An online meeting tonight at 6 pm to hear residents' concerns and project updates. Here are some issues: arena impacts, dog run, open space, signage.

Yes, I know the election results are dominating people's consciousness right now, but there is a Quality of Life Update Meeting behind held tonight at 6 pm, on Zoom, for residents around/of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project to voice concerns and also to hear various updates.

This would be the first such meeting since February 2003. 

The meetings slacked when vertical construction finished, and also, I suspect, because personnel had departed from Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project.

However, the reason for such meetings, with ESD having the ability to bring representatives from various agencies and companies to field questions, has not waned, as I wrote.

Registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jfX9MgsFTsWiguTSctqB1w. 

Questions and comments for the presenters can be submitted via email to AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov before the meeting. Questions and comments can also be submitted in the virtual platform’s chat feature during the meeting.

Meeting agenda

The agenda includes presentations from/about:

1. Empire State Development
2. Barclays Center (BSE Global)
3. Greenland USA
4. Pacific Park Conservancy
5. Additional Updates

What about Greenland?

As I wrote, it will be interesting to see what Greenland USA, the master developer which is slated to lose development rights to six railyard parcels, has to say.

Greenland does have the rights to develop Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena, and likely would either engage a partner or sell the rights. Note that a proposed shift of bulk from the unbuilt B1 tower, once slated to loom over the arena, to Site 5 would require an approval process involving public hearings.

Dog run

Note that the Pacific Park Conservancy, which I described in May as a phantom because no one answered emails and the phone number didn't work, is on the agenda.

Presumably it will be asked about managing the noisy dog run that has plagued residents of the West tower of 595 Dean.

Now there's a new phone number (voice mail), 646-930-4852. Has it been circulated to anyone beyond the announcement of this meeting? Will it be posted publicly at the entrance to the open space?

I checked with Randal Wilhite, a 595 Dean resident who previously expressed frustration with his landlord, and the Conservancy, for not tamping down noise.

He told me that, after sending a letter of complaint outlining a potential nuisance claim, he was been told that security would start locking the dog park outside of the posted hours. That, he responded, would be insufficient. He didn't get a response.

While the dog run was locked until 8 am or 9 am for a few weeks, he said, that didn't continue. So I wonder:

• can/will the dog run be locked after hours?
• will other measures be taken to restrict use by time of day?
• can/will measures be taken to buffer the noise?

Arena event impacts

After a dozen years, we now know that events at the Barclays Center that attract more vehicles--often concerts attracting older audiences, or family shows--cause more disruption on the streets (honking, traffic jams, illegal standing/idling, etc.).

Has ESD, working with city agencies, refined tactics toward minimizing those impacts?

One Prospect Heights resident in August wrote the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), expressing opposition to new development on the railyard (sorry, already approved), adding "There is NO street parking and deadlock traffic with extremely loud honking and noise pollution every time there's a Barclay event. The car garages are full. There are no bike lanes. The corner of atlantic and pacific has a traffic problem as well - it takes 45 mins to cross 10 blocks by car."

AY CDC Chair Daniel Kummer requested the staff review those comments and consider whether it’s appropriate to refer them to NYC DOT [Department of Transportation] or to NYPD [Police Department]." He also invited the commenter to attend the next Quality of Life meeting.

Delayed open space

Seven years ago (!), in October 2017, I reported that the developer said open space work at Times Plaza—on about 4,500 square feet controlled by the Department of Transportation (DOT)—might go into 
construction in the second quarter of 2018.

This was supposed to include planters, tables and chairs, plus space for a kiosk, bike racks and trash cans. What's going on with this?

The initial justification for the plan--first presented as a public space upgrade, then augmented with safety improvements after public pushback--was to offset an open space deficit for workers in the area, as identified in the 2014 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

Art/advertising signage

Has the "You Belong Here"/"We Belong Here" conceptual art signage over the arena's transit entrance, which I think also doubles as advertising, been renewed? (Its initial term was supposed to end this year.)

If so, for how long? How many extensions are possible?

Youth basketball at Modell's site

We learned in September that arena operator BSE Global plans to temporarily use the vacant Modell's Sporting Goods store, at Site 5 opposite the arena, for their youth basketball program, Brooklyn Basketball, which involves summer camps and after-school clinics.

The proposal, which also involves site leaseholder Greenland USA, was presented merely as an informational item at a meeting of the AY CDC, as ESD will surely give its consent.

An unresolved question is: how many of those camps and clinics would be free vs. paid?

School opening

A Pacific Park Campus, with a high school and and intermediate school (and a small special education program) opened in September in the base of the 662 Pacific Street tower, at Sixth Avenue between Dean and Pacific streets, with the address 491 Dean Street.

How is that working, especially when students arrive and leave? What about staff parking?

ESD outreach

What kind of outreach has ESD done for this meeting, beyond its existing mailing list for those interested in Atlantic Yards issues? 

For example, were notices shared with management at the eight extant Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park buildings? 

Were notices shared with area civic groups? Were any posters or notices posted around the project site?