Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

I didn't notice it initially, but the transit hub at the plaza--er, SeatGeek Plaza--outside the Barclays Center has a plaque crediting artist Tavares Strachan for his neon art installation "Belong/Brooklyn." The text: Brooklyn is the vibrant center of New York City, a refuge for explorers and immigrants the world over. Belong/Brooklyn (2021) is an affirmation of this complex and ever-changiung community. These three simple words--YOU, WE, and BELONG--invite every viewer who enters the site to celebrate the present moment, and to consider fundamental questions about who belongs where, and why . (Emphases added)  Okay, then. Who does belong? Well, SeatGeek Plaza is not necessarily a public space, and the larger Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project catalyzed by the arena is not so welcoming to residents earning less than six figures. Since the October 2021 installation, there's been an additional valence, involving the Brooklyn Nets, suspended-and-back star Kyrie Irving...

A message from the Barclays Center yesterday at 5:16 pm: We wanted to advise you of an additional event occurring this Saturday, June 4th on the plaza at Barclays Center. Please see below for details. Brooklyn Unity Fest: The 10th annual Brooklyn Unity Fest is taking place this Saturday, June 4th on the plaza at Barclays Center from 1-7pm. There will giveaways, free food, games for kids and music from Brooklyn-based artists. This event is sponsored by the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund. If you’re interested in attending, click here to access free tickets on SeatGeek by using code BKUF2022. Note that free tickets still require you to enter a credit card, which seems a way to capture more potential customers for SeatGeek. Timing issues That's a rather careless omission from the event calendar circulated two days earlier, because this was announced more than a month earlier. A little pregaming at Hot 97 yesterday for SJ 2022 and our 10th Annual Brooklyn Unity Fe...

Responding to  a federal lawsuit  last November filed by two Black former team attendants, the Brooklyn Nets deny the alleged racial discrimination, offer a new gloss on statements cited by the staffers' white supervisor, and claim that one of the two had underperformed because he had a separate full-time job.  Some of the team's responses complicate the charges, while others simply deny them, which means the factual dispute must be tested in court--or, perhaps, left unresolved if a settlement is negotiated. (See filing embedded at bottom.) The background According to the lawsuit, Eddie Bolden and Juwan Williams were the only seasonal, part-time team attendants not brought back for the 2020-21 season, which was suspended by the pandemic.  Their lawsuit alleged that, though Bolden had worked since September 2014, and Williams two years earlier--both starting as ball boys, working their way up to co-captains of the equipment team--"their supervisor, Joe Cuomo, who is C...

ICYMI, check out my essay in The Indypendent, "Art or Advertising? The Contradictions of 'You/We Belong Here' Neon Signage at Barclays Center" . And check out this recent softball interview with Clara Wu Tsai by Michael Grady of the YES network, which broadcasts Brooklyn Nets games. And I'll add a few comments. Clara Wu Tsai, Co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center spoke with @Grady about her role and responsibilities in the Nets' franchise. #NETSonYES pic.twitter.com/7TB9eIpyiL — YES Network (@YESNetwork) November 25, 2021 Michael Grady: Clara, thank you so much for joining me. You're such an active part of what this franchise is all about. What is your role with the Brooklyn Nets?   Beyond the enthusiastic welcome, Grady's grin and the gauzy soundtrack signal that this is not going to put the interviewee on the spot. The Brooklyn Nets are a "sports entertainment corporation," in the piquant phrase of subsidy...

I have an essay in The Indypendent headlined  Art or Advertising? The Contradictions of “You/We Belong Here” Neon Signage at Barclays Center , with the subheading "Is it celebrating social justice protest? Or co-opting it?" (Answer: both.) From the lead: Approaching the Barclays Center from Downtown Brooklyn, a large neon sign looms above the turf-carpeted entrance to the plaza’s transit hub. In graceful cursive, it proclaims, “You belong here.” In the background: the blue Barclays Center logo, affixed to the building’s oval oculus, and a series of LED signs, such as for ticketing partner SeatGeek, over the arena’s entrance doors. It sure seems “You belong here” is encouraging people to buy tickets for the borough’s biggest venue. No, say the sign’s sponsors; it’s art. Photo by Norman Oder The signage — paired with “We belong here” on other side of the transit structure—is said to salute the #BlackLivesMatters protests that coalesced around the shuttered arena after the polic...

On 2/2/21, the New York Daily News reported,  Two former Nets employees claim they were let go over race and politics, want to unionize league staffers , citing a public statement on Instagram--since removed--that the workers "have reason to believe that we were terminated due to racial bias, as well as for our beliefs and stance on the Black Lives Matter movement." The article noted that Eddie Bolden and Juwan Williams were the only seasonal attendants not brought back for the 2020-21 season. “The decision on whether or not to rehire seasonal part-time employees is an organizational matter that is carefully and thoughtfully evaluated,” a Nets spokesperson said at the time. “We are entirely comfortable with our decision not to rehire these two individuals.” And a "Nets source" said the number of team attendants was cut because of the pandemic. Yesterday, as reported by the  Daily News  and  Patch , Bolden and Williams filed a federal lawsuit making the same charges....

Yesterday, Gregg Bishop of the Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund spoke at a nonprofit summit sponsored by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. He invited all attendees to Saturday's "unveiling of an art installation at the Berkeley Center plaza," referring to the "You belong here/We belong here" neon sculpture by Tavares Strachan, currently being installed on the exterior of the transit entrance. The event, with free food, from 4-7 pm. (Note that Bishop described it colloquially as the Barclays Center plaza, though it has had a series of sponsors, and is today the SeatGeek Plaza.) An article in CityLab last week suggested the artwork could read both "like an expression of solidarity" with protesters who gathered frequently at the plaza last year and "a pointed rebuke" to those who once opposed the arena. I pointed out , though, that commerce takes precedence, given that protesters were barred from the plaza last May wh...

(Deceptive) official rendering, via CityLab Forgive me for being a bit cynical about the illluminated artwork planned to be mounted over the Barclays Center subway entrance sometime next week, as a friendly article in Bloomberg CityLab yesterday disclosed, headlined A Charged Message for Brooklyn, in Neon . Who could quarrel with the welcoming messages, "We belong here" and "You belong here," from (Black, Bahamian-born) artist Tavares Strachan, which reflect the spontaneous use of the plaza for social justice demonstrations starting in 2020? (The "roughly 45-by-18-feet signs" have not been installed yet--just the brackets--and the official unveiling is supposed to be Oct. 23, part of a 4-7 pm celebration with free food and entertainment. Meanwhile, I'm checking on whether permits or permissions were gained--or required--and for what time period the artwork will be up, as well as its daily schedule of illumination.) Advertising on subway entrance. Photo...

Basquiat-inspired art show hosted by Barclays Center , the Brooklyn Daily Eagle told us yesterday, lightly revising (via "Staff") a press release (bottom) from the arena. (Update: here's coverage from BK Reader,  Brooklyn Students to Hold Basquiat Inspired Art Show at Barclays Center .) Indeed, in an unusual opening of arena doors to the public, the show, "featuring 150 pieces created by Brooklyn middle and high school students, inspired by Brooklyn-born artist Jean-Michel Basquiat," will be open in the Geico Atrium free on Sunday, Aug. 8 and Monday, Aug. 9 from 11 a.m.-2 pm and 4-7 pm. (Of course, the atrium sponsor gets a plug, as does the arena sponsor.) Here's the website for The Basquiat Project, which contains examples of the students' impressive work, samples below.  The work comes from a two-month Basquiat educational arts program developed in partnership between the Brooklyn Nets, the New York City Department of Education, and the Fund for Publ...

Yesterday, after first gaining publicity with a strategically placed article (12/16/20) in the New York Daily News headlined Brooklyn Nets owners score points with social justice fund , the owners announced in a press release, JOE AND CLARA TSAI ANNOUNCE FIRST FIVE BLACK LEADERS TO RECEIVE GRANTS FROM SOCIAL JUSTICE FUND . Meet 5 Black leaders — experts in education, climate policy, criminal justice reform, journalism, and public health — all united in their commitment to advancing racial justice right here in Brooklyn. Proud to #BackBlackBK with @BlackVoicesOrg . pic.twitter.com/acfNvg0700 — Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation (@thejctf) December 17, 2020 Such worthy philanthropy--supporting work in healthcare, education, and climate justice, among other things--also deserves scrutiny, since it can help with marketing, as I wrote in September when the social justice fund was announced at $50 million over ten years. (That could make the fund one of the largest philanthropic efforts in Bro...