Atlantic Yards Blogs Ask: Will Amanda Burden Eat Crow Next?

Atlantic Yards opponents in the blogosphere loved reading Dan Doctoroff eat crow in this week's Observer, but Forest City Ratner's admission in a New York Times article that construction of the Nets arena would be delayed until 2010 was greeted with a collective "duh".

The Develop--Don't Destroy Brooklyn blog posted a press release about the outgoing Deputy Mayor for Economic Development's "breathtaking admission" in The Observer and urged Mayor Bloomberg to follow Mr. Doctoroff's advice and put Atlantic Yards through the city review process, ULURP, before construction begins. The blog accused Atlantic Yards developer, Forest City Ratner, of "crying wolf" since avaiable evidence proves that the earliest possible opening date for the Nets arena is not until 2011.

Norman Oder's Atlantic Yards Report blog also said it was unlikely the new arena could open by the 2010-2011 NBA season based on the current construction schedules. The blog faults the Times for greeting Forest City Ratner's admission as news when the project's start-date has "been in jeopardy for a long time."

The blog questions whether Amanda Burden, chair of the city Planning Commission and a staunch defender of Atlantic Yards, would follow Mr. Doctoroff's mea culpa with one of her own and admit the project "could have been handled better."