beep… beep… beep… (radar sounds)

daniel writes: “Not sure if this is the same guy, but before I read this, I passed some guy standing on the corner of Union and 7th in a large red soccer jersey muttering obnoxious comments to women as they walked by. I paid him no notice.”

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.]

Alert! alice writes in the Prospect Heights message boards: “A half-hour or so ago, a man pushed in the door behind me as I entered my building [Vanderbilt btw Park and Sterling Pl.]. I promptly freaked and pushed him out as hard as I could, and he took off.”

“The police found him a few minutes later, but then they let him go (?) after taking his information. … be on the alert as you enter your building … He was an African-American man, in his 30s-40s, missing most of his teeth, wearing an oversized maroon t-shirt and jeans. Very skinny. I had seen him a second before when he was sitting on the stoop of the building next door to mine.”

“When I saw him before this happened, he was murmuring comments at all the women who walked by… I didn’t even register him as a threat because he was being so conspicuous … I don’t get why the police would just let him go. I’m fairly unnerved by this, as he knows where I lived and he seemed, let us say, unhappy with me.”

LATEST UPDATE: “I just called the 77th–the first officer I spoke to was puzzled over why they let him go; the 2nd one guessed they just gave him a summons for trespassing. Either way someone is supposed to call me back with the details, so I will let you know.”

LINK: Push-in on Vanderbilt Monday Afternoon [Daily Heights message boards]