The View from the Bleachers

You’ve probably noticed the tagline at the top of the page: “Sport is life. Everything else is just filler.” Normally, it would appear to people who know me that I live my life by that motto. Of course, it isn’t true, and there are things more important than sport.

That’s why I’m against the Atlantic Yards Development, at least as it stands. Believe me, as a Nets fan, no-one would be happier to see them return to Long Island, and nowhere deserves to have a professional sports team again more than Brooklyn. However, it shouldn’t be as part of a development that will further rip the soul out of the borough.

I am not against high-rise development (and like many of architect Frank Gehry’s previous projects). On the contrary, inside me beats the heart of an old-fashioned modernist who loves tall buildings. I love walking around Manhattan’s man-made canyons. Atlantic Yards, however, is something else. These plans, for 16 skyscrapers in the center of Brooklyn is simply too much. It would dwarf everything around it, dominate the surrounding community, and plunge large swathes of it into shadow for much of the day.

Yes, parts of Brooklyn are ripe for, and in dire need of, redevelopment. Unfortunately far too much of the redevelopment that has taken place in recent years has been at the expense of the traditional beautiful townhouses and buildings that give the borough its charm, in favor of soulless condos. Along with that, too much new housing has been out of the price range of the local residents. Yes, Atlantic Yards has promised to provide apartments for low and middle income families. On closer inspection of the figures, these are still above the going market rate for similar properties. That’s not to mention the residents and businesses who will be displaced by the development.

Yes, I want an arena for the Nets in Brooklyn (even though the arena itself will make up just 10% of the development), and I want the borough to prosper, and attract large businesses and investment. I don’t, however, believe the Atlantic Yards Development is the correct and proper way for this to be achieved, and, it seems, neither do most of the local residents, whose opinions, like those in the South Bronx concerning the new Yankee Stadium, seem to have been ignored.

For those who want to learn more on the subject, here’s the Atlantic Yards official website, the site of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a coalition of local organizations opposed to the development, and the Atlantic Yards page on Wikipedia, which also features more links to supporters and opponents of the scheme.