Atlantic Yards is a proposal by the developer Forest City Ratner to build 16 towers and an arena on a 22 acre site in Prospect Heights. Unfortunately, the plan has been created with no significant input from New Yorkers, and while development of the site could be beneficial, the plan voted on by state officials in December won't work for Brooklyn.

To watch a slideshow about the Atlantic Yards project, click here.

Here are some of the key reasons the current proposal won't work for Brooklyn:

• It would create over 7 acres of "temporary" parking lots for over 1400 cars that would blight the surrounding neighborhoods for decades
• The proposed amount of development is the equivalent to over 23 Williamsburgh Savings Banks
• Views of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank will be blocked from Grand Army Plaza
• The project would close public streets to create deadening superblocks
• The 7 acres of "publicly accessible" open space will function as a backyard to residential skyscrapers
• The project would generate 20,000 new vehicular trips daily with no plan to avoid gridlock
• 60% of the 2250 'affordable' units will not be affordable to Brooklynites earning $35,000 or less
• The plan has been created with no significant input from New Yorkers
• No Brooklyn official has a vote on the project