Transit-oriented development? Allegedly. Transit-oriented groundbreaking? Not when Dean Street's "a parking lot."
The Atlantic Yards project has been pitched as transit-oriented development because the site borders a transit hub and is near other stations, but, as urban planner Tom Angotti has pointed out, it doesn't add any transit capacity--except, I'd add, a new entrance to the Atlantic Avenue station.
But it would add some 3600 parking spaces--PlaNYC 1950, as I've suggested--and, for an indefinite amount of time, 1044 (or more) surface parking spaces.
So a good number of people would still be driving, and that was quite clear at the Barclays Center groundbreaking on Thursday, which drew perhaps 1000 people, a good number of them coming by car.
That meant traffic was backed up on Dean Street near the site. (Photos copyright Jonathan Barkey)
Dean Street as parking lot
Commented "Montrose Morris" on Brownstoner:
Among those contributing to the congestion: vehicles like the one at left, ferrying Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
On Brownstoner, "architect66" commented on the urban design of AY:
But it would add some 3600 parking spaces--PlaNYC 1950, as I've suggested--and, for an indefinite amount of time, 1044 (or more) surface parking spaces.So a good number of people would still be driving, and that was quite clear at the Barclays Center groundbreaking on Thursday, which drew perhaps 1000 people, a good number of them coming by car.
That meant traffic was backed up on Dean Street near the site. (Photos copyright Jonathan Barkey)
Dean Street as parking lot
Commented "Montrose Morris" on Brownstoner:
I was in a car service car going home from my vet in Cobble Hill, when the hoopla was breaking up. I usually go down Wykcoff, which turns into St. Marks, and take that all the way to Crown Heights. The traffic was ridiculous, as people were trying to avoid Dean, which was a parking lot. My driver ended up going much further down into the Slope, and going over to Grand Army Plaza, and then we took Eastern Parkway to take me home. It was a wise move, but waaaayyyyy out of the way. We both agreed this was a harbinger of things to come.
Among those contributing to the congestion: vehicles like the one at left, ferrying Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.On Brownstoner, "architect66" commented on the urban design of AY:
It's a lost opportunity. Development over the yards could have been better, could have connected Park Slope with Fort Greene, could have promoted more economic growth by extending and connecting commercial strips on 5th Ave, Flatbush Ave. and Vanderbilt Ave., could have provided thousands of lineal feet of vibrant streets and graceful public places, but no, this design doesn't do that. A squandered opportunity.
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