NEW YORK, NY September 27, 2006 —The City Planning Commission is expected to vote today on decreasing the size of the controversial Atlantic Yards project.

The panel has recommended developer Bruce Ratner reduce the size of three towers, eliminate 600 apartments and add an acre of open space. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz says even with the changes, it will be impossible to make everyone happy.

"There are some groups that under any circumstance will never support this, either because they're against eminent domain, which will be very modestly used in this project, extremely modestly," he said. "There are those that are against major developments and they are not going to be swayed."

Critics say even a scaled down project is too big and, ultimately, the City Planning's recommendations won't matter because the project still needs approval by the state Public Authorities Control board.

"City Planning has no say in this project. It's a recommendation," said Daniel Goldstein of Develop-Don't Destroy Brooklyn. "I think that it's a sad day yesterday for city planning and urban planners in general, because what we have is a massive plan with no urban planning going on, just recommendations."

A spokesperson for Forest City Ratner says the company will work with the planning department to ensure the success of the project.