Your future home if you win the lottery.

Since its inception, even the most steadfast supporters of the LIBOR Barclays Center and the entire Atlantic Yards project could be stopped with the question: “Where is the affordable housing?” The Atlantic Yards Report went to a meeting last night where Forest City Ratner adressed the issue, presenting their plans for the first building to be going up next to the arena. (more…)

The view of Barclay's Center from Tim's apartment

Having lost nearly every other fight in the battle against Atlantic Yards development, opponents are now turning their hopes on stopping everyone from having fun there. The Local reports the foes of the Barclay’s Arena will converge on a public hearing Tuesday night to tell the Community Board to deny the stadium a booze permit, presumably leaving thousands of would-be Nets fans to sit in their seats quietly and discuss literature while the basketball is being played. The Local says opponents are worried about “drunk guys vomiting and peeing in the street” if they are able to get soused up in the 18,000-seat monstrosity.

It sounds like there’s little doubt the stadium will in fact be able to serve alcohol. So here we have another example of what is becoming classic Brooklyn activism: the long retro-active fight of a lost war, the combatants who cling to the vestiges of the battlefield long after their enemies have gone off to a victory buffet at the nearest Applebee’s (and there are two near the stadium now). We saw this last year with the fight over the Prospect Park West bike lane, where those 1-percent-y car owners along the street grasped at anything they could in their lawsuit to, what, tear up the bike lane and put more car parking spaces back in? And then there’s the campaign to save Coney Island, which we all love and can’t wait to visit again this summer, but the glory days of Coney are far long passed and the steamroller of bland redevelopment is so charged up that saving the wood boardwalk is the latest cause celebre there, and bound to be a losing one.

Pausing, for a second, the opponents’ assumption that all basketball fans would be some sort of army of mindless, vomit- and urine- soaking machines, let’s remember that sports will not be the only thing there: BAM will be curating cultural shows in the arena, and you better believe I expect to pay $9 for a Brooklyn Lager while watching King Lear in front of 18,000 others. It’s not going anywhere, so can’t we at least try to enjoy it? (more…)

The new Nets stadium has been a slam-dunk for the rat population.

There’s a rat tsunami plaguing Prospect Heights, and it’s your fault, obviously. If your life has been made miserable and extra rodent-y from the Atlantic Yards construction, developer Forest City Ratner is throwing you a bone: no, not by cleaning up/shutting down/spraying down the project, but by providing garbage cans! Up to 1,400 free “rodent deterrent” (lidded, heavy duty) cans are available for buildings of 12 or fewer units in a 12-block radius south of Atlantic (see map below). To get one, contact the Atlantic Yards Community Liaison Office at communityliaison@atlanticyards.com or 1-866-923-5315. The Department of Health-approved cans come from Pintchik Hardware. So, problem solved, right? (more…)

Anti-Atlantic Yards nightclub petition: “Embrace Indie Music!” [FiPS]
Sample sale at Brooklyn Industries new DUMBO location Thurs-Sat [BK Industries]
The L Magazine’s 2011 bar awards (includes several Beer Book bars) [L Magazine]
Free toxic waste at abandoned Ditmas Park auto body shop [DP Blog]
Pick your favorite subway busker [NY Magazine]
Win a year of free taxi rides from Scoop St. [Brooklyn Nomad]
$9 for two movie tickets through Fandango ($30 value) [Living Social]
City Limits series compares Brooklyn’s reputation vs. reality [City Limits]