Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

On February 13, after Gramercy Capital Corporation offered Forest City Ratner a crucial extension on a loan, Chuck Ratner, CEO of parent Forest City Enterprises told the New York Times, “This is a key step in our strategy of proactively managing our debt maturities. By working closely with Gramercy to secure this extension, we have put Atlantic Yards in a position to achieve the vision of economic revitalization, job creation and affordable housing for the future of Brooklyn.” (Emphasis added) What's missing from that statement? First, the original Forest City Ratner slogan of "Jobs, Housing, and Hoops," one which by 2006 had already begun to downplay basketball for an emphasis on affordable housing. Now, the twin promises of economic revitalization" and "job creation" seem calibrated to the current zeitgeist. Second, the primary (but not exclusive) official government goal of the Atlantic Yards project: blight removal. FCR on blight Though Forest City R...

What's missing from Mayor Mike Bloomberg's extensive campaign web site ? Any mention of two new baseball stadiums and a long-stalled basketball arena, much less the city's allocation of $100 million and then another $105 million for the Atlantic Yards arena. Or that those expenditures might make the arena a money loser for the city. Or quotes like: 1/04 : Fundamentally, the answer to your question is: this will be done with private money, and any city monies of any meaningful size will be debt issues financed by the extra tax revenues that come from this. So, we’re not going to have to divert money from education, or police or fire or any other part of the city to do this. No. It is private money in that sense. 12/08 : Letting any group have a special deal is not what democracy is about. Then again, if potential rivals like Rep. Anthony Weiner are going to promote moving a hockey team into the Atlantic Yards arena, which is not even under construction, don't expect ...

There's no campaign web site just yet. However, after two terms and the extension of term limits, the Borough President's web site surely does double duty .

It probably sounds churlish to raise questions about the honorable effort by Victor Mooney, who lost one brother to AIDS and has another who's HIV-positive, to make a second attempt to row across the Atlantic Ocean to increase awareness of AIDS and--an added crusade--of global warming. But the news coverage of Mooney’s effort has been shallow, and it dismays me that Mooney gets into the papers, while the press ignores much more important stories about institutional and governmental behavior like the closing of the Carlton Avenue bridge and New York University’s absorption of Polytechnic University. After all, once Mooney got a lot of press in 2006 , his effort lasted just three hours, given that his handmade boat started leaking and eventually sunk. In 2007, he announced a second effort, to launch later that year , which wound up being delayed more than a year. But he got publicity at the time, announcing that he’d be honoring Barclays Center on the bow of his next boat. That ...

Is it a publicly-owned arena--an issue that may come up at the eminent domain hearing tomorrow? DDDB has it wrong . NLG has it right --it would be publicly-owned by the state and leased for a buck. And, if we're going to be precise, I'm not sure Ratner is a billionaire any more, and more than one-third of the apartments would be subsidized (though only about half, perhaps, would be "real housing for the real Brooklyn" ). As for whether payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) qualify as taxpayer financing, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky would agree , but it is a matter of debate. Surely PILOTs represent a subsidy--worth perhaps $165 million .

We know Atlantic Yards isn't dead, because things still keep getting brutally weird . The Courier-Life's Stephen Witt, who brought us the story of "the real land-grabbers," this week suggests that the real manipulators in the political system are the volunteer groups opposing a bailout for Forest City Ratner. (Click to enlarge) And the victim of the "counter lobbying offensive" is developer Forest City Ratner, which is paying uber-lobbyist Al D'Amato in an effort to get federal stimulus money for the Atlantic Yards project. But the signers of the latest letter are not, as the headline suggests, "Yards opponents;" some are simply watchdog groups concerned with prudent infrastructure spending like the Straphangers Campaign and The Open Planning Project , as well as Good Jobs New York , notable for its scrutiny of subsidies, and the consultant Majora Carter. As DDDB points out , the statement that a letter to Governor David Paterson was "ob...

Well, new Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may be close with former Sen. Al D'Amato, now a lobbyist for developer Forest City Ratner, but she can't say she hasn't heard criticism of the Atlantic Yards project. She met with about 50 civic and community leaders from Central Brooklyn on a listening tour earlier this week at Borough Hall organized by City Council Members Letitia James, Bill de Blasio, and David Yassky. (The Observer, reporting on her statewide tour, suggests that the new senator is "laying down a marker.") Most of the discussion, moderated by James, revolved around the impact of federal stimulus funds on issues like health care, education, and infrastructure. As noted in the Courier-Life article at right, the attendees included both Atlantic Yards critics and supporters. However, I'm told, supporters James Caldwell of BUILD and Charlene Nimmons of Public Housing Communities did not advocate for the project but rather spoke about job training and public ...

The Brooklyn Downtown Star, for which I used to write periodically, sent a new reporter to cover Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's State of the Borough address, and this is the summary description that emerged for Atlantic Yards: The project - potentially the biggest in the borough - calls for a new sports arena for the New Jersey Nets, apartment buildings, and open space on a vast tract of railyard land that has been unused for years. Plans for the site have been downsized significantly in the past few years in response to organized opposition from some elected officials, residents, and some community groups... No, it's not on the railyard only. No, the railyard is not "unused;" it's still a railyard, but until recently a platform for above-ground development hasn't been fiscally feasible. And, no, the downsizing hasn't been significant. Check here .

The Atlantic Yards eminent domain case , after dismissal in the federal courts, goes to state court Monday, February 23, when the oral argument will be heard before the Appellate Division, Second Department . (That division, as opposed to a lower court, is designated to hear all cases challenging New York State’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL).) The new case has to be considered a long shot. The EDPL allows only 15 minutes for oral argument, and there’s no opportunity to cross-examine witnesses or acquire documents through discovery--reasons why critics say New York law is in desperate need of reform . That’s why the plaintiffs--nine (originally 13) residential and commercial property owners and renters--first went to federal court, where the case was dismissed after two long hearings, an appellate argument, and then an unsuccessful effort to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear it . [ Update ] A decision could be issued within two months. Should the plaintiffs lose, they'd h...

So, what's the current price tag on the Atlantic Yards project, including the cost of the arena? The information is surely relevant to understand, among other things, the potential pace of the project and the potential need for more government money. For example, more costly affordable housing likely would require a greater level of housing subsidies. And it might back up BrooklynSpeaks' comment Tuesday that "the current design, program and schedule for the project is unknown." Forest City Ratner surely has an estimate, so I suspect government agencies have one too. To learn more, I filed several Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests. NYC EDC says no So far, however, I've been stymied, as a city-affiliated agency , the New York City Economic Development Corporation , declares that the information is exempt from disclosure because it is either a trade secret or its disclosure "would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the subject ente...

First, BrooklynSpeaks and NYPIRG's Straphangers Campaign issued statements Tuesday opposing the awarding of federal stimulus funds for Atlantic Yards. (Earlier, I'd argued that, if the project was shovel-ready, it had a huge asterisk.) Yesterday, an even more forceful letter was sent to Gov. David Paterson, signed by some expected project opponents, the coalitions Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods , several (but hardly all) of their constituent groups, and several other civic groups, including the Straphangers, the Sierra Club, and the Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance. Among those signing the letter were Good Jobs New York , notable for its scrutiny of subsidies; Majora Carter Group, LLC, run by the MacArthur Prize-winning consultant and founder of Sustainable South Bronx (and Dan Doctoroff antagonist in a 2007 development debate); and The Open Planning Project , which has championed smart infrastructure via projec...

So, the Nets didn't move Vince Carter , and Dave D'Alessandro, in the Star-Ledger, doesn't doubt President Rod Thorn's claim there was no interference from principal owner Bruce Ratner. D'Alessandro writes: The salary dump? It was discussed. But only for as long as it took the Nets to realize they couldn't get away with it. They had to get something - anything - that would keep them competitive, or at least sell the fans on the delusion. In the Daily News today, Julian Garcia wrote : What does this mean for the Nets this season? Well, they obviously still have a chance to make the playoffs with the Carter-Devin Harris combo still intact. They are two games out now and have a lot of work to do to get to the postseason... But don't think the Nets won't be trying to trade Carter over the summer so they can rid themselves of the remaining two years and $33 million he is owed. Remember, parent company, Forest City Enterprises, in December suspended its divi...

As a hearing on the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case approaches Monday in state appellate court, it’s worth looking back at an 11/4/05 New York State Assembly public hearing on eminent domain, a highly instructive session that received a virtual media blackout. The one piece of news that emanated from the hearing was a report in the 11/11/05 Brooklyn Paper quoting Prospect Heights Assemblyman Roger Green, an Atlantic Yards proponent, as saying “For the record, that neighborhood is not blighted.” (Note that, despite the Brooklyn Paper's assertion, Green wasn't exactly speaking against eminent domain.) But two other pieces of news were unacknowledged. A St. John’s University law professor, formerly a top lawyer for New York State, cast cold water on governmental attempts to equate Atlantic Yards with other celebrated locations subject to eminent domain. And a staunch defender of eminent domain said the decision to pursue condemnation should be separate from the proces...