Someone needs to do the due diligence at Atlantic Yards

from Nolandgrab.org, letter2theeditor.gif An excerpt from a letter to the editor, penned by Alan Rosner, published in The Brooklyn Paper::

Had [Atlantic Yards] gone forward as planned, any number of risks would have had time to play themselves out. Just think: the social experiment of residential density twice that of anything ever attempted in all of U.S. history; creating super-blocks, despite decades of adverse experience; overwhelming Brooklyn’s 50- to 150-year-old infrastructure; overwhelming both vehicular and public transportation capacity; the traffic implications of protecting three Homeland Security Department terrorist targets.

Today’s disconnect between the law and reality could not be starker.

No matter the arguments presented [during the appeal of the state environmental review], the project being argued over is no longer the project laid in court papers.

This case is now only about who will have control of 22 contiguous acres in the center of Brooklyn.

The Nets aren’t required to come here and the housing in the second phase of the project may never be built it’s all left up to Ratner.

The courts cannot be counted on to address this sort of a problem.

What the (naked) emperors of this state need to do is require an honest study of the environmental injuries that a sports arena and acres of parking will inflict on surrounding communities and the borough at large.

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The courts are failing, the politicians have failed - and now are proving to be massively corrupt - more than we even imagined - the economy is failing, yet the cash strapped state and city continue to pour money into a poorly planned boondoggle. "Why? is the big question. The one never asked, but always implied:: what does Bruce Ratner do or have to command such power?