Gowunas Lounge on Atlantic Yards

Worth repeating in full..By way of the ever-diligent and worthy NoLandGrab:

Sharp Knives: Markowitz, Yassky and de Blasio Purge Community Board 6

The Gowanus Lounge follows up on yesterday evening's post with some thoughtful commentary:

What is interesting about the CB6 purge isn't that it happened--that's hardball politics in the big city--but that it again shines a spotlight on the awful Atlantic Yards process.

We have long felt that the process was both deeply flawed and largely undemocratic--so much so that few public officials even cared about creating an appearance of bona fide public participation. The CB6 dismissals strengthen the belief that Mr. Markowitz and other supporters were unwilling to tolerate basic legitimate questions about the project's impact on the community or an honest assessment of its public costs. CB6 did its job by raising questions and representing the community.

We understand that politics is politics. When Richard Nixon didn't like the way the Watergate investigation was going, he exercised his Presidential power and fired the investigators. The current Attorney General is in hot water for putting the screws to U.S. Attorneys. At the end of the day, one of the perks of position and power is the ability to fire those whose performance displeases you.

Yet, the CB6 Purge gets to the reasons that Atlantic Yards has had such a sadly divisive and deeply corrosive impact on Brooklyn politics and on civic discourse. One clear culprit has been the absence of real participatory democracy in a project that will impact the quality of life in surrounding communities for generations to come. Had the planning process not been handled as a top-down exercise, the outcome might still have been the same, but some of the bitterness and civic poison might have been diluted. (We remember the huge discussion session held at the Javits Center to get public input about rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. It didn't make a difference in the convoluted planning and development process, but it gave thousands of people a sense that their opinions were being heard.) A real public process would have allowed for an airing of strong feelings and led to real modifications of the proposal that reflected legitimate community concerns. It would have tempered some resentment. It might even--gasp--have led to broader support.

CB6 was one of the institutions that tried to represent community concerns. To have members that raised them symbolically taken out and shot for speaking their minds, is fair political game, we suppose. But it's indicative of the political sickness that surrounds Atlantic Yards. And it will have implications for other important work, like the Gowanus rezoning, in which CB6 is involved.

We remain convinced that a generation from now, someone will be teaching an urban planning course that uses Atlantic Yards as the case study of how not to plan a major public project. In that context, the CB6 Atlantic Yards Massacre will be an interesting footnote.