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The state-of-the-art start-up: Barclays Center is a venue perfected, except when it's not

Last week, when discussing the sometimes fraught operation of the Barclays Center, which periodically has trucks lined up outside on Dean Street, arena Community Affairs Manager Terence Kelly suggested operators deserved some slack.

“As a start-up,” he said at a periodic Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting, “we're still seven months out... we’re learning the challenges that exist, and we’re improving every single day.”

At another such meeting last October, Ashley Cotton, then Forest City’s External Affairs VP (and now Chief of Staff), acknowledged that, despite progress in several areas of operations, “we're just a start-up and we're still learning."

State of the Art

That contrasts sharply with other rhetoric emanating from the arena, such as the Mission Statement:
We present unparalleled Entertainment in Brooklyn, in a State of the Art Venue, with global appeal that lifts the spirit and creates lasting memories.
Or take the announcement for concerts by Rihanna:
Barclays Center is not about to stop the music so be there when Rihanna’s Diamonds World Tour dazzles in Brooklyn and this pop princess blows the roof off of NYC’s newest state-of-the-art arena!
Or the Disabled Services Guide:
The Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center staff would like to welcome members of our disabled community to the new arena, a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment destination.

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