AY down the memory hole: Doctoroff credited by NY Times for Atlantic Yards' "larger plan for 17 high-rises." No, project wasn't abandoned.

OK, when a New York Times profile of former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, posted online 9/6/23, bizarrely credited the former city official with the Atlantic Yards plan but also said the recession forced its abandonment, I tweeted the following

"Apartment towers... rise" far more slowly than originally planned, and delay means that baseline for #affordablehousing calculations rises steadily.
In his book, Doctoroff admitted he thought #AtlanticYards was a "crazy risk," but he played good soldierhttps://t.co/m1DNHH5pDc

— Norman Oder (@AYReport) September 6, 2023

Following up

When I saw the article in print three days later, His Mind Helped Rebuild New York. His Body Is Failing Him. with the mistake intact, I wrote a letter to the newspaper, seeking a correction:

By no stretch of imagination should Doctoroff be credited with "larger plan for 17 high-rises." Rather, the plan was developed by developer Forest City Ratner/Bruce Ratner, and shepherded/approved, with NYC/Doctoroff's encouragement and assistance, by the NYS Urban Development Corp., aka Empire State Development Corp., or ESDC (today Empire State Development, or ESD), a state authority.

As Doctoroff stated in his memoir Greater Than Ever (excerpts attached), "my role... was to be as supportive and reassuring as possible" and that NYC officials decided they would "take advantage of the state's seemingly speedier process."

Moreover:
--the developers have not​ abandoned the plan approved by ESDC in 2006. Rather, that plan was modified slightly when the project was re-approved in 2009. See the 2006 and 2009 Modified General Project Plans here: https://esd.ny.gov/atlantic-yards-community-development-corporation-1
--while the arena might arguably seen to extend Downtown Brooklyn into Prospect Heights, the project promoted as Atlantic Yards (and since renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn) is predominantly located in Prospect Heights. See for example the p.r. for the latest towers: https://595dean.tfc.com/.And a search of NYT coverage/corrections will see references to "near Downtown Brooklyn"

(I missed another correction--it was 16 high-rises, not 17. Moreover, there were only two approved at 50+ stories.)

No response. 

In, 2017, the Times got ride of its Public Editor, a position aimed to instill accountability. Instead, asserted publisher Arthur Sulzberber:

“Our followers on social media and our readers across the internet have come together to collectively serve as a modern watchdog, more vigilant and forceful than one person could ever be,” he wrote. “Our responsibility is to empower all of those watchdogs, and to listen to them, rather than to channel their voice through a single office.”

Not really.

Comments on the article

I should note that one online reader of the article, MGerard, called the claim nonsense that Doctoroff "built so much of this city," given that others deserved the credit.

Responded 2020, "Someone has to have a vision for the future to bring to fruition allowing others to shine in their own efforts. Dan is that person. Someone has to have oversight and overview and honesty in their dealings to build this great city. Dan is that person."

Except even if you accept that framing, for Atlantic Yards, Doctoroff and the city played a secondary role. Yes, an important one, but still a secondary one.