The Atlantic Yards and the Brooklyn Nets

anonymous

On a serious note, where do we stand on the Atlantic Yards project?

True, our view of the Williamsburg Savings Bank will not be effected from Park Slope but what do we all think about Frank Gehry's proposed "Miss Brooklyn Tower?"

I've seen his "Ginger and Fred" building at the corner of Jiraskuv Bridge in Praha, Czech Republic, (http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/past_exhibitions/gehry/nederland_16.html ) and I think it is fantastic, but I have serious reservations about this "Bride of Brooklyn" tower.

What do you think of the plan as it exists now?

What do you think the impact will be on Park Slope?

What do you think about having a Brooklyn basket ball team?

I'm curious to hear what others are thinking, not from the BROOKLYN AS A WHOLE point of view, I'm kind of sick and tired of that, but rather from a Park Slope point of view.

homeowner

On a very specific note, I'm not sure how the whole Brooklyn Nets thing is going to work. Brooklyn has a very particular vibe and the luxury box, people watching, corporate shills sitting on the floor thing is going to be VERY interesting. Its not like LA where there will be supermodels sitting next to actors, or even like Manhattan where you can see folks like Donald Trump chatting up the likes of Puffy. I just don't know how it translates into downtown Brooklyn.

One example of this is the way Gehry's design is going to impact the games. He's stated that he wants to build the city's biggest stoop and envisions the front of the arena as a place where people will congregate and lounge before, during and after games. He's also designing the front entrance so that the scoreboard can be seen from the street. I've lived in Brooklyn most of my life, and I actively try to discourage strangers from sitting on my stoop. I just don't think he or Ratner have any idea what that is actually going to be like.

I work at a very large corporation that is a corporate sponsor for many sporting events in and around NYC. I can't imaging the higher ups who live on Park Avenue, up in Westchester and out on LI bringing their billion dollar clients to Nets games in Brooklyn. The US Open? Sure. Yankees and Mets games? Absolutly. Those are all events that they can get to without actually having to rub shoulders with the masses. But Nets games with the traffic jams and the "we encourage spectators to use public transportation"? Its just a bit of a stretch for me.

alafairnadia

the whole 'downtown' Brooklyn thing is part of what bothers me. it's not 'downtown'. on a good day, it's still around a 7 minute drive from the Manhattan bridge, given lights, buses, etc. and who knows where the parking will be?
I think of 'downtown' Brooklyn as the area around DeKalb and the Courthouse/City Hall.

I think what all the neighborhoods around the Atlantic Yards project, particularly (in response to this post) the neighborhoods peripherally potentially affected by the project, should consider the disruption to their neighborhood lives. Park Slope, Boreum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Crown Heights, Bed Stuy, Brooklyn Heights -- all of these neighborhoods will peripherally experience massive disruption because of this project. and it won't get better once the project is completed.

rogersma

It's tempting to think that this project won't affect folks in their brownstones a dozen blocks away, but that's not going to be the case. If the project goes through, Prospect Heights will become the most densely populated place in the United States. Plus, we'll have a 19,000 seat arena with over two hundred events a year. So here's our promise to you: we're going to share our population bonanza with everyone for miles around!

Not only will lots of the new folks living there have cars, but it now looks like Ratner will be putting in two huge surface parking lots on a couple of the blocks he'll seize but won't develop for another decade or so (or potentially ever). A lot of Nets fans will come by car (ever tried to get from suburban NJ to Brooklyn on mass transportation?) and you can bet that no matter where they get off the BQE they'll learn how to use every possible surface street to avoid the crushing traffic jams on Flatbush and Atlantic.

Mass transit? The MTA has already said they don't expect to schedule any additional service to support Nets games or Atlantic Yards, so if you use the subways you may find them a tad more crowded than before. You'll get to meet a whole lot of new neighbors!

But there's more:

Taxes? You won't even have to live in Brooklyn to end up paying additional taxes, for decades, to subsidize what will be the most expensive arena every built! In fact, all five buroughs will be allowed to contribute to the massive public subsidies that this project will demand for years to come.

And finally, if it goes through, Atlantic Yards will set a new standard for Brooklyn on how much land can be taken from individuals, and how much developers are allowed to build without public input.

Got any housing or retail space near you that isn't producing as much tax revenue as it could if it were twenty stories taller, or turned into a mall? Keep an eye on it, because if Atlantic Yards makes Ratner as rich as he hopes, a whole lot of other developers with friends in high places might get the itch to help improve your neighborhood too.