Freddy's Finds Amnesty in Park Slope
As has been widely reported in the last 24 hours, Freddy’s Bar and Backroom, which has served as a makeshift headquarters for the opposition during the fight against Atlantic Yards, is moving to Park Slope. Rather go down in flames, the bar owners have accepted a small payment from Forest City Ratner to move to…
As has been widely reported in the last 24 hours, Freddy’s Bar and Backroom, which has served as a makeshift headquarters for the opposition during the fight against Atlantic Yards, is moving to Park Slope. Rather go down in flames, the bar owners have accepted a small payment from Forest City Ratner to move to a new location at 4th Avenue and Union Street on April 30th. “The move is about the employees, and the business, said Donald O’Finn in a press release. “We’re little guys. We can’t run our business into the ground as Ratner has and still survive. We have a lot of mouths to feed and we are not billionaires.” GMAP
Freddy’s Plans to Close on Dean Street [AY Report]
Last Call for Brooklyn’s Freddy’s Bar [NY Daily News]
Freddy’s Bar to Close on April 30 [Courier]
Freddy’s Bar an Atlantic Yards Holdout No Longer [NYO]
Freddy’s Bar to Move [Brooklyn Eagle]
Freddy’s Bar, Defeated by AY, Finds New Location [Eater]
Freddy’s Bar Closes for Atlantic Yards, Will Reopen Nearby [Gothamist]
Freddy’s Gets Eviction Notice from Bruce [Brownstoner]
Freddy’s Bar: Heads Roll in Survival Fight [Brownstoner]
Photo by Tracy Collins
The truth is now out – we are all fighting for or against AY for personal reasons. The anti AY were fighting supposedly for the area and its future. Guess what, I am a resident of the area and want the AY more than anything – it is the only thing that will help our area prosper and make it more attractive and safer. What other alternatives do we have? I hope you don’t tell me to keep it as is, a hole in the ground.
“No fair criticizing these guys. They fought a good fight as best they could for as long as they could… and they’re stopping just short of becoming bankrupt martyrs on the anti-AY cross”
-havelc
I have to disagree – because they were sort of self-proclaimed martyrs….I wouldnt have criticized if they took a buy out years ago (cause that is a legitimate business decision), or if they fought to this point on legal grounds and then said – well we lost so were taking the $ and moving on; but these guys and Goldstein have been saying that their stance is a MORAL one, based on principal and have try to endear public sympathy based on there willingness to fight to the DEATH – now that they have to walk their ” this whole thing is so immoral that we’d rather go down as martyrs” stance – it is sort of a sell-out that they’ve taken $ and quietly walked-away.
Again – I agree it is the “correct” and “intelligent” decision – I am just calling them a sell-out because they accepted and encouraged the martyr accolades for so long.
“No fair criticizing these guys.”
Says who? They threw dirt on the guy’s name and then took his money. I don’t love Ratner, either but I’m not out there calling him names and then making a deal with him. There’s a name for that.
dirty, fsrq & eny: i think they fought the good fight, but when you have to think about those who rely on you for support, you sometimes have to make compromises. i would have called them sell-outs if they’d taken the (probably larger pile of) money years ago, but not now, not after enduring all these years.
i wish them the best of luck in their new home, and look forward to downing a pint or three before they leave dean street, as well as in their new digs.
Now that Freddy’s has been bought off, I wonder what kind of money Ratner is offering Goldstein. Ratner’s lowball offer certainly backfired (as AY is back in court.)
People love to see OTHERS fall on their swords for principle.
No fair criticizing these guys. They fought a good fight as best they could for as long as they could… and they’re stopping just short of becoming bankrupt martyrs on the anti-AY cross.
Though I’m sure all the anti-AYers, who wouldn’t be giving up their million dollar brownstones would have remembered Freddy’s more fondly…
“the bar owners have accepted a small payment from Forest City Ratner to move to a new location at 4th Avenue and Union Street on April 30th. “The move is about the employees, and the business, said Donald O’Finn in a press release. “We’re little guys. We can’t run our business into the ground as Ratner has and still survive. We have a lot of mouths to feed and we are not billionaires.”
But you don’t mind taking a billionaire’s MONEY, do you? Could it be your lofty ideals come at a price? I’m with fsrg. You sold out, man. Not to mention that you sold out late in the game and by doing so only cost yourself some money. Don’t try to sugar coat it after the fact.
And I’ve been to Freddy’s. Let’s just say it’s nothing to write home about.
I have to say it – Total Sell-Outs….
Now dont get me wrong they should have done this YEARS ago and frankly it is the intelligent decision since the law and precedent is totally against them – but if you spend 6years saying “hell no I wont go” and we are going to “chain ourselves to the Bar” and “Ratner is the devil incarnate”; it seems to me it is very hard to legitimize taking the “devils” money and quietly move 10 blocks away
– oh and btw PREDICTION: Freddys will last @ Union and 4th exactly 3mo past the date that Ratner stops subsiding them
sell outs.