The Subtle Process of Rewriting the History of Atlantic Yards
I have a friend whom I get in arguments with about whether the news room at the NYTimes operates completely independently in its reporting about Atlantic Yards or if it feels the elbow of NYTimes owner and Bruce Ratner business partner Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
This weekend the NYTimes profiled Amanda Burden, the city planning commissioner, and in it they nested the following paragraph:
Say what?
This is a very subtle, or not so subtle bit of writing. This sentence conjures up visions of Diane Cardwell, the article's author, sitting there like Winston Smith at the Records Department of Minitrue.
There are two revisions to history going on in one sentence here. One is that Ms Burden has done anything to reduce the size of Atlantic Yards. Atlantic Yards opponents far and wide will likely already know that Ms Burden has done no such thing. Dogged AY gumshoe Norman Oder makes mince meat of Ms Burden and this idea that she has somehow played a reformist roll in the AY project:
Oh yes, AY supporters will always enjoy splitting hairs over this, that Ratner reduced the size of Ms Brooklyn (the tallest tower in the plan) to less than the hight of the Savings Bank tower (even if it was only one foot shorter than the Savings Bank), or that the over all size of the project was reduced from its peak scale of 9.1 Million square feet to 8 million square feet (even if that is the same size the project was originally proposed at).
If you really want to get into it you would actually say we don't know precisely what the final size of Atlantic Yards is because, well, NY State and Ratner have not told us.
But even if you wanted to split hairs over these details, one would have to acknowledge, certainly a responsible editor at a premier newspaper claiming the mantle of The paper of record would have to acknowledge that the final approved size of Atlantic Yards could not possibly be summarized as "reduced" or "limited". Not if you were trying to be part of the reality based community.
This weekend the NYTimes profiled Amanda Burden, the city planning commissioner, and in it they nested the following paragraph:
Since her appointment in 2002 by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Ms. Burden has played a powerful behind-the-scenes role in shaping plans at ground zero, in limiting the size of the Atlantic Yards development near Downtown Brooklyn, and in helping push through the High Line project, which will transform a disused rail bed into a linear park linking the West Village to the Far West Side.
Say what?
This is a very subtle, or not so subtle bit of writing. This sentence conjures up visions of Diane Cardwell, the article's author, sitting there like Winston Smith at the Records Department of Minitrue.
There are two revisions to history going on in one sentence here. One is that Ms Burden has done anything to reduce the size of Atlantic Yards. Atlantic Yards opponents far and wide will likely already know that Ms Burden has done no such thing. Dogged AY gumshoe Norman Oder makes mince meat of Ms Burden and this idea that she has somehow played a reformist roll in the AY project:
Limiting the size of the Atlantic Yards development? How about "providing cover for a token reduction to which the developer had basically agreed?"...
"She praised Atlantic Yards even though it represents far more the Robert Moses version of planning she claims to eschew than the Jane Jacobs mantle she claims to have taken up."...
"Also, even though Borough President Marty Markowitz had called for the reduction of Gehry's 620-foot Miss Brooklyn to below the height of the 512-foot Williamsburgh Savings Bank, Burden's department in September explicitly endorsed the height of Miss Brooklyn. "
"She praised Atlantic Yards even though it represents far more the Robert Moses version of planning she claims to eschew than the Jane Jacobs mantle she claims to have taken up."...
"Also, even though Borough President Marty Markowitz had called for the reduction of Gehry's 620-foot Miss Brooklyn to below the height of the 512-foot Williamsburgh Savings Bank, Burden's department in September explicitly endorsed the height of Miss Brooklyn. "
Atlantic Yards Smaller?
The other and far more egregious propaganda promoted here is the notion that AY has been reduced in size in any meaningful way. And this is the bit of history that many would really like to rewrite.Oh yes, AY supporters will always enjoy splitting hairs over this, that Ratner reduced the size of Ms Brooklyn (the tallest tower in the plan) to less than the hight of the Savings Bank tower (even if it was only one foot shorter than the Savings Bank), or that the over all size of the project was reduced from its peak scale of 9.1 Million square feet to 8 million square feet (even if that is the same size the project was originally proposed at).
If you really want to get into it you would actually say we don't know precisely what the final size of Atlantic Yards is because, well, NY State and Ratner have not told us.
But even if you wanted to split hairs over these details, one would have to acknowledge, certainly a responsible editor at a premier newspaper claiming the mantle of The paper of record would have to acknowledge that the final approved size of Atlantic Yards could not possibly be summarized as "reduced" or "limited". Not if you were trying to be part of the reality based community.
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