For Ratner, It's About Vindication

Andrea Peyser is an acerbic New York Post columnist and longtime supporter of Bruce Ratner's plans for Brooklyn. So as Barclays Center takes its final shape, she writes about how Ratner is having the last laugh on his critics, who she gleefully skewers, taking particular aim at actors/critics Steve Buscemi, Rosie Perez and the late Heath Ledger.

"That this project was nearly 10 years in the making speaks to the selfishness of a gaggle of well-heeled spoiled brats and celebs. People who would protest the opening of a drugstore (as they did in my neighborhood) and care not a bit about Brooklyn," she writes.

As for Ratner, he admits to Peyser that at one point in 2008, he thought he and the project were done for. He says he is not bitter toward the critics, but adds, "It gets to me, in a sense. We were constantly attacked. Our company put hundreds of millions of dollars into something that many times looked like it might not happen.’’

• Bruce Ratner pulls of miracle rebirth in Brooklyn - Andrea Peyser - New York Post
• Absurdist Post columnist Peyser: "Almost single-handedly, [Ratner]'’ll have brought the Borough of Kings... back to buzzworthy health" - Norman Oder - Atlantic Yards Report