New York Post follows up on strains on police handling arena events

A New York Post article, Full-court pressure on Barclays cops: Brooklyn cops have been experimenting with new strategies to deal with growing pains from the Barclays Center — from lingering limos to berserk Beliebers., touches briefly on issues raised at the 78th Precinct Community Council meeting last week.

First, the police have let limos and black cars wait on the south side of Atlantic Avenue east of Sixth Avenue rather than have them hover on residential streets--which the cops say is working, but--as residents point out--is a giveaway of public space.

How many police?

This factoid is new (and unconfirmed):

Since the arena opened, police sources said, it has taxed NYPD resources. The detail is just eight officers, a sergeant and a lieutenant, sources say.

“We were promised more [cops] than that,” said a source.

That said, the detail has been augmented significantly, with dozens of cops available at early events, including the Jay-Z concerts.

Last week, Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri, commanding officer of the 78th Precinct, was asked for a comparison between the number of police available at the Justin Bieber concert and the opening Jay-Z concerts .

Ameri didn’t quite answer: “Well, I had plenty of officers there last night... it was just the way we handled it, when it came to the crowd."

Illegal  parking

Despite the provision of free space on Atlantic Avenue, according to Atlantic Yards Watch, there's still illegal parking, as in this example on Nov. 15 at 9:30 pm during a Brooklyn Nets game:

A charter bus from New Jersey parked and idled for at least a half hour at the bus stop on Dean Street just east of Carlton Avenue. This is a regular location for illegal parking by limos and buses waiting for patrons from Barclays Center. The 311 complaint specifically addresses this bus in this location.
Video: [note that the bus pulls out at time of filming, though it had been standing there for a while]
]
While I was on the phone with 311 a police vehicle passed by. I waved it down and it stopped approximately 75 feet away. An officer got out and inspected a car blocking a fire hydrant. I stayed on the phone with the 311 specialist and went over to the officer. He told me he would finish what he was doing and then come to give the bus a summons. Instead, he got in his car and left. I completed the call with 311 and then inspected the vehicle blocking the fire hydrant. It was a private car associated with a placard from the Department of Corrections. There was no summons.
As I walked toward the arena I found a limo parked and idling in front of the Church designated parking area immediately in front of the Temple of Restoration. Two photos are attached. [one is below]

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As precinct council meeting approaches tonight, reports that police will allow limos to queue on Atlantic Avenue in what was once public parking space

Guess what, limos are getting public parking space--an issue that surely will come up at tonight's postponed meeting of the 78th Precinct Community Council, at 7:30 pm.

From Atlantic Yards Watch, yesterday, NYPD to allow limos to stage on Atlantic Avenue during arena events:

AYW has been informed by a representative of the Empire State Development Corporation that the NYPD intends to allow limos to queue during arena events on the south side of Atlantic Avenue between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues. [UPDATE: On November 13, we were informed by Council Member James' office that the block of Atlantic Avenue designated by DOT and NYPD for limo staging was between 6th Avenue and Carlton Avenue, not Carlton and Vanderbilt.]
The section of Atlantic Avenue is currently available for public parking except during overnight street cleaning hours. On Friday, November 9, use of the area was reserved for vehicles registered with TLC license plates, consistent with the NYPD proposal.
Idling of limos in unauthorized locations in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Fort Greene has been a major concern for residents since the arena's opening. AYW incident reports filed include 945, 947, 969, 970, 971, 972, 973, 989, 991, 997, and 998. 311 closed reports for many of these incidents noting "police action was not necessary," or "no evidence of violation." Idling of limos has also been documented by Atlantic Yards Report.

However, as AYW points out, "[t]he issue of unauthorized limo parking appears to have been unanticipated by the Transportation Demand Management Plan (TDM) prepared by Forest City Ratner Companies to address traffic congestion and pedestrian safety following the Barclays Center opening...

Further, the proposed "solution" of staging limos on Atlantic Avenue in effect allocates additional public space for the benefit of Barclays Center without public review."

For more, see Atlantic Yards Watch.

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Walking it back: Nets/NBA claim, unfoundedly, they confirmed Nets debut because they didn't think mass transit would be so hampered

There's some serious revisionism going on in a New York Times article posted tonight headlined Nets’ Opener Against the Knicks in Brooklyn Is Postponed.

No one--not the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA, nor Mayor Mike Bloomberg--apparently will grapple with the fact that the Nets and the NBA, apparently with the cooperation of City Hall, confirmed that the Nets home opener was on even though they knew the subways would not be restored by the time of the game.

The article states:

About 19 hours after saying the Nets would make their regular-season debut Thursday night at Barclays Center against the Knicks, the N.B.A. on Wednesday accepted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s recommendation that the game be postponed because of Hurricane Sandy’s lingering effects on the public transportation system.
...The league’s initial optimism — expressed Tuesday in a tweet that said, “Knicks-Nets game will be played as scheduled this Thursday at 7 p.m. — followed hopeful remarks by Bloomberg earlier that day when he said he hoped that the game would be played and that he expected to attend.

Was it optimism?

I wouldn't call it merely "initial optimism" or that it was limited to the NBA, which sent out a tweet at about 8 pm, cited by Times reporter Howard Beck: "As tweeted by NBAPR, Nets-Knicks game for Thursday is a go, with or without subways."

Brett Yormark, CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, at about the same time tweeted that television network TNT "makes it official."

This morning, Yormark told WFAN that it was a joint decision: "We worked very closely with the NBA and the Mayor's office... At the end of the day, for lots of different reasons, we felt we needed to move forward.... This isn't a decision the NBA, or the Nets, made in a silo."

Walking it back

The Times seems to be letting Yormark and the NBA walk that back. The article states:

Adam Silver, the N.B.A.’s deputy commissioner, said in a telephone interview that the Twitter message was sent out because “at that moment, the game was on. Games are on until they’re not.” He added: “At that moment, so many fans, arena workers and telecasters were waiting on the decision. And at that point, none of us thought there’d be so little mass transportation this far into the week.”
But expectations that the game would proceed were eventually overwhelmed by the city’s assessment of the subway and rail obstacles created by the hurricane.

Eventually overwhelmed by the city's assessment? C'mon.

More than nine hours earlier, Times staffers were quoting Bloomberg:"Mayor: 4 or 5 days before subways return."

In the new article, the Times reports:

Brett Yormark, the chief executive of the Nets and the arena, said by telephone that the mayor’s “further due diligence and assessment of the damage made it clear that there were higher priorities than hosting the first Nets game in Brooklyn, and we agreed that was the case.”

The Times doesn't mention Yormark's assiduous argument this morning on WFAN that "for lots of different reasons, we felt we needed to move forward. We're working with the MTA... We also feel today this can be in many respects a rallying cry for New York."

So what happened?

Silver told the Times it was the mayor's call. Was the mayor blindsided by the statements by the NBA and Yormark? Maybe, but Yormark claims the mayor's office was in on it.

Was the mayor's office unaware that the subway system wasn't ready? Highly unlikely.

Was the mayor's office acquiescing to a priority expressed by developer Bruce Ratner, a man Bloomberg calls a friend? Perhaps.

So what happened? I don't know. I can only imagine.

A columnist gets it

ESPN columnist Ian O'Connor wrote, in Postponing Nets-Knicks a no-brainer: Staging the Barclays' basketball debut in Sandy's wake would've been a mistake

Yes it was heartless, clueless, lacking in any redeeming social value -- all those things and more. If David Stern thought playing basketball in the immediate wake of Hurricane Sandy would be a great way to kick off his retirement tour as NBA commissioner, he should have retired a long time ago.
Mayor Bloomberg finally called off the madness Wednesday, telling the NBA's elders what they'd likely already heard from their right-minded fans: There was no way they could go ahead with this game. No way they could throw this party in the middle of what will be an enduring human disaster.

And O'Connor doesn't let Yormark and Silver off the hook:

Brett Yormark, whose official title is CEO, Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center and whose unofficial title is carnival barker, was out there rattling on about ticketholder demands to preserve the game. When Bloomberg slam-dunked the opener for good, Yormark released a statement that ended this way:
"Our hearts go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy. We know these are trying times for so many of you and our thoughts are with you."
If your heart was going out to everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy, Brett, why didn't you apply a little common sense and decency to the process and fight for the postponement of the game?
The same question stands for Adam Silver, commissioner-to-be, who confirmed Bloomberg's recommendation to the league -- Why did the league even need that recommendation before acting? -- and sang the standard our-thoughts-are-with-the-victims song.
The Nets and the league wanted their big night in their $1 billion arena. 

The fans speak

On the fan site NetsDaily, commenters were mixed, though one stated:

Really happy we are getting a game all about Brooklyn. Sad it comes at such an unfortunate circumstance.

The league and Yormark are made of the same sludge. They really wanted this game with people dead, houses gone, and subways ruined?

Thank you Bloomberg. You did the right thing, even if it means me missing the first game ever.

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How did the Nets game get postponed? What if a top local cop put his foot down? (a speculation)

(Note: Dialogue 99% invented. Ameri, when I've spoken with him, can be pugnacious but not profane.)

How exactly did New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, whose office on Tuesday let the NBA announce the Brooklyn Nets' home opener with the New York Knicks was on for tonight, despite the shutdown of the subway system, change his mind and yesterday announce the postponement of the game?

Press accounts are rather confusing. But it might have gone down in a conversation between NYPD Captain Michael Ameri (MA), Commanding Officer of the 78th Precinct (which includes the arena), and a Deputy Mayor (DM).

MA: I just heard this clown Brett Yormark on the radio saying the game was on after a "collective decision" involving all parties, including local government.

DM: Well, yes. We did all talk.

MA: Did you ask me?

DM: Well, we spoke with One Police Plaza.

MA: Did you call freakin' me?

DM: No, but--

MA: I gotta run the 78th freakin' Precinct--

DM: Yes--

MA: Lemme finish. I have police officers, right?

DM: Yes--

MA: I have to deploy them where I think they're best, right?

DM: Yes--

MA: Then why the freak do I need these guys managing traffic for freakin' basketball fans when we have freakin' people in freakin' Brooklyn who lost their homes? Or they don't have freakin' power or can't take a freakin' shower? Why? Half my cops don't have electricity.

DM: The mayor says--

MA: The mayor my--

DM: Let me finish. The game is gonna be historic, Nets versus Knicks. National television. They're even bringing back some retired Brooklyn Dodgers.

MA: The Dodgers aren't coming.

DM: What do you mean?

MA: They gotta drive, right?

DM: Yes.

MA: And they're old, right?

DM: Yes.

MA: They're gonna wait so long in traffic they're gonna pee their pants. These guys have 85-year-old prostates. Not a good idea. They're gonna stay home.

DM: The game's going to be on national TV. TNT. That's good for New York. That's good for Brooklyn.

MA: TNT my freakin' ass. I'm not moving my officers to the freakin' Daily News Plaza just to make sure people paying 400 bucks a ticket can cross the street in peace. Some people in Brooklyn lost everything. There could be looting.

DM: Well, we made the decision.

MA: Way I heard it, the NBA and TNT made the decision.

DM: We were part of it.

MA: Not. Gonna. Happen.

DM: What do you mean?

MA: I cannot in good conscience send my officers there. We're already freakin' crucified because we can't stop the freakin' bass from the freakin' concerts from entering their homes. You can feel it in the freakin' precinct house. What am I gonna do, shut down Jay-Z? Shut down those weirdos in white who came for Sensation--the ones all wired on Ecstasy? That noise is another thing you better G.D. work on. And don't get me started on the black cars. We don't have a place for the freakin' limos. And they keep freakin' honking.

DM: You're not going to cooperate?

MA: Listen to me. Lis-ten to me. Talk to my officers. They don't wanna work the arena tomorrow. They know what's going on. They work for the people of New York City. Not the NBA. Not the Barclays Center. Not the Brooklyn Nets. Not T-N-freakin-T. Not tomorrow.

DM: Okay... I'll bring it up with the mayor.

MA: You better. We're already working double shifts here. We have better things to do.

***

Later today, Mayor Bloomberg held a news conference, declaring, among other things, "our police have plenty of other things to do."

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