Skip to main content

Featured Post

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

Will Brooklynites embrace the Nets? Will the bitter history be forgotten?

Brooklyn Based, in Nets Gain—and Losses, as this question:
Next year has the potential to be a long season, which could add to the frustration Brooklynites are already likely to feel amid all the talk of eminent domain, traffic jams and affordable housing bait-and-switch that already surrounds the Barclays Center, the Nets’ arena.

So what does it mean to Brooklyn basketball fans if, in fact, our new home team sucks?
The answer? Some still support the Knicks. Others have jumped on the wagon.

One calls Mikhail Prokhorov "the Russian Mark Cuban, so he’s going to want to win at all costs,” which doesn't take account of Prokhorov's strikeouts so far on big-time stars like LeBron James and Dwight Howard.

The writer, Van Sias, agreed with the need for patience regarding the team and project:
Or, as my wife, Nancy Gannon, the great philosopher puts it: “Best-case scenario, they’re awesome and just eff up my parking. Worse-case scenario, they suck and they eff up my taxes and my parking.”
My comment:
How does the difference between the Nets being "awesome" or "sucking" affect whether they "eff up my taxes" (or, to be more precise, "somewhat eff up the city budget because the arena causes a loss, according to the Independent Budget Office)?
Gradual acceptance?

A Columbia University Journalism School radio show visits Prospect Heights, in Brooklynites Gradually Accept Barclays Sports Arena, quotes Battle for Brooklyn and observes:
But all the movie did was delay construction for six years. Now rent in the area is up. And some business can’t afford it. One of them is Triangle Sports across the street from the venue at 5th and Flatbush avenues. Ashante Brulan has worked there for 8 years. But he’s not worried about finding new work.
BRULAN: Once they build it, they’re going to need to staff it. So it’s going to create jobs that way. I heard they’re going t hire Brooklyn residents. So, that’s a good thing.
Right now, about 650 people work daily in and around the arena.
SOUND: Fading up and down sound of construction work going on.
Barclays says it will have about 1,000 jobs to fill when it opens at the end of September. It’s not clear how many will go to Brooklyn residents says Barclays vice president of marketing, Elisa Pedilla.
That's not exactly a vote of confidence. Nor will that be 1000 full-time jobs.

My comment (not yet posted):
“All the movie did was delay construction for six years.” Really?

First, the movie was finished after the arena broke ground. The movie had no impact on delays.

As for the citizen movement, including lawsuits, rallies, and community engagement, it did far more than “delay construction for six years.” (Nor should the citizen movement be credited solely for a phenomenon also attributable to the worldwide recession and developer Forest City Ratner’s unrealistic plans.)

If you watched the movie, you’d see how the events described call attention to the undemocratic way projects get done.

As I wrote in my review of the film:
“HAVING OBSERVED much of the story in real time, I found Battle most valuable in the camera’s witness to the palpable insincerity and cold-blooded indifference of the developer-government alliance. Though Atlantic Yards may not directly evoke the Robert Moses era, when massive numbers of people in New York City were displaced by large public projects, the film shows that the powers today are less blatant but still relentless.”

Comments

  1. It's not true that Triangle Sports can't aford the rent. The store's owners own the building.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment