Atlantic Yards down the memory hole: new book on de Blasio summarizes, mangles affordable housing deal

Atlantic Yards down the memory hole, yet again. (Here was the previous example.)

In an online version of an article coming Sunday, New York Times columnist Sam Roberts describes two new books about Mayor Bill de Blasio, calling them "insightful if slightly premature reckonings":

Each author cogently places Mr. de Blasio in context, if from slightly different perspectives (as suggested by their titles): “Reclaiming Gotham: Bill de Blasio and the Movement to End America’s Tale of Two Cities” by Juan González; and “The Pragmatist: Bill de Blasio’s Quest to Save the Soul of New York” by Joseph P. Viteritti.

I'll focus for now on The Pragmatist, the one book that's been officially published, and thus scannable, described by Roberts:

Mr. Viteritti, a professor of public policy at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, is more circumspect in exploring whether a mayor who values a transcendent agenda over a transactional one has managed to balance progressivism and pragmatism.

There are all of two mentions of Atlantic Yards in The Pragmatist. Both contain clear and arguable errors.

The first Atlantic Yards mention: team and location

First, as noted below, Viteritti writes that the new arena in Brooklyn would serve the "New York Nets." Nope, the New Jersey Nets were to be the Brooklyn Nets. (The team was the New York Nets from 1968-77, when it played on Long Island.)

He also situates the Atlantic Yards project in "Downtown Brooklyn." Well, the New York Times used that term a lot, and Viteritti is clearly using secondhand sources. But the New York Times also published a correction way back in 2006.

Today, it might be argued that the Barclays Center extends the boundaries of Downtown Brooklyn but, even the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership doesn't try to put the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project past the arena block into Downtown.

The second Atlantic Yards mention: developer and timetable

As noted below, Viteritti writes, seemingly approvingly, that de Blasio "picked up the ball on real estate projects he inherited... he got Forest City Ratner, the developer of the massive Pacific Park Project... to accelerate the construction of 2,250 affordable apartments by 2025-ten years ahead of schedule.

First, another clear error. The developer by then was Greenland Forest City Partners, the joint venture owned 70% by Greenland USA, with Forest City the junior partner (but local interface).

More importantly, "ten years ahead of schedule," while not incorrect, is hardly the full story. It's ten years ahead of the previously extended schedule, which went from ten years to 25 years. So a 2025 completion date is still well beyond what was long professed.

Also, that 2025 completion date is now in jeopardy, given that the developer last November--surely before the author's deadline--paused market-rate development.

And perhaps most importantly, the evidence so far is that the "affordable" units, while falling under the official definition of affordability, skew significantly toward better-off households than the original plan promised.

That's all too complicated for a book-length assessment of de Blasio? Not so pragmatic, in my book.