They Predict Ratner Will Lose
Lawsuits Challenging Project
By Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
PROSPECT HEIGHTS – As one walked down Dean Street east of Flatbush Avenue yesterday, it was clear that one had entered “Ratnerville,” or at least part of it.
Signs hanging from windows or painted on walls read “Eminent Domain: Thy Name is Gehry” and “No Arena.” Some blocks were still filled with vibrant brownstones, and one even had a new low-rise condo nearing completion. Others, however, were characterized by empty lots or boarded-up buildings. Freddie’s Bar, a headquarters for the anti-Ratner forces and itself endangered by the Atlantic Yards development, stood inconspicuously on one corner.
Right across the street from the shrouded former Ward Bakery building, slated for demolition, where workers were doing preliminary work, a group of opponents of Atlantic Yards gathered to unveil an update of an alternative proposal, the Unity Plan developed by architect Marshall Brown back in 2004.
The updated proposal is the result of several community workshops earlier this year. Like the original Unity Plan, it would contain both residential and commercial development, it would contain a large amount of affordable housing (now, 60 percent). It would be lower-rise than Atlantic Yards (the tallest building would rise 400 feet), and it would confine itself to the area directly over the Long Island Railroad’s Vanderbilt Railyards.
It also would open up new streets to connect Prospect Heights to Fort Greene, rather than de-mapping some local streets as the Atlantic Yards plan would.
However, instead of the original “green strip” down the middle, the revised plan now would contain green areas scattered throughout the area. It also would concentrate the tallest buildings nearer to the eastern, or Vanderbilt Avenue, end, and would put a large park at the Atlantic Avenue end near the railway and subway entrances.
Perhaps most important, the revised plan is divided into eight segments, designed to be developed by different developers. Thus, even if Forest City Ratner build part of Atlantic Yards and fails to develop the rest, the remaining areas could be developed according to principles of the Unity Plan.
The meeting was led by architect Brown; Tom Angotti, professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College; and Ron Schiffman, former City Planning commissioner and current professor at Pratt Institute. They were joined by Jim Vogel of the Council for Brooklyn Neighborhoods, Councilwoman Letitia James and several others.
The organizers believe that Ratner will lose the various lawsuits against him, and also contend, in the words of Schiffman, that “the housing market is collapsing under him.” Schiffman mentioned two lawsuits, one in Newburgh, N.Y. and the other in New Jersey, that ruled against developers’ intended use of eminent domain for the benefit of private developments.
Vogel said the actual rail yards still haven’t been sold to Forest City Ratner, and Schiffman said it would be fairly easy to cover the railyards with a deck and build above them.
Sandy Balboza, of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, said the concept of using different developers to build different segments of a site has been successfully done at the former Hoyt-Schermerhorn urban renewal site in Boerum Hill.
Angotti contended that “Forest City Ratner loses $35 million each year that the Nets can’t use to Brooklyn.” The Hunter professor also mentioned that the Unity Plan would include traffic-calming measures.
In response to the Unity Plan in general, a statement from Forest City Ratner read, “For over three years, FCRC worked with community groups and leaders to develop a project with some real benefits for the people of Brooklyn – thousands of affordable and low-income apartments, construction and long-term jobs, a world-class sports and entertainment facility and world class architecture and public space.
“But probably most important is that Atlantic Yards is real, based on detailed engineering and design work and realistic financing models. Forest City Ratner has a proven track record in Brooklyn for a quarter of a century – a track record that ensures that these benefits become a reality rather than just another empty promise.”
Easy Layup, 3-Point Shot, or Air Ball?
But what of the Nets arena itself, under the Unity Plan?
Responding to such a question, Brown said, “We’re not anti-sports, but this about what’s best for this particular site.”
Schiffman added that in 1983, when he headed the Pratt Center for Community Development, the city commissioned a study by the center to find the best location for a major-league sports arena in the borough. The Pratt Center study came to the conclusion that Coney Island, not the Vanderbilt Railyards area, was the best location.
Still, some commentators have suggested that the weakness of the Unity Plan is its failure to include provisions for an arena.
One well-known spinoff of the Unity Plan, the Extell Plan, did include the possibility that part could be developed for an arena, but that plan was still rejected by the city in favor of Atlantic Yards.
A scale model of the Unity Plan is currently on display at the Soapbox Gallery, 636 Dean St., Prospect Heights.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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