Go to Atlantic Yards Report for a thorough analysis by Norman Oder of yesterday’s third and final public meeting on the Atlantic Yards plan,
held by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC):

It was in several
ways a rerun of the points raised at the epic Aug. 23 public hearing and the barely-attended Sept. 12 community forum.

The
forum at New York Tech’s Klitgord Auditorium drew a somewhat larger
crowd than the one Sept. 12—about 200 people—but the expressions of
support from union members and minority residents differed little from
previous testimony in favor of jobs, housing, and opportunity. The
meeting, scheduled to last from 4:30 pm to 8 pm, broke at 7 pm,
reconvened a half-hour later, and continued for another 45 minutes.

Besides
the void in the 800-plus-seat room—especially after the sizable union
contingent left at 6:15 pm, having fulfilled their obligation—there
were two other voids. Though there’s been much testimony about the 2250
units of affordable housing, nobody spoke for the unmentioned 4610 (as
of now) households that would move into the market-rate rentals and
condos that would be the financial engine of Atlantic Yards. The
development would include 16 towers and an arena for the basketball
Nets, built in two phases, and the market-rate units would be
frontloaded in the five towers of Phase 1.

Also, though a representative of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods (CBN)
did testify, experts commissioned by the organization (thanks to
city/state grants) are preparing hundreds of pages of testimony that
will be submitted by the Sept. 29 deadline for comments. In other
words, because of the swift pace of the environmental review and the
length of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and General
Project Plan (GPP), some of the most and cogent commentary has yet to
be heard.