The Boop-Boop-Boop . . . Wheeee! Of A Dream Deferred

The New York Press attempts to learn just what the fuck it is dudes with metal detectors are doing:

James is mad as hell about something or other involving money — I don’t ask — and we’re tromping through the streets of Brooklyn in giant strides. He’s got a farmhand’s build, autumn-wheat hair and a scar that extends to the right side of his frown. In his hand is a metal detector as big as a bazooka.

Every morning James wakes up believing he might strike it rich on that very date. “One attic, one backyard or behind one door,” he trails off as we head out to dig up whatever fortune is buried in Prospect Park.

“You take a ring and throw it as hard as you want at the grass, and you ain’t gonna hear it make a sound,” he explains. “The dog walkers, that’s another thing. Tissues they use to clean up with, they put in the same pocket as their change. They pull out the tissues and where do you think the change goes?”

. . .

Dark clouds had followed us to the park and now thunder is rumbling in the distance. The headphones on James’ ears buzz a mosquito-like sound, which grows louder and fainter as he pans his detector side to side. The wind picks up and scatters leaves, and I see James on his knees carving a circular wound in the ground with a painter’s spatula. He flips over a hangnail of sod and reaches into the earth. A nightcrawler squirms across his knuckles. He plucks out a dime that looks like it was found on the Titanic.

Within an hour we have 65 cents in a baggy and are nearly swimming in the downpour.

Miss Brooklyn Always Seemed A Little Too Tall Anyway

The Atlantic Yards project, now six to eight percent more popular:

Facing mounting criticism of its $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project, the developer Forest City Ratner plans to reduce the size of the complex by 6 to 8 percent, eliminating hundreds of apartments from the largest development proposal in the city, according to government officials and executives working with the developer.

Forest City is also considering reducing the height of the project’s tallest tower, which is known as Miss Brooklyn, to get it under the height of the borough’s tallest building, the nearby Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower, according to real estate executives.

. . .

The development, anchored at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, has a number of powerful supporters, including Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, some local politicians and advocates for subsidized housing. And a recent Crain’s New York Business poll shows that most New Yorkers approve of the project, although opposition is strongest in Brooklyn.

But both supporters and critics have expected Forest City to reduce the size and density of Atlantic Yards, which has been the focus of a series of raucous, standing-room-only public hearings, most recently on Aug. 24. The stage appeared to be set when the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, the project’s chief cheerleader, proclaimed at that hearing that no tower at Atlantic Yards should be taller than the 512-foot Williamsburgh Savings Bank building.

Forest City has been working with city officials on a revised plan after some officials raised questions about the project’s overall density and the design of Miss Brooklyn, which was supposed to rise 620 feet. Officials say the developer will announce the reduction later this month.

“I’ve been told they will modify the project in order to address some of the concerns about the development,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has supported the project. “I’m not sure all the criticisms will be addressed or that all the critics will be happy. But I understand there will be modifications.”

. . .

The reduction in the project’s scope comes as the Empire State Development Corporation prepares to hold two more public hearings later this month before voting on the project in October. Officials say the developer is likely to unveil the changes around Sept. 25, when the City Planning Commission is expected to issue design guidelines for the project and recommend changes, including a reduction in density.

At that point, there could be a long line of politicians and activists hoping to take credit, including the Bloomberg administration, Mr. Silver, Ms. Millman and Mr. Markowitz.

“Everyone’s going to take credit for something that everyone knew would happen,” said an executive who works with Forest City. “For these guys, it’s very important.”

Location Scout: Atlantic Yards.

At Least They Held Back From Flinging The Tea Sandwiches*

This is what you get when you appear at an event with a candidate a week before the primary:

Mayor Bloomberg threw some kind words yesterday toward congressional hopeful David Yassky — but they were easily the nicest things hurled about.

The news conference at Wyckoff Gardens in Brooklyn was interrupted by heckling, some cursing and a flying, circular object that landed near Bloomberg.

It was a doughnut.

Chocolate glazed.

Harmless as it was, it did cause Bloomberg’s gal pal, state Banking Superintendent Diana Taylor, to run for cover.

“Just another reason why we need cameras,” Bloomberg quipped. “All right, let’s focus back here.”

The purpose of the news conference was to announce that the city Housing Authority property was going to get security cameras, thanks in large part to Yassky, the Brooklyn councilman who is running in a nasty four-way primary for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Rep. Major Owens.

Although Bloomberg isn’t officially endorsing any of the candidates, he did take the time yesterday to praise Yassky as someone who “worked very hard for the city” and tries to “make life better in this city.”

But the unruly crowd, which included supporters of other candidates, did their best to ruin the visit.

I Can’t Believe I Ate The Whole Thing: Score One For Opportunism; The Post Oppo Research Machine Chugs Along; See, The Thing Is Was, Senior Year Was Just Such A Blur For Me . . .; Excitement!; Well, That’s A Relief!; Pay To Campaign!; Recipe For Hitting The Front Page Of The Sunday Times: Just Add Sharpton; You Know You’ve Jumped The Shark When . . .; Unite To Stop White Individuals!; The Sad Thing Is That It Was Probably A Carefully Crafted Statement; How Do We Put This? Let’s Just Say Identity Politics Still Exists . . .; Barack Obama: Some Guy They Stuck In There; Nothing Against Your Policies, It’s Just The Color Of Your Skin.

*Believe me, I tried.

The Only Things More Phallic Than The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower Are Headlines In The Brooklyn Papers

Leave it to the Brooklyn Papers to make dick jokes out of the latest Atlantic Yards news — “Size matters; State not discussing Atlantic Yards shrinkage with Bruce Ratner”:

State officials moved swiftly last week to deny they were negotiating behind the scenes with Bruce Ratner to decrease the size of his Atlantic Yards mega-development.

After the New York Sun reported on Tuesday that the Empire State Development Corporation had discussed “a reduction in the size of the project” with Ratner, ESDC blasted the report as untrue.

“ESDC has not been in discussion with Forest City Ratner about reducing the size of the project,” spokeswoman Jessica Copen told The Brooklyn Papers.

But the agency is under pressure — even from the project’s loudest supporters — to scale back Atlantic Yards.

At last week’s public hearing, Borough President Markowitz — the official perhaps most identified by his support of Atlantic Yards — told ESDC that it needed to “get real” about the impacts of the $4.2-billion, 16-tower, arena, hotel, residential and commercial development slated for the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. “This project needs to be reduced.”

Fellow supporter, Assemblyman Roger Green (D-Fort Greene), went further, calling a 30- to 40-percent reduction in scale “a moral imperative.”

The state’s own draft environmental impact statement outlined numerous “significant” adverse effects, including increased traffic, more-crowded subways, long shadows, and the need for a new school to handle thousands of Yards kids.

After all is said and done, Gersh explains how this could all happen . . . and you do realize that this whole thing has probably been one big negotiating ploy, right? Er, suck on that . . .

Location Scout: Atlantic Yards.

Not In My Backyard!

New Yorkers overwhelmingly don’t give a shit about what happens with the Atlantic Yards development:

Brooklyn’s $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project is supported by 60 percent of city residents, according to a poll in Crain’s New York Business.

Some neighbors of the proposed megadevelopment in Downtown Brooklyn have been trying to kill the project, a 22-acre complex that would include an arena for the NBA Nets, a hotel, high-rise offices, apartments and stores.

“The meaning of the poll is that New Yorkers are broadly pro- development, and that includes people in Brooklyn who are close to this project,” pollster Craig Charner told Crain’s.

Not surprisingly, opposition to the project was highest in Brooklyn, where 33 percent objected to the plan. That compares with 25 percent in the rest of the city.

Location Scout: Atlantic Yards.