Sports Business Journal: 183 events set; "about" 75 percent of suites sold; Calvin Klein signs on; more hockey talk

From Sports Business Journal (via NetsDaily):

• there are rumors that the 2015 NBA All-Star Game would be played at the Barclays Center (2014 is already out)
• there are 183 ticketed events scheduled (which, if you add the ten "community" events, would be a total of 193, not quite at the 225 once promised)
• "[a]bout 75 percent of the 100 suites in the arena have been sold, including four of the 11 Vault Suites." Previously, Nets/Barclays CEO Brett Yormark has flatly said 75 percent, which indicates some wiggle room
• Calvin Klein has joined as a founding partner, while "Remaining, or at least unannounced, top-tier sponsorship categories in the building include insurance and automobile."
• NBA CEO David Stern "called the new arena 'extraordinary' and noted that 'several owners told me this was never going to happen, even as the steel was going into the ground.'"
• even before 2015, when the Islanders' lease expires, a minor league hockey team might move, or a team from the Russia-centric KHL might visit

Also note a pay-per-view wrestling event announced for December.

A myth multiplied: "5 Signs That China Is Colonizing America" said to include Atlantic Yards

If you search on Google for "45 Signs That China Is Colonizing America," you'll get a bunch of results, which include the same, misleading Atlantic Yards sign:

#8 Chinese investors have been gobbling up real estate all over New York City. The following is from a  recent Forbes article….

According to a recent report in the New York Times, investors from China are “snapping up luxury apartments” and are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on commercial and residential projects like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. Chinese companies also have signed major leases at the Empire State Building and at 1 World Trade Center, the report said.

Except that not-by-Forbes-linked 8/11/11 Times article got it wrong. Providing a low-interest loan for infrastructure and loan replacement doesn't give them much purchase on Atlantic Yards. The immigrant investors seeking green cards would only control actual real estate if Forest City Ratner doesn't pay them back in seven years.

Forecasted contractually obligated revenues for the arena: from 64% to how much? (Also, 15% of office leases for FCE from City of NY/U.S. government)

In late March, Forest City Enterprises, parent of Forest City Ratner reported that some "64 percent of forecasted contractually obligated revenues for the [Barclays Center] arena are currently under contract."

While that's a not insignificant rise from the 56 percent reported in December 2011, the developer has admitted that the 100% mark will not be met by the arena opening.

So we should keep watch for the next report, which will come with the FY 2012 First Quarter conference call. Last year it was held in early June.

Meanwhile, the documents embedded below show how FCE describes the Atlantic Yards project, among many others, to investors. Note that, even through early March, they were using the now-outdated 56 percent mark.

Also note, in last year's Third Quarter Supplemental Package, the document immediately below, one page (above right) pulls out a list of "significant office tenants as of October 31, 2011."

The largest, with 9.38% of total office square feet, is the city of New York. The third largest, with 5.82%, is the U.S. Government. Note that the latter is surely spread over several cities. And Forest City would say that it competed to bid for at least some of those leases.

But it's still notable how more than 15% of office leases come from governmental clients.

Forest City Supplemental Package Q3 2011 (1)

Forest City Enterprises Citi 2012 Global Property CEO Conference

Forest City Enterprises Q2-11 Investor Deck NAREIT REITWorld

Deeming transportation plan inadequate and other issues not addressed, local officials, PHNDC will propose "Neighborhood Protection Plan"

There's lots of reason to think that the Transportation Demand Management plan announced this week by developer Forest City Ratner will not do enough to discourage drivers from seeking free, on-street parking. And there's much reason to wonder how other arena operations will be handled.

In the absence of such plans, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, backed by several elected officials on Tuesday will propose a nine point "Neighborhood Protection Plan."

I haven't seen the details, but presumably it draws in part on the example of Wrigley Field in Chicago.

As I wrote three years ago, in 2004, in exchange for being able to play 30 rather than 18 night games, the City Council approved the Wrigley Field Neighborhood Protection Ordinance. The Cubs agreed to "fund and operate expanded remote parking, print residential parking permits, and expand trash pick-up in and around Wrigley Field, as detailed in the annual report (also below).

Press conference details

From the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council:

Press conference announcing Barclays Center Neighborhood Protection Plan
Atlantic Yards
Start Date:
May 29, 2012 - 9:30am
Sponsored By:
Council Members Stephen Levin, Letitia James, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, other elected officials and community leaders
Location:
Corner of Atlantic Avenue and South Portland Ave., Brooklyn
Description:
Elected officials and community leaders will propose a nine point "Neighborhood Protection Plan," and will call on Mayor Bloomberg and developer Forest City Ratner to meet and endorse plan to protect the communities around the Barlcays Center arena.
Where:
Corner of Atlantic Avenue and South Portland St, Brooklyn
Why:
The Barclays Center arena is opening in less than four months and there is still no acceptable plan to mitigate the impact of the arena and its thousands of patrons on the surrounding neighborhoods. We have put together a 9-point “Neighborhood Protection Plan” to address what our neighborhoods need to mitigate the impact of Barclay’s Arena. The Bloomberg Administration and Forest City Ratner have not explained to our communities how the impact of foot traffic and neighborhood disruptions will be handled after Barclays events. We have not heard a real plan to address parking and transportation needs. Council Members Levin and James are calling for a public meeting with the Mayor’s office and Forest City Ratner to present the Neighborhood Protection Plan and allow for the community to have real input in the decisions that will forever change our communities.

Cubs Neighborhood Report 2011

Gridlock Sam goes rogue: "Don't even think of driving" to arena, but Barclays Center website offers driving directions (though parsimonious parking info), and Ticketmaster didn't get the message

Thanks to some uncurious and ahistorical reporting, mainly from the New York Times (and those who relied on it), Forest City Ratner's belatedly-released Transportation Demand Management plan for the Barclays Center was treated as a wise solution rather than an expected tactic with enduring question marks.

And paid consultant "Gridlock Sam" Schwartz was treated as an "expert" rather than an "expert" "consultant" delivering for a client.

Yes, we've known for years that they would emphasize public transit, and provide some increased subway (and train) service. And we've known since the beginning of this month that the number of spaces in the surface parking lot would be halved, a concession more to reality--surface capacity--than to public policy. (In other words, they aimed to build 1,100 spaces, but the oft-discussed use of stackers would have caused delays, as Schwartz's firm had warned.)

But the six-month delay in releasing a plan with little new--and even less than promised, given the loss of the free MetroCard--was obscured by some headlines that treated the smaller parking lot as a solution in itself.

And while promoting public transit as "the fastest, most convenient way to travel" on the arena website (above) is a clear message, it's not at all the same as saying, in Schwartz's sound-bite, " Don’t even think of driving to the Barclays arena."

Will it work?

So, besides marketing the heck out of the public transit option, and offering pre-paid parking, as planned, will cutting half the on-site spaces keep people away?

Well, it buttresses the public transit message, but that's hardly a foolproof solution, especially when partners like Ticketmaster--see screenshot at right (click to enlarge), supplied by a community member who filed comments with Empire State Development-- are stressing driving over transit..

There still should be a significant chunk--some 2500, they say--of spaces available for pre-paid parking, at $30 and up, except for the remote lots at half the market price.

But drivers may still seek free, on-street parking--and that's a big unknown, and a risk, given the lack of residential permit parking. After all, other residential communities with sports facilities, such as Wrigleyville in Chicago, have residential permit parking.

There are no penalties built in for failure to meet the goal to reduce driving. And, as pointed out by BrooklynSpeaks, it's clear that the 2009 revisions to the Atlantic Yards plan left the project sponsors unable to included the 1,100 spaces described in previous project documents--an argument for the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement ordered by two courts.

And Schwartz knows that more could be done. As Tom Boast of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council commented on Patch:

"Interesting to note that staff at Sam Schwartz Engineering described TDM in a March 2009 professional paper: "TDM measures frequently include encouraging a modal shift away from the single occupancy vehicle by improving the convenience and availability of other modal options such as public or private transit, bicycling, walking, and carpooling. Other common TDM measures include congestion or parking pricing programs, or preferred parking for carpools and transit users." Concerned citizens should call on the State and the City (i.e., the Governor and the Mayor) to authorize and implement the other half of TDM plans excluded from the FCR plan presented by Schwartz: congestion and parking pricing programs (i.e., removing "free" parking on residential streets with a RPP program) and preferred parking for carpools."

In other words, Schwartz was working for a client that didn't--or couldn't--quite give him free reign.

Overpromoting Schwartz

The 5/23/12 New York Times, Traffic Plan for a Brooklyn Arena Cuts Parking Slots by Half, written by a reporter who's covered Atlantic Yards for a bare few months, turned the story into convenient drama:

The conundrum that Samuel I. Schwartz, the traffic engineering expert, faced was this: How could the already jam-packed streets in the heart of Brooklyn accommodate thousands of extra cars filled with fans traveling to a basketball arena and desperately searching for parking?

His answer, revealed on Tuesday to a panel of Brooklyn officials with all the flourish and detail of a general planning to storm the beaches of Normandy, was to discourage driving entirely, by cutting the number of parking spaces at the Barclays Center in half.

“We will scare drivers away from the arena,” Mr. Schwartz said in an interview. “My message to New Yorkers is, Don’t even think of driving to the Barclays arena.”

(Emphases added)

Well, Schwartz was either exaggerating for soundbite purposes or going rogue, because the Barclays Center has a page with Driving Directions, with no reminder to use public transit.

In other words, Gridlock Sam may discourage driving, but arena operators know that some people will arrive by vehicle, as Schwartz himself acknowledged.

Presumably some will be dropped off by taxis or other drivers, while others will seek parking.


The parking peekaboo

The Barclays Center web site, as of now, does significantly discourage parking, but it doesn't go nearly as far as Schwartz does. As noted at left, it declares that "Parking at Barclays Center is very limited. We strongly recommend using public transportation."

Suiteholders, at least, will get access to parking, as noted below right, but that's only about 150 spaces.

But will the Barclays Center pass on Schwartz's "don't even think of driving" message?

Not really, and that's an enduring tension.

Navigating the unresolved tension & getting brushed off  

After the morning meeting May 22 of the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet, Schwartz took questions from reporters.

I tried to ask about the tension between promoting transit yet providing a parking option. "You talk about, on the web site... trying to obscure information about parking," I noted, "but at the same give people the opportunity to pre-reserve, so it's kind of doing one thing and the other. How does that that work?

"You're showcasing public transportation," Schwartz responded, not quite answering the question. "Then if somebody is insisting on driving--and remember, this is based on focus groups that we had, and the surveys that we had... we had people who didn't know, from Queens and LI... that the Long Island Rail road went right across the street... so those are the effective strategies. We're banking on effective strategies."

However, it's clear that the parking option has to emerge, so I tried to follow up: "At some point they have to find--"

"It's not a debate," interrupted Forest City Ratner p.r. man Joe DePlasco, and Schwartz moved on to another questioner.

OK, not a debate, but it's an unresolved question, one to keep watch on as the web site evolves.

Where's the event-goer input?

And, as the community member pointed out:

The Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets, and Forest City Ratner web sites make no mention of and have no links to the ESDC request for comment on the transit plan, nor have the Brooklyn Nets or Barclays Center twitter accounts made mention of it at all. The implication is clear: the owners and managers of the venues are not promoting the feedback or awareness of the transit options to the population that will most directly be affected, namely the customers. It behooves them to reverse course and actively promote the plan to the public with sufficient time to comment.

What Schwartz said on the evening of May 22



"The mission is clear: It is to reduce the number of cars coming to the arena," Schwartz said at the evening forum May 22. "That's our mantra. And we will be discouraging the number of cars. I was asked today by a reporter, 'What is the message?' My message is: 'Don't even think about driving to the arena.'"

As noted above, that's not really the Barclays Center's message.

"Because we're not providing any additional parking--half the spaces have been cut back. We're going to encourage sustainable--we're going to maximize transit," Schwartz continued. "We're encouraging transportation such as walking and bike riding, as well, to the arena. The goal is to minimize the effect of those who do drive. on the community. So there will those be that drive, no matter what, we recognize that, so what we're trying to do is reduce the impact of those people who drive on the community, and we'll show you the measures."

There are measures, and the question remains: are they enough?

What Schwartz said about promotion

"Every single piece of advertising will contain that [transit] information," Schwartz continued. "You've probably seen some of this already... But what you will not see is how to drive to the arena. What you will not see is where to park. Were not incentivizing, we're disincentivizing people from driving. We're using positive reinforcement for people to use public transportation."



"When you get a ticket., and turn over that ticket, it will show you, 11 trains, 1 destination...," he said. "Every single ticket will have transit, and none of the tickets will have driving, to the arena."

"The web site--the web site focuses on mass transit, and discourages driving," Schwartz continued. "You will get information on all of the services, the subway, the bus, the LIRR," he said. "Now what's so terrific about this location is, when you look at the extent of those 11 subway lines, more than half the people coming by transit will have a one-seat ride."

An empty train, he noted, can handle 1000 people each.

So all of that bodes well for encouraging use of public transit.

The parking strategy

But there will, in fact, be parking. "Our parking strategy goals are to discourage driving, and we will be repeating that throughout,"Schwartz said. "We are cutting on-site parking in half."



"We are keeping parking absent from the marketing materials, and we are lowering expectations to drivers to find parking," he continued, limiting the definition of "marketing materials."

"Now, short of flogging people, we still expect some people to drive," Schwartz said. "So nonetheless, the disincentives vs. the incentives of transit... which is going to be convenient, the cost of parking, which is going to be much higher than the cost of subway, we still know that some people will drive."

"And so our job, for those people, is to intercept drives before they approach the arena," he said. The first solution is remote parking off the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, which will connect to the arena via shuttle buses.

"We're going to try to get as many of the drivers to commit... to a parking facility that is convenient for them," he said. "So, to the extent possible if we can do that.... we'll have a reservation system for parking. And we'll have as much pre-sale of spaces and we'll provide the driving directions, which will be away from residential streets, and the walking directions, as well. So to the extent that we can keep people on the major arterials, we will do so."

The question remains: how many people will be seeking free, on-street parking?

Parking management

"We've engaged with a firm... Click and Park, an online parking management system," he continued. "The software will be seamless with the Barclays Center software. So when you've gone through all the discouragements of driving, and you elect to drive, you will then go to the Click and Park site... we will try to entice you with low-cost parking at the remote parking facility. That low-cost parking will be pegged at at least 50% off the market rate at the arena."

"If not, we will connect with some of the off-site parking facilities--again, a reservation system so you can directly to that parking facility without doing circulation. One of the worst problems that could come up is circulation. If we can get people directly into parking facilities where they've already reserved, we will reduce circulation."

"And also we will have HOV [high occupancy vehicles] spaces... to have three or more people in their cars," he said. "That way you can also reduce the number of cars to the arena." Unmentioned: the number of HOV spaces on-site has been cut.

"The on-site parking has been cut in half. It was 1100 parking spaces," he added. "It's now 565, but in effect, it's really 541, because 24 of the spaces will be dedicated for the NYPD. So, 541 vs. 1,100 that appeared in the Environmental Impact Statement."

"Again, for those people who still decide to try to drive to the arena, we're going to spread them out... in some 20 locations that are within a half mile or less, walking distance, to the arena. Click and Park is in the process of meeting with these parking operators, to get them to sign up to the parking reservation system.... Money doesn't change hands. Everything is done electronically."

The first few months, at least, will be an experiment. If the BrooklynSpeaks objections are not addressed, in part or in full, the experiment is far less likely to work.

Worth follow-up from the transportation meeting: disincentives, penalties, missing parking data, impact of tower construction, security, and truck routes

Sam Schwartz photo and set by Tracy Collins

Following up my coverage of the May 22 public meeting on the Barclays Center Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan, I want to focus on some exchanges that deserve more analysis, given that the questions didn't quite get full answers.

I already wrote this morning about one seemingly inadequate answer: whether the halving of on-site parking, and other changes, should have triggered revision of project documents. The answer was no, but the evidence seems otherwise.

Below, the embedded video (shot by Jonathan Barkey) is keyed to the specific questions.

Disincentives

One of the biggest issues looming: What disincentives will prevent people from circling neighborhood streets to look for free, on-street parking? When Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman read the question, there were some titters from the crowd.



Forest City Ratner consultant Sam ("Gridlock Sam") Schwartz answered incompletely, stressing incentives: to use the parking reservation system that will direct them to nearby garages, and to “intercept drivers” so they use remote lots--at 50% of the rate of lots closer to the arena--near the BQE and use a shuttle bus along Atlantic Avenue.

He didn't discuss disincentives such as residential permit parking.

Later, Hammerman asked Schwartz to pull the data from the EIS (environmental impact study) and show us the original projections for driving, and then to explain "how these distributed [transportation demand management strategies"--including increased transit service--would each impact on the worst-case scenario.

Sam Schwartz photo and set by Tracy Collins

Schwartz said he could provide the data, but said that such TDM measures "are taken in whole; they're not broken up so discretely. We think you need to take them as a whole. Discouraging parking is one thing and encouraging parking is another... and the cumulative effect from just the information alone, that part, we do know from the surveys [of future arena-goers], is [an increase of] 9% [taking public transit]." (That's a numerical increase from 45% to 54%; as a percentage change, that's 20%.)

Note, however, that as Tom Boast of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council commented on Patch:

"Interesting to note that staff at Sam Schwartz Engineering described TDM in a March 2009 professional paper: "TDM measures frequently include encouraging a modal shift away from the single occupancy vehicle by improving the convenience and availability of other modal options such as public or private transit, bicycling, walking, and carpooling. Other common TDM measures include congestion or parking pricing programs, or preferred parking for carpools and transit users." Concerned citizens should call on the State and the City (i.e., the Governor and the Mayor) to authorize and implement the other half of TDM plans excluded from the FCR plan presented by Schwartz: congestion and parking pricing programs (i.e., removing "free" parking on residential streets with a RPP program) and preferred parking for carpools."

In other words, Schwartz was working for a client that didn't--or couldn't--quite give him free reign.

Barclays Center vs. MSG

Schwartz was asked to compare Madison Square Garden Knicks events--visitors, parking--to the Barclays Center.



He portrayed the Brooklyn arena as in a superior position, as MSG provides no parking, nor a pre-paid parking system. Nor is there the kind of TDM plan unveiled yesterday. He didn't mention, however, is that MSG is in a business district full of available parking.

Penalties, and parking

What if the goals in reducing driving aren't met: Are there any penalties for nonperformance?

"No, there are no penalties," responded Forest City Ratner executive Jane Marshall.



Hammerman read the next question: do they have a document that details the number and locations of commercial parking spaces around the arena--details key to the promise that there are enough off-street parking spaces, even with the reduction in on-site parking.

"At the moment, we have the locations of every one of the parking facilities," Schwartz responded. "Soon we'll know which operators are participating." In other words, he doesn't even have a list of the participating locations, much less a count.

When will plans for the surface parking lot, on Block 1129, be presented to stakeholders?

Marshall responded by first augmenting her earlier answer: "I just want to point out that we're required to meet the levels in the FEIS [Final Environmental Impact Statement]. There may not be peanltiies, but there will be continuous follow-up."

As for the surface parking lot plans, she said this presentation wasn't the right forum for that discussion, and "Right now we are evaluating the responses we got" from lot operators.

Future snags from construction?

Remember, Forest City Ratner has plans to construct three or four buildings around the arena, with the first tower supposed to break ground this year. How will construction of Building 2 (at Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street) and other towers affect traffic and pedestrian access to the arena block?



"We have plans to break ground on Building 2 sometime this year," Marshall responded. "At that time, we need to come up with a logistics plan to show how the building will be built... That plan will look at any impact it will have on the operation of the arena... In the months before we do that, we will start the process."

In other words, there sure might be impacts, but they don't know yet.

Who's paying for transit?

How much funding will Forest City be providing to the MTA for the additional service, such as the additional "gap" trains that add service after events?



The answer, apparently, is none, and Schwartz suggested--with no data yet--that it may be a net gain: "In the examples, we've had in the past, with the MTA, with New Jersey Transit and others, they see at as a way to provide service to their passengers. In the case of CitiField, it actually costs less and they made more revenue by introducing. So this isn't necessarily an additional cost."

Security

Given that the arena cantilever is closer than 20 feet from the curb at Atlantic Avenue, what protections will be needed to move traffic and curbside vehicles away?



FCR’s Ashley Cotton, a recent hire, said she didn’t fully understand the question, but said that arena operators had been working fully with the NYPD to ensure that the building is safe.

(Note that, because the arena in Newark was that close to the street, officials closed streets there, an issue that provoked obfuscation from Forest City.)

Trucks violating truck routes

Why are trucks leaving the construction site taking non-commercial routes, and how will that be controlled in the future?



Cotton gave a wobbly answer, saying that trucks routes are "encouraged and advertised," acknowledging that Forest City has seen photos (as posted on Atlantic Yards Watch) and saying the company was doing its best to stop the practice.

ESD's Arana Hankin photo and set by Tracy Collin

Arana Hankin, Manager, Atlantic Yards Project, for Empire State Development, the state agency in charge of the project, got up and said the agency was “working very, very closely with NYPD... to step up enforcement.”

If so, it's taken a while.

Meet Barclays Center General Manager John Sparks, just for a bit

A key Barclays Center figure, General Manager John Sparks, made brief appearances at two meetings (morning and evening) May 22 regarding the Barclays Center Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan.

In both cases, he received the exact same introduction by Forest City Ratner executive Jane Marshall, reading from a prepared script.



"We engaged with our new colleagues, the arena operators, to develop plans for running the building," Marshall said. "To that end, I want to introduce John Sparks, the general manager of the Barclays Center. As such, he runs the building, and everybody reports to him. Going forward, as John builds his team and we open the arena, there will be more interaction with arena operations and the community, elected officials, and agencies. We want you to meet him. He cannot stay for the entire presentation today, but we thought it was important to put a face to the name.

Enter Sparks

Photo and set by Tracy Collins

Sparks, in his brief remarks, said he'd been attached to the project for about a year previously operated the arena in San Antonio and other sports facilities, and had a 20-year career in the Navy.

"The Barclays Center, as we formulate our team, our goal is pretty simple," he said. "Our goal is pretty simple, we want to interact with the community, we want to be responsive to the community's needs, we want to be good partners and good neighbors."

Well, sure. They don't want to alienate the community. They also want to achieve their primary goals, which is to pack the building with events, provide a good experience for paying customers, and earn a profit.

In the future, perhaps, Sparks will be able to stay for full meetings.

Can state/Forest City cut on-site parking and tweak driving disincentives without amending project documents? Officials said yes, but it looks doubtful

Update: I queried the ESD yesterday about the answer below, and Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, responded this morning: "We will post a corrected answer to this question as soon as we can." 

At the meeting May 22 on Transportation Demand Management, officials were asked if, given the changes in the plan, notably the offering of only 541 on-site parking spaces instead of the promised 1100 (driven by the inability to use once-planned stackers), revisions were required to project documents.



Several officials, including Hankin, said no, but that deserved a lot more explanation, given that the parking change, as well as other changes, clearly depart from previous agreements and disclosures. Then again, changing some of the documents might have meant delays, including potential additional environmental review.

(State officials and developer Forest City Ratner are currently fighting a court ruling that requires a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement to examine the potential for a 25-year project buildout. Shouldn't a smaller parking lot have triggered additional review?)

The documents cited were the 2009 Modified General Project Plan (MGGP), the 2009 Master Development Agreement (MDA), and the 2009 Amended Memorandum of Environmental Commitments (MEC).

The first was approved by the board of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the state agency overseeing the project, while the other two are contracts between the ESDC and developer Forest City Ratner. Two other documents I've identified also would merit modification.

MGPP & FEIS

Given that parking was not specified in the MGPP, by my reading, no revision was necessary.

But Chapter 12, Traffic and Parking, of the 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), a document that has not been superseded, indicates that "approximately 1,100 parking spaces" would be available on site, with the 1,400 additional spaces needed accommodated at other off-street facilities in the vicinity.

Now the capacity for some 2000 off-street spaces may well exist, but on May 22 Forest City consultant Sam Schwartz was not ready to offer details.

The Technical Analysis

Also, a December 2010 Technical Analysis of an Extended Build-Out of the Atlantic Yards 
Arena and Redevelopment Project, produced as part of the litigation of the timetable,  states flatly that 1,100 surface parking spaces would be provided.

Somewhat contradictorily, it also cites a "capacity of up to" 1,100 cars.

The Arena Parking Declaration

In March 2010, the ESDC signed an Arena Parking Declaration, which indicated that the Atlantic Yards site would include space for no less than 1,100 vehicles.

The Master Development Agreement is clear: Forest City had to build "no less than 1,100 parking spaces to be made available to users of the Arena." I don't think "identify" counts as equivalent to "cause the construction o

The MDA

The Master Development Agreement is clear: Forest City had to build "no less than 1,100 parking spaces to be made available to users of the Arena." I don't think "identify" counts as equivalent to "cause the construction of."

The MEC

The Memorandum of Environmental Commitments, signed in December 2009 and itself a revision of a 2006 document, counts several demand management strategies that have since been dropped or modified, as indicated by the annotations below.

For example:

• HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) parking will be offsite, not onsite
• Nets ticketholders will not get a fare-incentive program
• no shuttle bus service from Staten Island
• bicycle storage will be outdoors, not indoors

Forest City Ratner's savings from scrapping the MetroCard bundled with ticket: perhaps $2 million to $3 million a year

“We might be able to put a ticket on a MetroCard, but we might not be able to put a MetroCard on a ticket," Forest City Ratner executive Jane Marshall said at a public meeting in May 2011. 

And the plan was part of the suite of strategies promised in the  Amended Memorandum of Environmental Commitments the developer signed with the Empire State Development Corporation.

But Forest City Ratner officials and consultant Sam Schwartz yesterday said it would be impractical to link a MetroCard to a ticket, that it would not serve as a practical incentive, and that many arena-goers already have unlimited ride MetroCards.

All of those are plausible, but another angle on the issue should be clear: scrapping the plan would save Forest City Ratner a lot of money.

Let's say every ticket were bundled with a MetroCard, with two $2.25 fares.

If the arena were chock-full, with 18,000 patrons, that $4.50 fare over 41 home games would represent $3.3 million.

But let's say they figured out a way to only offer MetroCards to two-thirds of the crowd. At 12,000 fares, the cost would be $2.2 million.

And this is without counting pre-season games.

So, is Forest City Ratner just keeping the cash, or spending the money to otherwise deter driving?

Meeting on TDM plan is cordial, constructive, and frustrating; distrustful faces suggest residents not convinced plan will work; first phase sure to be an experiment

Perhaps 100 people attended last night’s presentation of the Atlantic Yards Transportation Demand Management (TDM) at Borough Hall, a relatively small number. Perhaps it’s because activism around the arena has died down. But it’s more likely because few knew the details of a plan released only yesterday morning. (See slideshow at bottom.)

The meeting was cordial and rather low-key; after a presentation by Forest City Ratner consultant Sam Schwartz, reprising his show at a morning meeting, emphasizing the tagline, "Eleven trains, one destination.” Yes, there will be cross-marketing to local businesses, yes there will be additional post-event transit service, yes, there will be pre-paid parking.

Yes, the surface parking lot capacity has been cut in half, to 565 spaces, including 24 for the police. (The reduction, announced early this month, was driven significantly by the surface capacity and the inability to use stackers.)

But still many people remained unconvinced that the unusual if not unique situation faced by the arena--both adjacent to a transit hub but encroaching on and nearby several low-rise residential neighborhoods with street parking--has been adequately addressed by plans that do not include disincentives like residential permit parking (RPP) nor penalties if goals aren’t met.

Nor does developer Forest City Ratner know how construction of arena block towers--which could start this year--would affect traffic and pedestrian access.

Constructive, but frustrating

Ken Adams, r, with Justin Ginsburgh and Arana Hankin
Photo and set by Tracy Collins

Schwartz (aka "Gridlock Sam") and others fielded numerous questions from the public, read by Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman and culled mainly by CB 2 District Manager Rob Perris. In the audience was Brooklynite Kenneth Adams, CEO of Empire State Development (ESD), the state agency overseeing the project and his top aide Justin Ginsburgh.

And while Hammerman called the meeting “extremely healthy and constructive,” the emphasis on getting people to use public transit, without specific disincentives (or even incentives like a free MetroCard) led Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council to grouse, “It’s a marketing plan,” not a true plan to deter drivers.

(See Veconi's comments on Patch's live-blog coverage, also emphasizing the lack of details about the surface parking plan, and the PHNDC's Danae Oratowski's comments about the lack of community leverage, as well as comments by CB 2's Perris observation that the plan is "a good starting point," which should eventually lead people to realize they shouldn't drive.)

“It’s our job to make this work as best we all can,” Hammerman said, leading off the Q&A session. “There's no longer an us and them... I need to represent that building. I need to make sure it works.”

How well it works, however, remains in question. Two follow-up studies are planned for 2013, portending tweaks and changes in the transportation plan. And it will take weeks if not months, most likely, for the use-transit message to sink in.

That suggests that the first season of Barclays Center operations will be an experiment, and the neighborhoods around the arena will bear the brunt of that experiment.

Keeping watch, likely not merely for their expertise in transit, were various Forest City Ratner officials and consultants, including Jonathan Rosen of BerlinRosen and Julie Greenberg of Kasirer Consulting.

Here's the opening segment:


(Videos by Jonathan Barkey)

Press coverage: what was stressed, what missed

Coverage of yesterday's events, including both meetings, was quite mixed.

Photo and set by Tracy Collins; foreground left is
Peter Krashes of Dean Street Block Association

WPIX-TV pointed to the distrustful faces in the crowd. Moreover, the six-month delay in releasing the plan left a bad taste in the mouths of those who knew about that delay.

The delay went unmentioned in the Daily News, which focused on the decision to scrap the free MetroCard; the Post, which took the same theme and mentioned the impact of increased parking costs on drivers not going to the arena; the Wall Street Journal and Patch, which stressed the debate over the plan; and the Times, which called Schwartz an “expert” (rather than an expert hired as a consultant) and stressed the not-new news that the parking lot had been cut in half, as did WNYC. (The Times’s Local blog did a much better job.)

Here's my coverage of the earlier meeting and the delay.

Missing details

Also, some of the details of that plan remained notably sketchy. For example, the design of the surface parking lot depends on the parking operator chosen.

Sam Schwartz photo and set by Tracy Collins

While the surface parking lot has been cut in half from its maximum, officials did not explain--as they’ve admitted--that a larger lot could be achieved only with stackers, counter-productive to traffic flow. Also, while subcontractor Click and Park is meeting with parking lot operators to get them to sign up for a parking reservation system, those operators have not been identified.

Even Forest City Ratner’s research efforts were inflated by Schwartz. He used the phrase “we interviewed” to describe outreach to 2200 potential arena-goers, aiming to learn about their transit choices and to educate them. As one of those “interviewed,” I can clarify--as Schwartz acknowledged--it was an online questionnaire/survey.

Questions can be submitted to the ESD (AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov) until June 22, and there will be a public meeting June 20 at 6 pm at Borough Hall to further discuss issues. Answers to some questions and issues will be placed on the ESD website in the coming weeks, and answers to all the questions should be posted within 30 days after the 30-day comment period ends in June.

At one point, Forest City Ratner’s Ashley Cotton said the company would be willing to make additional presentations to the community, and Hammerman said the CBs would participate.

Schwartz's presentation



MTA and LIRR reps also joined briefly:



Q&A: Residential permit parking

The first, and perhaps most important, question concerned residential permit parking, advocated to deter drivers looking for free space on the street.

Chris Hrones of the city Department of Transportation explained, as he’d done yesterday morning, that the DOT is preparing a report on local parking resources around the arena and Yankee Stadium, and will report to City Council soon.

But even if state legislation, currently stalled by Republicans like Brooklyn Sen. Marty Golden, were to enable RPP, it would take nine to 12 months to get a program going.

First set of Q&A



Disincentives

What disincentives will prevent people from circling neighborhood streets to look for free, on-street parking? When Hammerman read the question, there were some titters from the crowd.

Schwartz answered incompletely, stressing incentives: to use the parking reservation system that will direct them to nearby garages, and to “intercept drivers” so they use remote lots--at 50% of the rate of lots closer to the arena--near the BQE and use a shuttle bus along Atlantic Avenue.

Net gain or loss?

Photo and set by Tracy Collins 

One questioner rephrased a provocative question: how much will Forest City pay the MTA for the additional service it will offer?

Schwartz responded that, in the case of CitiField, the additional service is actually a fiscal gain. “So this isn’t necessarily an additional cost. This may result in a net of zero, or it could even be a benefit,” he said.

That may be so, but Forest City no longer has to spend money on planned free transit bundled into the ticket.

Schwartz said a free MetroCard wouldn’t make a difference, given that a majority of those in focus groups and “interviews” already have monthly unlimited ride cards.

The MTA didn’t respond. Earlier in the day, a transit official noted that most event-goers already have unlimited ride cards.

“The technology just isn't there,” Schwartz added, contending that the plan emphasizing transit is already “a robust plan.”

Goals and penalties

What are performance goals, how will they be measured, and are there penalties for nonperformance?



Schwartz reminded attendees that he’d cited goals to reduce driving to 28% of attendees on weekdays and 32% on Saturdays. He said there’d be an extensive study of traffic conditions.

But he didn’t answer what the penalties would be.

Later, Hammerman followed up by asking about the penalties.

Schwartz paused. Marshall got up and said, “No, there are no penalties.”

Later, she said that there may not be penalties, but there will be “continuing follow-up.”

More Q&A



Shuttle bus

Where will the shuttle bus park after the drop-off and before pick-up?

Schwartz said Forest City is negotiating with a shuttle bus owner in Red Hook, but if that space isn’t used, “we have locations on Pacific” Street opposite the surface parking lot.

Will shuttle buses have local drop-offs so local businesses can benefit?

No, the service will go only from the parking lot to the arena, and back.

Craig Hammerman photo and set by Tracy Collins 

Will there be shuttle service, as mentioned during the environmental review, from Staten Island Park &
Ride lots?

No, said Schwartz. A “remote” lot must be accessible during an event, if a patron has an emergency or otherwise decides to leave early. The Atlantic Avenue lots will be accessible by regular city bus, and even walkable.

Will there be any dedicated bus-only lanes on Atlantic and Flatbush avenues during events?

No.

Will any traffic patterns change once the arena opens?

There will be no directional changes, though some signal timing will be tweaked.

Barclays Center vs. MSG

Schwartz was asked to compare Madison Square Garden operations to the Barclays Center

He portrayed the Brooklyn arena as far ahead, as MSG provides no parking, nor a pre-paid parking system. Nor is there the kind of TDM plan unveiled yesterday. Unmentioned, however, is that MSG is in a business district full of available parking, and also sits on a major transit hub.

How does service compare with that for MSG?

Judy McClain; photo and set by Tracy Collins

The MTA’s Judy McClain said she didn’t have specifics, but noted that no gap trains were needed for MSG.

Plan applies for other events?

Will the TDM plan for other events be the same as for Nets games? (The capacity for basketball is about 18,000, for concerts 19,000.)

For large events, the TDM “is pretty much the same,” Schwartz said, noting that people take more transit to concerts, perhaps because they like to drink. For an event with 3000 to 5000 people, he noted, additional train service is unlikely. It was unclear, however, what the threshold is: 8000 people? 12.000?

Pedestrian safety and noise

Pedestrian safety is paramount, Schwartz insisted, citing the presence of traffic enforcement agents, pedestrian traffic managers, and off-duty cops (aka paid detail).

How will visitors be directed to go quietly to neighborhood destinations?

Forest City’s Cotton said private security and NYPD would be on the streets.

Another question: measuring success



Coordinate with BAM?

What kind of coordination will there be when there are large events, such as at the nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music?

Forest City executive Jane Marshall said there would be coordination, especially regarding parking, “to make sure they have a level of comfort, so Barclays is not taking away the parking away from BAM.”

It’s unclear how that works; won’t BAM attendees have to pay the increased market rates?

LIRR service?

While Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service will increase, from 10 pm to midnight, from every half-hour to every 15 minutes, would trains run after midnight? (Presumably, this would be for a late concert.)

Maybe, said an LIRR rep: “ if there is a need, we are open to it.”

MTA work

What happens when subways shut down for overnight work?

“We feel we can add the additional gap trains,” said the MTA’s McClain, noting that they may have to go on different lines.

Around the arena

Where will black cars pick up passengers?

“We’re not providing any special arena, said Schwartz, noting that Madison Square Garden operates similarly. People emerge from the arena and call their cars, he said, noting that the police department and the Taxi and Limousine Commission. “are routinely chasing people away from the area.”

Unmentioned was that the impact in Prospect Heights would be different.

Where’s the taxi staging area?

Though plans are still in formation, the goal is to have a line of yellow city taxis, and/or green borough taxis, across from the arena on Atlantic Avenue outside the Atlantic Center.

Local lots identified?

Do they have a document that details the number and locations of parking spaces expected to be available for presales?

Schwartz indicated the answer is no, given that “soon we'll know which operators are participating.”

Who gets surface parking spots?

ESD's Arana Hankin photo and set by Tracy Collins

Who gets first dibs on the 541 spots at the interim surface parking lot?

There will be 150 VIP spots that will be attended, and the parking operator will not get revenue, Marshall said. Those spaces will go one per suite, plus to some others. But parking otherwise is not offered with tickets, even to the All-Access holders.

Parking lot plans

What are the operational plans for that surface parking lot on Block 1129, including hours, efforts to reduce queueing, landscaping? When will they be presented, and when will there be comment?

“We are evaluating the responses we got for operating the lot,” Marshall said. The parameters “include not having people circulate in the community,” she said. There will be landscaping on the perimeter, though not to city standards on the interior, because the lot is not required to meet city zoning.

“I'm not going to promise any dates, because I'm usually wrong,” she added.

When will those plans be released? When’s the comment period?

“Remember, I'm the one who's really bad with dates,” Marshall responded not so helpfully. “I don't thing there will be a comment period,” but “we'll have a discussion” and take comments informally.

Bike parking area

Will motor scooters and motorbikes be able to park in the bike parking area?

No.

Impact of construction

How will construction of Building 2, the first planned tower, at Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue, and of other towers affect traffic and pedestrian access to the arena?

Marshall gave an incomplete answer. Noting that “we have plans to break ground on Building 2” this year, she said, “we need to come up with a logistical plan, that shows how the building will be built.”

That plan will be approved by city and state agencies, and will look at any impacts on arena operations.
People may be directed differently, “but those kind of detailed plans are not available now.”

Classon Avenue turns

Given that Classon Avenue is the first legal left turn off eastbound Atlantic Avenue, how to prevent cars from using Classon on their way to the BQE?

Chris Hrones photo and set by Tracy Collins

Hrones said there were no plans to ban left turns onto Classon, but traffic calming was being implemented. And traffic volumes both before and after the arena opens will be monitored, so potential countermeasures will be considered.

Ferry service?

Would there be ferry service to link into shuttle buses at Atlantic Avenue?

Schwartz noted such ferry service had been successful with Ikea in Red Hook. “As a dreamer, yes,” he continued, but said it likely wasn’t practical.

Directions to drivers

Various online mapping services all direct drivers on the southbound BQE to use Kent and Wythe avenues in Williamsburg rather than Tillary Street. How to avoid taht?

Wayfinding signs will be posted prior to Kent Avenue, Schwartz said, directing people to use Tillary Street.

Security

Given that the arena cantilever is closer than 20 feet form the curb at Atlantic Avenue, what protections will be needed to move traffic and curbside vehicles away?

Ashley Cotton photo and set by Tracy Collins

FCR’s Cotton, a recent hire, said she didn’t fully understand the question, but said that arena operators had been working fully with the NYPD to ensure that the building is safe.

(Note that, because the arena in Newark was that close to the street, officials closed streets there, an issue that provoked obfuscation from Forest City.)

Local impacts

Will residents near the arena receive quarterly surveys regarding impacts?

Schwartz repeated plans for post-opening traffic surveys. Cotton, who's trying harder than predecessor Bruce Bender to build ties to the overall community, said “we're not going anywhere” and that people should reach out. “And we're open to hear your concerns, even the ones shaking their heads in the background.”


Plan changes

Given the reduction in parking, have the ESD and Forest City amended project documents such as the Master Development Agreement, the Memorandum of Environmental Commitments (MEC), and the Modified General Project Plan.

No, said Schwartz, apparently relying on others’ information, as well. It was a question that hung out there with the rejoinder: why not? After all, the MEC has already been amended, and other aspects, such as the free MetroCard, have been scrapped.

Will the ESD release studies that support changes in the parking plan?

Either prior to or at the same time answers are posted, said the agency’s Rachel Shatz.

Impact of marketing

Won’t the proposed cross-marketing plan induce people to drive?

“We're hoping people stay, enjoy themselves, have a few drinks, and never drive,” Schwartz responded.

Final Q&A section


Truck routes

Why are trucks leaving the construction site taking non-commercial routes, and how will that be controlled in the future?

Cotton gave a wobbly answer, acknowledging that Forest City has seen photos (as posted on Atlantic Yards Watch) and saying the company was doing its best.

The ESD’s Arana Hankin got up and said the agency was “working closely with NYPD to step up enforcement.”

The circus

The last question: when the circus comes, when and how are the animals walked.

Schwartz, smiling, didn’t quite specify the route, but said that with Madison Square Garden, the animals walk through the Queens Midtown Tunnel in the middle of the night. He invited parents to bring their kids.

Barclays TDM Presentation Revised Notes

Arena transportation plan released, emphasizes additional transit service after events; BrooklynSpeaks calls it "too little too late," as drivers will seek free parking on residential streets

(Here's coverage from the evening meeting, with Q&A.)

Sam Schwartz

While the MTA and LIRR will add transit service after Barclays Center events to encourage use of the adjacent transit hub, and arena operators are trying hard to educated and encourrage event-goers to use such transit, the long-delayed Transportation Demand Management plan released today by developer Forest City Ratner still left arena neighbors worried.

Without residential parking permits or other disincentives to drive, “I think the risk to the community has been elevated,” commented Peter Krashes of the Dean Street Block Association after the bimonthly meeting of the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet, which involves agency stakeholders.

While the reduction in the on-site surface parking lot--to 565 spaces (including 24 for the NYPD) from a potential 1100 spaces (with stackers)--”is a good thing,” Krashes said, there’s no “insurance” that the reduction won’t lead to more people seeing free parking. (The reduction, announced early this month, was driven significantly by the surface capacity and the inability to use stackers.) He pointed to construction workers who tear down “No Standing” signs and police vehicles parked on sidewalks.

How can the plan be held accountable, asked Council Member Steve Levin. “Are there any penalties if offsite lots are underutilized?”

Forest City executive Jane Marshall pointed to required follow-up studies that should improve the plan, but sidestepped the issue of penalties.

Forest City consultant Sam Schwartz (aka “Gridlock Sam”) said he’d personally warn people not to drive.

Letitia James

Still, Council Member Letitia James warned, “I just don't think there's enough disincentives, I believe cars will flood our residential streets.”

At another point, Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6, pronounced himself “cautiously optimistic.”

Near the end of the meeting, held at Borough Hall, Rob Witherwax of Community Board 8 suggested a significant contrast between the Barclays Center area and Madison Square Garden and Newark’s Prudential Center. “There are still residential streets with parking” in Brooklyn he said.

Who's paying, and BrooklynSpeaks dismay

Also unclear is whether the increased service--which in many cases will be used by people who already have unlimited ride MetroCards--will cost the public coffers or not.

Indeed, BrooklynSpeaks, which has called for a balanced transportation plan, issued a statement calling today's announcement "too little too late."

Effective demand management is a lot more than advertising,” said Kate Slevin, Executive Director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “But the plan released today doesn’t even include the free subway fare for Nets ticketholders promised in 2009. The TDM assumes the public will bear the cost of adding transit capacity after arena events. Instead, the developer should be paying for service enhancements.”

Danae Oratowski, Chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council asked, “Why isn’t a reduction in parking being analyzed as part of the supplemental environmental impact study ordered by the State Supreme Court? It’s now clear that changes to the Atlantic Yards project approved in 2009 didn’t provide for on-site parking requirements that were part of the project’s original plan. ”

Michael Cairl, President of the Park Slope Civic Council added, “Fewer mandated HOV [high-occupancy vehicle] spaces than promised, together with the lack of residential parking permits during arena events, is a recipe for congestion on local streets.” (Note that the HOV spaces are supposed to be in area garages, though no specifics were offered.)

(See video coverage here.)

Meeting tonight

The process for public input begins today, with a public meeting at 6 pm tonight at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. The slide show is posted on the ESD web site (and embedded at bottom).

The public will have until June 22 to submit questions and comments, and ESD will have 30 days to respond. (James asked that there way be for people who don’t have Internet access to comment.) So, during the week of July 23, the final TDM presentation will be posted on the agency website, along with responses to questions and comments.

After that, there will be ongoing monitoring of the plan by Forest City and involved agencies, leading to tweaks, as well as a formalized analysis conducted by FCR required by the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which will be done in 2013. Another post-arena traffic study will be done in spring of 2013 in coordination with the DOT.

(Here's coverage in The Local.)

FCR’s take

Jane Marshall, and Dan Schack of SSE

Not providing parking is the number one disincentive to driving,” Marshall said. “Information about transit is the second.” Beyond that, Forest City is establishing a coordinated parking system for drivers to pre-pay for spaces, and to develop event-day operations that coordinate with transit agencies.

Tickets to the arena will contain information about transit, not parking. The Barclays Center website will focus on mass transit and discourage driving--though it also must be configured to allow people to pre-pay for spaces.

Enter Schwartz

Going through a PowerPoint presentation that should be posted on the ESD’s web site, Schwartz said Forest City “gave us the green light to do what we thought was best,” citing his firm’s record in doubling the transit share at CitiField and getting hockey fans in Newark to take public transit

The missing, he said, is to reduce driving and maximize transit, as well as alternative forms of transportation such as bicycling and walking.

In a “a superb location for transit,” he said, some 20 minutes from Times Square and 22 from Grand Central Station. “For the majority of people taking the subway, it will be a one seat ride.”

After interviewing 2200 people, including 1500 going to a Nets game, and conducting focus groups. “Information is influence,” he said, noting that, after talking with those 2200 people, the number who planned to drive dropped.

Specifically, initially, the expected mode split was: subway: 35%, LIRR: 7.5%, bus: 2.7%; nearly 39% car.

After education about the transit options, the split was: subway, nearly 40%; LIRR 10.5%; bus: 4.2%.

Thus, said Schwartz, they already expect to reduce the weekday auto share below the 28% goal in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and are close to the 32% goal on Saturdays. And the TDM efforts, including marketing and education, should drive more transit use.

Post-game service

Some 162 subway trains stop nearby between 7-8 pm weekdays, while 135 buses stop nearby and five Long Island Rail Road trains arrive during that time frame.

Post-game service, he acknowledged is more of a challenge. Not only is there peak level service before evening events, people arrive at different times. After a game, you have a surge of people leaving and a decrease in level of service.”

“Post-game transit service is key for retaining ridership,” he said.

So the MTA’s Judy McClain described plans to provide “gap trains”-- empty trains staged on unused tracks, or on a southbound express track.

Though the 5 and B trains may have stopped, they’re planning additional post-event service on the 4 train going toward Manhattan, and on the Q line both ways.

Existing bus service is ample, but the MTA will provide extra “wildcat” buses staged in the vicinity of the arena to help out with surges surges in ridership.

The Long Island Rail Road’s Hector Garcia said that, currently, four trains leave Brooklyn between 10 pm and midnight. On event nights, the number will double, and the arrival times will be coordinated with service from Jamaica.

Parking

The most contentious issue regarded parking strategy. Parking will be absent from marketing materials, Schwartz said, and “we will keep lowering expectation for drivers to find parking.”

Still, some people will drive. “We want to intercept drivers as soon as they get off the BQE,” directed to satellite lots with at least 612 spaces (at LI College Hospital etc.), with rates half the market rate closer to the arena. The lots will be served by shuttle buses that run along Atlantic Avenue.

Those driving closer to the arena will be directed to prepaid spaces in multiple facilities, via the Click and Park system, used at more than 100 event venues, That software will be integrated into the Barclays Center parking lot, he said, raising a question about how exactly parking will be both discouraged even as presale of spaces is promoted.

“We are entering into agreements with the parking facilities within a half mile, so we can distribute parking,” Schwartz said, so people driving from the north, for example, could find spaces north of the arena.

“One of the reasons we focused on Atlantic Avenue is we wanted people to have an alternative if they decided” to leave during an event; they could take public buses. (A shuttle to Staten Island lots was dropped as being too complicated.)

Where are HOV [high-occupancy vehicles] going? They “will be reserved at several facilities near the arena,” he said, not offering specifics.

As for the surface parking lot, the main access/egress point will be (privatized) Pacific Street, with secondary access/egress on Dean Street and and egress on Vanderbilt Avenue.

The 400 bike parking spaces will be guarded by security staff during all Nets games and other large events, but not sheltered, as originally promised.

Pedestrian way-finding will be included on the arena block, and in materials produced by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership

A cross-marketing program with area businesses, aimed to spread arrivals and departures, is “currently under development,” so no specifics were offered.

James suggested that cross-marketing include the Heart of Brooklyn, as well as several Business Improvement Districts in her district.

What it will look like

The curbside around the arena block will be dedicated to either “no standing” or arena uses. City bus stops will go to the arena “front door” on Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.

Taxis and limos should be able to wait curbside on Atlantic Avenue adjacent to the the Atlantic Center, though the plan has not been finalized with the TLC.

Questions

“Do you anticipate closing any streets?” asked Council Member James.

“At this point, we don't,” Schwartz responded, leaving open the possibility.

If local parking lots are not expected to reduce their rates, won’t drivers aim to park on the street?

Schwartz, not quite answering the question, said that remote parking would be half the cost of market rate.

Who will be hired to handle pedestrian traffic?

FCR’s Marshall said that both traffic managers and off-duty police officers (aka paid detail) will be hired.

“What’s the incentive for using mass transit?

Convenience, Schwartz responded, including direct access.

What about RPP?

“What can you do to prevent parking on residential blocks?” James asked.

“We're not doing anything to change the parking regulations,” Schwartz responded.

James asked about the status of her residential permit parking (RPP) proposal, which seems stymied in Albany.

Chris Hrones

The DOT’s Chris Hrones said he couldn’t speak to the politics of it, but said the agency is preparing a report, which should be released “in the next few weeks” regarding the possibility for RPP in the areas around both the Barclays Center and Yankee Stadium.

“Even if the legislature were to pass enabling legislation to allow an RPP program to go forward,” Hrones said, it would take at least 9-12 months to set up a program.”

In the interim, he said, “We'll have a chance to see how incentives and disincentives are working.”

What happened to the “NetroCard”?


James asked about a free MetroCard for arena-goers.

Marshall said such a plan, mentioned in the Final EIS, “was actually not effective and not possible,” since you can’t put a MetroCard on a game ticket and couldn’t track who'd be using a free MetroCard.

Moreover, it’s not enough money to motivate them, she said. Rather, improved subway access and public education are key.

“Do we really anticipate that people paying $250 to see Barbra Streisand are going to take the subway?” James asked.

Schwartz said that a lot of the people who bought All-Access passes will take the subway. (The subset going to Streisand, I’d suggest, may be a little older.)

How many cars?

Steve Levin

Council Member Levin asked how many cars were expected.

About 2500 in a worst-case scenario, and that’s without this TDM plan, Marshall responded.

Levin noted that the onsite lot and the remote lot meant more than 1100 spaces. Where are the rest?

Within a half mile, Schwartz responded, there are 20 parking facilities, with available capacity. (No details were given on the exact number of spaces.)

“We hope every one of those garages will be part of that [prepaid] system,” Marshall said, implying that the roster has not been set.

The arena employees, maximum 800 per event, are expected to take mass transit, Marshall said,

Disincentives to drive?


What are the disincentives to drive?

The market rate for parking, the difficulty in getting directions, and the lack of onsite parking, responded Schwartz and Marshall.

The convenience of mass transit, added the MTA’s Andy Inglesby. Given that most straphangers have MetroCards with unlimited service, ”basically if they come by mass transit, it’s free.”

Jim Vogel at right; Luke DePalma and Arana Hankin

Jim Vogel, an aide to Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, later asked if “we are actually looking at an additional subsidy” to support transit service.

Regarding CitiField, Schwartz said, the additional ridership was a net fiscal gain for the transit agency. “So it might not cost more, because we'll have more patrons,” he said, not referencing Inglesby’s “free” statement.

“Prove it to me,” Vogel said.

What next?

If goals are not being met, how hold this plan accountable, asked Levin. “Are there any penalties if offsite lots are underutilized?”

Marshall pointed to follow up studies, but sidestepped the issue of penalties.

Will TDM be used for all events?

For large events, Schwartz said, though no one specified a threshold.

Has MTA platform capacity been increased?

Larry Gould

The new entrance to the arena plaza actually connects to underutilized platform space, said the MTA’s Larry Gould.

Hammerman asked that Forest City and the state post specific numbers from previous studies about the number of projected trips.

Arena manager introduced

Also introduced was John Sparks, the general manager of the Barclays Center, who’s been here about a year and previously ran the AT&T Center in San Antonio and worked at other sports facilities. “Our goal for the Barclays Center is pretty simple,” he said. “We want to be partners with the community.”

Time, apparently, will tell.

Barclays TDM Presentation Revised Notes