Daily Gotham's Mole333 Reports from the DEIS Public Fracas

The Atlantic Yards Hearing: A View From the Outside

Our babysitter was sick today so my wife and I split childcare duties. So, I decided I would go over to the Atlantic Yard's hearing today...the ONLY public hearing on the project the state is deigning to allow.

Well a quick subway trip took us to Metrotech. It was immediately clear to me that one hearing really was not enough. The line to get in went around the corner and was still growing. Well, I was with a nearly 2-year old baby and my chances of getting through that line without risking a large tantrum was pretty low. But I decided to see if it was worth it. I went around to the front only to see that the crowd got so thick that no stroller would make it through. I am pretty certain that was also indicative of how crowded it was likely to be inside. So, the one and only public hearing pretty much excluded families with children. Typical. Now maybe if I had come back later it would have been better, but families have something called a routine. I had to get back home to cook dinner and after that are bedtime rituals. So, it seems like the one and only public hearing was hard for families to navagate.

But I did get a chance to poke around. Yassky, Suozzi and Diamondstone all had signs up. Well, at least Suozzi and Diamondstone have taken stands on the issue. Yassky has been a fence sitter, so not sure who he was playing to. Perhaps everyone. The only person more ambiguous on his stand has been Hakeem Jeffries. Yassky at least has the excuse that he is running for Congress, not a body that will have Atlantic Yards as one of its major issues (so why does he have signs up?). Jeffries does not have that excuse...

Mole333 goes on to reprimand the unions and ACORN for their behavior and a lively comments sections follows...Read on...