Bloomy still wants Gehry — plus other tidbits from the mayor in our endorsement sit-down

By Mike McLaughlin

Mayor Bloomberg said on Monday that Atlantic Yards would be a better project if Bruce Ratner would bring back Frank Gehry’s much-hyped designs for the stalled and increasingly costly arena and 16 skyscrapers.

“If there’s any way Ratner can possibly do it, he should use the Gehry design, because he will get great events from around the world going directly to Brooklyn,” the mayor told a team of reporters and editors from the Community Newspaper Group, the parent company of The Brooklyn Paper. “Simon and Garfunkel on their tour would go to Brooklyn in a second before they go to Madison Square Garden. They’re New Yorkers.”

The meeting was a stop on the campaign trail for the would-be third-termer, who won the chance to run for re-election last year after the City Council acceded to his wishes that the two-term limit be eliminated, despite two public referenda affirming it.

Naturally, that topic came up.

“It was a unique period in the city,” he said. “The economy was starting to fall apart, our school system was on the verge of a major breakthrough … so I just decided that I would go ahead and, if the City Council wanted to change the law, let’s see what the voters want.

“The voters want somebody independent and competent and hopefully they’ll think I’m that way,” he added.

The hour-long interview covered many topics, but Bloomberg spent plenty of time on Brooklyn’s long-running saga, Atlantic Yards.

Like the developer himself — and the borough president he admires — Bloomberg argued that Ratner’s opponents, who have waged numerous court battles against Ratner and his government allies, were largely responsible for depriving Brooklyn of the vaunted architect’s vision.

“One of the great sins here is this small group of people stalled it so long [that] the economy is different,” Bloomberg said.

“I tried to get Ratner to go ahead and do the Gehry design. I thought it would have been an icon, but the economy is just not there.”

But the mayor conceded that Ratner probably would have faltered during the real-estate bust, even without relentless opposition from groups like Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.

“He might have been in trouble halfway through, but at least he would have a project in the ground, going up.”
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