Podcast: Atlantic Yards, Part III

This week's episode is from our interviews about Atlantic Yards, the complicated and controversial development in Brooklyn at the site where the new Barclay's stadium is currently being constructed. We hear from some of the key players on both sides of the fight, passionately discussing topics like gentrification, what makes a neighborhood, change, affordable housing, and more. This week features Jennifer R. Morris as a member of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn; Heather Alicia Simms as Bertha Lewis, the head of ACORN; and Joaquin Torres as Saul Zarzana, a union member who supports the project; and Joaquin Torres leading the cast in "The Neighborhood Song" by Michael Friedman.

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Atlantic Yards Podcast - Part II

We're back in Brooklyn this week with our investigation into Atlantic Yards, which is the largest development project in Brooklyn's history where the new Nets basketball stadium is currently being built, and the subject of our show In the Footprint, which will be at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia in a few weeks! In this episode, Billy Eugene Jones plays a homeowner who lived in the footprint talking about the process of negotiating with Forest City Ratner (the developer). Marsha Stephanie Blake plays City Council Member Letitia James who opposes Atlantic Yards. Sam Breslin Wright plays Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, and Billy Eugene Jones returns to sing "The Circle Song" by Michael Friedman. Enjoy!

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Let Me Ascertain You: Podcast Series Launch!

Welcome to the very first episode Let Me Ascertain You: The Civilians Podcast Series!

Let Me Ascertain You is a weekly podcast series drawn from the company’s ongoing live cabaret series of the same title and including the best material from a decade of creative investigation. The episodes cover topics such as Occupy Wall Street, Atlantic Yards, the adult entertainment industry, Evangelical Christianity, and more.

Our first episode features performances of interviews about Atlantic Yards with Brooklynites about the controversy over the largest development project in Brooklyn's history. The site where the new Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets) stadium is being built has been the source of extended and heated conflict, resulting in the enactment of eminent domain in New York State. This episode features the performance of interviews with Atlantic Yards bloggers, local business owners, residents, and activists, examining how the fate of Brooklyn and New York City is decided and what can be learned from this ongoing saga of politics, money, and the places we call home. The material was collected for the company's play In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards.

A lot of the performance is from our Let Me Ascertain You: Atlantic Yards cabaret last fall. It also includes a segment with Colleen Werthmann talking about what it was like to conduct interviews for In the Footprint. She talks specifically about the time that she spent with activist Patti Hagan (a prominent character in the play), and what Colleen has to say is really inspiring!

Featuring: Aysan Celik as a blogger, Colleen Werthmann as activist Patti Hagan, White People written by Michael Friedman and performed by Marsha Stephanie Blake, A scene at Levels Barbershop performed by Billy Eugene Jones and Marsha Stephanie Blake, and The Four Brooklyns written and performed by Michael Friedman

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How are things IN THE FOOTPRINT?

Things are moving along in the construction site at this point. HERE is a video from the Nets Daily website showing the steelworkers putting up the structure, and even more has gone up since then. 

HERE is Norman Oder's commentary on the latest construction alert that details how the plans are changing as the construction progresses.

And as things are going up down at Atlantic and Flatbush, Freddy's bar (the setting of a few scenes in IN THE FOOTPRINT) reopened last week at 627 Fifth Ave. between 17th and 18th streets in Park Slope. HERE is what Norman Oder has to say about it, and HERE are some photos from opening!

IN THE FOOTPRINT: How was Boston?

Last weekend, In the Footprint was up in Boston at ArtsEmerson for six performances. Of course, the big question on everyone's mind was about how such a seemingly geographically-specific show would play in a different city where people might not even know what Atlantic Yards is. Here are some thoughts from some of the great reviews we got while the show was up there:

Time Out Boston (who called the show "a powerful, multifaceted portrait"): "You may ask yourself: “Self, what does a play about a real estate dispute in Brooklyn have to do with me, here, in Boston?” It has a lot to do with you, actually. We’ve had our fair share of skirmishes over neighborhood ownership; just look at the turf war between Allston and Harvard University, or the aborted move of the Patriots’ stadium to South Boston."

The Hub Review (who said, "I can't think of a more accurate portrayal of the Way We Live Now"): "You may shrug at the topic - what do the travails of Brooklyn have to do with Boston?  But rest assured, the Civilians limn through this particular prism a devastating vision of millennial politics and, you know, how things get done.  For what soon came clear about the Atlantic Yards project was that - as one disgruntled homeowner points out - no elected body or official had ever voted on it ever. "

WBUR (who felt that "the issues come alive in a way I certainly didn’t get from reading about it in the New York Times" - what would Norman Oder say to that?): "The unlikely subject matter is the urban development project in Brooklyn to bring the New Jersey Nets there, among other things. But the Civilians make the issue of eminent domain, something that Bostonians are certainly familiar with, compelling with a variety of strong theatrics from musical numbers to modernistic re-creations of who said what."

The Phoenix (who called the show a "surprisingly sprightly epitaph for a neighborhood"): Some New York–centric details may not resonate with Boston audiences, but issues of urban renewal (of which we've botched a few) are as hoary — and as pertinent — as Jane Jacobs's 1961 tome The Death and Life of Great American Cities. 

So it looks like the show was really well received by people who have probably never seen the footprint or heard the name Bruce Ratner before! 
 

The Brooklyn New Yorkers? - Found in connection with IN THE FOOTPRINT

It looks like the current new name for The New Jersey Nets when they move into the Barclays Stadium in Brooklyn is THE BROOKLYN NEW YORKERS.

Click HERE for the Gothamist article, and to see the new logo designs.

Too bad they didn't ask our audinece members at the Let Me Ascertain You: Atlantic Yards cabaret, where we asked our audience members what they thought would make a good team name. Some suggestions were:

The Daniel Goldsteins
The Brooklyn Baby-Strollers
and
The New York Nyets
not to mention the suggestion in In the Footprint of the New York Chipmunks.

Maybe THIS will be the mascot. Any other name or mascot suggestions out there?

IN THE FOOTPRINT in the New York Times! Theater and Journalism?

The following correction was made to Jason Zinoman's recent New York Times Article about theater and journalism. The article asks (among many other questions): "If the company uses tools of journalism and benefits from the authority of real reporting, does it have an increased responsibility to journalistic standards?"

HERE is the correction:
"A Critic’s Notebook article on Wednesday about political theater based on real events, including the show “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards,” misstated the circumstances under which Daniel Goldstein, an opponent of the Atlantic Yards project portrayed in the show, lost ownership of his condo in a building that needed to be emptied for ground to be broken. While he did receive $3 million in a settlement, the State of New York took the condo under eminent domain. He did not sell it."

IN THE FOOTPRINT in the New York Times! Theater and Journalism?

First of all, here is a recap of The Civilians and In the Footprint in the New York Times over the past few weeks:

Review by Charles Isherwood
Photo slide-show
Arts Beat: "Theater Talkback: Giving Thanks in a Thankless Season" by Charles Isherwood
"When News Events Are Retold on Stage" by Jason Zinoman


The last article was put online yesterday and in print today. It's about the role of journalism in theater. Take a look at the article. What do you think? Where is the line between presenting reality and shaping a drama? To what degree are theater artists responsible for facts? In the Footprint addresses in the script issues about the difficulty of arriving at one truth with so many people saying different things for various reasons. Weigh in! What do you think? 


Here are Norman Oder's thoughts about the issues - take a look! The headline is "A theater critic lectures The Civilians on journalism regarding "In the Footprint." He has a point. Maybe the Times should follow it, too."

Atlantic Yards News - IN THE FOOTPRINT

If you aren't coming to In the Footprint on Wednesday, check out the Atlantic Yards Traffic Forum, presented by our friends at the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Association. According to the PHNDA's website, it's: a forum on traffic and transit issues raised by Atlantic Yards construction and the planned opening of the Barclays Center in 2012.

* What impacts are already being felt?
* What is coming from the arena and future construction?
* What does the recent court decision mean to the community?
* What can we do now?

Join Council Member Letitia James, Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council at their Atlantic Yards traffic forum at PS9 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 8, 2010
7:30- 9:00PM
WHERE: PS9, 80 Underhill Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238

In other news, Norman Oder reports that the ESDC has granted a seven-year extension to build up the arena block, which is Phase 1 of the overall construction project under the EB-5 Program. Get the details at the Atlantic Yards Report HERE. The EB-5 Program allows Forest City Ratner to accept investments in exchange for greencards. Take a look at the EB-5 Memorandum that shows that this is actually legal HERE.

IN THE FOOTPRINT: Featured Video

"I had two ladies, one was a teacher, one was a stockbroker... they were a couple; and the both of 'em were both yellin at me, yelling and screaming, saying how could you be for this project, don't you realize if he builds a sixty story building the trees aren't going to get sunshine. You actually believe that, that the buildings are gonna - how in your right mind you gonna believe that? You can't block the sun! I can't remember how many million miles and it still somehow reaches the flowers even underwater - how you gonna block the sun with a building? Manhattan never woulda been built in with that theory. Am I right or wrong?"

Master Builder, Union Member, and Interviewee



Here is a link to Barclay's press release about the groundbreaking in March. Here's what they say about union jobs: "It is anticipated that Atlantic Yards will generate over $5 billion in new tax revenues for the State and the
City over the next 30 years and will create upwards of 17,000 union construction jobs and up to 8,000 permanent jobs when the entire project is completed."

And here is Norman Oder weighing in on the jobs issue.

Lastly, the earth is 150 million kilometers (93.2 million miles) from the sun.

IN THE FOOTPRINT in the New York Times!

This is a fantastic article with great photos about In the Footprint! Here are a few tidbits:

"The songs in “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards” (the creators call them blogosongs) serve not as emotional showstoppers but as commentary and explanation — the Greek chorus of the digital age."

"'Being an investigative theater company where we try to engage in important stories, this seemed like the most important local story that we could take on,' Mr. Cosson said recently over brunch in a cafe in Fort Greene."

"Forest City Ratner declined to be interviewed for the show, but Mr. Ratner and his colleagues are represented in others’ interviews and through public statements. (A spokesman for Forest City Ratner declined to comment for this article. The company was also the development partner for The New York Times Company headquarters in Manhattan.)"

Click HERE for the whole article (and to find out what Marty Markowitz has to say about the show)!

IN THE FOOTPRINT Rehearsal!

The first preview for IN THE FOOTPRINT is on Saturday! - which means that we are officially into tech week. The cast and crew is back from rehearsing in Boston at Emerson College through the ArtsEmerson program, headed by Rob Orchard.

Here's a link to his blog, wherein he talks about the show!

Here's a photo from the rehearsal room that ArtsEmerson tweeted:


Also, here's the latest Atlantic Yards news. Norman Oder calls Justice Friedman's decision today the "first clear-cut victory" for Atlantic Yards opponents and critics. The decision is posted at the bottom of his post. Check it out!

IN THE FOOTPRINT: Featured Video

How about a blog post about bloggers?



"Norman Oder - do you know him? He does the Atlantic Yards Report blog. He has a theory, that Brooklyn would be a large city in another place in the United States, it would have one or two papers, and they would have fully staffed newsrooms. He, he quotes another media person who says nowhere else in the United States are more people served by so little media. But we do have a lot of bloggers. One thing I think of as like the bloggers, I kinda think of - we're like a Greek chorus, basically. We tell people what's really going on. You could do like a Greek chorus in your show!"

Click here for an article by Norman Oder in his blog about the recent Atlantic Yards reporting.

More Atlantic Yards-related blog links to the right of this entry in "My Blog List."

Can you handle all the meta happening in this post?

IN THE FOOTPRINT: Featured Video

Here is a video from our workshop production of IN THE FOOTPRINT, which was at the Brooklyn Lyceum in 2008 (under the title Brooklyn at Eye Level). This is from an interview with the President of the Youth Council Atlantic Terminal Community Center.







"If they build a stadium, that's OK. I have no problem. Cause I could come outta my house and go watch a game. Live. That's no problem. But what about the seniors in this building, the elderly? Come on now."

Who Is Mikhail Prokhorov? - IN THE FOOTPRINT

For those of you who came to LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: ATLANTIC YARDS, you know that Mikhail Prokhorov owns a controlling share in the New Jersey Nets (soon to be re-named) and that he is six feet, eight inches tall. He was recently named New York's Best Oligarch by the Village Voice. Let's get to know our 45-year-old Russian billionaire a little better, shall we?

According to a New York Times feature about him that came out today, he put $200 million towards 80 percent of the franchise and 45 percent of the long-delayed Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, where the Nets will play beginning in 2012. Prokhorov also agreed to cover some $60 million in operational costs and 80 percent of $207 million in debt. He says for the article, "Money doesn’t drive me... New ideas, the feeling of team spirit, mean more. To create a team better than any other, that’s what drives me. To find the idea is one thing; to realize the idea is another."
Lots more info about him in the article HERE.

HERE is a video tour of his Moscow home (described in the NY Times article), a web extra connected to the feature story about him on 60 Minutes.

One of our interviewees said of him: "Prokhorov is, made his money, in the nickel mining industry. He made a ton of money, built a big company with another partner. In whatever year it was, 2006-2007, there’s a whole hooker scandal in France, where he brings in hookers and is arrested and incarcerated for 4 days, until the charges are dismissed and he’s let go. After that, his partner and the Kremlin force him to sell his interest in this big international nickel consortium. He does. He cashes out. That looks like it’s the end of him as a Russian oligarch and then all of the sudden, the market crashes, he’s got tons more money than all the others because he had cashed out. He’s a- he’s a guy who’s 6’9”, he played basketball in grade school, this idea that he played in high school, you know, some player who never really quite made it isn’t really true. He’s not as athletic as he wants people to think. He’s more of a kick-boxer, exerciser, pilates guy, than he’s a basketball player."

Atlantic Yards Timetable - IN THE FOOTPRINT

Here are some thoughts about the proposed timetable for the construction and other goals connected to the Atlantic Yards project.

"If you're an elected official who said, 'I support this project because it's going to bring jobs. It's going to bring housing. It's going to create a platform over the rail yards and connect neighborhoods. It's going to create 8 acres of open space. It's going to do all this in 10 years and it's going to bring economic vitality to the downtown area of Brooklyn,' you don't want somebody watching to say, 'Wait is this being achieved?' Because a lot of those things are not going to be achieved, at least not on the timetable they promised."

- Excerpt from interview with Brooklyn resident and advocate, September 2010


The attorney arguing against eminent domain made the same argument in court. Read more about the courtroom proceedings in the Atlantic Yards Report HERE.

Welcome!

This is The Civilians' company-wide blog, where you can find out about The Civilians' many projects and investigations about real-life topics. For older posts, you can check out our Individual Show Blogs:
Brooklyn At Eye Level (Atlantic Yards Investigation, 2008)
Pretty Filthy (must be over 18 years old)
The Great Immensity (Princeton Residency, 2009-2010)
YOU BETTER SIT DOWN (with WNYC)
And you can always find more info at www.thecivilians.org.

Please comment and let us know your thoughts. Ask us questions, voice your opinion, give us feedback. Nothing that The Civilians does is a one-sided conversation, and blogging is certainly no exception, so don't be a stranger!

Thanks for visiting!