Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

That hole in Empire State Development's organizational chart (see below, outlined in green) has finally been filled, as Holly Leicht, a former city and federal official, has been named Executive VP of Real Estate & Public-Private Partnerships. As reported yesterday in Crain's New York Business, Former Obama housing official lands at state development agency Holly Leicht, who for three years oversaw the region's Sandy recovery for the federal government, has taken a post at the state's economic development arm, Empire State Development. ...At Empire State Development, Leicht will oversee some of the Cuomo administration's high-profile projects including the rehabilitation of Moynihan Station and the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and will draw up future plans for developing state-owned sites. Leicht also will oversee the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project (including the ESD subsidiary Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation), as did her prede...

So, what would Jane Jacobs say (WWJJS)? It’s hard to extrapolate the oracle of 1961 New York to the much-changed situation of 2008, and it’s especially hard to transfer her wisdom to the problem of affordable housing, which was a lesser and different problem in her time. But Jacobs above all urged people to see for themselves, and that was one underlying message of a panel discussion Wednesday, titled Housing New Yorkers in the 21st Century , sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and underwritten by the Rockefeller Foundation as the First Annual Jane Jacobs Forum. Last year the two organizations collaborated on the Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York exhibition. (I wrote yesterday about how a city official’s observations on the trade-offs between neighborhood character and density suggested a process much different from that which brought us Atlantic Yards.) (Note the lengthy comments by Benjamin Hemric below.) Bleak picture Moderator Vicki Been, director of the Furman ...