Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Foreset City Ratner and its government partner, the Empire State Development Corporation, could not have liked the press conference yesterday, involving a wide range of elected officials, urging that the Atlantic Yards Development Agreement be revised to require the affordable housing to be built on the originally promoted ten-year schedule before the developer is allowed to sell 70% of the remaining project to the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group. If the politicians' logic was sometimes wobbly--that the arena subsidies were justified because it would bring that housing--they indubitably pointed out that the Development Agreement signed at the end of 2009 was negotiated after an economic downturn, and now the residential market is roaring. That's a very strong case for revising the agreement, and a sign that the state agency did a lousy job in writing protections for the public. And they made a case that, in the ongoing Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement ...

A wary, worried audience of Barclays Center neighbors--perhaps 120 people--came to a Prospect Heights church last night to hear two Forest City Ratner executives explain how the arena will interact with and impact neighbors and to provide an update on a proposed Neighborhood Protection Plan (NPP). Forest City's Ashley Cotton at microphone, with colleague Jane Marshall, and Gib Veconi of the PHNDC The latter was proposed by three civic groups, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), the Boerum Hill Association, and the Park Slope Civic Council, and includes such things as increased trash pickup, a dedicated hotline for community concerns, and residential parking permits (RPP). Despite the cordial presence of Forest City’s Ashley Cotton and Jane Marshall, the developer has bent only a little; for example, it will fund garbage pickup on key corners on Dean and Pacific streets on the path to the Barclays Center from the on-site parking lot, but will not ...

Update May 22: Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, for Empire State Development, said she did not know about the request for mitigation plan and said she had not asked for it. That suggests the request may have come from "EDC"--New York City Economic Development Corporation--though the writer of the report has not clarified that. Hankin says the bridge should be open before the arena does.  So, is the Carlton Avenue Bridge on schedule? Only if the state flunks transparency. Last week, Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project for Empire State Development (ESD), assured those at a  community meeting  that "I'm more than confident that the bridge will be open before the first public event at the arena." That's a September 28 Jay-Z concert. However, the regular site observation report issued yesterday by Merritt & Harris, the construction monitor for the arena bonds, predicted that the bridge would be completed five days later, by ...

The bi-monthly Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting, most recently held November 3 , offers less than 90 minutes for involved agencies, developer Forest City Ratner, and (a few) elected and Community Board officials to address specific and general issues. And while there some little-promoted positive news--apparently the state, city, and FCR had figured out a way to reduce some jackhammering noise--several issues trailed off into obfuscation or simply were not questioned. Thus, those overseeing the project still avoid accountability. And those representing the public simply aren't doing enough. Yes, Council Member Letitia James does by far the most, but she could drill down more. State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Council Member Steve Levin did ask a few question--and at least they showed up--but were less effective. Meanwhile, other officials presumably interested in the project and its impacts--Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and his colleagues Jim Brennan a...

When it comes to big developments, you always have to look behind the curtain. And when it comes to the controversial New Domino development in Williamsburg--the second-largest in Brooklyn, after Atlantic Yards--the land use process, the affordable housing, and the urban planning all deserve another look. Notably, the project has been justified because of the promised affordable housing, but, as with Atlantic Yards, the developer won't commit to building the housing in the announced timetable. So the likely loopholes should be part of the public discussion. And here's a number you haven't seen in print: $2.5 million, which is (nearly) the total the New Domino developer spent on lobbying in the last five years (details below). Council approval On June 29, the City Council's Land Use Committee made a key approval of the project, with local Council Member Steve Levin no longer in opposition. The Daily News reported, in an article headlined City Council committee approves ...

Some significant information--and evasion--emerged during last night's meeting on street closings and transportation changes for Atlantic Yards, sponsored by three City Council Members and held at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene. Photos by Tracy Collins It drew more than 120 people, well more than half project supporters, as well as opponents, local elected officials (and their staff members), and representatives and officials of the three local community boards. (Planned for closing are Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, and Pacific Street between Flatbush and Sixth avenues and Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues.) For example, officials announced tweaks in the traffic plan and claimed political resistance has caused a delay in formation of a Transportation Working Group, which was first announced in May 2007. Forest City Ratner (FCR) executive Jane Marshall (pictured, with three City Council Members at right) gave evasive answers about the delays...