For the first time since I've been triggering Snap Polls on "The Call," viewers voted 50-50 on a topic -- whether redevelopment projects like the Barclays Center help or hurt neighborhoods. It's hard to predict the effect the arena will have on surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods like Park Slope and Prospect Heights...it's even hard for the viewers to predict. Hopefully, it will have a positive effect, and it won't just improve the immediate area, but trickle into other neighborhoods as well. I guess we'll find out in four months.

A week after the developer of the Barclays Center released a traffic plan for the new Brooklyn arena, community groups unveil a proposal they say will help preserve their quality of life. They say their Neighborhood Protection Plan not only will manage the flow of cars and pedestrians, but will address issues like sanitation, snow removal and the behavior of arena patrons.

Two of the recommendations include cutting off alcoholic drink sales 45 minutes before events end, and lowering the light emitted from the arena plaza after 11 p.m. Civic groups also are calling for developer, Forest City Ratner, to pay for extra traffic enforcement agents, garbage cleanup and snow removal. And, they’ve been calling for a residential parking permit program and a tax surcharge for drivers using area parking lots. Forest City Ratner says it'll do everything it can to minimize the impact of the arena, which is set to open in September.

A similar situation is going on near Citi Field, as the City works to redevelop rundown Willets Point. Earlier this month, the Bloomberg administration reached a deal with developers to clean up the area and construct retail stores. And no later than 2025, construction would begin on a mixed-use component that would include housing. Landowners in the area have been fighting in court to keep their businesses, and the City recently withdrew its eminent domain claim.

If you live in a neighborhood redeveloped by a sporting venue, including Yankee Stadium, how has your quality of life been affected? Has construction made your area better or worse? Do you agree with the recommendations of Brooklyn community groups? Are these construction projects worth the additional revenue they generate for the City?

Send your thoughts to the e-mail link above.

Willets Point and Ratner Arena plus land acquired for the New York Times building and for Pfizer in New London, CT are cases of Land Grabbing in the Public Interest.

It’s a long story, but eminent domain is theft. It is theft because land is taken from the rightful owners by force and the owners are never paid the market value of the property. They are never “fairly compensated” as the 5th Amendment to the Constitution requires.

Willets Point is a perfect case of intentional blighting. The City for years and years has provided no sewers, no decent sidewalks, nothing like what other areas of town are provided. Under the NYS version of ED, property must be condemned prior to taking, condemnation must be preceded by a declaration of blight.

New York Times had property blighted in their name because of a porno video store on the block they had their eyes on. One property owner got the amazing sum of 25 cents on the dollar market value of his building. Property seized for Pfizer was declared blighted because the property owners weren’t paying enough tax. Property for Ratner was declared blighted after he bought property and allowed it to deteriorate to a level that would enable a declaration of blight.

When the tax abatements expired in CT, Pfizer left town. Now the city and state get no tax from Pfizer and all the jobs allegedly created are gone.

Consult the websites of the Institute for Justice, http://www.ij.org and Castle Coalition http://www.castlecoalition.org.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

Ever since Emperor Bloomberg came into POWER, the middle class/working class and their quality of life, including their health, have been collateral damage in his quest to pander to his corporate cronies. He is absolutely destroying the heart and soul of New York for the sake of his corporate cronies. I feel like I am living under a feudal system.

Frances
East Village

I applaud the effort of the local elected officials and the Civic Associations for initiating the plan to insure the quality of life for the

neighborhood near the Barclays Center. There is a web site called
fieldofschemes.com and I believe the person who has this site has published a book of the same name. He has information on the financing of new sports stadiums and arenas around the country.

Maybe the Civic Associations could obtain more ideas which were learned from other communities from his web site. Maybe NY1 could interview this author as well.

John, Oakwood

IT WILL LIKELY PRODUCE MANY MINIUMUM WAGE JOBS, FOR NEW YORKERS BUT NOT NECESARILLY BROOKLYNITES.

M.ORTIZ

Another sports stadium won't improve the lives of working families in a recession. It just brings more millions for millionaires like Jay-Z.

Jeremy
Forest Hills

I look through my window everyday and see the Barlays Center rising up before my eyes. I live in a building directly behind the Atlantic Center Mall. Funny seeing a sign from the MTA today posted in my home station of Atlantic Avenue that the station has now been renamed. It doesn't surprise me but this and now your very timely discussion on the stadium has really forced me to confront the realities of the great impact the stadium will have on my quality of life.

Its reassuring to hear that community leaders have stepped up and come together to protect the rights of people in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Christina
Downtown Brooklyn

I live in Park Slope. WE don't trust Forest City Ratner to protect the quality of life for residents. They will do the minimal required to keep the peace, but really could care less. The flow of cars and crowds will disrupt our lives and make it hellish to live here. We really despise these people.

Melanie

The arena will be bringing so many job opportunities to the community...local businesses will see a boost....Brooklyn will be back on the map....the Cyclones helped out Coney Island to some degree....this will just be on a larger scale...

A public pool creates more problems for local residents than a brand new arena.

Patrick from Astoria

What does “redevelopment” mean, exactly? just call it what it is – unfettered development, using eminent domain to steal property so the developer can make millions, if not billions at the expense of city neighborhoods, all with the blessing of king bloomberg, the developers’ best friend. He’s sold the city for a song, giving subsidies from taxpayer dollars while the profits roll in. the yankees and mets didn’t need new stadiums catering to the wealthy so that they could raise ticket prices. The city doesn’t need more luxury housing. 12 years of bloomberg has destroyed the city. At barclays, why shouldn’t ratner pay for the increased sanitation, security, and traffic costs? Why should the taxpayers pay for that when ratner’s making so much? But I’ll bet anything that bloomberg will not ask ratner to pay the costs, he’d rather have the city pay and then cut programs that serve the poor.

Meryl from Manhattan

I was born and raised in Crown Heights Brooklyn, in 1957, I can remember what Park Slope and this area was then and what it has became today. There will always be pro and cons, but mostly, The Barclay Center is Great for Brooklyn.
I am still in the real estate business in Downtown Bklyn , this area is one of the most desirable areas in NYC..

Mike