Resurrection Monday Feature: Atlantic Yards - Bigger not Smaller
We revisit some news from Friday in case you missed it: Bruce Ratner on Friday happily proclaimed that he has reduced the overall size of the Atlantic Yards project. The proclamation came as he released a final summary(PDF!) of his proposal. Compared to a draft version of this summary, which came out in the fall of 2005, the project is smaller, by 475,000 square feet. But the project has grown by almost 1 Million square feet since the project was proposed in 2003, a little detail you might have missed had you just been reading the big papers or watching TV.
To summarize, here are the details that were NOT clearly reported by the big papers and NY1:
The Observer: Ratner-Lite
NYPost: Nets Arena Will Lower Its Profile
NY1: Nets Sports Complex Plans Scaled Back, According To Developer
NYTimes: Arena Complex Shrinks by 5% in Latest Plan
Only the Observer corrected themselves, but they did so on Saturday when nobody is reading the news, and have not amended the original version of the story.
The Post completely ignores the 2003 figures.
NY1 gives the developer the headline, but at least raises the conflicting numbers as part of the story
The NYTimes who already has a credibility problem really muddied the story by positioning Ratner's announcement as a victory for opponents:
If the Times can show one critic of the plan who thinks the new figures are a concession, then they truly have a scoop. The new figures are not a concession. As for reporting the 2003 figures, the Times buries the numbers, and can't even get the math right when they do look back:
Math lesson time:
8.659 (yr 2006) - 7.671 (yr 2003) = .988
.988 Million square feet is significantly more than .5 Million square feet, just ask Corcoran.
In related Atlantic Yards development news, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) which is reviewing and must approve the proposal has said it will compare the Ratner plan with competing proposals. The NYTimes says this is a huge victory for Ratner opponents. It will be interesting to see if The ESDC's comparison is more honest than the comparison conducted by the MTA.
Also, the ESDC has somehow, contrary to a lot of fussing they made to a judge, found a new layer to work on the review of the Ratner proposal. You may recall that a judge disqualified the ESDC's attorney for having a conflict of interest, after it was learned that the attorney had just weeks before been working for Ratner on the same proposal. In their appeal the ESDC said the disqualification was unfair as there are no other attorneys with the right experience. Guess they looked harder.
Meanwhile, even though the proposal is NOT approved and just now entering a review process, the NY State legislature has snuck $33 Million for Ratner's plan into the Education budget. Education budget? Boondoggle development opponents will be happy to know this was slipped in without objection from last year's hero Sheldon Silver. Thanks Shelly.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn is urging people to call Governor Pataki and tell him to use a line item veto on the $33 Million. Pataki of course has been a big supporter of the Atlantic Yards deal. He is also a strong opponent of spending money on NYC Schools. But you know this.
Lastly, the Boycott of the Brooklyn Brewery line of beers continues.
To summarize, here are the details that were NOT clearly reported by the big papers and NY1:
| Year | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Total Square Feet | 7.671 | 9.132 | 8.659 |
| Total Building Height | 5395 feet | 5854 feet | 5623 feet |
The NYC Media failed to put Ratner's claim in the full context
Instead the NYC media, by and large, echoed the Bruce Ratner Press Release(pdf):The Observer: Ratner-Lite
NYPost: Nets Arena Will Lower Its Profile
NY1: Nets Sports Complex Plans Scaled Back, According To Developer
NYTimes: Arena Complex Shrinks by 5% in Latest Plan
Only the Observer corrected themselves, but they did so on Saturday when nobody is reading the news, and have not amended the original version of the story.
The Post completely ignores the 2003 figures.
NY1 gives the developer the headline, but at least raises the conflicting numbers as part of the story
The NYTimes who already has a credibility problem really muddied the story by positioning Ratner's announcement as a victory for opponents:
"(Forest City Ratner) announced yesterday that it would reduce its size, granting some concessions to critics who have said that it would overwhelm the surrounding neighborhood."
If the Times can show one critic of the plan who thinks the new figures are a concession, then they truly have a scoop. The new figures are not a concession. As for reporting the 2003 figures, the Times buries the numbers, and can't even get the math right when they do look back:
"Critics also noted that the project is still nearly half a million square feet larger than it was when Forest City Ratner unveiled preliminary plans in 2003."
Math lesson time:
8.659 (yr 2006) - 7.671 (yr 2003) = .988
.988 Million square feet is significantly more than .5 Million square feet, just ask Corcoran.
In related Atlantic Yards development news, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) which is reviewing and must approve the proposal has said it will compare the Ratner plan with competing proposals. The NYTimes says this is a huge victory for Ratner opponents. It will be interesting to see if The ESDC's comparison is more honest than the comparison conducted by the MTA.
Also, the ESDC has somehow, contrary to a lot of fussing they made to a judge, found a new layer to work on the review of the Ratner proposal. You may recall that a judge disqualified the ESDC's attorney for having a conflict of interest, after it was learned that the attorney had just weeks before been working for Ratner on the same proposal. In their appeal the ESDC said the disqualification was unfair as there are no other attorneys with the right experience. Guess they looked harder.
Meanwhile, even though the proposal is NOT approved and just now entering a review process, the NY State legislature has snuck $33 Million for Ratner's plan into the Education budget. Education budget? Boondoggle development opponents will be happy to know this was slipped in without objection from last year's hero Sheldon Silver. Thanks Shelly.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn is urging people to call Governor Pataki and tell him to use a line item veto on the $33 Million. Pataki of course has been a big supporter of the Atlantic Yards deal. He is also a strong opponent of spending money on NYC Schools. But you know this.
Lastly, the Boycott of the Brooklyn Brewery line of beers continues.
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