Rally Round the Mega-Project

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    Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and AY Report bring word of a rally Forest City Ratner is organizing at Borough Hall this Thursday afternoon to demonstrate support for Atlantic Yards. The event is called “Brooklyn Day,” and, as AY Report writes, it suggests FCR isn’t considering Atlantic Yards a “done deal.” The poster for Brooklyn Day says it’s being held in honor of “Brooklyn’s renaissance; The progress of Atlantic Yards; Affordable housing, union jobs and community development; and The return of professional sports to the borough.” The event seems primarily pitched to construction workers (they got their own invitation separate from the poster above) and, aside from the promise of union jobs, the promo material emphasizes that AY will bring the Nets to Brooklyn. Per AY Report: “The rally poster suggests that the developer is de-emphasizing the promises of affordable housing—after all, the developer has 12+ years to build Phase 1, and no deadline for Phase 2—and returning to the old mantra of basketball. After all, the basketball motif dominates the poster and, at the top, ‘The Nets moving to Brooklyn!’ appears in larger type than ‘support the Atlantic Yards Project.’ Can the iconographic power of the flag and the Brooklyn Bridge nudge the stalled project forward?” Desperate times call for desperate rallies? It’ll be interesting to see how many legitimate supporters of Atlantic Yards the event draws and whether any anti-AY people show up for a counter-rally.
    At Borough Hall on Thursday, Another FCR-Organized AY rally [AY Report]
    Ratner Calls Rally In Support of…Ratner [DDDB]

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