The NY Times is reporting that the Nets won't be playing in Brooklyn for the 2009-2010 season because the arena won't be finished until 2010. The Times attributes the delay to legal challenges. The most publicized lawsuit is the federal case brought by 13 property owners and tenants. The suit alleges that the taking of their property via eminent domain was unconstitutional. In June, a US District Court judge dismissed the case, finding that... more ›

After the Daily News broke news that the city was unhappy with developer Thor Equities' $1.5 billion plan to revitalize Coney Island (an anonymous city official calling the plan "dead in the water"), the Post gets its own tidbit. Apparently Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff is offering to swap some land with Thor to keep Thor in the general Coney Island mix, but not right on Stillwell Avenue.

Under Doctoroff's compromise, Sitt would give the city the 10 acres of boardwalk land he owns along both sides of Stillwell Avenue so that the city could sell or lease it to amusement operators. more ›

Despite its size (and irrelevance in national elections), New York City produces about 1% of all of America's greenhouse gas emissions. That's as much as the entire countries of Ireland and Portugal, however considering that New Yorkers account for about 2-3% of the U.S. population, 1% isn't bad. But it's not great either, and Mayor Bloomberg said, "We can no longer deny the science and bury our heads in the sand. Climate change is a real issue with real consequences. And as a coastal city, New York can't just sit back and hope for the best." more ›

Remember all the excitement surrounding the BAM Cultural District around, oh, 2001? Well, the NY Post is reporting that the previous plan for a theater and arts library has been expanded to include a dance studio, public park, museum and gallery, underground parking garage and residential housing. more ›

If it's built, then take it! The NY Times reports that the the Bloomberg administration is considering a plan to turn the FDR's Outboard Detour Roadway into an extension of the East Side esplanade.

The plan, in its very early stages, calls for demolishing all but the roadway’s westernmost underwater support beams and building a new structure that would not extend as far over the river. more ›

What an embrace of Long Island City! The city announced that it will buy waterfront property in Long Island City to build up to 5,000 units of affordable housing for families. The city is paying the Port Authority a total of $146 million for the 24 acres - $100 million for the property and $46 million for "remaining obligations" to the site. From the press relase:

Mayor Bloomberg: "Middle-income families are facing housing affordability challenges as a result of New York's success, and we have to make strategic, long-term investments to ensure that New Yorkers of all incomes can work and live in our City. This development will build on New York's grand tradition of major middle-income communities, but updated for the 21st century. We will work quickly to turn this into homes for thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and other moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers. I want to thank the Port Authority for its continued collaboration and support." more ›

An interesting follow up to a post from two weeks ago about the Department of Transportation's ridiculous ness. The NY Sun has an interview with Andrew Vesselinovitch, the DOT's bike program director who quit, and, boy, he doesn't pull any punches:

Mr. Vesselinovitch said that when Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff in April asked the department for more miles of bicycle lanes, his superiors asked him to come up with excuses to refuse to do so, including the need for more staff and the interference of other city agencies. In fact, he said, there was nothing impeding the new lanes except for [DOT Commissioner Iris] Weinshall and her insistence on giving community boards veto power over proposed lanes.

Construction crews may be getting ready to blast bedrock to make way for the Freedom Tower, but yesterday yet another potential wrench was announced. The chairman of the Port Authority, Anthony Coscia, said the tower will have be to scaled back if government groups don't lease space in the 1,776 foot building. More specifically, government groups need to agree to take on 1 million of the 2.8 million square foot building by September in order for the project to be "financially viable." The Port Authority is in charge of building Freedom Tower (after getting control from leaseholder Larry Silverstein), but only agreed to if the project would be "financially feasible." Interestingly enough, it's unclear whether or not the Port Authority's headquarters, formerly at the WTC, will lease space. Still, Coscia is "optimistic" about getting tenants (Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff explained that Coscia was trying to remind the government that they need to lease). Well, this will certainly be what Governor Pataki needs to work - calling in more favors with the feds - on if he wants his Freedom Tower built more ›

State Assembly members met with various parties involved with the World Trade Center rebuilding yesterday to discuss development progress. Or, rather, the lack of progress. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky even said, "I wouldn't do any more groundbreaking right now" as a zing to all the ceremonies, photo ops and public puffery but little actual work getting done. And what's more, WTC leaseholder and developer Larry Silverstein says that insurance companies may not pay out all of the promised $4.6 billion now that the Port Authority will take control of Freedom Tower. Oy. The Port Authority and Silverstein are asking the insurers for reassurance that payments won't be taken away because of the Port Authority's involvement; it'd be a pretty bad public relations nightmare for the insurers not to pay for the rebuilding of Ground Zero, but with hundreds of millions at stake, you can't blame them for trying. more ›

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It's seems that the Trans Gas president, Adam Victor, has had problems with Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who is one of the architects of not only the Jets West Side Stadium deal but the NYC 2012 Olympics bid, too, but Victor says this bid is not revenge. Oh, please, Gothamist has heard that one before. There are a couple problematic things with this bid: It doesn't really address a need for residential living (which the Jets and Cablevision bid purport to do) and the design looks like some bad modernist rendering of Coney Island. If this rendering from Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects is any indication, apparently power plants of the future will look like Gymboree play areas. more ›

Officials from the city and the from Jets, however, maintain that the stadium will help develop the West Side. Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff called the RPA plan "flawed" and "a halfhearted recipe that will not produce significant change on the West Side." There's nothing quite like a debate over land use. more ›

One study says that another pet project of Doctoroff's, the new proposed Jets stadium, would be best on Manhattan's West Side, rather than in Queens, because the West Side location would earn $8 million more in annual revenue. Not that it matters, since the city wants the stadium in Manhattan, but Gothamist would be curious to learn how much the city would save if they developed the stadium in Queen. more ›

Of course, with the prospect of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of projected revenue, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki are on the offensive, calling the plan a way to "catapult NY" to the fore of the convention industry as well as a way to "bring the NFL back to NY." more ›