Mr. Ambrose makes a few valid points, but the point of the organized opposition to Atlantic Yards is that we want a say in how Brooklyn develops. Atlantic Yards is top-down central planning created by a developer to serve his own pecuniary interests and directed by state officials in Albany and Manhattan, and the project will forcibly evict Brooklynites from their homes and businesses in order to turn Propect Heights into a high-rise, high density bedroom community for Manhattan commuters. Is this really the "ongoing negotation and renegotation of the urban fabric" that Mr. Ambrose envisions?

Brooklyn is being dumped on, once again. There are viable development alternatives for the Vanderbilt Yards that will enhance Brooklyn for Brooklynites and facilitate the urban evolution that is already taking place without eminent domain abuse, street closings or public give-aways to private developers. That is what opposition groups like DDDB, BrooklynSpeaks and others are fighting for -- NOT the preservation of a "tattered backwater."