Sunday, August 08, 2004
MAYOR TIES RATNER ARENA TO OLYMPICS
The Brooklyn Papers, Deborah Kolben
In the wake of the mayor’s announcement, an analyst versed in Olympic politics said that while inclusion of the Atlantic Yards arena will allow developer Bruce Ratner to “wrap his venue in the Olympic flag,” it will also bring international scrutiny to the already controversial plan.
“Now it’s an international issue, and people will be looking if the Olympics should be responsible for displacing people from their homes. It will bring some unwelcome attention,” said Brian Hatch, a transportation consultant who was Salt Lake City’s deputy mayor in 2002, when the Olympic Games were played there.
Hatch, who runs a Web site tracking the city’s 2012 bid for the Olympics, calls the city’s plan “too costly, too complicated, too congested and too controversial to win.”
“This hurts the bid by adding controversy. They don’t need all these arenas,” said Hatch, who believes the inclusion of the Nets arena — as well as the proposed Jets stadium on the West Side of Manhattan — are veiled attempts to push through large-scale development projects.
In fact, a press released issue by Bloomberg on Thursday said the city intended to do just that.
The Olympics plan will “help us expedite recreational and infrastructure projects citywide,” Bloomberg said. It will both “strengthen our bid for the Olympic Games in 2012, and enrich the legacy that the games will leave for our city.”
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While the Olympic Plan is DOA, our modern day Robert Moses, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, will do all he can to wrap himself in the Olympic Rings while relentlessly pushing forward unwanted projects like Mr. Ratner's Arena Complex. Shining the international light of the Olympic bid on Prospect Heights' opposition to this inappropriate overdevelopment plan will not endear NYC to the Olympic Committee. The Olympics are notorious for displacing thousands and in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn this bid would do just that.
We must not allow insincere hollow dreams, for an athletic pageant that will never come, be the driving force behind the construction of a project that will forever change Brooklyn and be a model for future trampling of citizens' rights across the borough.
To top it off, Ratner's Arena is a miserable fit for the Olympic X transportation plan. Actually it doesn't fit AT ALL into the Olympic X plan.
Quoting from that plan:
"The Olympic Village will be at the center of the “X,” on the East River in Queens, directly across from the United Nations. From the Olympic Village, athletes riding fast ferries and special dedicated commuter trains will almost never have to go on a New York City street to get to their events."
Ever take a ferry to Atlantic and Flatbush? Mr. Doctoroff might want to reconsider.
In the wake of the mayor’s announcement, an analyst versed in Olympic politics said that while inclusion of the Atlantic Yards arena will allow developer Bruce Ratner to “wrap his venue in the Olympic flag,” it will also bring international scrutiny to the already controversial plan.
“Now it’s an international issue, and people will be looking if the Olympics should be responsible for displacing people from their homes. It will bring some unwelcome attention,” said Brian Hatch, a transportation consultant who was Salt Lake City’s deputy mayor in 2002, when the Olympic Games were played there.
Hatch, who runs a Web site tracking the city’s 2012 bid for the Olympics, calls the city’s plan “too costly, too complicated, too congested and too controversial to win.”
“This hurts the bid by adding controversy. They don’t need all these arenas,” said Hatch, who believes the inclusion of the Nets arena — as well as the proposed Jets stadium on the West Side of Manhattan — are veiled attempts to push through large-scale development projects.
In fact, a press released issue by Bloomberg on Thursday said the city intended to do just that.
The Olympics plan will “help us expedite recreational and infrastructure projects citywide,” Bloomberg said. It will both “strengthen our bid for the Olympic Games in 2012, and enrich the legacy that the games will leave for our city.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
While the Olympic Plan is DOA, our modern day Robert Moses, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, will do all he can to wrap himself in the Olympic Rings while relentlessly pushing forward unwanted projects like Mr. Ratner's Arena Complex. Shining the international light of the Olympic bid on Prospect Heights' opposition to this inappropriate overdevelopment plan will not endear NYC to the Olympic Committee. The Olympics are notorious for displacing thousands and in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn this bid would do just that.
We must not allow insincere hollow dreams, for an athletic pageant that will never come, be the driving force behind the construction of a project that will forever change Brooklyn and be a model for future trampling of citizens' rights across the borough.
To top it off, Ratner's Arena is a miserable fit for the Olympic X transportation plan. Actually it doesn't fit AT ALL into the Olympic X plan.
Quoting from that plan:
"The Olympic Village will be at the center of the “X,” on the East River in Queens, directly across from the United Nations. From the Olympic Village, athletes riding fast ferries and special dedicated commuter trains will almost never have to go on a New York City street to get to their events."
Ever take a ferry to Atlantic and Flatbush? Mr. Doctoroff might want to reconsider.
# posted by Develop–Don't Destroy Brooklyn @ 11:45 AM 
