An often-rowdy, overflow crowd of about 200 packed a Brooklyn auditorium on Friday for a 4 1/2-hour hearing on the proposed $5 billion Atlantic Yards project that would include a new Basketball arena for the Nets .
Construction workers made up the bulk of the crowd for the New York Senate hearing, and many used their union-supplied whistles whenever a state official expressed support for the stalled project. After about an hour, some began to heckle state Sens. Velmanette Montgomery, D-Brooklyn, and state Sen. Bill Perkins, D-Manhattan, chairman of the Senate committee that reviews major projects, as they continued to ask questions about the wisdom of building Atlantic Yards near downtown Brooklyn. Project opponents, though outnumbered, also were rambunctious at times. One shouted, "Ask questions!" several minutes into a soliloquy by one local official who supports the project.
The hearing ultimately provided far more heat than light, however, in large part because no representative for developer Forest City Ratner spoke, other than to have a statement read late in the fourth hour of the hearing.
"Now is not the time for re-debating the project," Forest City executive Bruce Bender said in the statement. "After five years of public debate and countless hearings, it is time now to get to work."
But Jeffrey Baker, an attorney for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which has sued to stop the development, said that Friday marked the first state legislative hearing since the project was approved in 2006.
Daniel Goldstein, who could see his condominium within the project footprint taken by eminent domain, said that a recent court ruling means that the state "could take my home tomorrow."
"Why haven't they?" he asked rhetorically. "Because they don't have the financing for the project. This is a charade."
Perkins opened by noting that part of the project would comprise a sports and entertainment arena for the "New Jersey Nets ." That was met with cheers, followed by numerous shouts of "New York Nets !"
"All right, all right, New York Nets ," Perkins replied.
Perkins said he did not necessarily oppose major development projects, but added that he "wants to make sure this project has not gone off track."
Marisa Lago, president of the Empire State Development Corp. which is overseeing the project for the state, acknowledged the difficult economic climate.
"We need to be realistic that this project is affected by the markets," Lago said. "But we also should be focused on getting a project with this many public benefits done now."
Lago and other state officials touting the project appeared to be using financial estimates that were several years old, with little or no adjustment for the much-less-robust current economy.
Helena Williams, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said Forest City Ratner is seeking to renegotiate a 2006 agreement under which the company would pay $100 million up front for air rights at the Vanderbilt Yards site that comprises a portion of the project footprint.
Lago said that Forest City is "value-engineering" the arena, and that the result could be more of a "four-burner than a six-burner."
The Nets have been touting a move to Brooklyn since real estate developer Bruce Ratner's group bought the NBA team in 2004. But while state agency approvals have been granted and some preliminary work has been done, there has been no groundbreaking. The multibillion-dollar project also would include 16 skyscrapers, but getting sufficient construction loans in the current economic climate likely would be difficult.
