Monday the new anti-Atlantic Yards coalition BrooklynSpeaks, lead by the Municipal Art Society, emerged. Much has already been observed about the content of their new website, notably the group's implicit support for an Arena and the use of Eminent Domain, as well as seeming acceptance of Bruce Rather as the developer of the site. I do not know much about the Municipal Art Society, it's political ties or negotiating power, but there are still some more interesting observations to be made about their website and room for speculating about their strategic thinking or lack there of. As a tangent, I have twice emailed BrooklynSpeaks, via the encouragement on their site, and held this article until today to give them a chance to clarify their position. Unfortunately thus far I have not heard from them.

The Municipal Art Society, via the BrooklynSpeaks website appear to be taking an independent tack on opposing this project, but I can not find the strategic advantage in why they have chosen this route. The principle characteristic to me of the Municipal Art Society strategy is that they have seemingly divorced themselves from the entire existing opposition; and by that I mean, not just Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, but the numerous websites and individuals which have been part of an unspoken loosely federated opposition coalition.

This characteristic is evidenced by several features, or really lack of features on their website:

1. First of course is their implicit endorsement of Eminent Domain and seeming acceptance of Rather as the developer. Yet the rest of their "principles" do not offer much that is new. They generally speaking oppose the scale of the project. But the scale of the project has been opposed from all corners for a long time, and is an issue that remains a cornerstone of the existing opposition to the Atlantic Yards project. So Municipal Art Society is not even bringing emphasis to something that is being ignored.

2. The BrooklynSpeaks website makes NO reference, not a single one, not a word, not a link, not an image, to any single small or large opposition effort that has come before. To look at their site you would get the impression that they are the only group in the whole world opposing the Atlantic Yards project. When you think about it, this aught to be hilarious to anyone who has written about, commented on, read online about, etc the Atlantic Yards proposal. Where would we be with out Atlantic Yards Report, NoLandGrab, Brownstoner, DailyHieghts, Bill Keegan at Invisible Man, GowanusLounge, etc... please forgive me if I left your site out, there have been many many more... DDDB and NoLandGrab keep a good list of resources.

CORRECTION: BS has a new blog post up about the City Planning Commission hearing, and in it, for the first time, they link to Atlantic Yards Report.

3. They launched the site with a tease about a new slide show: "Coming soon to BrooklynSpeaks: a narrated slideshow with images and maps.". Like #2, it is odd they do not mention or link to any of the already existing robust presentations about the scale of this project, resources which are available online for people to consider now.

4. There are some odd ball lines on the website: "If New Yorkers speak up, we can achieve a better plan for New York." As if New Yorkers have not been speaking up. Really. DDDB alone has held several rallies against this project with attendance in the thousands (4000 at their largest). They also coordinate a 700 person regular volunteer team. 800 people showed up to comment at the DEIS public hearing - that's a lot! It seems to me what is needed at this point is further education of those who do not know the implications of this project.

Overall it is inescapable to conclude that the BrooklynSpeaks effort seems to be taking a go-it-alone tack. But it is odd that they have chosen this road this late in the game; and in days since the site launch they have not said anything to bring themselves closer to the existing opposition. So why choose this path? What is the possible strategic advantage?

Since MAS/BS has selected scale as the terms it wishes to fight over, it must feel that those are winnable. In accepting other unsavory aspects of this project, they must feel those are not just un-winnable, but they would frustrate an attempt to win on the scale issue. Can this be the case?

My first observation on this is that, if the MAS/BS felt it could not win on fighting eminent domain and the very process by which this farce started, it certainly could have fought just the scale aspect without so publicly breaking itself off from the existing opposition. Since they have not replied to my emails for comment, I will have to continue to imagine their response. One possible response might be that they wanted to do the public letter righting campaign, which they are hosting on their site, to buttress their clout. And to do that they needed public principles. But let's consider this. What does the public letter writing campaign achieve? It lets public officials know that people think the project is too large. Well, duh, this is not news. Even Marty Markowitz and David Yassky read the writing on the wall a long time ago about public opposition to the scale of this project. So the MAS/BS did not need a new display of public opposition to scale to buttress whatever negotiating power they perceive they have. Why else then? I can't think of one. It is hard to imagine another reason why they have gone public with this division. I can not see any reason for it. I can not see that there is anything strategically to be gained, only confusion to be sown among people still learning about the project (and there are, crazy as that may sound to you reader), and a free card now for Bruce Rather to play.

In conclusion it seems to me that the Municipal Art Society aught to have considered how lucky it is to be in a position to still have a chance of fighting this project on any level. Had there been no oppositional organizing before the DEIS hearing, then all this would be moot - the MAS/BS would be scrambling to be taken seriously or have an impact. I think they underestimate the awesome financial and political power behind the Atlantic Yards proposal. The opposition work that came long before Municipal Art Society testimony at the DEIS hearing and this new website has put the Atlantic Yards project in a vulnerable position. Actions like this by MAS only crack the door open for Rather to stick his foot in. As Robert Guskind of Gowanus Lounge wrote pointed out earlier in the week, "The truth is, we're depressed that you didn't try to work this out privately and didn't come up with a division of labor, at it were, on Atlantic Yards before this all went public." There is still time to correct things; MAS should repudiate the use of eminent domain and the process which has allowed Ratner's proposal to get this far, and update the BrooklynSpeaks website to include connections to existing opposition efforts.

Note onNYTurf did not link and will not be linking to the BrooklynSpeaks site directly. You know how to use Google if you want to find it.