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3C SPORTSATftc Charlotte ^o«t Thursday, September 7, 2006 1/ World Championships brought coach, players close Continued from page 1C spumed a reported $40 mil lion offer from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004, Krzyzewski said he has no interest in coaching in the pros, even though he’s enjoyed dealing with the NBA stars at the worlds. “This is an incredible, unique experience, and I love that experience,” Krzyzewski said after a recent practice. “But I’m not going to be going to the NBA. I love coaching in college. Whenever I get through coaching in college, thatH be it, whenever that is. I’m not saying that it’s immi nent.” The 59-year-old Krzy7ewski, a West Point graduate, accepted this job becaiase he wanted to restore the U.S. to prominence in world basketball. Krzyzewski has won 753 games and three national titles in 26 years at Duke and five at Army But he hasn’t led a team to an Olympic gold medal, although he was an assistant on the gold medal-winning Dream Tfeam in 1992. U.S. forward Shane Battier played for Krzyzewski at Nothing uncontested with Brooklyn arena development By Desmond 0?Butler THE ASSOCIATEDf'pRESS NEW;rGRk - The tension ,o)Cfet-''a project that would reshape Brooklyn with an NBA arena, office towers and thousands of apartments was quite evident at a recent hearing on the project. A state senator stood up and endorsed the project, but was shouted down by a woman in the audience who opposes the plan. The woman was immediately engulfed in boos and jeers by an audience that included construction workers, affordable housing advocates and teenagers dressed in NBA jerseys. It was just one of many heated encotmters in a hearing that dragged on for seven hours. Supporters say the hearing illustrated the breadih of an extraordinary local coalition in favor of the plan - a group that believes the poor and middle class will benefit throu^ jobs and affordable housing promised by the developer. But for opponents, the hearing - along with the boos against the opponent - was' indicative of what they believe is a cozy stage-man aged public review process. “The fix was in firom the start,” says City Council Member, Letitia James, one of the few New York public officials opposed to the pro ject. The $4.2 bilhon Atlantic Yards project, to be built over a rail yard, was designed by star architect Frank Gehry It includes an 18,000-seat stadi um, 606,000 sqiiare feet of offifce space, 6,860 units of housing, retail space and a hotel in 16 towers ranging fiom 19 to 58 stories. The arena would become the home to the New Jersey Nets, owned by the developer, bringing a major professional sports team back to Brooklyn for the first time since the Brooklyn Dodgers left in 1957. The developer, Bruce Ratner, bdieves the project will breathe fife into a void etched by the large rail yards. He has agreed to make sub stantial environmental improvements to the neigh borhood - recently declared bh^ted by the state _ and turn seven acres of the pro ject into publicly accessible space groomed by an award- winning landscape architect. “This project guarantees the growth of Brooklyn for the future,” said Jim Stuckey, executive vice president of Forest City Ratner. Opponents say the biggest blight is on the horizon. “Atlantic Yards is inconsis tent with the character of the community” saj^ James, whose constituents include some people living in the pio- posed footprints of the pro ject. “It’s out of scale.” At the moment, two of the proposed towers would rival the nearby 34-story WiUiamsburgh Savings Bank, which at 512 feet has loomed in near isolation as the • tallest building in Brooklyn since it was built in ■1929. A tower dubbed “Miss Brooklyn” by Gehry will reach 620 feet in current plans. The scale and striking design, with xmdulating, glass towers of varyii^ size and an^es, would transform the image of predominantly low-rise and brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods. Opponents say it will create a traffic nightmare. Not surprisingly, a great deal of the opposition has ’ emerged fiom neighborhoods both bordering on the project - and if it proceeds, under neath it. One vocal opponent has been Daniel Goldstein, the sole remaining condo-owner in a building within the plan’s footprint. Forest City has been buying up land and buildir^ with offers above market rate. It says it now owns or controls 93 percent of the condos and co-ops in the footprint - aU but five units - and the majority of the rest of the real estate. In early 2004, Goldstein and other owners helped start Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, an crganization he says has groWi to include 21 community groups, more than 2,000 donors and 700 volunteers. Members, includ ing a handful of celebrities, have dissected the develop er’s plans, proposed alterna tives, published copious cri tiques in print and blogs, protested loudly against emi nent domain seizures and threatened litigation. “We want to see develop ment over the rail yards that is in a reasonable scale for the existing community and we are against using eminent domainfor a project like this,” says Goldstein. He suggests the basketball arena be built elsewhere, per haps Coney Island. But supporters of the pro ject think the opposition is distinctly local and fueled by transplanted Manhattanites. Developers have the backir^ of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov George PataM and the vast majority of the City Council, state Assembly and Senate. They also have a key part ner in ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - a national advocate for low- and middle-income urban families that focuses on issues tike lowering crime, improving schools and afford able housing. ACORN - not an obvious bedfellow for the developer - saw an opportunity in the project, said Bertha Lewis, executive director of ACORN New York. The group agreed to support the plan - with the weight of its 40,000 active members in New York - in exchange for a community benefits agreement that includes integrating afford able housing into Atlantic Yards. Under the deal, 50 percent of the 4,500 rental apart ments proposed would go to people within five income brackets starting at $21,270 per family of four and cap ping out at $113,440. Those apartments would be inte grated so that low-income famihes and market-rate renters would live side by side. “The elevator has to work for everyone,” Lewis says- She says that if the deal can set a template for other devel opments, it might mitigate the plight of poor people, who have watched Brooklyn improve only to be priced out. “This deal is a benefit not only to our members but in the neighborhood in general, for the folks who have lived here in Brooklyn for 20, 30 years,” she says. The deal brought a big, vocal constituency squarely in support of the developer. As evidenced by the hearing and packed informational meetings on the affordable housing units, ACORN has convinced a lot of people that jobs and affordable housing offset the downside raised in the environmental impact study, including traffic and the use of eminent domain to seize property The project awaits the end of a 60-day comment period on the environmental review before a state agency oversee- ir^ the project could approve and send it for final consider ation to the Pubhc Authpritiies Control Board, controlled by the governor. Even with swift approval, the fight over Atlantic Yards is hkely to spill into the courts. But Forest City believes the Brooklyn Nets wOl be playing basketball in the new arena by 2009. Former Howard track coach among hall of fame inductees By Bonitta Best THE TR/ANGLE TR/8UNE Former Howard Univa:sity track and field coach William “Bill” Moultrie will be among 12 of the sport’s most accom- phshed collegiate coaches inducted into the U.S.. TVack and Field and Cross ^untry Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The dass of 2006 features coaches who won NCAA men’s and women’s team titles at aU three divisional levels in cross country indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The (distin guished group wUl be induct ed during the USTFCCCA annual convention Dec. 12 in San Antonio, Tbxas. “This year’s hall of fame dass personifies the values of collegiate track and field and cross country,” said Sam Seemes, CEO of the USTFC CCA. “The mark they’ve left on thdr sports is immeasur able. Our assodation is hon ored to induct such a group of individuals into the Hall of Fame.” During his 26-year tenure, Moultrie won 10 conference championships and had sev eral student-athletes named to All-American teams. Under Jus leadership, Howard also had several ath letes who qualified for, and partidpated in, Olympic com petition. Moultrie was an Olympic assistant coach in 1992 and became the first Afidcan American to serve as Olympic track referee four years later in Atlanta. Duke and sees in his coach the same vigor at the worlds. “He’s enjoyed the journey because it is so different fiom what he’s been doing the last 30 years,” Battia- said “And he is an individual who really gets off on those sorts of expe riences and those challenges.” At the outset, it was fair to wonder whether, rich NBA players would be sufficiently motivated. But when Krzyzewski and Colangelo required players to commit through the Beijing Olympics, the hkes of James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade boToght in. Once the U.S. had assem bled its roster, Krzyzewski didn’t worry about his wealth of NBA talent. He dealt with his players as people, not celebrities. Dming training camp in Las Vegas this summer, Krzyzewsld spent much of his time talking to players individually just as he did with James at practice in Japan. He miderstands this is the NBA offseason and knows not to push too hard. “Even when we’re doing five-on-five, if a guy’s sitting out, I might go up to him and be able to do that instead of saying, VTU you come to my room and have this meet ing?”’ Krzyzewski said. “Thatis relationship-building. At least the first three days in Vegas, that’s all I was doing. “Somebody would say Well, who’s the head coach?”’ Krzyzewski said with a grin. ‘T don’t know. There’s this guy walking around talking to everybody” The players may have envi sioned the sort of fiery speeches Krz5^ewski uses when Duke faces North Carolina. But his approach has been more low-key “1 really didn’t know what to expect coming in,” guard Kirk Hinrich said. ‘He’s been real straightforward. He tells you how he feels. He’s just a good guy Be lets us play He knows we’ve got a ton of great players, and he just lets us go out there.” Krzyzewski has relied on his assistant coaches - Mike D’Antoni of the Phoenix Stms, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Nate McMillan of the Portland TVail Blazers _ to handle some of the tech- nicahties of game prepara tion while he has tried to develop a sense of his players’ personahties. Battier knew Krzyzewski would figure out how to relate to the l^A stars., They may be far richa-, and far more famous, than his Duke play ers. But they still want to win, and Krzyzewski knows how to do that. ‘He obviously knows the game,” Battier said. “He knows •X’s and O’s. But his biggest strength is under standing people, and getting people to play well together. ‘T knew, giving him enough time to get to know some of the guys and understand their personalities, he would find a way to get people to get on the same page,” Battier said. “And I think thus far he’s done a really great job of that.” Save on flfasI4. Vacation “at home” in NMth Carolina From Manteo to Murphy, from CafPbash to High Hampton, scores of fascinating places to go, things to study, do and- see...ali within an easy one-day drive, or iess. For free in^mtion about specific resorts, attractions or destinatiokis^dntact the N.C. Department of Tourism * . .-t l-SOO-VISIT NC •V www.visitnc.com fIrisisjilaaiftLi Crown Park Hotel 600 Willard Si. Durham, NC 27701 Phone: (919)956-9444 Fax:(919)956-5553 Is Pleased to Offer Special Rates Just Call Us ! Featuring Data Ports Business Center Interior corridors 25” Color Television Spacious Guest Rooms Near Durham Bulls Athletic Park Free Shuttle to Duke, VA Hospitals Free Secured and Wireless Internet Complementary Continental Breakfast All rooms include coffee makers, iron & ironing board, hair dryers Stay close to the action at a price you can afford at the Crown Park Hotel of Durham. This month save with Special rate at this convenient hotel located near downtown Durham, and only minutes from Duke, NCCU, UNC and the RDU Airport Take a campus tour, visit Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home of the AAA Durham bulls, or go to the Museum of Life &. Science, rated in the top four family- friendly museums in the Southeast by Family Fun magazine. Located in the his toric tobacco district, enjoy the newly con structed American tobacco building with abundant eateries and sports bars. Play a challenging round of golf, or shop at an abundance of unique stores. The courteous staff at the Crown Park Hotel of Durham provides a warm and inviting atmosphere and loads of amenities to make your stay most enjoyable. The Crown Park Hotel of Durham has spacious, clean rooms, and excellent service - everything you need for a pleasant stay. We shall make every effort to meet and exceed your expectations.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 7, 2006, edition 1
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