Novel Idea: Safety Measures For Atlantic Yards

When we first saw the Daily News headline, "Brooklyn arena project gets safety net," we thought that the Empire State Development Corporation had literally bought a huge, super-reinforced netting to put around buildings being demolished for the Atlantic Yards project, in hopes of preventing other huge chunks of buildings falling onto sidewalks.

But it turns out the ESDC is just appointing an ombudsman ("to speak to government agencies and the public about the $4.2 billion project") and various others officials to "monitor construction and demolitions" and "review transportation and other issues on a monthly basis." Uh, aren't these people who should have been appointed from the outset?

The Atlantic Yards Report's Norman Oder has some nice posts questioning the NY Times' media coverage of recent AY-related development. (The NY Times' new building is built by Bruce Ratner, the same developer the Atlantic Yards.) For instance, why haven't the Times and other newspapers covered the environmental review hearing (related to the lawsuit against the project) with as much regularity as it has the Braunstein trial?

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn submitted a locational analysis of putting the arena in Coney Island (PDF) as comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Photograph of Atlantic Yards demolition by akinloch on Flickr