Grass-roots opposition to Atlantic Yards

Opponents of the Atlantic Yards mixed-use development (see my posting on Dec. 12, 2006) have been deploying a combination of grass-roots blogging efforts, letter-writing, and lobbying to try to stop the project. Here is an interesting summary of their arguments, from the "Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn" site at http://www.dddb.net/php/latestnews_ArchiveDate.php.


Shell Game or House of Cards, It's Atlantic Yards!

Massively reduced tax revenue projections, massively reduced job projections, and massively reduced "affordable" housing units: the only thing about "Atlantic Yards" that has not shrunk is its extreme density and massive scale. The Empire State Development Corporation, like its Chairman Charles Gargano, has misspoken to the tune of half a billion dollars falling off the table, into the trash heap of agency-speak history. Add in public costs that are ignored and the project's return comes close to zero or worse (as predicted in June 2004 in the Kim Peebles Economic Analysis).


Opponents have also enlisted a string of literary and entertainment celebrities, including writers like Jim Bouton, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss (Foer's wife), Jonathan Lethem, Myla Goldberg, and Rick Moody, and actors Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger, and Steve Buscemi.

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