Public Meeting on Atlantic Yards Derailed by Project Supporters

State Senators held a public hearing at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn on Friday to get a sense of where things stand for developer Bruce Ratner's $4.2 billion dollar dream of building a Nets arena and mixed-use towers on a 22-acre site that includes part of the MTA railyards. But it was difficult to get a sense of just how FUBAR the controversial project actually is, in part because the meeting was packed with hundreds of jeering construction workers wearing hard hats and "Atlantic Yards Now" buttons. At one point State Senator Bill Perkins futilely begged for silence, telling the crowd, "I think if we could eliminate some of the whistling and shouting..." But he was drowned out by cries of "Go, home Bill!"

State Senator Marty Golden, a Ratner supporter who showed up late, tells the Daily News, "It's called frustration. These guys want the jobs that were promised, and they let that be heard today." Ratner's still determined to break ground on the arena this year—though it probably won't have Frank Gehry's name attached. Atlantic Yards report, which has a thorough account of the event, says "all indications are that the city and state will bend to Forest City Ratner's requests for more time or more money, thus decreasing the public benefit."

And the NY Times runs down the drama around the much-delayed Nets Arena: The Nets chief executive Brett Yormark says, "It’s done, inevitable, it’s imminent, it’s going to happen this year...We’re on schedule. There’s more certainty than there’s ever been," while City Council Member Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) who opposes the project supports a Nets move within NJ, "We would attend their games in Newark. I’ll sponsor the buses to go there."