Scaled-Down Atlantic Yards Still Draw Huge Controversies
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A Wednesday night hearing in Downtown Brooklyn on the development of the Atlantic Yards project attracted hundreds of vocal supporters and opponents. NY1's Anthony Pascale filed the following report. Hundreds of demonstrators came out to a Wednesday public hearing on the Atlantic Yards project in Downtown Brooklyn, to both cheer on and protest the undertaking.
When the Atlantic Yards project was first proposed in 2005, the group Forest City Ratner proposed a mammoth 22-acre site in Downtown Brooklyn that included the Atlantic Rail Yards. The 16 buildings for residential and commercial use would be anchored by a new arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team.
But with the onset of the current recession, Ratner scaled back the plan to just two residential buildings and the arena, with the rest to be completed over the next 10 years.
"The end of Atlantic Yards is near, the days are numbered. End this project," said Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James.
Those against the project protested the public hearing, saying renderings of the new proposal were not yet released. They also argued that the project will push low- and middle-income earners out of the area.
"This is something that has been created by people that do not come from the neighborhoods that we come from," said local Faye Moore. "This is a development by people that want to move the working class."
Supporters of the plan say it's just what Brooklyn needs now more than ever.
"Not only because it'll put Brooklyn on the national sports stage but because it'll create the jobs and affordable housing we so desperately need," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
The current plan calls for 30 percent of the initial housing to be low-income or affordable, and has the support of the community group ACORN.
"This Atlantic Yards project was the first time that a major developer said, 'You know what, I'll do it because it makes sense, because I'm here for the long run,'" said ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis.
If all goes according to plan and the Empire State Development Corporation approves this new plan, ground could be broken by the end of the year, and the New Jersey Nets could play their first game in the arena in 2011.