As I walked toward Barclays Center from my friend’s apartment in Park Slope, I couldn’t help but notice a rising sky-line of large skyscrapers.; this area felt different. It stood out, but for the wrong reasons. It didn’t feel like Brooklyn. Upon reading more about the Atlantic Yards from the two readings, it became clearer to me that the social cost of neoliberal agendas is greater than any of the economic costs and benefits proposed. From Sze’s article, it’s clear that Ratner publicized its project as being holistically beneficial for all of the residents. It’s quite intriguing that while we would all like to blame Ratner for taken advantage of the people they wrongfully displaced, the company couldn’t have achieved its goal without the lack of state legislation. The justification for why the Atlantic Mall was built demonstrated to me that the Ratner Company was playing on social stereotypes, with their mission to build properly functioning malls. Moreover, I was surprised at the fact that the CBA’s for the Atlantic Yards were so misconstrued, and that the organizations which did provide input, were not representative of the true population present in that area. The Ratner Company’s deception of self-interest in the name of “public benefits” properly highlights the errors with neoliberalism, but more importantly, how little legal help and representation native people have.
While researching the Atlantic Yards, I was confused with another name: Pacific Park. Upon further investigation, I found an article titles, “After 11 Years of Controversy, Atlantic Yards Becomes Pacific Park Brooklyn.” According to the article, the Ratner Company defends the name change as “highlight[s] the borough’s newest open space. Pacific Street aligns with the center of the project site, connecting it to the rest of Brooklyn.” Clearly, the company is still trying to highlight the public benefits of the Atlantic Yards, at a time when they seem so scarce. The “public” green space they speak of will be between the multitude of skyscrapers and residential towers. This reminds me of Jane Jacobs’ idea that public spaces need to be more useful and diverse in their functions. Through the public spaces proposed by the Atlantic Yards, clearly the diversity of function is lacking; they serve only those who can afford to pay for their maintenance.
Every week when I take the LIRR out of Atlantic Terminal, I am left wondering when the Yards will actually be complete. Sure, the Atlantic Yards Project brought great architecture to Brooklyn, but does that override the great diversity of people who were already there? Moreover, the bigger issue I noted from these two article was the idea of how the people of a neighborhood susceptible to gentrification can properly be represented. It’s so easy to point to legislation, but these articles make you realize that that is where the real problem starts.
