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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Two panels of interest this week

On Monday morning in Manhattan (8 a.m.), the Drum Major Institute (DMI) will be sponsoring a panel on Increasing accountability for economic development subsidies, featuring former Minnesota State Senator John Hottinger. The senator sponsored a groundbreaking Minnesota law that requires that companies that receive public subsidies but fail to reach promised job creation goals repay the subsidy with interest.

A panel discussion on the implications of Hottinger’s work to New York will feature:
Errol Louis, Columnist, New York Daily News
Hon. Richard Brodsky, New York State Assembly
Adrianne Shropshire, DMI Fellow and Executive Director, New York Jobs with Justice.

I was asked to attend and ask a question, so I'll bring up the issue of Atlantic Yards. Brodsky has criticized the lack of accountability of quasi-public agencies like the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), which must approve the AY project. Louis has enthusiastically touted the project. Shropshire's organization is a coalition of numerous unions and civic organizations, including some, like ACORN and the Fifth Avenue Committee, that share similar goals but have emerged on opposite sides of the AY project.

BCAT panel

Also this week I'll be part of Reporter Roundtable, a 30-minute public affairs show on BCAT/Brooklyn Community Access Television. The topic: Atlantic Yards. The host is Gersh Kuntzman, editor of the Brooklyn Papers, which has often looked skeptically at the AY project, and the other panelist is Dennis Holt, senior editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which has often enthusiastically endorsed the project.

We'll be taping the show on Tuesday, the day after the second and final community forum on the plan. The show airs on Friday night at 9 pm and repeats several times.

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