Atlantic Yards Housing Petition Circulates Ahead of Sale

With New York State now in a position to approve a sale of a large stake in Atlantic Yards to a foreign developer, Brooklyn elected officials are circulating a position to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take action to ensure housing is built as promised. 

So far, a promise to build affordable housing at the site — one of the key elements that allowed the project to exist in the first place — remains unfulfilled. 

After a meeting last month, elected officials including Letitia James, Walter Mosely and others, decided to press Cuomo to force Forest City Ratner to keep its promise before making a sale. 

So far, however, a petition to the governor has only garnered around 300 signatures (as of Monday afternoon) in more than a week. It reads as follows:

Dear Governor Cuomo:

Forest City Ratner promised the people of Brooklyn 2,250 affordable apartments at the Atlantic Yards project in exchange for hundreds of millions in public subsidies. Then it pushed back completing that housing for 25 years. Now Forest City wants to pull its money out of the project by selling a majority interest to a foreign developer.

That's an outrage to thousands of families in danger of displacement, and it's a raw deal for the taxpayers of New York State.

Brooklyn's elected officials have said the State should allow the sale only if there are new guarantees for affordable housing to be delivered when originally promised and appropriate oversight to make sure they’re enforced. I agree, and call on you to direct the Empire State Development Corporation not to let the deal move forward until those conditions are met.

For more information on the petition, including current signatures, head to Brooklynspeaks.net.