my count, unless they're counting spots at the Atlantic Center mall.)

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