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Former City Planning Commissioner Weighs in on Atlantic Yards
July 12th, 2006

The Web site of Develop, Dont Destroy, the group hoping to stop the Atlantic Yards project, has posted a statement by former City Planning Commissioner Ron Shiffman.

“Until this month, I have chosen not to speak out publicly concerning Forest City Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project,” Shiffman writes, “[I]n part because I believed that the inclusionary housing component was an important victory and believing that a more rational plan would eventually emerge.”

“However, that alternative has not emerged,” he continues. “Forest City Ratner and, by extension, the City and State of New York, continue to follow a process that is fundamentally flawed in pursuit of a plan that, if implemented, would scar the borough for decades to come.”

Shiffman argues that he is not against development - and admits that he likes the idea of having a basketball team in the neighborhood - but says the density and height of the proposed buildings far exceed the “capacity of the areas physical, social, cultural, and educational infrastructure.”

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on July 12, 2006, 12:06 pm
In category: Community Development, Gotham City, Land Use
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7 Responses to “Former City Planning Commissioner Weighs in on Atlantic Yards”

  1. Larry Littlefield Says:
    July 12th, 2006 at 12:23 pm

    (Shiffman argues that he is not against development)

    He sure was when he was on the commission. And we had a lot less of it then.

  2. Bubba Says:
    July 12th, 2006 at 8:18 pm

    Shiffman is an anti developer shill. He is was and will always be anti development no matter what benefits the city and community get for it. Ratner overcommitted to win over ACORN and the City and State. Now he has to deliver affordable housing bigtime. If he is forced to lose the deal as it is currently constituted, then the affordable housing will be lost too and an important precedent for future development will be gone. Thanks Shiffman the Shill.

  3. planner Says:
    July 12th, 2006 at 9:36 pm

    how can an urban planner and city planning commissioner be “anti-development”. do some reading about Ratner’s plan and the opposition. Ratner’s plan is a repulsive, tax payer funded, eminent domain fueled land grab. It is speculation on the taxpayers’ backs and communities, not development.

    and what on earth does “anti-developer” shill mean?

  4. Mike Says:
    July 13th, 2006 at 9:11 am

    Ron Shiffman has done more for economically, environmentally, and equitably successful development in New York City than nearly anyone else. You’d better do your research on this man who has committed the majority of his life to improving this city and the lives of people everywhere before you publicly slander him.

  5. chuck Says:
    July 13th, 2006 at 11:08 am

    Great essay by Ron Shiffman. Gives me hope that one by one, we’re winning the fight for quality development over the railyards. It feels like the tide has turned.

  6. mfs Says:
    July 19th, 2006 at 10:03 am

    Shiffman has done 1,000s of times more for the quality of life for people of this City than bubba ever will.

  7. Tom Gogan Says:
    August 2nd, 2006 at 9:25 am

    Ron Shiffman’s decision to join the DDDB board and take on the Ratner monstrosity is a welcome and serious step forward for us all. His stature and longtime history of favoring responsible human- and community-scale development speaks for itself. His speaking out against the project’s megadensity scale adds a powerful voice to that critique. He rightly raises some warning flags regarding the project’s already-shrinking projections for affordable housing there. We need thousands of units of newly-developed low- and moderate- and middle-income housing — truly affordable to those New Yorkers most in need — for households of all sizes, placed throughout the borough and all NYC.

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