Does Marty Markowitz consider the Atlantic Yards arena his legacy? He says no, others say yes

While Brooklyn Borough President Marty "can’t wait to get the shovel in the ground" for the Atlantic Yards arena, according to the Courier-Life, he disavows it as his legacy:

When asked about his legacy, Markowitz turned reflective, saying there is no legacy and he has no children.

“When the lord calls me, that group of Markowitzs’ are gone, so there’s no legacy other than I did my job, and if I made you proud of being a Brooklynite, if I made your life a little better, and if I put a smile on your face, then I’ve done what I wanted to do,” he said.

Other opinions

Others, however, see the arena and team as Markowitz's wished-for legacy. (Emphases added)

Mike Lupica, RATNER'S MONEY TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, New York Daily News, 10/16/05:

Letitia James talks about Marty Markowitz, the borough president of Brooklyn who nearly weeps at the loss of the Dodgers and was desperate for the Nets to be his legacy, who seemed giddy to be in the same room with Ratner. Now he can't find the basketball team or the arena because of all those tall buildings.

Mike Lupica, MATH DOESN'T ADD UP IN RATNERWORLD, New York Daily News, 11/6/05:

Almost from the start, they used the Nets to obscure our view of the rest of this project. Marty Markowitz, a borough president obsessed with bringing major league sports back to Brooklyn, a legacy-obsessed politician the way Michael Bloomberg was as he tried to build the Jets their stadium on the West Side, is the one who went to Ratner and told him to bring the Nets over from Jersey.

Rich Calder, Marty hails Nets' buyer, New York Post, 9/27/09:

Prokhorov would also finance the long stalled-arena portion of Atlantic Yards, considered the legacy project of Markowitz’s political career, and potentially salvage the residential and commercial portions of it.