Monday, March 9, 2009

The real blight on Brooklyn


From the Wall Street Journal:

In December 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg thought he had a slam dunk. He along with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and developer Bruce Ratner struck a deal for a $4.3 billion development project that was to remake downtown Brooklyn by building expansive residential and retail space, and a gleaming new $950 million arena that would bring the New Jersey Nets to the borough.

Now, more than five years later, what's been brought to Brooklyn is a very large hole in the ground and a project that is coming to symbolize why large government projects can be riskier than allowing local residents to fix up their own communities. What we see in Brooklyn is the beginnings of the failure of a massive government plan to revive the economy of a neighborhood.

Now officials have a mess on their hands. The development got just far enough to do considerable damage to the neighborhood without progressing far enough to do any good. Atlantic Yards has razed 26 buildings, with government help, creating the blight its developer had argued was there all along. Now there are gashes where late-19th century and early-20th century buildings once stood.

7 comments:

faster340 said...

They will blame it on the residents of the neighborhood instead of taking any responsibility themselves.

Anonymous said...

AYR augments the article and differs on some points:

http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/03/wsj-on-ay-hole-grows-in-brooklyn.html

www.forgotten-ny.com

Anonymous said...

If the ridiculous lawsuits didn't delay this project for so long, something may actually have been built by now. The NIMBYs really messed this one up.

Anonymous said...

Would you want a boondoggle with 20x the density of the surrounding neighborhoods in your backyard, blocking out your light and air and making the transit and traffic even more of a nightmare than it is now? I doubt it.

faster340 said...

"If the ridiculous lawsuits didn't delay this project for so long, something may actually have been built by now. The NIMBYs really messed this one up."

Ok let's use eminent domain to take your house and plop a big commercial enterprise partially paid for by your taxes right there in your neighborhood and see how NIMBY you are! You would be the first one cryin!

Anonymous said...

Why is the concept of private property so controversial in America today?

Once upon a time eminent domain was rarely invoked and only for projects that promoted the public welfare such as hospitals, schools and roads.

Too freakin' bad if a rich man is told that he cannot own the entire earth. When Macy's was built they had to carve out a corner to accommodate some stubborn SOB who just wouldn't sell.

Today they would pour concrete over him and bury him in the cornerstone.

Anonymous said...

Would you want a boondoggle with 20x the density of the surrounding neighborhoods in your backyard, blocking out your light and air and making the transit and traffic even more of a nightmare than it is now? I doubt it.

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Only if you live in Elmhurst or Astoria.

For example, its might be hard to believe, but criticize development on astorians.com and you actually get banned.