My understanding after visiting the FCRC Atlantic Yards Community Liaison office is that its main function is to triage questions from the public, relay them to the Government and Public Affairs department at Forest City Ratner, and provide a response to the submitter of the question.

The office does not appear at present to have any significant information on the project itself on hand to provide to community members, nor is information on how the office functions readily available. For instance, the person we spoke with was not able to tell us the name of an officer of FCRC responsible for supervising the office's activities. Nor were we able to find out how the office planned to address issues that required more than a return phone call from FCRC; in other words, how open items would be tracked and reported.

Of greatest concern, the person we spoke with assured us that the only construction activities at the site presently happening were taking place in the rail yards. When we explained that streets were being opened for water shut-offs on Dean Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, the individual said he wasn't aware of that.

In short, the FCRC Community Liaison office appears to be a sort of 311 for the Atlantic Yards project: a service that will help route your call, but perhaps not one that will take ownership over the resolution of your issue. While the existence of this office may help the developer meet some requirement of the UDC law, much more is necessary in terms of addressing and resolving the countless numbers of issues that will arise during the many years of construction that will occur at the site. It's not appropriate for that function to be provided by the very organization creating those issues with its project.