Atlantic Yards Game Plan

Atlantic Yards opponents are trying to forget all the bad things they said about Hakeem Jeffries, the winner in the 57th Assembly race, like that he was a duplicitous panderer who wanted to have it both ways on the 22-acre arena-and-housing complex. It is time to make nice, after all.

“If you tally Read More

Supporting/Opposing Development

Not surprisingly, the race for the 57th Assembly district in Brooklyn looks like it’s going to hinge on an argument over the Atlantic Yards project.

It’s just not clear who’s arguing for what.

Bill Batson, whose opposition to the project has formed the centerpiece of his campaign, has a new TV ad Read More

Brooklyn’s Captain Marvel

Commenter 57th AD Realist reveals a little-known fact about Assembly candidate Bill Batson, whose main opponent, Hakeem Jeffries, was endorsed by the NY Times yesterday.

“Of course, when I named Hakeem’s opponents, one neighbor asked me whether “Billy Batson” wasn’t the real name of superhero Captain Marvel.

“Apparently, Read More

The Atlantic Yards Vote

A new blog has surfaced that tries to keep track of the pro- and anti-Atlantic Yards positions of candidates running for office this year. It’s authored anonymously by what appears to be an opponent of the project.

So far on the opposition list: Bill Batson, Chris Owens, Charles Barron, Tom Suozzi and (who Read More

What Project?


“It looks like we just got done playing Backgammon.” -Bill Batson

Bill de Blasio has endorsed Bill Batson for the 57th Assembly District, despite the fact that they differ in their views on the Atlantic Yards project. De Blasio’s district does not overlap with the 57th, but is just Read More

Robert Jackson for Batson

Robert Jackson, council member on Manhattan’s Upper Upper West Side, is about to give Bill Batson his first endorsement by an elected official in the race to succeed Roger Green in his Brooklyn Assembly seat. Jackson represents a district that Batson is familiar with — he used to work for the area’s state Read More

The Candidate from Develop Don’t Destroy

Our commercial real estate reporter Matthew Schuerman passes on this little observation:

It makes sense that Bill Batson would get a lot of backing from opponents of the Atlantic Yards development. (He’s been one of the project’s most outspoken critics during his run for a seat in the assembly.)

As it turns out, about Read More

Batson for Assembly?

Crains (no link) speculates today that Paterson aide Bill Batson might run for Roger Green’s Assembly seat, which the Insider seems to assume he’s vacating.

Batson has no comment.