Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Update: note belated, bland agenda at right. At tonight's Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Community Update meeting , expect a discussion of how well Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority overseeing/shepherding the project, tracks incursions on the neighborhood from construction or arena operations. At the 4/13/16 Community Update meeting, where responses to harassment dominated discussion, there was a frustrated set of exchanges regarding that issue. And at last month's Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) meeting , that issue recurred--along with a meta-discussion about how well the minutes of the Community Update meeting were conveyed to the AY CDC directors. At the April Community Update After ESD's Community Affairs officer Nicole Jordan explained that incidents posted on Atlantic Yards Watch were immediately forwarded to her, Peter Krashes of the Dean Street Block Association noted that many incidents he knew of were not liste...

It was a busy weekend at the Barclays Center, with a New York Islanders vs. New Jersey Devils game last night, and a Brooklyn Nets vs. Los Angeles Clippers game on Saturday night, in both cases starting at the family-friendly hour of 5 pm. And then, of course, came illegal parking. It's another argument for increased resources (and priority) to curb on such blatant (and frequent) violations Take the limo parked in a bus stop on Bergen Street just west of Flatbush Avenue, with hazard lights flashing but no driver, as shown in a photo last night sent by a reader. In a Bergen Street bus lane On Atlantic Yards Watch A report on AY Watch : Cars parked in usual spots: 2 in No Standing zone at 446C Dean, 2 stopped in No Stopping zone across the street, 2 parked in bus stop at 429 Bergen, different cars at different times at hydrant at 39 5th Ave and TLC licensed van at hydrant at 35 St. Mark's Avenue. Also on Saturday night , many cars parked at Woodland on 74 6th Ave...

For more than two-and-a-half hours Monday morning, according to resident Wayne Bailey's post on Atlantic Yards Watch, two 18-wheel tractor-trailers illegally idled in the narrow single southbound lane on Sixth Avenue outside the Barclays Center, waiting to enter the B3 site at the corner of Dean Street. That meant vehicles had to evade them by going into the oncoming traffic lane, as whown in the video below.

As construction proceeds, seeming violations continue, as documented by resident Peter Krashes on Atlantic Yards Watch. Yesterday,  Bay Crane delivery truck idles in bus stop on Vanderbilt Avenue : Bay Crane truck parked in the bus stop on the southwest side of the Vanderbilt/Dean intersection in front of 556 Vanderbilt idles for more than 3 minutes. It was still idling when I arrived and idling when I left. Residences are feet away. Indeed, see the video: Saturday was a day when the street was closed for construction , but they're still not supposed to idle like that. Even more confusingly, see a report from Friday, Dean Street block closed without notice for one day : Due to work in the street at the Dean and Vanderbilt intersection, Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt was closed today. According to multiple workers involved with the work, it was closed all day and re-opened around 2:15. According to the workers, the work being executed was electrical work in...

A troubling incident was detailed by Atlantic Yards neighbor Peter Krashes in a post on Atlantic Yards Watch Aug. 18. "A Posillico Tully truck was standing/parked in a no standing zone on South Portland Avenue below Atlantic Terrace waiting to enter the Atlantic Avenue work area this morning," he wrote.  "Specifically, the truck was located on the northeast corner of the Atlantic Avenue/South Portland intersection pointed in the direction of the traffic. South Portland is not a legal truck route and is not included in the truck protocols as a truck route, so the truck was not only parked illegally it was on an illegal route. It was standing/parked right below a residential condominium complex." Indeed, it is not a truck route. See Rail Yard Truck Protocols . Not much help However, two NYPD traffic agents at the other side of South Portland at the Atlantic Center mall took no action. Indeed, both the truck driver and traffic agents told Krashes the tr...

So All-Star Saturday night last night at the Barclays Center, with the Slam Dunk Context and Three-Point Contest, among other events, was a fun time for TV viewers and visitors, among them numerous celebrities . For the neighborhood around the arena, the event, as with the All-Star event Friday night, was more of a challenge, with more incursions than initially disclosed or even finally disclosed--an impact "creep" that is not unusual for such large events. Belated disclosure For one thing, only on Wednesday--a day after an Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting  where preparations were discussed--was it disclosed that metered parking along Flatbush Avenue between 7th Avenue and Atlantic Avenue would be instead devoted to staging buses. Note that this was in the second, not first, set of instructions to neighbors. See the two-page document at bottom, in contrast with the one-pager previously sent. I was not forwarded that document at the time. And while the change w...

Work at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Sixth Avenue has made it perilous to cross the major artery of Atlantic, as noted in a post on Atlantic Yards Watch. A resident of Atlantic Terrace, the building at the northeast corner of the intersection, filed an incident report, and photos: The crosswalk on this intersection has been unsafe and continuously shared between cars, trucks, bikers , construction trucks and pedestrians. The authorities, DOB, or the developers did not even bother painting a new crosswalk in a more safe location, indicating where pedestrians should cross to stay safe and away from cars. Several times a day there are no workers helping and indicating the way. Pictures from a high floor on the Atlantic Terrace residential building on Atlantic Avenue between South Oxford and South Portland Streets show the exact intersection of 6th Avenue and Atlantic Avenue and the sequence of events of cars and pedestrians sharing the crosswalk. Nicole Jordan, community rel...

Narrowed Dean Street leads to congestion The Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, promised to be active this month, now has its first meeting delayed until January 30. It was supposed to enhance oversight, even if it it has just an advisory role, but the delay suggests construction trumps accountability. Its members should be consulting--and enhancing-- Atlantic Yards Watch, where neighbors post incident reports. Here's a round-up of some recent ones. A delay for fire trucks This  report , regarding a mid-afternoon incident on 12/8/14, describes how congestion on Dean Street, compounded by the closure of Sixth Avenue between Bergen and Dean Streets, stalled a fire truck in Dean Street traffic for more than two minutes. In recognition of the fire truck's siren and honking, several drivers on Dean--already narrowed for construction on adjacent Block 1129, with the sidewalk constrained by construction on part of the south side--pulled their cars up on ...

Looking west along Dean Street from Sixth Avenue The sidewalk on Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth avenues has been taken over periodically for deliveries of steel for the Barclays Center's new green roof. That was predicted in the most recent  Construction Alert . However, despite a promise that protocols for the trucks were supposed to include "vehicle idling restrictions," one tractor-trailer idled yesterday morning for more than 45 minutes, according to a report and video posted on Atlantic Yards Watch . That's right across the street from several residences. I queried Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing/shepherding the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project, about whether this apparently violation provoked a response or sanction, but didn't get a response. Why no flagmen? Also, despite a promise in the  Construction Alert  about flagmen promised to "be present to direct pedestrians away from the work area," none...

Well, the Barclays Center arena has been relatively quiet, but get ready for crowds at--and spillover impacts from--the sold-out Justin Bieber concert tomorrow and then three sold-out Beyonce concerts Saturday, Aug. 3 through Monday Aug. 5. Meanwhile, residents of the Newswalk building between Dean and Pacific streets east of Sixth Avenue continue to report problems from work at the railyard. From Atlantic Yards Watch July 23: Severe building vibrations due to construction. This was reported to me by a neighbor on the south side of my building (Dean Street side).  From Atlantic Yards Watch July 23: 535 Dean Street is shaking due to drilling in the railyard. From Atlantic Yards Watch July 26: Vibrations are shaking our apartment building. This was reported to me by an 8th floor resident.  Atlantic Yards Watch also contains a report of an illegal limo parking queue on the residential portion of Fort Greene Place, with about 12 limos double-parked and idling....

Instagram/ dadarocks The Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey circus arrived yesterday in Brooklyn, and the elephants were the highlight--both for circus-watchers and protesters. First came a staged walk-through DUMBO in the morning. As NY1  reported : To celebrate its arrival Wednesday, a parade of eight elephants and their handlers marched across Old Fulton and Old Water Streets, wowing school kids and adults who came out to see the unusual sight. ....Borough President Marty Markowitz also proclaimed it Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus days while they're in town. Protesters were kept a block and a half away, according to Gothamist . A New York Post article headlined  Jumbo in dumbo  cited the arena developer: “I have been waiting for this moment for 10 years!” Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner yelled to the crowd of bystanders that gathered, referring to the time it took to get the arena built. An evening  protest Before t...

Trees on Pacific Street in summer When the city removes parking  next week from the north side of Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues, and directs the street one-way, there's some collateral damage, "construction delay-induced blight," as Peter Krashes writes on Atlantic Yards Watch:  "Temporary" removal of street trees on Pacific Street (and elsewhere) could last for decades with delayed construction . Next week developer Forest City Ratner will remove 20 street trees on that north side of Pacific, part of a 2008 Parks Department permit that allows the removal of 86 existing street trees. But this may take far longer than previously assumed. As Krashes writes: The area where the trees on Pacific Street are located was originally anticipated to be the first area of the second phase of the project to be constructed. However, in October 2012, FCRC Executive Vice President MaryAnne Gilmartin told investors that second phase construction...

Barclays Center operators got a dose of good luck this week when sold-out Jay-Z concerts combined with slow security lines to stall many event-goers in slow lines outside the three entrances: the weather was balmy. After all, when it rains, the arena plaza does not exactly offer much shelter and yesterday, during intermittent rain in the early part of the evening, concert attendees clustered under part of the extended oculus (right) or closer to the building (below). Below that, some videos of the scene one nearby blocks before and after the sixth (of eight) Jay-Z concerts. The crowd may have been somewhat smaller--or, at least, got in faster than on previous days. ( Update : it's more likely that the arena procedures are getting better and people were arriving over the 90 minutes between the announced start of the show and the actual start.) There were still cars taking up spaces and sidewalks in apparent violation of city law--though placards and official vehicles can tru...

It's an unanticipated impact of Barclays Center operations: a concert venue that leaks noise and bass so it can be heard and felt by neighbors. I reported yesterday about neighborhood complaints, and even heard/felt it myself, albeit from the street. Three more incident reports  on Atlantic Yards Watch, posted last night, repeat those concerns. One resident on Dean Street between Sixth and Carlton avenues reported : The concert last night was clearly audible from inside my apartment, even with the windows closed. Another resident, on Dean between Flatbush and Fifth avenues, reported : For the second consecutive night the bass and music from the concert was audible inside of our apartment. Despite an email from the community affairs manager stating that they were investigating what caused the noise last night, there is no improvement. This is so frustrating and disheartening, yet I'm hardly surprised. I'll query arena operators, as well, and report back any response. ...

Even with the Atlantic Antic, Brooklyn's biggest street fair, closing Atlantic Avenue west of Fourth Avenue until 7 pm yesterday, traffic flowed well on Flatbush Avenue next to the Barclays Center before the 8 pm show by Jay-Z, his third straight sell-out performance. Magic? No, human intervention. (Also see coverage of first and second nights of arena operations.) As shown in a video below, shot from the intersection of Flatbush and Pacific Street, the key to traffic flow is a cluster of pedestrian managers--more like traffic managers--and traffic agents/cops who steadily waved northbound and southbound traffic through red lights. That extended the time available for Flatbush flow, and cut down the crossing time for pedestrians, many of whom understandably assumed that a green light meant go. Such an override is manageable only with such additional staff, and that's not a permanent feature of the arena. So check back in a few months. Line waiting to get in 7:07 pm ...

From Atlantic Yards Watch,  Arena facade will provide an all-over light show at night : In what is something of a surprise, the facade of Barclays Center is to be illuminated by multi-colored LED lights set in between the body of the arena building and the metal shell designed by SHoP Architects. The lights will shine from each of the slots in the rusted steel exterior. The colors of the lights are variable. So far we have witnessed purple, white, green and blue being tested. The gist: muted violet is nicer than aggressive green, but no one was ever told how it might work. For more, see Atlantic Yards Watch .

Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner,  appearing  9/11/12 on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance," managed to smoothly rewrite the history of Forest City Ratner's (FCR) noncompliance with construction protocols (noise, dust, traffic) and the state's failure to stop such violations. The failure, actually, goes beyond FCR's noncompliance and a TV host's inability to be skeptical. It implicates the "culture of cheating" --nothing illegal, but a framework that lets private interests trump public interests. The failure goes back to the December 2009  Memorandum of Environmental Commitments (MEC) that FCR negotiated with Empire State Development, the state agency that has the dicey duty of both overseeing and promoting Atlantic Yards. The MEC was supposed to bind Forest City to construction practices that protected the neighborhood. In fact, according to documents I viewed via a Freedom of Information Law request, the state at one point sough...