Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

In its third meeting, held yesterday, the new Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), set up to help monitor project impacts and benefits, heard extensive discussion of new ways to monitor such impacts. On the one hand, the proposal for a new app to centralize reports of such impacts was encouraging to some--one project neighbor concerned about regular noisy crowds on residential Pacific Street across from the Barclays Center promised to be a regular user, and another suggested that residents of the new apartments in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park should welcome it.. And more board members were engaged than in previous meetings. (A public meeting on the proposed app will be held on Wednesday, May 27, at 5:50 pm at 55 Hanson Place; a formal notice has not yet been released.) On the other, it emerged that Empire State Development (ESD) , the state authority that is parent to AY CDC and oversees/shepherds the project, seems to downplay impact reports, designating the...

Fifth of a five-part series on Forest City Ratner's plans for Nassau Coliseum redevelopment. Part 1 concerned the overall plan. Part 2 addressed the curious politics of a Community Benefits Agreement. Part 3 addressed the astonishing pitch in China for EB-5 investment. Part 4 discussed Forest City's claim, at the Nassau County Legislature, it wasn't making much profit on EB-5, and its defense of a sketchy fundraising partner. This fifth part concerns the brazen effort by EB-5 promoters to use an excerpt from this blog. It's no secret that I'm a wee bit critical of the EB-5 program, under which immigrant investors get green cards for themselves and their families in exchange for parking $500,000 in a purportedly job-creating enterprise. After all, the benefit goes mostly to the developer/entrepreneur, the middlemen, and the immigrant investors, not the public, which "owns" the valuable property (visas) being traded. Moreover, the marketing of E...

Note that the meeting is May 19, not March 19 The proposed agenda for today's 3 pm meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) doesn't have a lot of detail, but it includes the following topics: Community Relations Update Project Update Barclays Event Protocols The meeting will be held at: New York State Department of Labor - Brooklyn Office 250 Schermerhorn Street , Orientation Room #2 – First Floor Brooklyn, New York 11201 Letter: state falls short One issue that may come up in the public comments is a letter  (text below) sent by the Dean Street Block Association (DSBA) to Empire State Development that contends that the state agency has not sufficiently responded to complaints and other public input, and restricted information available to the public. The letter is on the DSBA web site . The DSBA represents neighbors directly adjacent to the project site and most vulnerable to late-night noise, errant trucks, and other violat...

As shown in the photo at right and video below from yesterday, the narrowing of Flatbush Avenue near Dean Street for one month, to allow for the installation of a crane to service the Barclays Center green roof, results in tighter traffic lanes and a good amount of honking. Then again, at least yesterday at around noon, the traffic flowed reasonably well, according to the video I shot. I'm told it was more constricted on Saturday. We'll see how it works as the week and month proceed. Remember, Flatbush Avenue was only supposed to be narrowed after the Atlantic Avenue crane was removed, but arena developer Forest City Ratner did not fulfill that plan . The video Constricted crossing and traffic, Saturday Photos from the installation Saturday

Fourth of a five-part series on Forest City Ratner's plans for Nassau Coliseum redevelopment. Part 1  concerned the overall plan.  Part 2  addressed the curious politics of a Community Benefits Agreement.  Part 3  addressed the astonishing pitch in China for EB-5 investment. This discusses Forest City's claim, at the Nassau County Legislature, it wasn't making much profit on EB-5, and its defense of a sketchy fundraising partner.  Part 5  concerned the brazen effort by EB-5 promoters to use an excerpt from this blog. Developer Forest City Ratner pushes for certain news coverage (see: green roof ). And it certainly presses hard to raise cheap capital in China via the sketchy EB-5 program, in which immigrant investors who park $500,000 in a purportedly job-creating enterprise get green cards for themselves and their families. Back home, they keep EB-5 under the radar, which is why it was so surprising--and refreshing--to see Forest Ci...

Today, I walked past the B2 modular tower at Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, noticing that several modules had been placed on the 11th floor, as developer Forest City Ratner announced this week. That ends a hiatus of more than nine months, since early August 2014 , and signals a new chapter for B2, which originally was supposed to be constructed by Skanska USA, with modules delivered from a factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard co-owned by Skanska and Forest City. Now Forest City runs the factory, and Tishman Construction is in charge of the construction site. Will they fit? Shot from the street, the red facade doesn't line up; however, the red section sticks out, so alignment unclear The question bubbles up, however: will the modules fit? After all, Skanska, which is Forest City's adversary in three lawsuits (which likely will be consolidated), has charged that misalignment means "nobody knows if the building is going to leak." Forest City both deni...

Third of a five-part series on Forest City Ratner's plans for Nassau Coliseum redevelopment.  Part 1  concerned the overall plan.  Part 2  addressed the curious politics of a Community Benefits Agreement. This addresses the astonishing pitch in China for EB-5 investment.  Part 4  discussed Forest City's claim, at the Nassau County Legislature, it wasn't making much profit on EB-5, and its defense of a sketchy fundraising partner.  Part 5  concerned the brazen effort by EB-5 promoters to use an excerpt from this blog. In August 2013, when Forest City Ratner's Nassau Events Center team won the bid to revamp the Nassau Coliseum in a deal purported to be   "100% privately financed,"  I asked "where's the catch?" It turns out there are several. The EB-5 promotion began last August We've since learned that Forest City will get to  market naming rights  for the arena. The developer will benefit from a  state...

With not much notice, on Friday, Empire State Development posted a media advisory for the upcoming meeting Tuesday, May 19 at 3 pm of the Directors of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). No agenda has been announced as of yet, however. New York State Department of Labor 250 Schermerhorn Street ( map ) Orientation Room #2 – First Floor Brooklyn, New York 11201 This meeting is open to the public. Web casting of the meeting is available at http://www.esd.ny.gov/webcasts/. Those wishing to attend should please RSVP by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 18, 2015. Members of the press should please call (800) 260-7313; Members of the public should please call (212) 803-3795.