STF na Mídia - MyClipp

The New York Times/ ­- Politics, Ter, 17 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Impact of Atlantic Yards, for Good or Ill,
Is Already Felt
The battle over Atlantic Yards has already raged
longer than the Civil War, with eight years of protests,
petitions and lawsuits seeking to halt a project that
promised to reshape the heart of Brooklyn. Even now,
as the oyster­-shaped basketball arena that will anchor
a 22­-acre housing and office complex rises against the
low­-slung Brooklyn skyline, die­-hard opponents are still
resisting. Last week they packed a hearing held by two
community boards to block the arena from speedily
receiving a liquor license. But almost six months
before the Barclays Center opens its doors to the Nets,
Brooklyn’s first major professional sports team since
the lamented Dodgers, the reality is that the Atlantic
Yards project has already done the very thing that
critics feared and supporters promoted: transform
surrounding neighborhoods prized for their streets of
tree­-lined brownstones and low­-key living. Shops
along the workaday stretch of Flatbush Avenue south
of the arena that for generations sold unglamorous
products like hardware, paint, plumbing supplies,
prescription drugs, even artificial limbs, are seeing new
businesses pop up that sell high­-heel shoes for $3,500
a pair, revealing party dresses, exotic cheeses and, of
course, high­-priced martinis. Dozens of restaurants
and bars, with beguiling names like Fish and Sip and
Va beh’ (Italian slang for “It’s all good!”), have sprouted
on major thoroughfares and serene side streets. “The
neighborhood is now becoming an entertainment
mecca — anything that’s hip and of the moment,” said
Robert Schulman, who fits prosthetic devices for Allied
Orthopedics, which has been on Flatbush Avenue for
25 years. “The change was slowly growing, but once
the arena came into play, it was exponential. Once a
week, a new restaurant or clothing store is opening
up.” The commercial avenues radiating from the arena
— through Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Boerum Hill
and Fort Greene — had already been undergoing
significant changes anyway as a result of the flood of
young newcomers to the borough, who have driven up
real estate prices and infused the area with an often
parodied mix of the trendy and precious. Along with
community gardens and farm­-to­-table restaurants,
visitors will find a purveyor of artisanal mayonnaise, an
“eco­-friendly bar” made of recycled oak floorboards
from an old dairy farm, and, not far from the arena,
Bark Hot Dogs, which offers franks topped with “baked
heirloom beans.” But the changes have been visibly
accelerated by the construction of the $450 million
arena, the flagship of a $4.9 billion housing and office
complex to be built over 25 years and known as
Atlantic Yards, stoking the fears of longtime residents
and even some of the new arrivals that traditions like
stoop conversations at dusk and spring bulb­-planting
parties may be bleeding away. For Forest City Ratner,
the developer of the project, which was strongly
backed by many city leaders, the changes are
evidence that the arena has already met its goal of
transforming a dreary section of Brooklyn — the Long
Island Rail Road’s rail yards and surrounding industrial
buildings, which the company’s spokesman described
as “ a scar that divided the neighborhood.” “That’s a
sign of economic vitality, something that’s good for the
borough,” said Joe DePlasco, the Ratner spokesman.
Indeed, some here have watched the construction with
excitement, including condo owners who imagine a
sharp rise in home values, new shop owners who
anticipated the arena in their calculations, and even
some longtime merchants looking forward to a surge of
foot traffic. Among these supporters is Moussa Dia, a
Senegalese immigrant who owns Versailles, a year­-old
custom party­-dress store that has been featured on
MTV, who figured fans heading to Barclays will “notice
we’re here.” “It’s a beautiful piece of art, the arena
across the street,” he said. “The face of Flatbush is
changing.” In addition to the many changes that are
already visible, opponents are even more concerned
about those still to come after the arena opens Sept.
28, with a concert by Jay­-Z, the rapper and part owner
of the Nets. They envision their narrow blocks
inundated nightly with drunken, celebrating basketball
fans — though, to be fair, victories have been few and
far between for the long­-struggling franchise — and
concertgoers still reveling in the music and honking
cars stalled in traffic. The 19,000­-seat arena plans 220
events a year. That kind of building should never have
been allowed in a residential neighborhood, said Peter
Krashes, president of the Dean Street Block
Association. “Most arenas and stadiums are either
outside an urban area or in a commercial area,” Mr.
Krashes said. “If the kids have school the next day and
you have an arena event that night, are the kids going
to get a night of sleep?” “Potentially,” said Tracy
Collins, a photographer who owns a brownstone on
Dean Street, “there will be fans who’ve had a few
beers in the arena being rowdy after a win or loss
walking in front of my home, keeping me awake,
possibly damaging my property, leaving trash.” Sam
Schwartz, the project’s traffic engineering consultant,
said the arena was working to limit the numbers of
drivers and pedestrians by ensuring that most of the
216