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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Decoding the graphic at the 550 Vanderbilt launch: "Evokes the heritage of Brooklyn & classic New York living"

It's worth following up on the launch last week of the sales office for the 550 Vanderbilt tower. Consider the graphic below, created by artist Heather Klar, who specializes in creating real-time records of gatherings. And see celebratory photos here.

The graphic was a smart idea, and a deft execution. But a hipster artist, no matter how talented, is limited by the meeting she has to record. So let's consider the rhetoric, and then a more skeptical approach.

We had a long beginning... That means lots of controversy, and a name change from Atlantic Yards.

This is our home too... It depends on the meaning of "this." Yes, (some) executives and more employees live in Brooklyn. That doesn't mean they live on the blocks that take the brunt of construction and arena operational impacts.

Health. Warmth. Comfort. Modern... That's what's planned, not what neighbors are experiencing.

Evokes the heritage of Brooklyn & classic New York living... That's a reference to the use of brick and masonry in the condo building, apparently. No mention that the project is majority owned by a Chinese company (controlled by the government of Shanghai) and financed in significant part by selling visas to Chinese millionaires under the sketchy EB-5 program.

Heather Klar, via Twitter
Connecting you and nature... Well, there will be eight acres of open space. That doesn't mean a particularly placid connection, if 14,000 people are using it, thus lowering the ratio of open space per person.

The New Heart & Soul of Brooklyn.. A commercial development?

Interactive... Not sure what that means.

Brooklyn's newest neighborhood!... Or, perhaps, part of Prospect Heights.

Crafted around nature.... Another buzzword like "interactive." What's the alternative: through nature?

Now an Energy Center.... Ditto on the buzzwords.

Infused with Choices... If you have $600,000+ to spend.

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