What worries Bruce Ratner about Barclays Center? Traffic.
Ratner on Charlie Rose. via CharlieRose.com
12:30 pm Oct. 3, 20121
On Monday, during a wide-ranging, but ultimately pretty superficial interview with Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner, Charlie Rose asked him, "What worries you?"
"What worries me," said Ratner.
"I mean, you're a worrier by definition," said Rose.
"You're right, I am a worrier."
"A soft-spoken worrier," said Rose.
"I guess, soft-spoken worrier," said Ratner. "I'll have to think about that. I guess, um, I guess I'm worried about traffic a little bit, even though everybody had better take public transportation, listen to me. So for those few who don't, I'm a little worried about them."
"You know, and there's always issues of safety and so on at any arena," Ratner continued. "So you just wanna do it perfectly, and everyone's looking at us ... All the attention we've gotten means that anything that doesn't go right is gonna be magnified."
Traffic at the arena, which sits atop a major mass-transit hub but also at the already often slow-moving intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, has been a longstanding worry for area residents.
The opening last weekend went relatively smoothly. (Stephen Miller, from Streetsblog, has a good write-up on the topic here.)
But how Barclays Center will actually affect the dynamics of the area remains a concern for lots of people, including, apparently, Ratner.
Charlie Rose has had Bruce Ratner on a at least twice over the years talking about Atlantic Yards. Frank Gehry once in part talking about Atlantic Yards. Jay Z once in part talking about Atlantic Yards.
Shouldn't Mr. Rose and PBS-WNET give one segment to a critic or opponent of the project?