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July 20, 2007

ESDC Continues To Fumble the Atlantic Yards Ball

3C_1093451107.jpg
Since making a set of five promises back in May, State officials are batting a meager .200 in their efforts to step up oversight of the Atlantic Yards project, according to The Daily News. While the Empire State Development Corp. claims that an intergovernmental group has met three times (one of the promises), it has failed to follow through on the other four it made in the wake of the parapet collapse at Ward's Bakery: Appointing an ombudsman; appointing a construction liaison; creating a group to oversee transportation issues; holding regular group meetings with elected officials. "This basically says that the Spitzer administration, just like the Pataki administration, is giving us empty promises when it comes to transparency, oversight and accountability," said Councilwoman Letitia James. Is anyone really surprised?
Atlantic Yards Oversight Under Scope [NY Daily News]
For Atlantic Yards, Someone to Watch Over [Brownstoner]
Photo of Ward's Bakery by Tracy Collins




Posted by Brownstoner at 8:57 AM | Comments (29)
Categories: Atlantic Yards

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Comments

$2 billion of NY'ers tax dollars going into this. It's in the state's best interest for them not to oversee what's going on - there's more deniability that way. Kinda like a fiscal version of FEMA's trailer toxicity problem.

Posted by: John at July 20, 2007 9:12 AM

Thank you brownstoner for stepping up your coverage of such an important issue for our communities!

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 10:17 AM

IMO, quite telling that the DN story ran on the first page of the Brooklyn section, not in the citywide news.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 10:47 AM

It's amazing we were even able to find it on the web. The Daily News site has to be about the worst website of a newspaper we've EVER seen. Pathetic.

Posted by: Brownstoner at July 20, 2007 10:59 AM

I second what you said, Brownstoner, but appreciate you posting the story.

Posted by: Jotham at July 20, 2007 11:04 AM

Brownstoner, nobody cares about AY anymore. Please stop wasting everyone's time with another posting about this stale development project. It's a done deal. It's happening whether you like it or not and the public majority supports it.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 11:35 AM

LOL! Yeah Brownstoner, nobody cares, that's why I'm yelling at you!

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 11:46 AM

Au contraire Mr. 11:35 -it is the most important event for Brownstone BK that has happened in the 20 years I have lived here. Those of us within a wide radius of the project will have our neighborhoods changed irrevocably by this project are interested in news about it.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 11:48 AM

yeah, nobody cares!
http://tinyurl.com/28dwq9

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 11:49 AM

In NJ, a judge just put the brakes on a huge development project exactly because it was a "D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L," which meant that it violated the law. The anonymous posters who've been posting those words daily for years might want to rethink their strategy, lest some NY judge gets to thinking too hard about whether it's a good (and legal) thing that a developer and the state colluded to ensure that a project was a fait accompli.

Dig it: http://tinyurl.com/2ewalb

Posted by: Stuart at July 20, 2007 12:20 PM

AY will destroy property values throughout Brooklyn and NYC.

AY will cause immense traffic congestion that will back up traffic bumper to bumper to the Verrazano Bridge.

AY will cast huge shadows across all of downtown Brooklyn and even across the East River into Manhattan thereby killing all vegetation, plant and sea life.

AY will fail and eventually turn into the largest public housing project in New York City resulting in a sharp increase in crime, drugs and violence.

AY construction will cause serious environmental problems for everyone in the immediate vicinity and result in widespread disease, illness and death on par with the WTC.

AY will cause widespread famine in Brownsville and ENY as the mammoth complex overburdens the postal service and prevent welfare checks from being delivered to deserving communities in a timely manner.

AY will pit black vs whites and cause massive ethnic strife in Crown Heights; thousands will die.

AY is Al Qaeda's #1 target in the world.

AY will place immense pressure on the city's infrastructure; water will be rationed out and made available for only two hours a day.

AY will indeed cause the sky to fall.

Posted by: Chicken Little at July 20, 2007 12:23 PM

Chicken Little, aka, Dan Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.

Chicken Little, aka, The Brooklyn Paper.

Chicken Little, aka, Letitia James.

Chicken Little, aka, Pat Hagan.

Chicken Little, aka, Jon Brownstoner.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 12:30 PM

if all we have are chicken littles according to the ostriches then we'll all end up do-dos.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 12:37 PM

Mr. Little,
While you are obviously exaggerating there are many grains or truth in your post and that is why people have been fighting for a scaled back project. The Extell project would achieve many of the same goals without stressing the environment and neighborhoods around the railroad yards. There is no reason we have to have the highest density development in the USA in an area that is already a traffic nightmare. There is no reason that our government turn over millions of dollars (our money) so that FCR can make a huge profit. Why don't you discuss some of these issues - you would bring much more to this forum.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 12:37 PM

it's funny, all the pro AY people do is cry cry cry all day long, posting their whiney posts about nothing substantial. what a bunch of cry babies!!

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 12:53 PM

Now that I am free to express my personal opinion, I'd like to go on record as thinking the project is to big and the public process a sham. Sorry about that ... a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

Posted by: Jim Stuckey at July 20, 2007 1:07 PM

sorry I meant dodos

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 1:09 PM

Great parody, chicken little. You really captured the hysteria so typical of AY opponents. IMO, one of the main reasons that they have failed so miserably is their heavy reliance on trying to garner support by attempting to instill fear in people. Specifically, fear of:

*Traffic
*Sewage
*Shadows
*Heat from reflected sunlight
*Glare from reflected sunlight
*Terrorism
*Pollution
*Rising asthma rates
*Skyrocketing rents and property values
*Plummeting rents and property values
*Loud, vomiting basketball fans
*Obstructed views
*Lack of parking
*Parking lots
*Construction
*Displacement

Or fear that:

*Ratner will rely on section-8 tenants after failing to attract enough yuppies to fill his rental units
*All of the trees on Carlton Avenue will be removed for street-widening.
*Prospect Heights will become a ghost town if demolition precedes court victories
*McDonald’s, Chuck E. Cheese, and other national chains will soon arrive in droves to destroy the “hometown” character of Brooklyn
*Your political representatives are corrupt
*This is just the beginning and more large-scale development will come
*Your home will be the next in line to be seized by some greedy developer

Fortunately, all of this drama has achieved nothing in the arena of real life.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 1:27 PM

RE: 1:27
Well said.

AY opponents are shockingly removed from reality. It's frightening to think they might believe their own rhetoric.

Posted by: Fez at July 20, 2007 2:58 PM

good luck supporting this behemoth with nothing but bullying opponents as your platform. it figures. you got no facts and only corruption and lies on your side. the facts don't lie.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 3:27 PM

Ah, 3:27, you are so typical. You can think of nothing substantive to say, so you spew angry generalities.

D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L!!!

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 3:32 PM

just like i said, only platform is to bully opponents!!

what a bunch of losers!

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 4:19 PM

Ratner should ED this website.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 5:04 PM

To 1:27
As a die hard opponent here are my views-
*Ratner will rely on section-8 tenants after failing to attract enough yuppies to fill his rental units - Are you kidding- I lived here when neighborhood people used to go into abandoned buildings to throw out the mattresses the drug addicts used - so you think Section 8 is scary? It is the loss of the truly integrated nature of the neighborhood that we don't like. Also I don't believe affordible housing will be built there.
*All of the trees on Carlton Avenue will be removed for street-widening. The corrupt power of FCR could make this a reality.
*Prospect Heights will become a ghost town if demolition precedes court victories - no but buildings will be torn down to make parking garages this could happen with AY and congestion pricing.
*McDonald’s, Chuck E. Cheese, and other national chains will soon arrive in droves to destroy the “hometown” character of Brooklyn - if I wanted fast food chains I could live in the suburbs - I prefer small independently owned restaurants that have some character
*Your political representatives are corrupt - there seems to be some merit in this
*This is just the beginning and more large-scale development will come - no, I think they are overbuilding and there will be a crash- I lived through real estate crashes in the 80's and 90's and don't believe the business cycle has been abolished.
*Your home will be the next in line to be seized by some greedy developer
This is a fear of anyone who lives in a house or apartment as has been demonstated.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 5:12 PM

please do allow me to amend my post.

i've been here for 20 years. i lived, for a short time, with my grandparents, in the bronx, in my first decade of life.

that was the late '60's, early '70s.

i loved this town. that's my perspective.

bloomberg's NY sucks; as did rudy's NY.
first the law and order, then the capitalist takeover.

facism, friends. that's how it's done.

oh, hell, maybe north carolina. maybe nw connecticut. maybe sanfran. just anywhere, anywhere but here.

you see, when people like myself, and people like my friends, leave the town that they absolutely worshipped, things are going down.

ah, hell, let walmart come in. big box the fuck out of this whole town. decorate the brooklyn bridge with jimmy choo. put a huge replica of trump's toupee over the empire state building. sell air rights to anybody who wants 'em over every single significant building in the town.

get it over with. the death watch has been on too long. let it go.

fuck all of you. i'm out of here.

enjoy the theme park for all it's worth.

Posted by: suzy at July 20, 2007 5:26 PM

AY will produce instant gentrification east of Flatbush Avenue, drive up property prices, displace minority renters, result in the introduction of new amenities, goods and services to the community, reduce crime, improve schools and, most importantly, gives Brooklyn the professional sport franchise and arena residents so desperately grave and desire. I'm very excited about AY, downtown and brownstone Brooklyn overall.

I fully expect my $2M brownstone to be worth $4M by 2020 when AY is finally completed. In the meantime, I'll just continue to enjoy my home and great neighborhood until I'm ready to retire, sell and move to the Caribbean.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 21, 2007 6:28 AM

You said it all, 6:28.

AY is "desperately grave".

Posted by: Anonymous at July 21, 2007 12:20 PM

gives Brooklyn the professional sport franchise and arena residents so desperately grave (sic) and desire.
Is that Mr. Stuckey again?

Posted by: Anonymous at July 22, 2007 9:07 PM

And displacing minority renters is a good thing? And what sort of goods and services are you looking for that Fort Greene/Park Slope/Prospect Heights don't already have?

And judging from current Prospect Heights sale and rental prices, gentrification already has come east of Flatbush -- even all the way to Crown Heights.

And putting that many people on top of each other anywhere will increase, not reduce, crime -- think road rage traffic incidents, sports fan hooligans, domestic violence, etc. Yes, even the rich commit crimes.

And let's not forget the white collar crimes of embezzlement, bribery, tax evasion -- beginning with FCR itself...

Posted by: babs at July 23, 2007 5:45 PM

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