At Quality of Life meeting tomorrow, big questions (platform, affordability) recur. Why mislead on after-hours work? Updates on elevator at Barclays Center transit hub, plaza renovations?

The next bimonthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life Meeting will be held tomorrow at 6 pm on Zoom.

A typically anodyne agenda (right) lists presenters, including Empire State Development, Barclays Center, and Developer Greenland Forest City Partners, but offers no clues.

Dial In: 646-558-8656 || Passcode: 985 1163 0645#
Meeting ID: 985 1163 0645

During the meeting, attendees will be able to submit questions and comments to presenters via the virtual platform’s chat feature or via email to AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov.

What's at issue

Previous coverage here; though Empire State Development is supposed to post meeting notes here, they haven't done so yet.

We're still waiting for updates on some of the big questions regarding the project, such as plans for the two-block platform over the Vanderbilt Yards, crucial to the construction of two sets of three towers.

But we may finally learn about the configuration of affordable housing at the two towers nearing completion, 18 Sixth and 662 Pacific. (As I've reported, the lender for 18 Sixth disclosed that all of the 30% affordable units would be aimed at middle-income households earning 130% of Area Median Income.)

I wouldn't be surprised to see a housing lottery--divulged as an exclusive?--for one of the buildings announced before or at the meeting,

And surely we'll hear progress regarding the two towers on the southeast block, 595 Dean and 615 Dean, which rely on--as discussed below--undisclosed after-hours construction.

Construction Updates leave doubts, questions

As I wrote, the most recent two-week Construction Update, which is supposed to indicate new work in red, was a repeat of its predecessor, including, in red, "An increase in truck activity can be expected at the site," regarding the B12/B13 site, 615 Dean and 595 Dean.

That either means 1) they're lazy/sloppy and didn't bother to update it or 2) the increase in truck activity signaled two weeks earlier didn't happen, but now it's expected to happen.

Also, for multiple Updates, the document has refused to disclose the expected hours for Saturday work at that B12/B13 site, nor disclosed that an After-Hours Variance has been approved for weekday work at 6 am. 

Why can't they simply tell the truth? That's on Empire State Development, master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, and the developer of those towers, TF Cornerstone.

Questions about the arena

Perhaps the Barclays Center representative will inform us whether the often out-of-service elevator at the arena plaza will be repaired by the end of July, as signs indicate.

Another question: how often has the arena broadcast events, like the playoff game I saw, on the LED screen to visitors on the arena plaza, and what are plans going forward for that?

Another question regards purported repairs at the arena plaza. As indicated in the photo at right, taken June 7, the plaza was had been cordoned off since mid-May for purported work.

I'm not sure exactly what was done, if anything, since then.

As the photo below indicates, the plaza has weeds growing up from the ground that have not been tended to. But it has, post-playoffs, been reopened.