The NY Times is reporting that the Nets won't be playing in Brooklyn for the 2009-2010 season because the arena won't be finished until 2010. The Times attributes the delay to legal challenges. The most publicized lawsuit is the federal case brought by 13 property owners and tenants. The suit alleges that the taking of their property via eminent domain was unconstitutional. In June, a US District Court judge dismissed the case, finding that......

After the Daily News broke news that the city was unhappy with developer Thor Equities' $1.5 billion plan to revitalize Coney Island (an anonymous city official calling the plan "dead in the water"), the Post gets its own tidbit. Apparently Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff is offering to swap some land with Thor to keep Thor in the general Coney Island mix, but not right on Stillwell Avenue. Under Doctoroff's compromise, Sitt would give the city......

Despite its size (and irrelevance in national elections), New York City produces about 1% of all of America's greenhouse gas emissions. That's as much as the entire countries of Ireland and Portugal, however considering that New Yorkers account for about 2-3% of the U.S. population, 1% isn't bad. But it's not great either, and Mayor Bloomberg said, "We can no longer deny the science and bury our heads in the sand. Climate change is......

Remember all the excitement surrounding the BAM Cultural District around, oh, 2001? Well, the NY Post is reporting that the previous plan for a theater and arts library has been expanded to include a dance studio, public park, museum and gallery, underground parking garage and residential housing. The district, which will cost $650 million, will be located between Fulton St. and Lafayette Ave. along Flatbush Ave. More details from the Post: - The 229-seat theater......

If it's built, then take it! The NY Times reports that the the Bloomberg administration is considering a plan to turn the FDR's Outboard Detour Roadway into an extension of the East Side esplanade. The plan, in its very early stages, calls for demolishing all but the roadway’s westernmost underwater support beams and building a new structure that would not extend as far over the river. The new park would probably be at most 20......

What an embrace of Long Island City! The city announced that it will buy waterfront property in Long Island City to build up to 5,000 units of affordable housing for families. The city is paying the Port Authority a total of $146 million for the 24 acres - $100 million for the property and $46 million for "remaining obligations" to the site. From the press relase: Mayor Bloomberg: "Middle-income families are facing housing affordability......

An interesting follow up to a post from two weeks ago about the Department of Transportation's ridiculous ness. The NY Sun has an interview with Andrew Vesselinovitch, the DOT's bike program director who quit, and, boy, he doesn't pull any punches:Mr. Vesselinovitch said that when Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff in April asked the department for more miles of bicycle lanes, his superiors asked him to come up with excuses to refuse to do so, including......

Construction crews may be getting ready to blast bedrock to make way for the Freedom Tower, but yesterday yet another potential wrench was announced. The chairman of the Port Authority, Anthony Coscia, said the tower will have be to scaled back if government groups don't lease space in the 1,776 foot building. More specifically, government groups need to agree to take on 1 million of the 2.8 million square foot building by September in order......

State Assembly members met with various parties involved with the World Trade Center rebuilding yesterday to discuss development progress. Or, rather, the lack of progress. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky even said, "I wouldn't do any more groundbreaking right now" as a zing to all the ceremonies, photo ops and public puffery but little actual work getting done. And what's more, WTC leaseholder and developer Larry Silverstein says that insurance companies may not pay out all of......

Can business groups and environmental groups convince the city to reduce the number of privates cars? The NY Times reports that some neighborhood business development and environmental groups submitted a reportto the Mayor's office that shows that 60% of the traffic is from passenger cars - and many of these people could be taking public transportation instead. You can read the report right here (it's a PDF) that Transportation Alternatives put together, and here......

Oh, for the love of street vendor hot dogs: Gothamist LOVES the insanity that is the bidding process for the MTA's West Side railyards. Yesterday, the energy company, Trans Gas, bid $700 million for the railyards to build a power plant. This bid is not only $100 million more than the Cablevision bid (and $600 million more than the Jets' bid), but Trans Gas would want the MTA's help to build another plant in Williamsburg......

As if there weren't enough disagreements over the West Side stadium, the Regional Plan Association, a private planning organization, released a report yesterday saying that the plan to build a new stadium for the Jets should be scrapped. In its place, the RPA suggested the area should be rezoned for high-rise commercial and residential development. Their report also said that the expansion of the Javits Center should proceed as planned and that the stadium would......

With the International Olympic Committee on the brink of announcing which cities are finalists in competing for the 2012 Olympic Games, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff is under the spotlight, as NYC 2012, NYC's bid for the games, was his brainchild. The Times profiled Doctoroff yesterday, giving him credit for "outlining" Mayor Bloomberg's plans for Lower Manhattan as well as for developing downtown Brookly and "rezoning of industrial Williamsburg for housing development," leading many to wonder......

NYC and NY State finally formally announced the $2.8 billion plan to build Jets stadium, expand the Javits Center, and revitalize the West Side yesterday. And of course, there's a lot of disagreement and protest about the plan: How can the city funnel hundreds of millions of dollars when the school system needs money badly? Some assemblymen support expanding the convention center but not building the stadium. The immediate neighborhood doesn't want the project. The......