A Yards Bargain

When The Battle for Brooklyn, a documentary about bottom-up efforts to block the Atlantic Yards megadevelopment, was released in 2011, the events it depicts were still fresh. To viewers in 2025, the titular conflict is ancient history. “Twenty years ago, there were no Starbucks. Twenty years ago, the tallest building in Brooklyn was the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, and our saying was ‘Don’t block the clock,’” recalled New York Attorney General Letitia James at a screening of the film hosted at Pioneer Works. Turnout was high, partially because the event doubled as a reunion for the numerous activists involved in the protracted fight. (Drinks at Sunny’s Bar afterward were on the docket.) The presence of Red Hook residents and various assembly members could be explained by the parallels between Atlantic Yards and the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT), a sweeping waterfront renovation that would begin a few blocks away from Pioneer Works at Pier 12 and extend north to Pier 7 at Atlantic Avenue. (Announced in May 2024, it promises “good jobs” and “housin…