Please note our new postal address when sending
contributions to the legal fund:
121 5th Avenue, PMB #150
Brooklyn, New York 11217
About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and
there are 51 community organizations formally
aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.
DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000
subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition
signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB
to form our various teams, task-forces and committees
and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person
volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our
retained attorneys.
We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large
and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.
We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual
donors.
Please DONATE and VOLUNTEER for a day of Thrifty Shopping to raise money for Develop
Don't Destroy Brooklyn's court cases against the Atlantic Yards project and eminent
domain abuse.
BRING YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS to a Stoop Sale of arts & crafts, books, music &
media, lightly-used clothing, household items, small furniture, and more.
Saturday May 17th
10 AM to 4 PM
At 622 Carlton Avenue [map]
** You can bring items to the Mega Stoop Sale on Saturday May 17th after
9:30AM.
And you can come shop for stoop treasures from 10 - 4.
...Yesterday's tour offered a glimpse of the planned Brooklyn arena's
plush seats, kitchen facilities and pool table in a mock luxury box, with digital
displays of the sightlines from each suite.
It also included a four-minute video about Frank Gehry's design for the venue,
whose renderings were shown with pictures of such icons as the Eiffel Tower
in Paris and the Coliseum in Rome...
Is that right? You tell us:
Posted: 5.16.08
Nets Yormark: "Brooklyn...is Real" The Nets marketing guru explains—on the occasion of the opening of a mock luxury
skybox showroom in the New York Times Tower in Midtown Manhattan for the proposed
Bruce Ratner Frank Gehry New Jersey Nets Atlantic Yards Barclays Center Luxury
Suite Showroom —that "Brooklyn...is real". From the Bergen Record:
..."We've been saying that Brooklyn has been real for years, and it is real, but this truly is another validation for us," Chief Executive Officer Brett Yormark said during a media tour of the sales office, which includes a 500-square-foot replica of one of the 130 luxury suites at the proposed $950 million Barclays Center...
Yes, that makes sense. A mock luxury skybox on the 38th floor of the New York
Times Tower is undeniable evidence and validation that "Brooklyn...is real."
The Nets kicked off sales Thursday of a portion of their luxury suites for the proposed Barclays Center, which they hope to open in Brooklyn by the end of 2010. Some seating facts:
64 "Level A" luxury suites, priced at $190,000 to $450,000
54 "Level B" luxury suites, priced at $155,000 to $400,000
12 Court-level "bunker" suites, priced at $540,000
3,200 Premium "club" seats, price not set but probably more than $150 per game
NoLandGrab: Interesting that the Nets also remembered to promote the promised 2,000 $15 seats. Those, of course, won't be on sale for a very long time. Most likely, though, they'll be available much, much sooner than any of the units listed below.
...Another element of the FAQ addressed parking: Q. Where will I park as a Suiteholder at the Barclays Center?
A. You will have a reserved spot within a one to two block radius from the premium
entrance. Important to note that our parent company controls parking both on
the Arena site and surrounding areas that will enable us to deliver the most
convenient parking access possible to our suite customers.
Remember, one of the rationales for this arena is that it would be at a
major transit hub. But the rich aren't expected to take public transit, apparently.
Poor Attendance Modeled for Atlantic Yards This
model is from the new Bruce Ratner Frank Gehry New Jersey Nets Atlantic Yards
Barclays Center Luxury Suite Showroom in the New York Times Tower.
Looks like the Ratner team is expecting even worse attendance in their planned
Brooklyn arena than they have in the Meadowlands.
...Nets President Brett Yormark says the amenities [of the arena's
luxury skyboxes) are [to] be a big draw.
YORMARK: Cork floors, induction burners. No more chafing dishes with fire underneath.
So a little bit of technology there. Frank Gehry designed lighting fixtures...
Pencil This In
BENEFIT: Come join in on a benefit concert for Develop Don't Destroy
Brooklyn tonight, with a handful of Brooklyn-based singer/songwriters (including
Clare & The Reasons, John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian, and Jolie Holland)
taking the stage. The show will be "raising funds and awareness for DDDB
in its legal battles against eminent domain abuse in the proposed Atlantic Yards
development, the concert series will also highlight how such irresponsible development
could threaten the artistic community that has flourished in Brooklyn over the
last several years." There will also be a screening of Brooklyn Matters a
documentary on the Atlantic Yards development. 6:30 p.m. // Southpaw [125 5th Ave, Park Slope] // $15
If you read other newspapers in New York, you would’ve noticed that
there was a lot of Atlantic Yards-related news last week. If you followed
the story online, you would’ve learned even more.
That’s why any consumer of media in New York should be disappointed
by the New York Times’s failure to publish a word about Atlantic Yards
in the past week. Not only is it a major story for the city and region, the
Times, given the parent New York Times Company’s business relationship
with developer Forest City Ratner, developing the new Times Tower, has a special
obligation to be exacting in its coverage...
Continue
reading to find out what numerous stories didn't make it into the Paper of
Record.
Little doubt they will cover the unveiling of Frank Gehry's Barclays
Center Arena Luxury Skybox Suites on May 15th at a "splashy party" in
the developer's showroom in the New York Times Building. Just have to take the
elevator!
Posted: 5.14.08
Assemblyman Brodsky: "We need a time out before this disaster repeats itself everywhere else." In this NY Times article, Assemblyman Brodsky, chair of the Committee
on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, was speaking not just about the
failing West Side/Hudson Yards deal but, more generally, about projects overseen
by agencies such as the MTA and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC);
such projects, of course, would include the Atlantic Yards proposal overseen by
the ESDC.
...“These deals are breaking down because the governance system for
authorities doesn’t work and because the public subsidies are out of
control,” said Mr. Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester. “We need
a time out before this disaster repeats itself everywhere else.”...
While the listing is flattering, I can't say they have me convinced. For example,
Charles Bagli, the veteran real estate/development reporter for the New York
Times--and formerly at the Observer--does not appear on the list and he's way
more powerful than I am. (Despite my criticisms
of his AY coverage, he's a very able reporter.) And I am not more powerful than
Nicolai Ouroussoff, the Times's architecture critic, at #85, nor Assemblyman
Richard Brodsky, chair of the Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities
and Commissions, at #89; he has the power to grill public officials. And where's
Julia Vitullo-Martin
of the Manhattan Institute, a savvy and provocative commentator?
...
The Observer on Ratner
8 Bruce Ratner
Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies
The leader of what is perhaps New York’s most high-profile development,
the controversy magnet Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner is one of the most active
developers in the city, often pursuing large, publicly administered projects.
He’s recently taken a liking to famous architects, ensuring that his developments
leave a notable impression on the skyline.
The Observer on Gehry
51 Frank Gehry
Owner of Gehry Partners LLP
If Bruce Ratner is right, and his 16-skyscraper-and-arena Atlantic Yards project
comes to fruition, Mr. Gehry, its designer, will alter Brooklyn’s aesthetic
as we know it. If, however, it continues to stumble … Well, just ask the
Municipal Arts Society, which recently put out some ugly renderings to that
effect.
The Observer on AYR
77 Norman Oder
Journalist/Blogger, Atlantic Yards Report
The Park Slope-based Norman Oder runs a one-man, one-topic journalistic operation
that brings a constant stream of mostly critical articles on Atlantic Yards.
His presence appears to have propelled attention and criticism of the project
now 17 months since approval.
What critics consider a sweetheart deal regarding Atlantic Yards hasn't provoked
investigation into any wrongdoing. It was presented as a fait accompli fast
tracked by the Empire State Development Corporation, rather than debated in
public by local officials. In Yonkers, however, the curious twists and turns
of Forest City Ratner's $630 million, 1000-apartment, 81-acre Ridge Hill project
(above) have generated a federal investigation...
You can also watch tonight's BCAT show on the small YouTube
screen (below):
Posted: 5.13.08
Civic Project: "We'll be marketing the heck out of the building..."
The Empire State Development Corporation designated Forest City Ratner's Barclays
Center Arena, the one with the $400 million naming rights deal, as a "civic
project" as defined under the state's Urban Development Corporation Act (UDCA).
The UDCA defines a a "civic project" as one in which findings have been
made that:
(a) there is a need in the area for an “educational, cultural, recreational,
community, municipal, public service or other civic facility;” (b) the project
consists of facilities suitable for such civic purposes; and (c) the project will
be “leased to or owned by the state or an agency or instrumentality thereof,
a public corporation, or any other entity which is carrying out a community, municipal,
public service or other civic purpose..."
DDDB and our co-plaintiffs raised a claim in our challenge
to the state's Final Environmental Impact Statement and overall project approval.
That suit said that the Court should make a declaratory judgment that a sports
facility for a professional sports team leased to a private entity is
not a “civic project” under the UDC Act; specifically a privately
leased, for-profit sports arena, such as Forest City Ratner's (FCR) arena, is
not a project that the ESDC may lawfully undertake within its enabling legislation.
The court, while not discussing the UDCA "civic project" ownership structure,
decided that the arena is a recreational
facility as, according the Court, entertainment—watching a Nets game—is
recreation. That decision is currently under appeal,
But today we have an article
in the Sports Business Journal about how Nets Sports &
Entertainment President and CEO Brett Yormark has signed six current Nets sponsors
to new deals as "founding partners" for the imaginary
arena in Brooklyn (Anheuser-Busch, Cushman & Wakefield, MGM Grand/Foxwoods,
ADT, Emblem Health and Izod). It is not difficult to understand the plaintiffs'
argument that he arena is not a "civic project" when the Nets marketing
guru says in the article:
...“We’ll be marketing the heck out of the building even before
it is being built,” Yormark said.
(Emphasis added.)
Ahhhh, it is so refreshing to hear such heartfelt civic spirit and pride.
On Tiffany Chains and Eminent Domain Last
week Crain's announced for Forest City Ratner that the developer will
be holding a "splashy party" to promote the sales of luxury suites in
the Barclays Center Arena -- presumably the "splashy" attendees will
not be told that the arena's
construction requires the abuse of eminent domain, and as they are schmoozed
to buy the tricked out arena rumpus room tax write-offs, Ratner does not own the
land he needs to build his arena:
Next week [May 15], the Nets will debut a prototype of their Frank Gehry-designed,
$300,000-a-year Barclays Center corporate suites at a splashy party in their
New York Times Building showroom.
To entice 185 of New York’s top CEOs to attend—and buy—the
organization delivered a series of gifts over the past month, including a Tiffany
key chain with a key, one of which will open a door to a free suite for the
team’s inaugural season.
The arena is set to open in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards in 2010, if developer
Bruce Ratner can clear all the legal hurdles in its path.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and rap star Jay-Z, a part-owner
of the team, will be on hand for the May 15 event...
Today, on his Atlantic
Yards Report, Norman Oder takes a closer look at the recent publicity campaign
Ratner has waged in order to assure the public, elected officials, and, most importantly,
potential skybox investors, that the $950 million arena can receive bonds and
be constructed:
A counter-protest
in response to the "Time Out" rally. An Bruce
Ratner op-ed in the New York Daily News. The release of new
renderings of the Atlantic Yards arena, office tower, and first residential
building.
Let me try to put Forest City Ratner's recent efforts in some perspective. The office tower rendering is aimed to help attract an anchor tenant and get the building started. The rendering of a residential rental tower, with half the units subsidized, is aimed to maintain public support for the project.
But, more than anything else, the developer's efforts are about getting the
arena built. That means the public must be convinced it's viable and, crucially,
buyers of luxury suites must be recruited. The guarantee of certain suite revenues,
I believe, will back bonds for the now-$950 million arena. ...
It's a good bet that a quota of suite sales, along with the value of the Barclays
Center naming rights agreement and of other, as yet unnamed, partnerships, are
part of the package that Forest City Ratner must put together to sell arena
bonds. So far, Forest City Ratner has acknowledged
that the naming rights agreement "lends itself pretty nicely" to securitization,
but hasn't spoken about securitizing suite revenue. ...
The road is a bit rockier in Brooklyn, given the presence of some pesky lawsuits
and skeptical public officials, not to mention some plausible
portraits of an arena that surely won't get its full--or perhaps any--shiny
titanium skin until the towers around it are complete.
With Madison Square Garden embarking on a top-to-bottom renovation,
new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees opening next year, and a new home for
the Giants and Jets underway, it'll be interesting to see what demand there
might be for suites in an arena that's still in rendering stage.
...As soon as Caring Bruce Ratner said the Nets weren't for sale and were still on their way to Brooklyn, I immediately imagined the team bus making a U-turn and heading for Newark...
John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian, and Clare & The Reasons
Brooklyn-based songwriters join together to raise funds for Develop Don't Destroy
Brooklyn's fight against the Atlantic Yards project.
Event Details are as follows:
Richard Julian, John Wesley Harding, Clare & The Reasons, and surprise guests
with a screening of the film "Brooklyn Matters" a documentary on the Atlantic Yards development
Thursday, May 15th
Doors at 6:30pm; Film at 7pm; Concert at 8pm
Southpaw
125 Fifth Ave
Brooklyn
(718) 230-0236
$12 in advance, $15 at the door CLICK
to buy tickets on line at TicketWeb
ABOUT Richard Julian
After three independent-label releases, New York-based songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Richard Julian made his major-label debut in 2006 with "Slow New York" (Manhattan Records/EMI), introducing what Harp Magazine calls Julian’s “nimble lyricism” and “keenly observational songs” to a broader audience nationally and internationally. A ubiquitous presence of late, he has also enjoyed success as a member of The Little Willies, a country side-project featuring himself, Norah Jones, and Jim Campilongo; and as a co-producer, writer, and performer on vocalist/songwriter Sasha Dobson’s bossa-tinged "Modern Romance" (Secret Sun Recordings). Currently, Julian is touring in support of his latest album "Sunday morning in Saturdays Shoes" released through Manhattan Records in February 2008.
ABOUT John Wesley
Harding
The acclaimed musician, songwriter, and author, John Wesley Harding has been making his mark on American culture for almost twenty years. From the start of his career in Hastings, England to his current home in Brooklyn, NY, John Wesley Harding has seen incredible career highlights. Stand out moments include sharing stages with legendary artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Michelle Shocked, The Band, Ray Davies, Los Lobos, and Joan Baez. He's also released eight records with hit singles that have gained him national recognition. One such song, "I'm Wrong About Everything" was included on the soundtrack to the movie "High Fidelity". Under his real name, Wesley Stace, he has published two novels, the international bestseller "Misfortune", one of Amazon's Top Ten Books of the Year, and last year's "by George", selected by the New York
Public Library as one of the 25 Book To Remember of 2007.
ABOUT Clare & The Reasons
Clare & The Reasons released their debut album "The Movie" (Frogstand Records) in September of last year. The album features guests such as Van Dyke Parks, Gregoire Maret, Sufjan Stevens and an augmented string section. You can hear Clare sing two songs on the Fox show "Arrested Development". She also has songs in two Lion's Gate films. Most recently, her song "Cactus Tree", can be heard in the HBO show "Cathouse". Clare & The Reasons is becoming a fixture in the New York music scene, and have branched out with a short European tour, as well as a recent appearance at the SXSW 2008 Music Festival.
Posted: 5.10.08
Area 51 Type Mystery Surrounds Site 5 and Atlantic Yards Bruce Ratner's plan to take "Site
5" (PC Richards & Modell's at Flatbush and 4th Avenue) by eminent
domain and develop it as part of the Atlantic Yards proposal has been known
for a long time, and was planned to be part of the project's first phase.
But, as Norman Oder explains on his Atlantic Yards Report, the building
that was shown in renderings when the project was approved (below) is now missing
in action. It did not appear in the new
Frank Gehry Phase1 renderings released on May 5th.
Oder's questions to the ESDC were met with such obfuscation one would think that
Area 51
was in question, rather than Site 5. This is odd, since Site
5 had once been called "central" to Atlantic Yards's goals.
The new
renderings produced by Frank Gehry do not include Site 5, the tower on
the wedge of land between Pacific Street and Atlantic, Flatbush, and Fourth
avenues, currently home to P.C. Richard and Modell's. Previous renderings
(right) did include Site 5.
The General Project Plan approved by the Empire State Development Corporation
in December 2006 suggested
that Site 5 was a priority: The development of both Site 5 and Building 1, with high density buildings,
is central to the goal of the Project to transform this very public and prominent
area by creating architecturally significant buildings that would ring, and
be connected to, the transit hub, and by developing uses that would activate
and create a vibrant streetscape experience for the public.
Status of Site 5
Based on the renderings, my surmise is that either the building has been dropped,
or its construction has been postponed. I asked ESDC spokesman Warner Johnston
for information.
He responded, "Site 5 was never contemplated to be one of the first buildings
and will be done in a future phase."
He's right that that buildings on the arena block, rather than across Flatbush
Avenue, were the first buildings expected in Phase 1--though Site 5 has long
been part of Phase . Still, the absence of a Gehry rendering, much less a mention
by developer Forest City Ratner of Site 5 in Monday's press
release, is reason to wonder about the timetable, as was its omission at
an Investor
Day discussion last October. (FCR told
Crain's the building would be developed separately.) ...
Chris Ward, due to take over the Port Authority this month, suggests to us that
he thinks Bruce Ratner should consider recruiting architects other than Frank
Gehry for the Atlantic Yards. “Flatbush and Atlantic is a totally underused
area and a major transportation hub, and I hope we don't lock ourselves into
a design that does not allow other architecture or public space,” says
Ward. That design is entirely Gehry's; even after Ratner admitted his multi-tower
vision might not attract financing, public officials have kept the architect
front and center. “Bruce, with his optimism, is probably feeling that
he doesn't have to worry about those contingencies,” Ward continues. “But
it would be worthwhile to pay attention to the real-estate risks there.”
...
Ward will have a lot of influence over state spending if the developer
needs a cash influx.
Shy lenders are trying to avoid mingling with "mixed use." They're
putting brakes on developments that blend offices and stores with condominiums,
apartments and hotels.
Before the housing bubble's pop and a crunch in credit, developers drew up
many mixed-use plans. They were a way to enliven urban blocks and use space
economically.
But now it's harder to find lenders who'll back all parts of a project. They
vary in which parts of mixed-use they fear.
Some consider office and residential aspects to be higher-risk, says Scott
Lynn, a principal at Dallas investment bank Metropolitan Capital Advisors.
It's far tougher today, he says, to get financing for mixed-use plans that
are part residential, vs. a sole-use retail property.
"Banks are terrified of the residential market and see retail or hotel
projects as a safer loan," he said, citing better assurance of income
in the latter categories. ...
Developers across the U.S. are delaying mixed-use projects as lenders back
away, concerned that risks outweigh returns. High construction costs and worsening
fundamentals are jeopardizing major plans. ...
Two months ago in New York, Forest City Ratner Cos. warned of difficulties
with office and residential parts of Atlantic Yards, a $4 billion, 22-acre
Brooklyn project. Given lack of demand in both niches, the firm said, it would
be hard to get enough leasing commitments to secure financing. This week it
issued new designs and outlined a 10-year construction schedule that does
include offices and residences.
Contact:
Governor
David A. Paterson Mail: State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224 Phone: 518-474-8390 Email Form: Click
Here
Need contacts for other elected officials? Click
here.
What
would Atlantic Yards Look like?... Photo
Simulations
Before and After views from around the project footprint
revealing the massive scale of the proposed luxury apartment
and sports complex.
On March 31, 2008 plaintiffs filed
a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States
asking the Court to hear their case.
EIS
Lawsuit DDDB et al v ESDC et al Click
for a summary of the lawsuit seeking to
annul the review and approval of "Atlantic
Yards" by the ESDC, PACB and MTA.
APPEAL: Plaintiffs appeal is scheduled to be filed
in July.
Argument to be held in the court's September term.
Appeal briefs are here.
This
model is from the new Bruce Ratner Frank Gehry New Jersey Nets Atlantic Yards
Barclays Center Luxury Suite Showroom in the New York Times Tower.
Atlantic
Yards started out in December 2003 with this slogan: "Jobs, Housing and Hoops."
Now?
Last
week Crain's announced for Forest City Ratner that the developer will
be holding a "splashy party" to promote the sales of luxury suites in
the Barclays Center Arena -- presumably the "splashy" attendees will
not be told that the 
