DDDB Holds Fifth Fundraiser Against the Yards
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the Atlantic Yards watchdog organization, held its fifth annual Walk Don’t Destroy fundraiser on Saturday, which raised over $40,000 according to the Atlantic Yards Report. City Council Member Letitia James, DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein, actor John Turturro, and about 200 others walked the 2.3-mile route, which included a stop at Borough…
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the Atlantic Yards watchdog organization, held its fifth annual Walk Don’t Destroy fundraiser on Saturday, which raised over $40,000 according to the Atlantic Yards Report. City Council Member Letitia James, DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein, actor John Turturro, and about 200 others walked the 2.3-mile route, which included a stop at Borough Hall, headquarters of Borough President Marty Markowitz, a supporter of the Atlantic Yards development. This is about working-class people, Ms. James said as she marched across Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, according to The New York Times. This is about saving our homes and businesses against billionaires. We want our community back. The cash raised by the event will presumably go towards DDDB’s efforts to prevent the Atlantic Yards stadium and residential development project, such as its current lawsuit against the MTA for negligence of due process in its sale of land to developer Forest City Ratner.
Staying Power at Fifth DDDB Walkathon [AYR]
Walking Against the Bulldozers [NY Times]
Atlantic Yards: Suit Filed Against MTA [Brownstoner]
Photo by Tracy Collins
denton- just wanted to clarify. When Metrotech went up, I was very happy. I thought then, and still do that it was a plus for the area. I don’t think it lived up to its hype and I don’t think it proves Ratner can build AY as originally planned. Like MM, a lot of the process was shady, and the city did not take the best deal. I think he shot himself in the foot by wanting to use eminent domain, and by making it so outscale. DDDB shouldn’t be blamed for Ratner’s troubles- he brought it on himself by being arrogant,and greedy. From lack of transparency to special dispensations to demapping streets, ratner ran roughshod over the communities in the area. And he got help form the City and ESDC to do it.
MM, your first para cuts both ways. Pls see 12:17.
BTW we have a free market… if Ratner didn’t run his buildings well, tenants have alternatives in JC. And while I don’t have an exact breakdown, not all Metrotech tenants are guvment, not by a long shot.
I love it that anyone who has an anti AY opinion, and that is all any of these remarks are – opinions, must suddenly provide chapter and verse to back themselves up, or their opinion is considered invalid.
It is possible to be anti-AY, as it involves FCR’s convoluted and backroom dealings, and NOT have a running list of stalled, failed or proposed Manhattan projects at hand. Give me a break. Whatever has or has not happened in Manhattan has little bearing on Brooklyn in this case, beyond the dashed expectations of Hizzoner and his real estate cronies. Fsrg and Benson can cite cases up the wazoo, that doesn’t make the way AY has been handled right.
People are not stupid. The marketing propaganda of happy, attractive, multi-racial couples and their cute kids frolicking in the private park between the towers of AY was always about as realistic as Never Never Land. The realities of the back room deals, the low ball bids, the rushed studies and granting of ED, plus the cynical manipulations of working class people and minorities should leave a bad taste in the collective mouth of Brooklyn. We need development at this site. We don’t need this particular developer or his shady practices.
Proof? My biz is doing mechanical stuff in the big office buildings. I deal with every owner in the city, and have for more than twenty five years. Ratner runs his buildings well and treats his people well. I’ve seen it up close and personal in a way no one who’s not in the biz could know.
What do you know?
fsrg- I know there were major anchoring tenants- some of whom had been in the area already. I am talking about the upsurge in downtown Brooklyn overall. Bloomberg did have a great deal to do with that.
benson- considering how the city operates, do you wonder why huge projects take so much time yet Ratner practically breezed through, until DDDB put the brakes on him? You never answered my question- if the City didn’t pave the way for him, would he seem so able to get huge projects done?
denton- I can’t argue on what you say. I will say that maybe Atlantic Terminal is an aberration because it was poorly designed. I’m just protesting benson’s contention only Ratner could handle a project like AY, and we won’t know if that’s right or not until it’s done.
denton, proof that he runs his buildings well, please?
Hires good people? LIke the guys at the AY hearings who yell out death threats? Please.
Right on benson, let’s also remember the Ratner built arguably the best skyscraper in recent memory, 620 8th Ave. Plus Hilton TS, and any number of smaller projects. He gets the job done, he hires good people, and he runs and maintains his buildings well.
Bxgrl;
Good grief. Here is what I wrote in my original and follow-up post:
“Far West Side development in Manhattan: nada”
I’ve been talking about the FAR WEST SIDE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, NOT the stadium!!! Once again, please read the link I provided.
Enough, this debate has reached its limits. Let’s just agree to disagree.
Bxgrl – The Marriott was completed and occupied in 1997, some 4 years before Bloomberg came into office. As did all the major tenants of Metrotech including Brooklyn Union Gas (now National Grid), JP Morgan Chase/Bear Sterns, NYSE, SIAC, Liberty Ins, Poly Tech University and Morgan Stanley.
Metrotech’s success has nothing to do with Bloomberg