Doctoroff Looks Back on Atlantic Yards
Critics of Atlantic Yards repeatedly argue that there is something about the 22-acre housing and arena complex in Brooklyn that does not jibe with the Bloomberg administration’s rhetoric about community participation in the planning process. In an article appearing in tomorrow’s Observer, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff basically agrees.
“I am a huge believer in the ULURP process,” he said, referring to the seven-month public-review process that involves the local community board, the borough president, the City Planning Commission and the City Council. “If it happened again, and the state were to ask if I would encourage them to take Atlantic Yards through the ULURP process, I would say yes.”
As it happened, the state overrode local zoning regulations in order to get Atlantic Yards approved, a process that weakened control by local officials and strengthened the hand held by Governor Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.
That move was actually supported by Mr. Doctoroff at the time. Back in February 2005, he signed an agreement (PDF) with the state and Forest City Ratner, the developer of Atlantic Yards, in which the city consented to a state override of ULURP (it stands for Uniform Land-Use Review Process).
But, hey, hindsight is 20/20, right? In late 2003, when the Atlantic Yards deal was first hatched, who would have seen through the post-9/11 haze and predicted that, within a few years, building permits would reach record highs, that developers would want to build more affordable housing than there were bonds for, that 78 other neighborhoods would successfully be rezoned using ULURP?
More reflections on six years as the man whom the Mayor considers to be a kinder, gentler Robert Moses in tomorrow’s paper.
43 CLARKSON
Dramatic perspectives from every room in this condo loft triplex penthouse... More details |
|
Dan Doctoroff has a "thing" for Atlantic Yards that clouds his truthfulness. He said in his earlier appearance in The Observer that " I think in that case there was an enormous level of community input. There were hundreds of meetings and enormous outreach to community leaders." (Feb. 19, via NoLandGrab.org) In fact, it would be great to challenge him on where he got that figure of "hundreds". When I (a Park Slope resident) learned of the project in 2003, I hungered for information and got none. Calls to FCRC went unreturned and the one meeting I could find to attend, in June of 2004, was a PR presentation orchestrated by their PR firm, not the city, nor the state. (There were about 25 bodyguards there, too!). I think that was the norm.
I have been to dozens of other meetings, though, those organized by the thousands of sincere city residents and all the local politicians who oppose this project as it stands. Let it be stated over and over again, no one is against developing the area. They just want it done right. It seems the stated guidelines mentioned by the city and even Doctoroff would suffice. Why did Doctoroff eschew the common sense of his administration and turn it over to the ESDC? What is it about Bruce Ratner that makes him so irresistible to Doctoroff? How could Doctoroff let the MTA sell its yards to the lowest bidder without screaming?
Something is very wrong here. I would like to know if Doctoroff could expain it accurately.
For Dan Doctoroff to suddenly see the light on the Atlantic Yards project is laughable. I guess he's trying to hedge his bets on what his legacy might be. For the millions of Brookyn residents forced to suffer through what will be decades, if not centuries, of endless congestion post Atlantic Yards, we will surely remember the gift the former Deputy Mayor bestowed on this most populous borough long after he is dead and buried. Thanks Dan. Democracy has been bastardized by you and the rest of your boss' minions. I guess now that Brooklyn is chic enough to chat about at the cocktail parties your boss so kindly invites you to it might be nice to ahem, clear the air, about the (oopsies) mistake you made. But dude, I worked at Bloomberg and I can tell you that you will be working your a** off so much when you join that company that you won't be enjoying that many cocktail parties in the near future. But when you do you might just bump in to us little folks who happen to live in Brooklyn. And we will go mightily out of our way to thank you for selling us all out just to help out a rich developer who pals around with your boss. So when you go home at night and look in the mirror you will know you sold your soul by selling us all out. Thanks a lot!