NBA or just NBA?
According to Norm Oder of Times Ratner Report, Forest City Ratner, the development corporation that wants to bring professional basketball and lucrative high-rises to Brooklyn, may be willing to negotiate a Neighborhood Benefits Agreement in addition to the existing Community Benefits Agreement, a document that many affected residents feel has excluded them.
So perhaps Brooklynites will get an NBA with their NBA.From the report:
Forest City Ratner seems willing to meet and negotiate with representatives of Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods around the proposed Atlantic Yards footprint over issues like traffic and urban space. Still, it's unclear whether the company would hire an urban designer to facilitate a community planning process and doubtful that it would agree to not use eminent domain. Those are some conclusions from a meeting last night of the Park Slope Civic Council (PSCC), which sent a delegation to meet with the developer five weeks ago.
You can read Norm's entire report here. As usual, it's excellent.
My take is that FCR is genuinely concerned that the lack of local buy-in and the virtual certainty of legal action against the project is threatening the entire deal. Perhaps they're hoping this display will cool off the opposition before it spooks their investors. This is a good sign for anyone concerned about the impact this project could have on the quality of life in Brownstone Brooklyn. Even project supporters should acknowledge that the lack of public involvement and oversight in this project is troubling, and that it's in everyone's best interest to break the current development paradigm, which can be summed up as:
- Secure a backroom deal
- Ram it through as fast as possible
I suppose I should give credit to FCR for showing willingness, albeit way too late, to involve the residents most affected by this project in the development process. In my opinion, if they had started with this approach, their project would not face near the opposition that it now does.
However, I'll leave the diplomacy to the negotiating parties. My personal assessment of the situation remains unchanged:
Never trust a developer.
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