January 27, 2012 - BrooklynSpeaks sponsors reacted to a presentation yesterday of Forest City Ratner’s planned “transportation demand management” measures meant to reduce the volume of cars traveling to events at the Barclays Center arena, scheduled to open in September 2012. The presentation was given at Brooklyn Borough Hall by representatives of Sam Schwartz Engineering, traffic consultants to the Atlantic Yards project, to a group of elected officials, city agency employees, and community leaders.

On Sunday, January 22, State Senator Eric Adams, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Assemblyman Karim Camara held a press conference in front of the Barclays Center, criticizing Atlantic Yards' failure to deliver promised jobs and affordable housing, and calling on the Empire State Development Corporation and Governor Andrew Cuomo to reform oversight of the $5 billion project.

BROOKLYN, January 14, 2012: On Friday, January 13, BrooklynSpeaks sponsors filed legal documents in response to an appeal by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) of a July 2011 court decision ordering further environmental review of the Atlantic Yards project. The decision came after nearly two years of litigation by BrooklynSpeaks’ sponsors, local elected officials and community members, which challenged ESDC’s 2009 approval of changes to the General Project Plan which increased the duration of project construction from 10 to 25 years. The brief was filed in conjunction with Develop Don’t Destroy (Brooklyn), petitioners in a similar case covered by the July decision.

“ESDC and FCRC have, in effect, asked the court to believe that when the agency approved increasing the construction duration from 10 to 25 years, it didn’t expect the developer would actually use the extra time,” said Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, a petitioner in the case. “The lower court didn’t buy that, and we don’t think the appellate court will, either.”