Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Screenshot from Arthur Piccolo's video What if… the Barclays Center Had Been the Jackie Robinson Arena? , I wrote June 4 for Bklyner, suggesting that we would not merely have honored the former Brooklyn Dodger as the first black man in major league baseball, but also would've had to reflect on Robinson's criticisms of American racism. Since then, longtime Brooklynite Arthur Piccolo, who years ago (as I wrote) quixotically proposed that the Brooklyn arena be named for Robinson, has renewed his cause in a new  video , embedded at bottom. It ends with a photo-shopped image of a Robinson statue with #blacklivesmatter protesters at the arena, Brooklyn's protest epicenter, invoking the gruesome police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The name Jackie Robinson Arena is appended to the arena oculus. (Screenshot at right) I had mused about a hybrid name, such as “The Jackie Robinson Center, Presented by Barclays” or even “The Barclays Center: Honoring Jackie Robi...

Joe Vardon of the Athletic wrote 1/10/20  The boys are back in town: How Nets coaches and players live among Brooklynites, like the Dodgers of old , describing how Nets coach Kenny Atkinson lives in "charming Cobble Hill," and various players live in other neighborhoods, with good access to the team's practice facility in Sunset Park. That's unlike the New York Knicks, whose players have to travel to Westchester to practice. Writes Vardon: Atkinson is the first coach of a major pro team to live in Brooklyn since 1958 — when Walter Alston managed the Dodgers before they moved to Los Angeles. Like Alston before him, Atkinson walks among Brooklyn’s people because he’s become one of them. The same thing typically happens to the Nets’ players, like the Dodgers before them. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have been seen at the courts at Brooklyn Bridge Park: Upon signing with the Nets last summer, Irving purchased a high-rise condo overlooking the park in the DUMBO n...

Gerald Early's 2011 book A Level Playing Field: African American Athletes and the Republic of Sports , contains an essay titled "American Integration, Black Heroism, and the Meaning of Jackie Robinson . He writes: Robinson arguably was the person who launched the American era of racial integration after World War II. This rush and flood of people and events--the Brown decision, the Montgomery bus boycott, the sit-ins, the March on Washington, Birmingham and Selma, Martin Luther King Jr., the Watts riots, Malcolm X, affirmative action, multiculturalism, the Million Man March--provoked unprecedented historical change in how Americans perceived pluralism and race, but shockingly, in the end, did not at all lessen the abiding sense of alienation that African Americans felt toward their native land. Early's point-- did not at all lessen the abiding sense of alienation --could be debated (not at all ?), but clearly it did not come close to removing that sense of alienation. ...

From historian Michael Beschloss in the New York Times's The Upshot, The Dodgers Departed Long Before Brooklyn Bounced Back : Some sentimental Brooklynites sadly recall the demolition of Ebbets Field, in the winter of 1960; someone had misguidedly repainted a wrecking ball to make it look like a baseball. Instead they might do better to focus on the Barclays Center, opened in 2012, which symbolizes Brooklyn’s current economic rebound and its reacquisition of major league sports. Barclays Center happens to stand near one of those parcels of land that Walter O’Malley tried to acquire 60 years ago, when he was imagining that modernistic domed stadium that might keep the Dodgers once and for all in Brooklyn. Well, there are not so many of those Brooklynites any more, and a heck of a lot happened between the departure of the Dodgers and the arrival of the arena. My comment : Mr. Beschloss recognizes that "urban governments routinely do somersaults to keep professional sports ...

The Brooklyn Game on 9/2/14 posted  Deron Williams talks adjusting to New York, his foundation in Resident Magazine cover story : Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams is the cover model on this month's Resident Magazine, self-described as the "Monthly magazine for the affluent and culturally savvy Manhattanite." In a feature by Rory Winston, Williams describes his adjustment to New York City life in his new TriBeCa home, as well as his commitment to Autism Speaks, the autism awareness foundation that has close ties to Williams and his family. Williams's son D.J. was diagnosed with autism at 18 months old. As it happens, Williams may be a Manhattanite and "culturally savvy"--and he seems like a good family man with significant charitable commitments--but he's not that comfortable in New York City, much less Brooklyn. That's not to say that a younger, single Brooklyn Net, who didn't grow up in Texas and/or have the bulk of his career in ...

From Real Estate Weekly, 5/15/13, For Ratner, developing New York is a team sport : “I think in some ways [The Nets] are more important than the Dodgers,” said Bruce Ratner, executive chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies, who brought the basketball team to Brooklyn from New Jersey last year. “We have a large, low income population in Brooklyn and having a basketball team is something that people, low, middle and upper income can really rally around. “Having young people have something to look up to and be proud of where they live is very important,” he said. Oh, sure. Let's look at the Twitter feed (right) of the biggest booster of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. He got all excited about the seventh game of the Nets' playoff series, right? He issued an e xuberant statement , even: “Our Brooklyn Nets’ exciting win last night in the Windy City really ‘blew’ me away—and now we are coming back to Barclays Center f...

Modell's sold more #Nets swag during the 1st day of the new branding than all of last season. thebrooklyngame.com/brooklyn-nets-… — The Brooklyn Game (@TheBKGame) April 9, 2013 From the article : Despite playing in a league with only 30 teams, the Nets were 31st in merchandise sales in their final year in New Jersey. They trailed all 29 other NBA teams, plus the now-defunct Seattle Supersonics. Just like the Dodgers? As a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Ebbets Field, the Dodgers 1955 championship banner will be displayed on the Nets court tonight. — Stefan Bondy (@NYDNInterNets) April 9, 2013 @ nydninternets Just 4 the record: #BarclaysCenter is not site where Dodgers sought to build successor to Ebbets Field cjr.org/behind_the_new… — Norman Oder (@AYReport) April 9, 2013

It's inevitable that the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets will aim to capitalize on the new Jackie Robinson biopic, "42," which opens Friday, April 12 After all, arena/team fractional owner Jay-Z called out widow Rachel Robinson during one of his arena-inaugurating concerts last fall, while mogul Bruce Ratner was honored last month by the Jackie Robinson Foundation. But the movie plays "the legend card," as  Dana Jennings wrote 4/7/13 in the Times Arts & Leisure section, The Superhero Who Leapt Color Lines: Jackie Robinson, the Hero, in ‘42: Robinson’s words bring us up short because, culturally, we want his legend — a cross-pollination of proud American mythology and exceptionalism — to be true because it makes us feel good about ourselves, about baseball, about our perceived progress on race relations. But as I listened to the hip-hop bravado of Jay-Z’s “Brooklyn We Go Hard” on a “42” movie trailer, I wondered whether he knew that Robi...

"The Barclays Center’s marketing team has long tried to draw a connection with the Brooklyn Dodgers," the Daily News reported yesterday, and so many (but not everyone ) comply: “It’s gorgeous,” Sharon Robinson , 62, said while standing outside Barclays Center on Tuesday. “I think my father would be very proud. “My father loved sports. He was a four-letter man at UCLA. So it’s right here in the city, and that would’ve been important to him, as it is to us.” The Post  reported : “We are proud that such a historic symbol of Ebbets Field will now stand permanently outside of Barclays Center to connect the borough’s great sports past to its present,” said [arena developer Bruce] Ratner. “The memories of Ebbets Field and the Dodgers, most notably the 1955 World Series championship, will always be an important part of Brooklyn’s history. Now fans from throughout the borough can take enormous pride in seeing a piece of Ebbets Field en route to watching Brooklyn’s new profes...

The New York Times devotes a section-front  article to the Nets' ( good, borough-focused ) theme song/anthem, and continues its series profiling fans in one section. Nets-Dodgers connection Meanwhile,  NetsDaily  (and  ESPN ) reported yesterday an announcement from the Nets ( updated : about an event today): At 4 p.m. an eclectic group will gather to honor the Brookyn Dodgers connection to the Brooklyn Nets by unveiling a plaque at the base of the flag pole, which once stood atop Ebbets Field, the Dodgers stadium. Among those at the dedication will be Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson; Jerry Stackhouse who wears No. 42 to honor Robinson; Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn's borough president who remembers the Dodgers leaving in 1957; Bruce Ratner and Brett Yormark, and Irina Pavlova, Mikhail Prokhorov's representative as president of ONEXIM Sports and Entertainment Holdings .. I  reported  in September that the flagpole dedication was in t...

Photos by Tracy Collins The Brooklyn Nets' delayed debut last night resulted in a victory over the Toronto Raptors, a reported (but dubious) sellout, and a general sense of fan satisfaction, including "Brook-lyn" chants--except, of course, for the mascot . And there's a general wave of pride, as the sports world reminds us. "A showpiece," the Brooklyn-born grandfather of RealGM's Jarrod Rudolph  tells  the writer, from afar. "That building is a showpiece! An absolute thing of beauty." Outside the arena, as far as I could tell, the impact of crowds was less than at previous events, notably the Barbra Streisand concerts , with the number of idling and honking limos greatly reduced--though not gone, as noted on Atlantic Yards Watch . (I'd reserve a full conclusion til others report in.) It looks like the word did spread that anti-idling measures would be enforced . (At left, the back of the New York Post.) What was most notable a...

The hip-hop blogs are all over  a message Jay-Z sent last night to his "critics," who are apparently those who described his fraction of Nets/arena ownership as minute--a misinterpretation of a laudatory New York Times article that showed how his role dwarfed his stake. (The more serious criticism of Jay-Z is whether he's fronted for developer Bruce Ratner, suggesting he's fulfilled promises about jobs, as I wrote  for Salon last year .) "Tonight, we got a lot of motherfuckers in the house, tonight," Jay-Z says in the video below. "Tonight we are in the midst of a historic time in Brooklyn, New York City. We finally got our own franchise." The crowd roars, apparently identifying borough residency with the capitalistic success of Ratner and Mikhail Prokhorov. (Though I know many disagree, the term "we" strikes me as most appropriate in the rare case when the team is owned by a cross-section of the community, such as the Green Bay P...

A flagpole (right) was installed Monday on the plaza outside the Barclays Center arena, near the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. It's obviously meant to be a beacon of sorts. There's space on the flagpole base for a plaque (left). What's coming? There's no official announcement yet, but I hear that the flagpole is supposed to represent the flagpole at Ebbets Field, home of the baseball Dodgers until they left Brooklyn after the 1957 season. And that means the flag will either be vintage or a copy. (Yes, I know this is not officially sourced, but I had the  Barbra Streisand  news right.) Linking the Nets and the Dodgers It's another effort to link the Nets and the Dodgers, a connection important mainly to men of a certain age--like Borough President Marty Markowitz--and a connection easily grasped by media outlets. Even New York magazine's Will Leitch, in his mostly sunny look at the arena, wrote last month: But Markowitz is the onl...

As shown at right, in  A Moment in Time: An American Story of Baseball, Heartbreak, and Grace , baseball great Ralph Branca (with his co-author) imagines that there was a place, in the 1950s, called "Atlantic Yards." There wasn't. And it wasn't where Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley wanted to build, either. Nor will the Barclays Center cost $4 billion. That was once the tab for the entire Atlantic Yards project.

Atlantic Yards ur-opponent Patti Hagan passed along the program from Borough President Marty Markowitz's August 4 Seaside Summer Concert Series , held in Coney Island. It's a hefty publication, with actual (promo-ish) articles about such things as Brooklyn movies and Brooklyn writers, and lots of ads, including from the many patrons (listed in graphic below), sponsors, and contributors . The pages at bottom show the cover, and the ads from the Barclays Center/Nets and Forest City Ratner. Hagan noted that, at the August 4 concert featuring Aretha Franklin, Markowitz saluted the Nets and Barclays but managed not to mention Forest City Ratner. Invoking the Dodgers Inside the program, as shown at right, Barclays Center and the Nets are going straight for the Brooklyn Dodgers-Brooklyn Nets connection, positioning an image of seats from a baseball stadium on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, the gateway to all things Brooklyn. It would be a little more difficult to juxtapose ph...

From today's Wall Street Journal, The Nets Take Their Pitch to Brooklyn : The borough has yet to recover from the relocation of its beloved Dodgers and the demolition of Ebbets Field—Brooklyn Dodgers T-shirts and hats are still worn at Cyclones games. This suggests there is a historical precedent for a team with a loyal following. The problem is Brooklyn's diversity: from the hipsters in Williamsburg, to the strollers of Park Slope and the hip-hop mecca of Bedford-Stuvesant [sic], there are a lot of constituencies to please. The wearing of historical shirts and hats is evidence more of homage than of wound. But boosters of the team's move, including Nets Sports and Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark, like to make the connection. To repeat ... As I wrote in March 2009, Michael D’Antonio's revisionist biography of Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner,and the Dodgers of Broo...

A new Brooklyn Nets website, essentially confirming the (not much in doubt) fact that the team will be renamed the Brooklyn Nets, heralds the move: On September 28th, 2012, Brooklyn will become the official home of NETS Basketball. The most populous of New York’s five boroughs, Brooklyn is home to nearly 2.6 million others as well. It is a borough rich in culture, and diversity. And while Brooklyn is well-known for its history, the future is bright. Through this blog, we will get to know our future home. From its many neighborhoods, to its notable monuments, museums, parks, and restaurants, we’ll explore it all. There's nothing about the new Battle for Brooklyn documentary, of course, but there are obligatory citations of the Brooklyn Bridge and Peter Luger steakhouse. (Click on graphic to enlarge.) Back to Dodgerland? And then there's the inevitable Dodgers quote: "Brooklyn was the most wonderful city a man could play in and the fans were the most loyal there were....

The Brooklyn Dodgers, and the desegregation of baseball via Jackie Robinson, loom large in Brooklyn history. Thus they have been and will be invoked by many Atlantic Yards boosters. The Rev. Al Sharpton, straining mightily at the March 2010 groundbreaking, suggested that the sliver of the Nets owned by black celebrity millionaire Jay-Z was a milestone: "I'm glad I lived to see the color line in ownership broken in Brooklyn, where we've gone from Jackie to Jay-Z, where we can not only play the game but we can own a piece of the game." (The color line in ownership had been broken earlier, and in full, in Charlotte .) Not so simple But maybe it's a little more complicated. In his 2001 book, A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn 1636-1990 , historian Craig Steven Wilder writes: It is a twisted irony that Brooklyn's politicians offered more vocal protests against segregated sports than they had against the construction of a black ghetto. By att...

I've been writing about the "same site" myth for years and, in a 2/17/08 post suggested that the New York Times's failure to correct a persistent error would have consequences. Indeed, it has. Columbia Journalism Review today publishes my online article, A Sports Myth Grows in Brooklyn: New basketball arena won’t occupy the site the Dodgers sought : Journalists who write about the new basketball arena rising in Brooklyn, scheduled to house the basketball Nets in 2012, frequently invoke the borough’s last major league team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, who left in 1957 for Los Angeles. They sometimes cite a seeming spiritual link: the Barclays Center arena is said to be located exactly where a successor to Ebbets Field could have emerged.” A half-century earlier, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley had hoped to build a new home for his team on the same site,” writes Zack O’Malley Greenburg in Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Offi...

It wasn't so long ago that the New York Daily News, on 12/17/09, was cheering the Atlantic Yards arena: Even more important, the Atlantic Yards plan calls for building 6,400 housing units, a third of them affordable, on a tract that has been fallow for half a century. Those will take time. Right now, it's enough that we end the dark half-century that began with the defection of the borough's Dodgers and enjoy all the jobs that building the arena will create. That contained a big lie ( "fallow" tract ), a medium lie ( "all the jobs" ), and a ridiculous claim (that the half-century had been "dark"). A corrupt capital Today, the Daily News is shocked, shocked at the political shenanigans behind the project, in an editorial headlined Crooked Carl Kruger wallowed in Albany's corrupt pork-barrel slush-fund ways : The million-dollar corruption case lodged against Brooklyn state Sen. Carl Kruger did more than depict him as the personification of ...