No Graffiti on the Trolley please!

My support for Atlantic Yards has been constant.  My opinions regarding the matter, made public on this blog page, have been known for some time now.  A particular organization thought they would have a little fun at my expense, using some of my comments and photo postings in a snarky last ditch and desperate attempt to draw support for their protest and belittle proponents of Atlantic Yards.  I do not begrudge them for believing in a cause and being active towards such end.  As a matter of fact I applaud them.  Why?  Simply and briefly I'm relieved there are still some who believe they can affect government in a country that supposedly is predicated on the premise,  For-The-People, Of-The-People and By-The-People (is the order important here?).  I believe this country has all but lost our revolutionary spirit so your efforts have not gone totally unappreciated. 

This is not a political Blog, nor is it a terribly socially civic-minded Blog.  This Blog is more a celebration of two things I love most in life; Baseball and following my sports teams & my hometown of Brooklyn and the joy I have living here. 

As for you ladies and gentlemen at "JEERS"; the place where we don't care to know your names, who gave me such a "CRAPTACULAR" (to use your word) review, and to those of you who so impressively showed up in the tens of tens to be civil disobedients as part of your cause and belief in "NoLandGrab" (wink!), unfortunate as it may be for your Band of Merry Meddlers, you'll have to wrap your "cold dead hands" around your frosty mugs somewhere else.  It's not like you have to leave, it's just that you can't stay there.  Having ONE person arrested for civil disobedience it appears didn't have the effect you originally planned.  Being as the Village Voice, of which I occasionally read, rated you as the best little bar in Brooklyn (incredulously may I add; not too mention ludicrous and inane),...perhaps their classified section can be of use in finding you a new location where you can continue your quest to live out your little urban fantasies.  Oh, and sorry about the traffic passing by on Atlantic Avenue.  If it weren't for that I might have heard some of the chants your platoon were belting out through the fence.  One less draft from the tap might have inspired one of you to bring a bull-horn.  So in closing, remember the old adage; he who snarks last, snarks best. Good Luck in your next "Crap-tastic" Crusade.  If you're so inclined, see you at the Brooklyn Nets opening tip-off.  Cheers!

In the end, at almost the seven year mark since the project was first proposed, through the protests, legal battles and an economy that tanked at the wrong time for this plan, we get it.  Finally.  The number of hold-outs, those who would not sell their properties to Bruce Ratner, who stood to make a nice profit from the transaction, and now have to settle for less, was I believe in the low teens at last count.  Perhaps they can take it up with their real-estate agents as to why they were not informed about the history of the area or enlightened about past proposals or current developments for that grid.  If you moved there with-in the last six years, you should have known about the risks.  Whether you were not informed, didn't research the area on your own, or just chose to remain ignorant or stubborn, is an entirely different conversation.  You knew, or should have known you were buying into a Junk Bond by purchasing there; High Risk, High Reward.  Investment ventures are a risk my friends.  You guessed wrong on the side of risk.  However, your principle is still in tact so spare me the crocodile tears.

The fact is that particular grid has been screaming for attention for well over 50 years.  With neighborhoods surrounding it's rim rejuvenating themselves and feeling reinvigorated, this area was a crater left behind by an asteroid called urban decay.  This grid is responsible for the inability of three great neighborhoods from coming together in a beautiful urban unifying setting for all to enjoy, prosper and thrive in.  Like having a giant hole in your living room, this hole in the ground must be addressed and fixed.  Atlantic Yards and Barclays Center is the answer, remedy, solution for the apathetic treatment this area has endured by the Borough and City for too long. 

Thank you Bruce Ratner and to the City of New York for having the vision and want, to make what's best for Brooklyn, possible, unlike the urban-planning megalomaniac Robert Moses and his lack of compunction for his part in Brooklyn loosing their Dodgers, and then Mayor Robert Wagner, an invertebrate in the presence of said Robert Moses.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to celebrate the historic groundbreaking of Atlantic Yards and the Barclays Center, future home of the Brooklyn Nets.  See you there!


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