Documenting the Atlantic Yards Blight Clean Up

i love how everyone wants to blame ratner for everything. is he responsible for the war in iraq also??

i'm not saying he's the greatest dude in the world, but the NY Times building is turning out ok with some nice retail coming in.

everyone needs to clean up their street. i live on a prime north slope block and there are weeds growing 3 feet high like those above in front of a couple houses on the block. i wish they'd chop them down but the only thing i can do is pick up some of the trash that has collected in said weeds when i walk by.

everyone needs to chip in and start doing a little something instead of blaming one man for the demise of brooklyn.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 11:15 AM

Can Deb Goldstein come and clean my block. Littered in Fort Greene.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 11:38 AM

11:15

Oh Honey, give me a break -- of course he is responsible for his property. We certainly get tickets if our sidewalk is not cleaned up -- why should he get a pass. And don't forget, he's getting govt subsidies from all of us because of the case that the area is blighted. How can you be so blind to the unfairness of the issues? It's like poor people voting for Bush because they think he represents their interests.

Disgusted.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 11:43 AM

"It's like poor people voting for Bush because they think he represents their interests."

Is it REALLY like that "HONEY"??

I don't think so.

Making that comparison just shows how insane you really are.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 11:50 AM

I certainly don't know why any poor people would vote for democrats. They ruled this country for 40 years and did nothing but create a permanent underclass of epic proportions all to ensure they receive substantial votes.

The poor have been pawns, and by every measure, their lives are worse off today than ever before. No group has been harder hit than African Americans who are now the joke of the civilized world.

So Ratner gets subsidies. It certainly will be far more beneficial than the subsidies given to the supposed poor over the past half century.

The entire political system is corrupt - but anyone who thinks the Democrats have the answer or have done anything beneficial in this country are deluding themselves. Beginning with thrusting us into World War I, the creation of the FBI, CIA, and Federal Reserve, they have worked endlessly to impoverish our nation, take away our rights, and wage nearly relentless war from World War I through Vietnam. Bush sucks, but your statement reeks of the kind of propaganda foisted on the people in universities run by liberals.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 11:57 AM

50 years ago in Little Rock: Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus used his state’s national guard to stop African Americans from attending Central High School. President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division in to protect the African American students and enforce the court order desegregating the high school.

Pop Quiz: Which one was a Democrat, which one was a Republican?

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:07 PM

11:57 is off his meds again.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:10 PM

If being off meds makes one more lucid, then so be it!

12:07, the man blocking African-Americans from getting an education was a Democrat, while the one who ensured their access was a Republican.

I think that the group did a nice job cleaning this area, which was filthy LONG BEFORE Ratner entered the picture. I wouldn't be surprised if some of that trash had been there for over a decade.

This, of course, will do nothing to advance their legal case. Blight means far more than trash. But at least Ratner's crew will have that much less work to do once opponents' legal cases are dismissed and construction picks up speed.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:31 PM

[sound of delusional crickets]

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:35 PM

it's funny how no one cared how dirty it was before Ratner bought the property. Where has Deb been for the last 20 years.

Oh, thanks.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:42 PM

exactly, 12:42

and by deb, you mean, 11:43...?

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:46 PM

Here is an idea - drop all the obstructionist (but no legal basis) litigation and let Ratner start building and I am confident that the area soon will be very clean.

FYI Metrotech is spotless

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 12:58 PM

why not blame the homeless people that live along pacific who dump their trash there.

or how about we blame global warming for making the grass grow so high!!

or how about god, for ever creating weeds in the first place!!!!

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 1:02 PM

[sound of homeless crickets]

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 1:15 PM

Pacific Street and the surrounding blocks were even more of garbage-strewn mess in say, 1980, 1985, 1900, long before Deb and Daniel began to care so deeply. I know, because unlike those guys I was here then. It's really very nice they cleaned the street, but let's keep things in perspective. The garbage predates Ratner.

Also, I don't consider my people "the joke of the civilized world." Last time I checked, there were MANY prominent African-Americans in various fields of endeavor, and that has long been the case, even when the system was legally rigged to exclude black people from the basic rights white Americans enjoyed. Black folks are a tough group of people who have been taught by experience to persevere and succeed.

Many African Americans are indeed struggling, that's true, but there are also many who are having success, which doesn't make us too much different from many other racial groups, except in the eyes of racist extremists like 11:57.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 1:40 PM

Ah, so Republicans are the ones who truly care about black and low income people?

One word - Katrina.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 1:43 PM

Let's get this straight, so we can then move on -

NOBODY, in terms of political parties, cares about the poor and low income people of the world. NOBODY.

Individuals care, and those individuals need to be put in positions of power, no matter what party they claim, or what race they are, age, sexual orientation. Sometimes they get there, and are able to do some good. Most of the time, they lose, or are sucked up by the machinations of power.

We, as human beings, have to step up and do what is right. Don't wait for the government or anyone else to do it for you.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 2:35 PM

Thank you, 2:35.

I suppose Deb wants a cookie now that she's cleaned up the stretch that has been filthy for probably 35 years now.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 2:44 PM

Re: Katrina -

I didn't realize that Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco were Republicans! I think that there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the political coin. A report from U.S. congress notes that:

"Criticism from politicians, activists, pundits and journalists of all stripes was directed at the local and state and governments headed by Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. Nagin and Blanco were criticized for failing to implement New Orleans' evacuation plan and for ordering residents to a shelter of last resort without any provisions for food, water, security, or sanitary conditions. Perhaps the most important criticism of Nagin was that he delayed his emergency evacuation order until 19 hours before landfall, which led to hundreds of deaths of people who (by that time) could not find any way out of the city."

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 2:49 PM

And by the way, re:

"We, as human beings, have to step up and do what is right. Don't wait for the government or anyone else to do it for you."

Excellent point! So, landlords of rent-stabilized buildings, be sure to evict your tenants and screw what the government says!

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 3:06 PM

Keeping to the topic at hand...

I don't understand why people are volunteering to clean up that area. It's Ratner's now, he was awarded the land at great public expense and in such a way as to millions (if not billions) in profit; why can't he clean it up? Doesn't seem to make sense.

Yeah Metrotech is spotless... as spotless as a suburban corporate industrial park. There's no people, no community... it doesn't really belong in Brooklyn. When it comes to AY, I'd rather have dirty railyards that are part of Brooklyn, than a spotless condo-mall that appears to have been picked up out of the suburbs and dropped into my neighborhood (and then grown high enough to envelope my house in shadow).

In short: the example of Metrotech is why people in the community were opposed to AY in the first place.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 6:35 PM

yeah, why ARE people volunteering to pick up that guy's trash?

if they really want to draw attention to the mess he's made and give him the big f u at the same time, why don't they just walk on down there, "trip" over a piece of the garbage he's left lying around, "fall", scream "my neck, my neck", and call 1-800-lawyers?

i guess that would be sinking to his level, but hey. it is what it is.

Posted by: guest at September 26, 2007 8:49 PM

If we were smart we would dump all our garbage there and then call Freakin Geraldo in get this shit on the news. If you hate Ratner don't clean,,DUMP.

Posted by: guest at September 27, 2007 12:02 AM

"I'd rather have dirty railyards that are part of Brooklyn..."

Thankfully, you are in the minority.

Posted by: guest at September 27, 2007 12:36 PM

Say, 6:35, did you ever walk through the area that is now MetroTech in say, 1989? Or 1992? You would have RUN through, pal. It was rundown, and full of drug dealers, hookers and crack heads. It's clean now and looks pleasant, and I think it's a positive that it isn't overrun or crowded with people. Why doesn't it belong in Brooklyn? Because it's not dirty and run-down? That's ridiculous. I'm a Broklyn NATIVE, and I don't see any reason at all why it shouldn't belong. It's a RELIEF to walk by there now and not have to deal with crime and dirt.

Posted by: guest at September 27, 2007 4:29 PM

The past 20 years Deb was probably throwing out her own garbage, and doing her job- not cleaning up the literal and figurative shit of the the city and States, and yes people Ratner's from the past 20 years.

Oh..and you people are quite possibly mad that a person cleaning up a street leads to the discussion of 11th century politics!

So sick of the "where were you when..."

People can only take so much sometimes it takes 20 years just to get angry enough...okay small minds.

Bottom line...someone is giving a favor to Ratner and the neighborhood has turned to crap, because the guy drove everyone out!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: guest at September 29, 2007 2:01 AM

Speaking for Deb - she was not "11:43" as someone oddly suggested and
Who I'm guessing none of you know ( but how would anyone know since everyone is named guess). And thirty years ago she was 5 so she apologizes greatly for not being able to clean up. She doesn't want a cookie. She doesn't start sentences with "oh honey" either. And she definitely does not make sweeping statements about "poor people." But I guess the lesson learned here is...if shit piles up for 20-30 years, don't dare try to change it or touch it, instead remain inactive, post on blogs and spew insults at people you don't know... - because hey you weren't there 20 years ago etc, etc,.
But anyway. Call her names, move on, talk about things you will never bother to see the other side of...but reading these posts, it is clear..we all need to get back no the meds.
bash away.....

Posted by: guest at September 29, 2007 2:21 AM