MAS Calls for Reform of Atlantic Yards Governance
June 16, 2008
A coalition of Brooklyn elected officials and civic groups, including MAS, gathered today on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan today to launch the “Campaign to Reform Atlantic Yards,” an initiative to pass new legislation that would reform the governance of the Atlantic Yards project.
The Campaign was launched in response to the continued lack of accountability, transparency and public involvement in the governance of the Atlantic Yards project.
“I’ve been involved in Riverside South, on the Upper West Side on Manhattan. That project was begun 17 years ago and it’s only half-finished. We’ve been through four governors and three mayors, and the only glue of the project of the project has been the involvement of citizens – through a structure. We need this at Atlantic Yards,” said Kent Barwick, President of the Municipal Art Society. Continue reading.
Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?
May 05, 2008 |
May 5, 2008
Today MAS released a set of renderings depicting the potential impact of interim parking lots and empty land on the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn. You can view the new renderings on a new slideshow at AtlanticLots.com and in the New York Post by clicking here.
Recently, Forest City Ratner (FCR) announced that key elements of the project will be delayed because of market conditions. Currently, FCR intends to begin constructing only the arena and one residential building on the Western end of the project. They plan to demolish the entire Eastern section of the site to create seven acres of "temporary" surface parking lots that could be with us for 15 or 20 years.
MAS is deeply concerned over the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods of vacant lots on the west of the project and giant parking lots on the east. In Sunday's (May 4) Daily News, FCR assured the public that the entire project will be completed by 2018, but other large-scale projects in New York – from Riverside South and Battery Park City to Queens West – have been delayed by a decade or longer.
Our goal in producing the renderings is to dramatize the need for New York State, which officially oversees the project, to move from the backseat role of previous administrations and take responsibility for guiding the largest development project in Brooklyn's history. Continue reading...
Demolition for Parking Opposed in Brooklyn
April 23, 2007
More than 200 people braved torrential rains last week to rally against planned demolition at the Atlantic Yards development site in Prospect Heights. Elected officials, performers and community residents called on the state and the city to rethink plans to permit Forest City Ratner to demolish two city blocks — including the historic Ward Bakery — to create parking lots. Click here to watch a short video of the day’s events and to learn more about the BrooklynSpeaks.net campaign.
Atlantic Yards: Brooklyn Deserves A Better Plan
On a slender, 22-acre strip of land between Prospect Heights and Fort Greene, the developer Forest City Ratner is proposing one of the largest building projects in Brooklyn's history. Known as Atlantic Yards, it proposes 16 new skyscrapers and an 18,000-seat sports arena - more than eight and a half million square feet of new development. Brooklyn is, of course, a big and ever-changing place with plenty of room to grow. With its prime transit connections &mdash 10 subway lines and a Long Island Rail Road terminal &mdash the Atlantic Yards site is a logical one for new development, including an arena and badly needed affordable housing. Continue reading...
What You Can Do
Visit BrooklynSpeaks.net to add your name to a growing list of people who support development in Brooklyn that works for Brooklyn.
New Yorkers Respond to MAS Principles
Since the MAS announced its principles for the Atlantic Yards, several hundred New Yorkers have contacted us with their comments, a selection of which are below.
"Brooklyn is a precious and unique place that cannot be overwhelmed by an anti-community project. There needs to be openness, dialogue and transparency. Right now, there is no proper scrutiny or engagement by public officials." - PW
"As an urban planner involved in redevelopment projects for most of my career, I agree with your principles 100%. I support development at the Atlantic Yards site, but Brooklyn deserves a better project than Ratner's. We shouldn't have to choose between open space, affordable housing and an appropriate level of density." - NF
"The extent to which this project threatens to damage the many communities that make up historic Brooklyn is truly frightening." - HM
"I am writing to support continued study of this project so we do not lose the human scale of our neighborhoods and borough. I dread to think of what it will be like if the Williamsburgh Savings Bank - a symbol of our borough - is swallowed by those high rises.The impact at ground level on the 'feel' of our neighborhoods would be irreversible." - HS Continue reading...
Testimony
The MAS recently submitted comments to the ESDC on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Atlantic Yards and wrote to ESDC Chairman Charles Gargano commenting on the General Project Plan. Comments on the draft scope of work were submitted in October 2005. Continue reading...Materials to Download
From the June 15 Public Meeting:
At Public Meeting, MAS Puts Forth Urban Planning Principles for Atlantic Yards
The June 15 forum about the Atlantic Yards site drew a packed house. Invited by several local politicians and community groups to the Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church, in Brooklyn, on June 15, the MAS laid out urban planning principles to which development on the Atlantic Yards site should adhere. MAS President Kent Barwick introduced the presentation, which was made by MAS Atlantic Yards Committee members Stuart Pertz and John West. City Council Member Letitia James, one of the evening's hosts, and Eric McClure, representing community groups, opened the meeting.
Continue reading...
MAS on Atlantic Yards - Other Media Coverage
The Leonard Lopate Show, July 5 (download the segment, featuring MAS President Kent Barwick and Atlantic Yards Committee member Stuart Pertz, as an MP3 here.
State Review of Atlantic Yards Plan Begins, and MAS Weighs In
With more than nine million gross square feet of development, 17 new buildings, one of which would rise up to 620 feet, an 18,000-seat sports arena, and seven acres of new open space, the Forest City Ratner plan for the Atlantic Yards and surrounding areas would change northern Brooklyn forever. It is among the largest development proposals in the history of New York City, and the MAS has begun its review of the plan.
Continue reading...