Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

At the monthly meeting last night of the 78th Precinct Council, there was talk about continued problems with parking--some but hardly all related to the Barclays Center--as well as the upcoming protest tonight outside the circus, and the arena’s continuing inability to manage trucks that idle in neighborhood streets. A church's impact One resident pointed to a line of unbroken double parked cars, on Dean Street east of Sixth Avenue and St. Marks Avenue east of Carlton Avenue. Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri, the commanding officer, said it’s “safe to assume it was the church,” citing the Temple of Restoration at 515 Dean Street. “It's an ongoing problem. I've met with the church several times, we're trying to be good neighbors, trying to have a delicate balance.” Apparently such diplomacy doesn’t quite work, so he said he’d make another visit. Robert Puca, a resident of the Newswalk building nearby, said he now was seeking street parking because his building’s ga...

State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and four other legislators have sent a letter (bottom) to New York Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan asking for fixes to increase safety at the long-contested intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. In the hours leading up to and following an event the intersections for three blocks around Barclays become extremely dangerous for pedestrians,” the letter states, suggesting that drivers focusing on parking ignore pedestrians, while traffic agents seem most concerned with moving traffic. “Members of our staff have been among those nearly run over by vehicles rushing through a right turn light at Atlantic and Flatbush.” The letter was also signed by Council Members Letitia James and Steve Levin, and Assemblymembers Joan Millman and Walter Mosley. The letter cites the long pedestrian crossings, the difficulty from turning on “northbound” [presumably westbound] Atlantic Avenue onto northbound Flatbush, and the delay ...

After failing to alert people yesterday of additional work at the Atlantic Yards site--the removal of below-grade trailers at the northeast corner of the arena block--Empire State Development late this afternoon issued an after-the-fact Supplemental Report to the two-week Construction Update: Arena Subcontractor trailers currently located on the B4 footprint will be removed this week.  A crane will be stationed on the B4 footprint and lifting trailers up to trucks staged on street level on 6th Ave Bridge.  The truck at street level will be parked pursuant to a lane closure permit, between 9 am and 3 pm, daily.  Depending upon weather, trailers will be removed each day, with expected completion by the end of this week.

Updated with Construction Alert at bottom. The circus is coming--and so are the protesters. On Wednesday, March 20, the Barclays Center hosts the first of 23 Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey shows , with the last coming on April 1. And animal rights protesters will be out in force at 6 pm Wednesday, an hour before the show is scheduled to start. As one commenter wrote in response to a Brooklyn Paper article: Actually, Ringling Bros WAS recently fined by the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act - $270,000, which is the largest fine ever against an animal exhibitor. Not to mention that under oath testimony from Ringling's owner and from various employees including the one in charge of training the baby elephants at the breeding center in FL demonstrate that the elephants are struck with bullhooks (like a fireplace poker) and chained for most of the day both in the center and on the road.If you would like to join us in telling Barclays that abuse is ...

The New York Times's Appraisal columnist, who seems verry interested in Brooklyn but less so in Queens or The Bronx, has, in the spirit of her not so reliable coverage of Daniel Goldstein's house , written  House in Barclays Center’s Shadow Is Snapped Up : At the end of February, that little yellow clapboard house at 474 Dean Street was put up for sale, listed for $1.495 million. And despite a domineering neighbor — or perhaps because of it — the owners of that house received an offer, which they planned to accept, after less than two weeks. Except it's not really the house but the site, which "allows for the construction of a somewhat taller residential building that can include commercial space." You can bet there's a valuable retail outlet to install--or, perhaps, a very carefully constructed new residential building. The quiet arena Also curious is the Times's rather positive description of the area: though one resident points to "dozens of...

On Thursday, 3/14/13, community planner Ron Shiffman (right), received the 2012 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership, presented by the Rockefeller Foundation. The press release is at bottom, and here's the Storify account of the evening, in tweets. Shiffman, in both his speech and in the pre-speech video about him, made reference to his work with Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, where he served on the board of directors and wrote a 2006 essay explaining his opposition to Atlantic Yards, citing a flawed process and extreme density. Shiffman's speech Shiffman gave me a copy of his speech, which he edited to meet time constraints, so he did not deliver the remarks in gray . He first thanked the Rockefeller Foundation and the Municipal Art Society, which administers the awards: I am truly honored to be this year’s Jane Jacobs awardee. Jane played a pivotal role in forging the way we think about people, cities and the economy. The position I filled at Pratt 50 year...

It's front-page news in today's New York Times (both local and national editions),  Saving Schools and Libraries by Giving Up the Land They Sit On , describing plans to see buildings like the Pacific (pictured) and Brooklyn Heights branches of the Brooklyn Public Library: Government-financed agencies, seeing a way to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a weak economy, are looking at the land right under some of their own institutions and offering it to the best bidder, who will build new, modern libraries or schools in the base of new developments. In the process, they will also erase the stout civic buildings now there, in effect leveling public facilities to make sure the agencies are financially secure. The strategy has been embraced in Brooklyn, where the two libraries need repairs of $9 million to $11 million. “We would deliver two of these libraries for essentially no cost to the library system,” said Joshua Nachowitz, the Brooklyn Public Library’s vice president...

I reported 6/15/11 on a forum regarding Atlantic Yards traffic, at a time when the arena was in the midst of construction. One question hadn't quite been answered: Where would black cars (limousines) for the high-rollers wait? Forest City Ratner transportation consultant Sam Schwartz said no space has been dedicated. "'No standing' zones will be enforced," he said. "We may decide there is an innocuous location nearby." The lack of certainty led several people in the audience to express skepticism. They were right. Schwartz is a private consultant, not a public servant, and he had no reason to presume how the police would deploy their resources. As it has happened, those zones have not been enforced steadily or sufficiently. The "innocuous locations" have become residential streets. Yes, there's since been an "innocuous location" established--free space along Atlantic Avenue--but most black cars don't use it,...

A couple of major articles describe how Downtown Brooklyn is the site of numerous new housing towers, which suggests that the neighborhood is coming of age as a residential district, with attendant retail, nightlife, and street liveliness. There's nothing wrong with additional residential density, of course, but the 2004 Downtown Brooklyn rezoning provided property owners and developers huge increases in the value of their land without demanding affordable housing--though some buildings, indeed, will have 20% low-income units. However much a bustling Downtown Brooklyn is seen as a success, surely Council Members, city officials, and even housing advocates would have to admit a missed opportunity. After all, aren't "jobs" more important than "affordable housing"? As Council Member and urban planner Brad Lander told City Limits in an 11/30/11 article on the aftermath of the rezoning, "I feel like it was all done with nearly zero attention to those ...

Oh, snap. The Observer's Top 100 influencers , part of its 25th anniversary issue, includes nine people in real estate (among six companies), but not Bruce Ratner, who arguably deserves to be on the list. Hey, hasn't Ratner done a lot more than Donald Trump lately? (Well, Trump has a higher public profile, and his daughter is married to the Observer's publisher.) It must rankle that his sometime rival Gary Barnett of Extell Development made the list. Still, two Atlantic Yards backers made the list, Jay-Z and the Rev. Al Sharpton, with unflattering details buffed out of existence. The Jay-Z citation Jay-Z and Beyoncé: Musical artist and entrepreneur Jay-Z famously rapped that he has 99 Problems, but let’s be honest, people: he’s a chart-topping, Grammy-winning rapper; his music is indisputably part of the cultural New York playlist; he is the face of the Brooklyn Nets and Brooklyn’s place in sports; he’s married to Beyoncé, queen of pop culture; he’s even buddi...

Following up on comments delivered orally at the 2/27/13 public meeting on the contents of the Draft Scope for an Atlantic Yards Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), BrooklynSpeaks has issued a lengthy set of comments advocating, among other things, that the Phase 2 properties be divided and bid out to multiple developers in order to achieve the project goals--especially the removal of blight--closer to ten rather than 25 years. BrooklynSpeaks, which was formed to modify rather than stop the project, has remained far more active than Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn , which aimed to block the project. The two organizations filed separate lawsuits that were combined and resulted in the court order for the SEIS, as a judge ruled--despite a legal playing field tilted toward government agencies--that the state had not studied the impact of a potential 25 year buildout, which was allowed by contract documents signed after the project was reapproved in 2009. DDDB di...

A long profile of Forest City Ratner's MaryAnne Gilmartin in the 3/1/13 issue of The Real Deal is headlined  MaryAnne’s moment: The Forest City Ratner exec could be elevated to CEO this month, and industry sources say they expect big things . Gilmartin didn't cooperate, but a a chorus of people chimed in. The publication reported: Sources say that’s likely to mean that [Bruce Ratner] will serve as chairman, while Gilmartin, 48, will take over all daily responsibilities at the firm, including overseeing the construction division, making personnel and budget decisions and managing the relationship with the parent company. That said, I'd point out that such an arrangement does not preclude Ratner from, say, moving forward with a bid on the Seward Park urban renewal project  or, as the New York Post reported , a plan to shrink the Nassau Coliseum capacity to revamp the facility as an entertainment venue. Steven Spinola, the president of the Real Estate Board of New York...

July 5, 2012; Ticketmaster list The promised 2,000 $15 tickets for every Nets game this year may not have been available, but at least $15 was the base price for the cheap seats in the Barclays Center. As indicated in the graphic at right, some season tickets in the aqua, orange, and light blue sections were available for $15 a seat. Now, as indicated in the graphic below, prices  are rising to $25 per seat, a 66.7% leap, far above the average rise of 8%, as the Times reported casually : "The Nets are also raising season ticket prices next season, by 8 percent." That 8% rise conceals the fact that, according to a spreadsheet  (via NetsDaily ) prepared by Nets fan Arpit Vaidya , some prices are steady, some will rise modestly, while some--generally lesser seats in more expensive sections--will actually dip. Beyond the jump in price for the $15 seats, current $20 seats will leap 50% to $30. Pre-opening hype Remember, for years arena backers and builders  pr...