The controversy over the Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn spawned lawsuits, protests — and now a theater production.
"In the Footprint," a play chronicling the conflict over the project from the perspective of opponents and proponents, runs through Dec. 11 at the Irondale Center, two blocks from the disputed site.
Opponents objected to New York's use of eminent domain to seize private property — including occupied homes — on behalf of private developer Forest City Ratner Cos.
The drama was inspired by interviews and represents a range of perspectives from residents in the area and others. Also portrayed are City Council member Letitia James, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, members of the opposition group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, union members, and members of the community-organizing nonprofit ACORN, which supported the project, according to the theater's website.
The Brooklyn Arena Development Corp., an affiliate of the Empire State Development Corp., last year sold $511 million of tax-exempt bonds to partially finance the $1.06 billion Barclays Center, an arena that will be the future home of the Nets, a National Basketball Association team currently based in New Jersey.
The arena was used to help sell the project, which was conceived primarily as an apartment tower complex. The developer is seeking tax-exempt bonds from the New York City Housing Development Corp. to finance the towers.
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court ruled that Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn could reargue a suit alleging the ESDC violated state environmental laws by not undertaking a supplementary environmental impact statement when they knew that construction could take 25 years rather than the 10 years anticipated in earlier studies.
