Next AY CDC meeting July 22 at 3 pm, set to endorse changes in project (that we don't yet know about)

Here's a link to coverage of issues raised at the meeting, including 100,000 square feet of new, below-ground space, a cut in vehicle parking, and a change/cut in bike parking.

The train is rolling. The fix is in.

With less than one week's notice, Empire State Development, the state authority overseeing/shepherding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, today announced a July 22 meeting of the  Directors of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, an ESD subsidiary advisory body that most often acts as a rubber stamp. (It's controlled by gubernatorial appointees.)

No agenda was announced, but surely the board will be considering--and endorsing--several changes proposed by the developers, as noted below.

The weekday meeting will be held in Manhattan, convenient to state employees and others who work in that borough, less convenient to Brooklynites. (Several previous meetings were held at Long Island University.)

Date: Monday, July 22, 2019 at 3 pm
Empire State Development
37th Floor Conference Room
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017

This meeting is open to the public. Webcasting of the meeting is available here.

Those attending should RSVP by 5 pm on Friday, July 19. RSVP press line (800) 260-7313; RSVP public line (212) 803-3766.

Part of a process

Tomorrow night, at the bi-monthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, several proposed project changes will be discussed, including reductions in bike and car parking, and changes to the project open space.

According to the announcement for that meeting, staff from ESD are to "discuss amendments to the Modified General Project Plan (MGPP) to be brought before the Atlantic Yards Community Development [Corporation] Board of Directors for recommendation, and then presented to the Empire State Development Board of Directors for approval."

In other words, once the AY CDC weighs in on July 22, the gubernatorially-controlled ESD board will meet and approve the changes.

By the way, the AY CDC is supposed to meet quarterly. Its last two meetings were 3/27/18 and 3/15/19. The delays have been blamed on logistics. But clearly the AY CDC is being used more to support the goals of the developer (and thus governor) than to serve as an independent oversight body.

For example, the AY CDC members, if they wanted to be informed of neighborhood sentiment, would want more time for residents to absorb the changes that are being unveiled tomorrow.