Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

With a foreclosure sale on the development rights to six Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park parcels, what next? I wrote yesterday about coalition BrooklynSpeaks' argument for a new plan , but that's not the most pressing thing. After all, the primary question, to me, regards transparency regarding the foreclosure sale. It's unclear who's responsible for delivering 876 more affordable housing units by May 2025, as established in a 2014 settlement the coaltion negotiated, with $2,000/month fines for each missing unit, and whether the deadline and damages would be attached to the parcels. Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, owes the public more transparency. So I followed up with a few questions for BrooklynSpeaks. Responses below, in italics, are from Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, on behalf of the coalition. I've added a few observations, as well. *** What might BrooklynSpeaks sponso...

This is the first of two articles on recent work by two scholars regarding Atlantic Yards. The second concerned their article on eminent domain. A book published last year, What the Signs Say: Language, Gentrification, and Place-Making in Brooklyn , focuses on a close analysis of retail signs. It also contains some interesting insights on Atlantic Yards, plus--I'd contend--some misreadings. This isn't the last word on Atlantic Yards from sociolinguist Shonna Trinch and cultural anthropologist Edward Snajdr, a married couple who both teach in the Department of Anthropology at John Jay College, CUNY, who are pursuing a larger study. They gained a 2010 National Science Foundation award to research “the dynamic and mutually transforming relations between local communities and urban development projects.” So this book reflects part of that research, focusing on retail markers of gentrification. The gist: The unique and consistent features of many words, large lettering, a...

2009 photo: Tracy Collins David Sheets, longtime Dean Street renter, Freddy's bartender, eminent domain plaintiff, and singular personality, died 1/17/18 in HCA Greenview Hospital in Bowling Green, KY. He was 56. There are obituary notices in the Bowling Green Daily News and the Wichita Eagle , which state: He was born in Wichita, KS where he attended public Schools and Wichita State University. He lived for many years in Brooklyn, NY, and was employed as a legal assistant. David's hobby was cartography and had an avid interest in Mass Transit Systems of the world. David was predeceased by his father, Kenneth E. Sheets. He is survived by his mother, Wilma Smith, step-brother, Billy Ray Smith and his wife, Jane all of Bowling Green; step-sister, Ellen Smith Alexander and her husband, Jerry of Bella Vista, AR; several cousins and step-nieces and step-nephews also survive. Memorial Services will be on Monday, January 22, 2018 at 1:00 pm with visitation from 10:00 am to 1:...

Yesterday was the deadline to comment on the Atlantic Yards Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS or DSEIS) regarding the impacts of a potential 25-year buildout. The Draft SEIS was ordered by a judge after two coalitions, led by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) and BrooklynSpeaks, filed separate lawsuits challenging, among other things, the state's decision to extend the project deadline without analysis of delay. Tomorrow, I'll look at BrooklynSpeaks' extensive comments (the summary is headlined ESDC's DSEIS preserves Forest City's right to delay Atlantic Yards, ignores critical need for housing now ). Below I've excerpted comments from DDDB attorney Jeff Baker, whose full comments are at bottom. Note that Baker, like DDDB legal coordinator Candace Carponter at the 4/30/14 public hearing to accept testimony on the Draft SEIS, warned of a potential lawsuit regarding the failure of Empire State Development (ESD), the st...

Put aside the public theater—some rude satire about Forest City Ratner’s new Chinese partner, a couple of literal dog-and-pony shows, some told-ya-so ’s from both sides—a curious, partial consensus on Atlantic Yards was vocalized by both critics and proponents at a hearing last night. Build Atlantic Yards now , they said, to deliver the benefits, predominantly affordable housing, given the promised 2250 subsidized units among 6430 apartments in 16 towers, only one under construction. But it wasn’t that simple, given vastly different levels of trust in the developer, That's why the atmosphere inside the auditorium at Long Island University sometimes got heated in a hearing that began shortly after 5:30 pm, lasted past 10 pm, and drew perhaps 140 people, a majority of them project critics. Proponents want hands off, critics a new oversight entity. Atlantic Yards supporters, many working off the same talking points , called for an expedited review and approval of the pending doc...