Upon first reading the description of Atlantic Yards, I believed it would be a huge benefit to the Brooklyn community. However, after viewing the opposition’s perspective on the construction of Atlantic Yards, I am not so sure I would fully support the project. The economic benefits the project would bring sounds extremely enticing to me, as someone who has never even been near the area; However, for people who live in the community, this project is an enormous gavel pounding down their homes and dreams. The main issue of this project appears to be eminent domain; does the government have the right to take private property to build this project for “public use?”
If the Atlantic Yards project does go through, it would bring in a lot of jobs, families, housing, and profit to the area. As their site mentions, the project will bring in $5 billion in tax revenues in the next 30 years, 8,000 permanent jobs, and 6,430 units of housing. In addition, there will be other benefits to the people of the community. For example, the construction of the arena they plan to build will have certain reservations for people of the community, such as certain tickets set aside for community use. The description and plan for this project sounds extremely appealing. I would be interested in moving into a community like that actually. It seems like a convenient place to live, and sounds like a mini city. There is no doubt that the area would bring in a lot of profit, especially since there is a variety of public transportation nearby.
Although Atlantic Yards would provide huge economic benefits to the community and the state, for the people living in the area already, this project is a nightmare. Not only will they have to give up their homes and find new affordable places to live, they have to give up memories attached to the homes. In addition, many small businesses will have to close down just for this project. If that is their source of income, how will business owners make money after shutting down for the construction of this project? Although Atlantic Yards considers the community, at the same time it does not consider the community. The community consists of the people who are already living there, but it appears that this project excludes the people living there who are taking up the space of where the project would be using. As the government is supporting this project, they are also ignoring people of the community, which they should be helping. I think that the opinions of those vastly affected by Atlantic Yards do not matter to the government or the company due to the large revenue it will bring in.
City Journal brings up many valid points on whether the city has the right to take away private property and replace it with Atlantic Yards. Two main points I thought could possibly overturn the case for allowing Atlantic Yards to be constructed were the definitions for “blight” and “public use.” The first word, “blight,” was used to refer to bad conditions in the neighborhood. The company’s reason for allowing this project to be built was that the neighborhood was in unseemly quality with ‘unpainted walls and loose awnings.’ However, if one were to actually live in the area, he/she would notice that the neighborhood is not in terrible shape as the company depicts it as. Thus, there needs to be a standard of what is considered “blight.” Once this standard is created, people against Atlantic Yards may have a chance of disputing against its construction.
In addition, another word requires a strict definition, which may determine the approval or disapproval of Atlantic Yards: “public use.” Is the construction of Atlantic Yards considered public use? In my perspective, I do not think you can consider this project public use. My idea of public use is a non-profit facility open to the public or a facility absolutely necessary for the public. New York law appears to be very flexible with the word “public use” as it appears anything is possible as long as there is just compensation. However, from the cases against the construction of the Atlantic Yards, it appears that he law is too focused on the meaning of what blight, when they should also be considering the meaning of public use. With my definition of public use, the construction of Atlantic Yards would not be possible.
