AKRF stands for the names Allee King Rosen & Fleming, but it means much more than a few surnames to the city of New York. AKRF has been consulted for many different projects around the area to certify environmental and historical sites to be developed or redeveloped. Their analyses are used for small projects like this one on Duffield Street in Brooklyn and large endeavors such as the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. So why is this important to anyone? Because their history is quite murky and there tends to be a lot of cold hard cash involved when they are involved.
From Duffield St.:
While New York City is suffering from an ailing electrical and sewer infrastructure, we are on a building boom. Somehow, it's the priority to build endless luxury highrises and not fix potholes. How is this done?
For all of the megaprojects going up, one firm is responsible for most of the environmental studies: AKRF. This blog focuses on the Duffield Street homes, and we are committed to examining the credibility of AKRF's historical analysis.
You may ask, Who cares if AKRF screws up a historical analysis? The problem is that "historical resources" fall under the scope of environmental analysis, just like air pollution and waste water. So if AKRF lacks credibility in its historical analysis of Duffield, this raises questions about its traffic analysis.
Duffield St also provides a giant list of shameful links about AKRF and the poor decisions they have made in the past. This post puts a spotlight on one relatively hidden cog in the beast that is the redevelopment of New York City and its historical integrity. Gentrification may seem inevitable, but if we can shine enough light on how the process works there just might be some hope for the people to have their say when it comes to the future of New York.
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