| I love it so much, I might have to change my underwear |
|
10% | ||||
| I’m laughing so hard I might have to change my underwear |
|
13% | ||||
| It makes me so frightened I might have to change my underwear |
|
50% | ||||
| I go commando |
|
26% |
How much uglier can it be? Cast your vote in the Prospect Heights Message Boards
From the New York Times: “State law forbids developers to physically alter the site of any proposed project until it has been officially approved, but makes an exception for “emergency actions” to guard public safety.”
moufaisbad writes in the Prospect Heights Message Boards:
“this was on NY1 today.”
“I love that Ratner is trying to make it seem as if he is demolishing the buildings for ‘public safety.’ If that was actually the case and he was losing sleep over the poor endangered neighborhood, why didn’t he have them demolished last year, since he said that’s when the engineers told him that they were unsafe?”
PHOTO: Atlantic Yards-Related Demolition to Begin [Set Speed a.k.a. One Hanson Place]
LINK:
prospect place writes in the Prospect Heights Message Boards: “Check out this scary picture of what PH could look like post-Ratner:”
qtrain points out that this image is just a sneak peek of a whole group of images to be released next week on onNYTurf:
On Monday March 6, onNYTurf is going to launch a new Google Map of the Atlantic Yards area that journals the neighborhood, and a look at the future landscape if Ratner’s plan for the yards is built… The Atlantic Yards map will also kick off a week of releasing several new maps built with our new google map engine…”
“I love the idea of seeing, from way down Eastern Parkway, the Museum and the new Meier building bracketing GAP… But…”
“… new development (is) happening seemingly everywhere that practically ignores the realities of the ‘other half’ … when you see so many other new ‘luxury’ buildings under development, slowly moving into older, poorer, *blacker* nabes, I think you need to start asking questions about who really owns this city.”
Stuart replies: “One of the absolute most revealing things on this subject was printed in the NY Times over the weekend, and, as it was the last paragraph of an article, I doubt many took note. The article is about the unsustainable growth that is projected for the next 20 years in NYC:”
Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, said that with nearby suburbs nearly saturated, the city was no longer at as much of a competitive disadvantage. Still, he said, “New York’s got to find a place to put another 1.2 to 1.5 million New Yorkers,” adding, “One way to keep these forecasts from happening is to make it prohibitively expensive to live and work here.”
“I will unpack that for all the free-marketeers on this board: The municipal government is encouraging development at outrageous prices as a way to stem the tide of growth due to influx of poor people.“
“I know that’s not what he says exactly, and I know it sounds like a conspiracy, but then again, what else can you call the collusion of developers and the municipal government, especially when things happen like the developer’s own lawyer is supposed to be in charge of an environmental review?”
(Stuart is referring to the revelation that the state hired a lawyer to “independently” review Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project when the same lawyer had already worked for Ratner on the project.)
“They start generally between 1AM and 3AM and run it for a good hour at least.”
“It’s a freaking jet engine running top speed for an hour!”
“There has got to be a more efficient, and less rage inducing way to clear snow from from the tracks. Once again, I’m a tired, angry man after losing a good night’s sleep to that infernal device. And Mrs. BrooklynSwordStyle, who works from home, has informed me that they are at it again right now.”
“If you think I’m exaggerating, I assure you I am not. It really is a jet turbine mounted on a truck that rolls up and down the rails.“
“Hey…I worked up a Google Earth placemark of the Atlantic Yards project, with 3D buildings so you can see how monstrous it is…”
“Get the word out!”
Discuss: Prospect Heights Message Boards
UPDATE to UPDATE: Some people have complained that the previous Google Earth screenshot exaggerated the difference between the Atlantic Yards project and surrounding Brownstone Brooklyn. This new screenshot (right) shows the current building heights. Also, this picture from Jon’s website (below) gives a much better idea of scale:
This editorial is a bit of an extreme view. Had it appeared in the New York Post, it would be easy enough to dismiss outright… but this comes from the the Daily News, which in the past has been fairly sympathetic to the anti-Ratner crowd:
Bounce this suit
“Opponents of the planned $3.5 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn have stooped to a new and ludicrous low by filing a futile and all-too-predictable lawsuit in state Supreme Court to try to stop developer Bruce Ratner from demolishing six vacant, partially collapsed buildings that he already owns…“
“Opponents appear determined to sue early and often to tie him up in litigation and are even trying raise a nonissue: the fact that an ESDC environmental lawyer involved in the project once worked for Ratner…” Read more…
DISCUSS: Prospect Heights Message Boards
So Fricking Ominous… Thanks to Curbed.com (”Will Evil Be Crushed?”) for reminding DH of an issue that has been right under our nose for so long.
And thanks for giving props to Atomische, taker of this incredible photo, and one of the original colonists of the Prospect Heights Photo Pool.
“When I lived in Manhattan, I knew the crackhead on my corner better than my neighbors … That could happen here, if we don’t stop this project.”
Links
When Danny Met Marty
From Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
Outside of the PS 321 polling place in Park Slope on Election Day 2005.
“Marty Markowitz said: ‘Dan, you are the only one who has a legitimate complaint about this project [Ratner’s Atlantic Yards].’”
DAILY HEIGHTS ELECTION RESULT: Split 50/50 between Ferrer and Bloomberg.
Image: set speed
Thanks to set speed aka onehansonplace.com for giving us the link to his coverage the Atlantic Yards public hearing last night (Tuesday, Oct. 18):
“Billed as one of the few chances the tax-paying public has at speaking to the Empire State Development Corp., tonight’s public hearing … (was) not without many dull moments … the partisan crowd was split into anti-Ratner community members and pro-project construction workers…”
“… Marty Markowitz spoke, then councilman David Yassky, then Letitia James… Impassioned community members spoke of the need for the impact review to be held on a larger scale…”
“Then came the brusque member of the sheetmetal workers union and another construction worker, both of whom were yelling into the mic, much to the jolly of their fellow blue-collar brethren. One speaker pleaded with the crowd, saying that Ratner actually paid union wages, while other surrounding Brooklyn projects used low-cost workers, specifically naming the developer of 176 Johnson St., a.k.a. Toy Factory Lofts and Two Trees in Dumbo…” Read more…
Discuss: Prospect Heights Message Boards
Thanks to anon_brooklyner for keeping his/her finger on the pulse of “The Community.“ The report comes from last week’s meeting of Community Board 8, featuring the ubiquitous and omnipresent Man Standing Behind Ratner (MSBR):
“James Caldwell told everyone to go to ‘his’ (i.e. about him) two new websites, dailyheights and nolandgrab. He claims some of the info on the site about him was wrong and that people should read what ‘the opposition’ is saying …”
“… he rambled along, and said these websites have misinformation: ‘my wife was not sick, she had open heart surgery.’ and ‘I did not have a quad-bypass, i had a triple bypass.’ and ‘my brother did not die, it was my cousin.’ he also ranted about the usual stuff, but I was pleased to see that he didn’t get that much vocal support … the only person loudly clapping was, hmmm. Marie Louis [also of BUILD], although, I think she abstained from the vote on CB8’s comments about the draft EIS for the ratner site…”
 |
| Image: Develop Don’t Destroy |
Captain M reports on Monday night’s 77th Precinct Community Council meeting: “I did not see Letitia … I did get see see James Caldwell speak, and it is my opinion he is a charlatan of the largest caliber …”
“He hijacked the beginning of the meeting to use it as his soapbox where he responded to ‘people talking in the neighborhood’ about how he is a racial divider, and talked about himself a lot:
1. He’s had a quaduple bypass
2. He served in the army for 6 years
3. He was proud to be wearing the American flag
4. His wife had recently been sick
5. Not ashamed to work for the community/get jobs for the community
6. He told us his birthdate
“He left some photocopies on all the chairs… one was a Daily News article from 1999 about the girl that got stabbed … James proceeds to talk about how he set up the candlelight vigil, how he talked to the mother … he dropped horrid detail about the crime that happened on ‘Park Avenue’ … all that and he forgets it’s Park Place?”
“He went on and on about how great the people were (at the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, which hosted the council meeting), how it was a great place for the community how his brother recovered from lung cancer there….and then he forgot the name of the place. People from the audience had to fill him in.”
“Then he waent to discuss a horrible shooting that occurred on Lincoln Place …He really pulls on the emotions of the crowd…but then he forgets the name of the kid that got shot…”
“While other people were talking, James Caldwell could be seen talking on the phone, sorting through pictures, and at one point I thought he dozed off.”
“James invocates God a lot and gives up a LOT of personal information to gain support … I never thought he was a divider … I just wanted to hear what he had to say about taking $5 mil from Ratner.”
Full report: Prospect Heights Message Boards
JCaldwell writes in the Daily Heights Message Boards: “To all of those concerned about the next upcoming meeting for the 77th Precinct Community Council, the proper location is the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at the corner of Classon and Park and not the 127 Utica Ave address as posted earlier.”
“We invite all to attend.”
Link: Will Caldwell Turn Tish Out on Her Ear? [Prospect Heights Message Boards]
Image: NoLandGrab
Wowie… no surprise here, since Letitia James is one of the Atlantic Yards project’s fiercest opponents, and James Caldwell is the project’s cheerleader-in-chief. But still… come on!!
Random_person told Daily Heights: “We were walking down the Flatbush Street Festival on Sunday and ran into Tish James… she said James Caldwell ‘banned’ her from the Community Council meetings at the 77th Precinct, and said he would throw her out if she tried to show up.”
[Oh yeah… in addition to being the CEO of BUILD, Caldwell also happens to be the President of the 77th Precinct’s “Community Council,” which is supposed to be some sort of interface between NYPD and “The Community.”]
Random_person continued: “She said she is going anyway, and they are public meetings, and they can’t kick her out. And they refunded the money she gave to the kids organization that they run. I think they have a youth police athletic-type thing.”
“You may want to ask her about it… She didn’t seem afraid to bring it up.”
Will do. Thanks for the info! This month’s 77th Precinct Community Council Meeting is next Monday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 PM. 127 Utica Avenue.
UPDATE: Daily News is now reporting that IRS records show a $5 million contribution from Forest City Ratner to BUILD. See below for a PDF of relevant pages.
Hoo boy… Sorry for the long lead-in, but this one needs some space. And if you’re an accountant or a “follow the money” type, you may be especially interested in bearing with us. We promise to bold the important parts so you can skim ahead.
The apparently non-profit group BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development) is clearly the biggest and loudest bunch of cheerleaders for the Forest City Ratner (FCR) Atlantic Yards Project, the multi-billion-dollar stadium/condo-skyscraper development that will bring the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn, casting a long shadow over Prospect Heights and making developer Bruce Ratner even more obscenely wealthy than he already is.
Here in Prospect Heights, some stadium opponents suspect that BUILD is a mouthpiece front bankrolled by FCR. And it doesn’t help appearances to see somebody flaunt their stuff in front of BUILD’s likely-very-expensive storefront office on Vanderbilt Avenue. Lucas wrote this a while back on Daily Heights:
“let me throw out a point for the debate: The *brand-new* massive silver Cadillac that pulls up in front of BUILD each day… what better instrument to contrast the ‘extreme rates of poverty, unemployment and underclass entrapment’ in the surrounding neighborhood?”
(Previously, we joked that the real source of BUILD’s wealth is 65-cent color copies (see picture).)
Meanwhile, BUILD portrays itself as a scrappy, grass-roots, faith-based community group that champions the interests of the poor and downtrodden. In fact, they flat out deny financial support from Forest City Ratner on the BUILD website:
So naturally we were shocked to see this comment here on Daily Heights about a week ago (held and not published until now): “I have a copy of BUILD’s 501(c)(3)tax exemption application. In response to ‘what are or will be the organization’s sources of financial support? List in order of size.’ The response was ‘real estate developers, individual private contributions” in that order.”
Well, interesting… but even if it’s true, that doesn’t prove anything, does it?
The commenter continued: “In addition, on its form 1023 filing, it shows that President Caldwell receives annual compensation of $125,000 while CEO Marie Louis and Chief Administration Officer Shalawn Langhorne each receive annual salaries of $100,000. Not bad for a small not-for-profit. Maybe I’m in the wrong business.”
While we were mulling this over, we got the follow-up comment: “Lo and behold, question 12B on form 1023 lists ‘FOREST CITY RATNER COMPANIES’ as making a $5M contribution. I guess that mystery is solved.”
How could this possibly happen? It all seems so cut-and-dried. We’re talking public records here… if it’s in the public record, why on earth would they turn around and call it a “myth” that “BUILD is financially supported by Forest City Ratner”? Here’s a scan of some relevant pages [click for PDF] so you can judge it for yourself, sent in by Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
So… FCR and BUILD… care to explain yourselves?
Ben points out this quote from Brooklyn Papers: “Borough President Marty Markowitz has urged that developer Bruce Ratner downsize his Atlantic Yards mega-development, a project vigorously supported by Markowitz since 2003.”
Is Bruce Ratner’s biggest cheerleader putting down his pom-poms? Is this some calculated political move? Ben’s take: “…I wonder if he’s been planning it all along…”
Ooh… forget about Daily Heights Presents: BUILD/DDDB Debate 2005… we got us a good old fashioned Ratner Fight on our hands.
-Is Develop Don’t Destroy taking credit where credit is not due?
-Did Dan steal a lifetime of press contacts from Patti?
-Will YEAH RIGHT every turn off his/her CAPS LOCK BUTTON?
-Or at least divulge his/her secret identity?
Click to find out.
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn To Request Finder’s Fee From MTA
Community Group Seeks $6.0008 Million for Raising Ratner Bid
“Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) … will seek a finder’s fee from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the group’s efforts which led to the $50 million increase of Ratner’s low-ball offer.”
“‘We got the MTA $50 million more than they would have gotten without us,’ said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein. ‘At a 12% finder’s fee that comes out to $6 million. Plus it cost us around $800 in printing and mailing to alert developers to the property sale, which the MTA didn’t really do. That comes out to $6.0008 million, which we would accept in cash or check.”
“We know that may sound like a lot of money, but its not much less than Bruce Ratner’s $10 million down payment for the Vanderbilt Yard.’”
Tony Limuaco is trying to get the word out that The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS) will be down at Freddy’s tomorrow (Tues. Aug 23) at 6:00-ish 6:30-ish “to investigate the impact of the Ratner curse”:
“Rinse out those softball shirt and represent, or just show up. I’m making a selected set of prints from Sunday’s softball game. If you know any of the musicians that have played at Freddy’s they should show up too.”
He asked if dailyheights.com could do another Rock Paper Scissors competition. It’s too short notice to put on something major. But I can suggest that people meet there spontaneously to hang out, drink beer, and participate in spontaneous games of chance and skill, including, but not limited to, Rock Paper Scissors.
Happy hour, anyone? Read more.
Dan Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy says today that there is a “secret” Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Forest City Ratner and New York City/State…
Goldstein: “This second MOU lays out plans for an even larger development, and more development rights, for Bruce Ratner than the public MOU.”
“… The second MOU, or ‘MOU 2,’ allows new development rights for FCR to develop millions more square feet over their Atlantic Center Mall and the PC Richards/Modell’s mall … These sites are directly adjacent to the disclosed footprint of Ratner’s proposed Brooklyn Atlantic Yards (BAY) …
“MOU 2 also refers to a mysterious previous MOU from May 2004.”
“It also provides for a state takeover of yet more acres in addition to the 21 acres in the public MOU. This would add more than one million square feet to what is already 8 million square feet of development in the BAY plan, and what is already an overburdened traffic intersection and public transportation hub.”
I MOU. MOU 2?
JOSHUA ROBIN writes in Newsday: “The MTA voted this afternoon to negotiate exclusively with developers planning a basketball arena and high-density residential community on the authority’s downtown Brooklyn rail yards, shutting out for now a rival bid that sought a more modest neighborhood on the site.”
“The 11-1 vote allows Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials to seek more money from developer Bruce Ratner for the Atlantic Avenue site, giving them 45 days to reach a new agreement … If the deal isn’t struck in that time, MTA officials could return to discussions with the rival developer, the Extell Development Co.”
CHARLES V. BAGLI writes in the New York Times: “The real estate investment group battling with the developer Bruce Ratner for control of the Atlantic railyard near Downtown Brooklyn offered a compromise yesterday that it said would allow both parties to declare victory: The group would incorporate Mr. Ratner’s plan to build a glass-walled basketball arena for the Nets into its project.”
“The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is scheduled to review the rival bids, and possibly select a winner, at its board meeting tomorrow. The investment group, led by Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development Company, has offered $150 million in cash for development rights at the 8.3-acre site, or three times as much as Mr. Ratner.”
“But Mr. Ratner, who has worked for three years on a $3.5 billion proposal for the arena and 6,000 apartments at the railyard and on adjoining parcels of land, brushed off the proposal. He contends that the transit authority and the public will get far more from his project than the $50 million he bid, including a newly built railyard, affordable housing, transit station improvements and tax revenue from the arena.”
“‘Forest City Ratner has an unmatched record in Brooklyn and throughout the city for developing and completing highly complex projects,’ said Joseph DePlasco, a spokesman for Mr. Ratner and his company, Forest City Ratner. ‘Also, they already have in place a long-term partnership with community groups and community leaders to develop thousands of needed jobs and 2,500 units of affordable housing while generating billions of dollars in revenue for the city and the state.’”
LINK: Development Rival Offers Compromise on Nets Arena [New York Times]
[Thanks to RHODAMINE for the photo of the Atlantic railyards.]
Breaking! Lucas writes: “Whoa - no less than half an hour after I left [the Wed. night Daily Heights happy hour at] Soda, BUILD caught a brick (or something) through the window… A report from the streets:”
20 minutes ago (say, 10:50 pm), the sound of breaking glass spilled into my living room, immediately followed by an inaudible yell (”Fuck You!” ?). My roommate and I walked over to the window (no, we didn’t jump up and run; smashing glass isn’t unusual around here - La Rena, the market across the street, was robbed a couple weeks ago at 5 am). We looked down from the third floor and tried to determine what was going on. A police car was stopped at the Bergen/Vanderbilt light, headed westbound on Bergen. There were no more than 4 or 5 people on the street. The police car crept forward as the light changed, paused for a minute (a 20-something black man in a tank top was walking towards the car, away from the sound), then the police accelerated quickly away. My roommate and I sat down, assuming someone had broken a beer bottle. Less than 10 minutes later, the breaking sounds resumed …
More photos and story after the jump! …
(more…)
Did anybody go to the Al Sharpton pep rally (going on right now, actually) at Underhill & Sterling? I was just there 5 minutes ago. Got there just in time to hear him introduce the Honorable William C. Thompson (New York City Comptroller). The program I have here says that Sharpton follows Thompson, so maybe if you hurry, you can catch his keynote remarks.
The audience is about 90% black, maybe 5% Hispanic. Most of the Caucasians in attendance looked like they were media (not exaggerating). The crowd is pretty thin… It is definitely NOT standing room only… Duryea Presbyterian is a small church and there’s still enough room to fit double the crowd.
I also got another copy of The Brooklyn Standard thrust at me.
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