 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
tel/fax:
718.362.4784
Please note our new postal address when sending
contributions to the legal fund:
121 5th Avenue, PMB #150
Brooklyn, New York 11217
About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and
there are 51 community organizations formally
aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.
DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000
subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition
signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB
to form our various teams, task-forces and committees
and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person
volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our
retained attorneys.
We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large
and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.
We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual
donors.
More about
DDDB...
|
|
|
|
 |
ARCHIVES:
By Date|
By Category|
Text Search
|
The Big Bait and Switch: It's Ratner's Incompetency or Bad Intentions
Why did Forest City Ratner dump Frank Gehry as the architect for the the Atlantic Yards project? The company's press release blamed litigation and the bad economic environment.
Well, they ought to look no further than a mirror and blame themselves for their arena going from really bad to worse, from a "world class", Gehry-designed arena to a glorified airplane hangar. They have nobody to blame but themselves for allowing Gehry's arena to increase in costs from $637 million to $950 million between 2006 (when the project was approved) and 2008. It has yet to be fully explained how that enormous cost increase occured (or how the new $800 million price tag is any more viable for that matter).
Here's our explanation: Forest City Ratner's reckless incompetency as a mega-developer, leading to an inability to manage costs.
Because if incompetency is not the reason, then it is very likely that Ratner never intended to construct a Gehry-designed arena, but rather used the starchitect for publicity to gain respect and applause from cultural critics and media elites, and get the project approved. And then, throw the Gehry design under the bus.
It is a monumental bait and switch, intentional or not (though we're pretty convinced it was intentional.)
Norman Oder has more to say about this on his Atlantic Yards Report: Gehry's design was impossible, so dropping him wasn't just cost; what do MAS and RPA say now?.
Posted: 6.05.09
|
|
|
|
