Community Boards Debate AY Project
Speaking of the Atlantic Yards…Brooklyn Papers put together a neat little round-up of the three community board meetings held last Thursday night to discuss the Atlantic Yards proposal. Here’s how they summed it up: Little was said that wasn’t said before, but racial and class schisms were reopened. Residents of Boards 2 and 6, which…
Speaking of the Atlantic Yards…Brooklyn Papers put together a neat little round-up of the three community board meetings held last Thursday night to discuss the Atlantic Yards proposal. Here’s how they summed it up:
Little was said that wasn’t said before, but racial and class schisms were reopened. Residents of Boards 2 and 6, which cover tony areas such as Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and Fort Greene, were almost entirely against the project. Residents of Board 8, which covers a much-less-well-off area extending from Prospect Heights to Brownsville, were far more supportive of the project. Virtually all people who spoke in favor of the project were black. Virtually all who spoke against it were white.
The quote of the night came from State Senator Velmanette Montgomery (D-Prospect Heights). “I personally apologize for the process,” she told the CB2 audience. “It is the most corrupt [development process] being done in America.”
A Tale of Three Community Boards [Brooklyn Papers]
This racial breakdown is not surprising at all, but it is encouraging, and it shows the ridiculousness of criticisms that the project will cause gentrification–a charge made by the gentrifiers themselves.
Count me in as a white, Fort Greene resident who ardently supports the project. I wish I had been at that meeting.