Advocacy

  • strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/views.module on line 1118.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort::options_validate() should be compatible with views_handler::options_validate($form, &$form_state) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 165.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort::options_submit() should be compatible with views_handler::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 165.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 165.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::options_validate() should be compatible with views_handler::options_validate($form, &$form_state) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 599.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 599.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_area::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_area.inc on line 81.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_area_text::options_submit() should be compatible with views_handler::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_area_text.inc on line 121.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_query::options_submit() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_query.inc on line 181.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_style_default::options() should be compatible with views_object::options() in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_style_default.inc on line 24.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_row::options_validate() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_validate(&$form, &$form_state) in /usr/home/gveconi/public_html/091210_bkspks/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_row.inc on line 136.

Since its launch in September of 2006, the BrooklynSpeaks initiative has sought to provide the people of Brooklyn and thier elected representatives a platform from which to demand change to and accountability from the Atlantic Yards project, helping to promote development at the site that works for Brooklyn and New York City.

More information about BrooklynSpeaks' advocacy efforts can be found in the stories that appear below.

Atlantic Yards 2011: Community Forum 6/11

Real Governance Matters

A Community Forum
2:00 PM, Saturday, June 11, 2011
Atlantic Terrace
673 Atlantic Avenue
Corner of South Portland St.

It’s been more than a year since Atlantic Yards broke ground, and more than four years since the project was approved. Now construction may take 25 years or longer. Promised jobs and affordable housing haven’t materialized, while hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars have been spent already. And in the near term, most of what Brooklyn may end up with is an arena and a massive surface parking lot.

How did this happen? And, more importantly, what can be done now to ensure that promised public benefits are delivered and construction impacts are reduced?

Join the BrooklynSpeaks sponsors, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and other local elected officials Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 2:00PM for a community forum on real reform of Atlantic Yards oversight. Find out what community organizations and local legislators are doing to make Forest City Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation accountable to Brooklyn and to New York City.

BrooklynSpeaks goes back to court seeking reversal of 2009 MGPP, stay of Atlantic Yards construction

Date/time: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 2:30PM
Location: NY Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street, Room 335 (Manhattan)
Contact: Linda Gross, LCG Communications – 718.853.5568; 917.767.1141

On Tuesday, March 15 at 2:30PM, NYS Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman will hear arguments on a petition by BrooklynSpeaks sponsors, local elected officials, and neighborhood residents seeking to reverse the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) approval of the Atlantic Yards 2009 Modified General Project Plan (MGPP). Justice Friedman’s courtroom is located at 60 Centre Street, room 335.

“Let me get this straight…”


Sometimes, it can be hard to tell what is really going on at Atlantic Yards. A new video asks about public benefits, accountability, oversight, and the legal challenge to the project's environmental review. Does it have a happy ending? We'll have to wait to find out...

Urban planning, sustainable development experts support BrooklynSpeaks’ challenge to approval of Atlantic Yards 2009 modified plan

Contact: Linda Gross, LCG Communications – (917) 767-1141

On March 3, several BrooklynSpeaks sponsors seeking to reverse the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) 2009 approval of a plan extending construction of the Atlantic Yards project from ten to twenty-five years, filed affidavits with the court from leading authorities in urban planning and sustainable development. The affidavits by Ronald Shiffman of Pratt Institute, James Goldstein of Tellus Institute, and Majora Carter of the Majora Carter Group were submitted in support of BrooklynSpeaks’ supplemental petition challenging ESDC’s response to a November 2010 court decision ordering the agency to explain its rationale for failing to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) at the time it approved the modified general project plan (MGPP).

ESDC's response to court order shows Governor not yet willing to reform Atlantic Yards

The BrooklynSpeaks sponsors are disappointed that board of the Empire State Development Corporation has voted to adopt findings regarding the delayed Atlantic Yards build out that obfuscate the issues raised by the Master Development Agreement ESDC executed with Forest City Ratner, are dismissive of the greater impacts which will now be sustained by the communities surrounding the project, and totally ignore the time value loss on New Yorkers’ substantial investment in Atlantic Yards given the deferment of its public benefits for decades.

BrooklynSpeaks sponsors file for stay of construction at Atlantic Yards site

Contact: Jo Anne Simon – 917.685.3747; Gib Veconi – 917.881.0401

BROOKLYN, NY, November 29, 2010: On Wednesday, November 24, several BrooklynSpeaks sponsor organizations filed a motion with New York State Supreme Court seeking to halt construction activities at the Atlantic Yards site. The motion comes after a November 9 decision from Justice Marcy Friedman finding that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) lacked a rational basis for assuming that Atlantic Yards project would be completed in ten years when the agency approved the project’s 2009 Modified General Project Plan (MGPP). Justice Friedman ordered the ESDC to reconsider the need for a supplemental environmental impact statement based on the schedule provisions of the Development Agreement between ESDC and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC). That Agreement was made public only after a January 2010 court hearing during which the ESDC misrepresented its ability under the Development Agreement to ensure Atlantic Yards would be completed within ten years.

Court says State failed to properly consider impacts of extended Atlantic Yards construction

Contact: Jo Anne Simon – 917.685.3747; Gib Veconi – 917.881.0401

BROOKLYN, NY, November 9, 2010: Today, New York State Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman found that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) unreasonably failed to properly assess the impacts of twenty-five years of extended construction at the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn. Judge Friedman’s ruling was entered following a motion by BrooklynSpeaks petitioners to reargue an earlier decision by the Court in favor of ESDC and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC). The BrooklynSpeaks petitioners asked Judge Friedman to review the Development Agreements executed subsequent to the ESDC’s approval of the Modified General Project Plan but which were withheld from public disclosure until after oral argument on the petitioners' original motion.

Bruce Ratner explains why Atlantic Yards needs oversight

Contact: Jo Anne Simon – (917) 685-3747
Gib Veconi – (917) 881-0401

Yesterday, Forest City Ratner Companies CEO Bruce Ratner acknowledged that Atlantic Yards won’t be built in ten years. Speaking to reporters at a presentation of the design for the “interim” plaza replacing the planned “Urban Room” in the project, Mr. Ratner said of the ten-year construction schedule promised and consistently confirmed by his company since the original unveiling of Atlantic Yards in 2003, “It was never supposed to be the time we were supposed to build them in.” Instead, he said, “It's really market-dependent as to when it will really be completed.”

More than one thousand New Yorkers demand Atlantic Yards oversight now

Contact: Jo Anne Simon – (917) 685-3747
Linda Gross, LCG Communications – (718) 853-5568; (917) 767-1141

BrooklynSpeaks, a coalition of civic associations, advocacy groups, and affordable housing organizations concerned about development at the Atlantic Yards site, today announced that over 1,000 New Yorkers have signed a petition calling for legislation mandating public oversight of the project.

New Yorkers speak up for reform of Atlantic Yards governance

Since BrooklynSpeaks launched an online petition calling on legislative leaders to act on bills directing the ESDC to form a dedicated subsidiary for oversight, over 600 New Yorkers have signed on online and in hardcopy. Here are some of the comments of concerned residents.