Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Last week, writing about the BrooklynSpeaks’ proposal for a new governance structure to oversee Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, I quoted veteran advocacy planner  Ron Shiffman , who co-founded the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, who said he both supported the coalition’s efforts but thought they should be more aggressive. Shiffman, known for long involvement in community-driven projects, is a former NYC Planning Commissioner, a director of (defunct) project opponents Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, and a winner of the Rockefeller Foundation's 2012 Jane Jacobs Medal . He still teaches at the Pratt Institute. Shiffman said he sees less a planning process from BrooklynSpeaks than a "bargaining process that accepts the existing program as is. I would urge them to abandon a bargaining process and aggressively pursue the redesign of the project.” Given what he thinks is a likely bailout involving public support for the platform Greenland For...

This afternoon is a meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation will hear a presentation of proposed changes to the Atlantic Yards Modified General Project Plan (MGPP), which the parent Empire State Development (ESD) deemed unworthy of a public review process. Here's a link to coverage of issues raised at last week's precursor Quality of Life meeting, including 100,000 square feet of new, below-ground space, a cut in vehicle parking, and a change/cut in bike parking. Among the 40 or so people at the meeting, there was significant skepticism about the ESD's haste in moving the proposal forward, the lack of disclosure before the meeting, and the lack of interest in public comment. "You already have a fait accompli , and you have not already discussed it with the board that represents us as the public," said resident Pauline Blake of the AY CDC. "You're just asking them to rubber-stamp it, without any opportunity for them to come ba...

The big news at Wednesday night's Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park  Community Update meeting concerned developer Greenland Forest City Partners' plans for two huge office towers . It touched on several other issues, including safety at Times Plaza , a perpetually out-of-service escalator at the arena plaza, a dangerous intersection at Vanderbilt Avenue and Dean Street, and mold issues at the B2 modular site. But an underlying theme, popping up several times, relates to accountability and the inability to get it from the developer and the state authority overseeing/shepherding the project, Empire State Development (ESD). Though there are some signs of progress, success remains elusive, as noted for example in this Instagram post after the meeting. Not great photos but 6th Avenue between Atlantic and Pacific was closed by Con Ed last night. Con Ed also working at Dean/6th intersection next to fire station which was active. Apparently work is being done to boost el...

A good portion of the second meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), held yesterday at BRIC, was devoted to institutional boilerplate. (Here's coverage of first meeting .) But a few members on the board, set up last year to monitor public commitments regarding the project, asked pressing questions about how Empire State Development (ESD), the AY CDC’s parent, goes about its job. It was revealed that ESD has closely tracked complaints and incidents only beginning a few months ago, and the state agency acknowledged it has no rendering of what the project would look like in full. Also, the board heard from several residents about continued irritants, including Barclays Center events that spill out into the neighborhood and the massive 16-foot green fence that aims to block construction noise/dust but also encroaches on Carlton Avenue and Dean Street. Expect more discussion at the next meeting in two months, including regarding the prospect--a...

The first full public discussion of the deal that led to a new 2025 deadline for Atlantic Yards affordable housing--and other important but contested issues--will be held tonight at 8 pm at the Soapbox Gallery at 636 Dean Street, between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues. That's across the street from the southeast block of the project, where construction on two towers will begin in December. The meeting is sponsored by the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council , whose most prominent member, Gib Veconi, was one of the two  community signatories  of the agreement in June. "Learn more about the settlement reached between the Empire State Development Corporation [ESD], Forest City Ratner Companies, and community advocates," states the notice (right), citing: Shorter construction duration  New affordable housing commitments  Public oversight with local representation  Those issues all involve potential complications, as I wrote last week, s...

Here's a thought experiment: let's say your boss requires you, every two weeks, to produce and distribute a report on Monday morning describing what's going to happen in your office or on your job site over the next two weeks. You do it on Monday morning, because that's what's required, right? Except when there's a holiday. You can't come to work on Labor Day. So you send it out Tuesday, first thing. That's not what happened last week. The two-week Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update, dated weeks of Sept. 1 and Sept. 8, came out late  Thursday morning  9/4/14, more than than two days after the next business day began. (It is prepared by Forest City Ratner and distributed by Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing/shepherding the project.) At the Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Meeting Thursday 9/4/14, Forest City External Affairs VP Ashley Cotton stressed that the firm is about "being transparent, trying to give inf...

Last night's Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life Meeting  covered numerous issues, including: street closures for Fashion Rocks next Tusday the new Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation the loss of the arena surface parking lot for housing construction a bike lane squeezed on Dean Street street closures Columbus Day weekend in October for crane assembly Street closure for Fashion Rocks For the Fashion Rocks concert event Tuesday September 9, the NYPD will shut down some streets, but far less than with the MTV Video Music Awards last year, which caused considerable neighborhood consternation. "We made every effort to make sure the community is not inconvenienced," said Sgt. Angelo Pirozzi of the 78th Precinct, noting that pedestrians will have access to closed streets. Starting at 6 am that day, Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth avenues will be closed to traffic. At night, as production crews are building a red carpet between Flatbush a...