Atlantic Yards Showdown Over the Slowdown

• Why is it a surprise to anyone that this lowsy president of ours would support the building of a structure of death. Obama has done absolutely nothing for this country except make it worse.He is just another BS�er politician

• Claiming Jane Jacobs would support Atlantic Yards is straight out of Bruce Ratner's Bloombergian playbook -- misappropriate an idea everyone can agree on. Jacobs argued vociferously for low-rise, multi-developer, small store-front businesses on plenty of city blocks, with communities themselves determining organic growth. Atlantic Yards is a overgrown superblock from the lifeless urban-renewal era that would demap streets and would feature huge, national chain box stores -- all via a process that has pushed aside all community members save those few that unquestioningly support Ratner's scheme. Jacobs couldn't have cared less whether developments were placed atop railyards or not. Perhaps you're talking about the project sitting atop a big subway station. That's a popular argument...problem is, the Atlantic/Pacific Street station is already at capcity, and can't handle upwards of 50,000 more additioanl passengers that AY would flood the area with. Plus, it was designed for transfers from line to line, not as a departure point like Penn or Grand Central. Vibrant nightlife? The arena is designed to keep fans eating, drinking and entertained inside, away from small businesses in Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Clinton Hill and Boerum Hill. In fact, Ratner's designs call for a tunnel from the subway and LIRR platforms straight into the arena. Ratner didn't take any risks when he came to Brooklyn. His developments here are so heavily subsidized there was little risk for national developer as wealthy as Ratner. Some people moved to Brooklyn because it's gotten better. Ratner's not the reason Brooklyn's in good shape today. It's the many Brooklynites who stayed through the bad old days, who fought to make Brooklyn better. During those dark days, Ratner's sole contribution was MetroTech -- heavily-subsidized and about as close to Manhattan as one could get. To garner support for Atlantic Yards, Ratner promised mythologically huge numbers of "affordable" hosuing and jobs. But 87% of his apartments would be priced beyond the reach of low-income Brooklynites, and having promised 10,000 permanent jobs when the project was announced, that number is now down to a scandalously small 375 newly-created jobs. ...and those numbers were before Ratner jettisoned most of the project save for the massively-subsidized arena and perhaps one or two face-saving Gehry towers. Even Bulgarian shoemakers understand that Ratner's scammed Brooklyn. Exploiting peoples' fears over housing and jobs, Ratner's gained support for this bait-and-switch, starting with the $2 billion in public dollars his friends in high places have offered on a silver platter. This isn't about NIMBYism...it's about fighting a bad idea. Precisely why so many Brooklynites aren't taking your advice to "just deal with it." Rising against a project that has become the poster-child of how NOT to create jobs, housing, community and empowerment. Can you deal with that?

• The Atlantic Yard development is going to die, eventually. The city doesn't have the type of money to give out to this unviable project. The stadium alone is going to cost 950+million (which means over a billion), and Ratner just doesn't have the collateral. Oh, and if everyone doesn't know, he was going to borrow the money off of state bonds, which means the taxpayers are paying for his stadium. (Rent for Ratner: $1 for 99years) On the legal front, it would be nice for at least one court to give opponents their day in court. These rejections, by the supreme and appellate courts, not to take a hard look at the process, is absolutely ridiculous. Time to change the laws. Finally, the property value argument is moot. The property values were going up long before the city decided to land grab this for a single developer. Shame on the city, and sham on us all if we let this type of development run its course. Charles Bklyn

• you obviously weren't an economics major in college and have the economic sense of a Bulgarian shoemaker (not to insult Bulgarian shoemakers, of course, who I understand are fine people). Richer people moved to Brooklyn because Brooklyn became a more stable environment and Brooklyn became a more stable environment in large part because developers, LED BY RATNER, took risks, particularly in downtown. If you would study urban economics, you would understand that jobs come first. Last one in shut the door, then barricade it, the NIMBY way. Atlantic Yards fits the Jane Jacobs model, building atop a rapid transit node, bringing vibrant nightlife to a neglected area. The reality is that Atlantic Yards represents the natural progression of Brooklyn. Deal with it.

• Oh, stop it. Brooklynites have Ratner to thank for our home values? Please. Home values have skyrocketed because better-off people have rediscovered urban living, especially the charm of low-rise brownstone neighborhoods. And enough with the "home values" arguments, already. Most of us bought our homes because we liked the neighborhoods -- not as some sort of investment vehicle.

• LITTLE litigation to go. Very little. People can file suit, but unless they get a TRO from a judge, their suits are moot...and if you think judges are going to be granting TRO's if the critics lose at the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, as they almost certainly will, you're naive. New York is in competition with cities all over the world. NIMBY's (whose home values wouldn't be where they are today except that Ratner and others took some risks downtown 20 years ago) would like some sort of city statis...which is an oxymoron.

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