Ikea Misrepresenting in Court, Blog Says
The folks at Big Cities Big Boxes are none too pleased about the lawsuit against Ikea getting rejected. According to BCBB, Ikea has purposefully overstated the unemployment situation in the area to push their case: Ikea claimed that unemployment among racial minorities in Red Hook was epidemic. Ikea systematically incited racial divisiveness in the community,…
The folks at Big Cities Big Boxes are none too pleased about the lawsuit against Ikea getting rejected. According to BCBB, Ikea has purposefully overstated the unemployment situation in the area to push their case:
Ikea claimed that unemployment among racial minorities in Red Hook was epidemic. Ikea systematically incited racial divisiveness in the community, but its claims about unemployment were simply false. As revealed on the blog BigCitiesBigBoxes, publicly available evidence proves that Ikea secured City Planning Commission approval for the gigantic Ikea-Red Hook big box store by misrepresenting the number of unemployed residents of Red Hook Houses, a public housing project. Ikea stated, misleadingly and repeatedly, that there is a twenty per cent unemployment rate at Red Hook Houses, the local public housing project, which as of the Year 2000 census had 7,278 residents, most of them African-American. The records of the Department of City Planning, however, show that in fact there were only 568 unemployed persons of working age in Red Hook Houses as of the 2000 census, not 1456, as Ikea’s arguments suggested. In addition, hundreds of retail jobs are already available within walking distance of Red Hook Houses, at Lowe’s and Home Depot, and another 200 union jobs will be available when Fairway opens.
Press Release: Ikea Lied [Big Cities Big Boxes]
ahhh’s post about entering ny from the water and seeing the statue of liberty and ikea- that struck me. that coupled with the idea a post mentioned about branding- god damn these people are smart. it will be perceived on a certain level that ikea is part of nyc icons (at least on some level). people on the land side looking to get cheap tables is one perspective but from the water, ikea will be representing itself at the entrance to manhattans waters. we have sold our souls.
It is a tragedy that in the old days most of New York’s waterfront was unusable by its residents. It has only been in the past ten years that we have began to take back some of our invaliable waterfront property for parks and residential use. That we once gave up this land to coca cola or domino sugar should not set a precedent to make the same mistake over again.
there will always be people ready to sue some big-box store trying to move in. It’s just that in this case one group of nimbies were successful, and the others weren’t. If they would of gotten the lowe’s site, they would of been free & clear, since that was federal land, but they weren’t so lucky.
One good thing about this site is they can have their ferry for the manhattanites.
What you’re thinking about Ikea on the harbor could be same as what somebody thought about coca-cola, domino sugar, or colgate in the ol’ days.
The Ikea originally wanted to put its store on the other side of the Gowanus Canal closer to Park Slope. People in Park Slope didn’t want it too close to them because they felt that it would create too much traffic. They sued to stop the project. Now that the store will be in Red Hook, most people in Park Slope think it’s a great idea. Funny that.
What Brooklyn/NYC neighborhoods turned them away?
Yes, Brooklyn. Oops.
It is hard to argue with someone who has been living there for 50 years and I can unerstand how Ikea would feel like hope for this forgotten neighborhood. On the other hand, perhaps it would take an outsiders fresh perspective to see that Red Hook is well on its way to becoming a thriving Brooklyn neighborhood. Perhaps Ikea feels like the shot in the arm that Red Hook needs but in the long run it is going to be far more damging to this fragile neighborhood. Why do you think that so many other Brooklyn neighborhoods turned them away? Ikea should be located along the BQE where Lowes and Home Depot are located. It would have fit in perfectly there. But Ikea wanted a site that would have much more visual impact. This will be their flagship store and is much more about marketing the brand than anything else. But in the long run I think New Yorkers will resent seeing Ikea in this location.
Ahh – I think if you lived there for the last 50 years you wouldn’t be such a dreamer…
RH is suffering from underpopulation and underdevelopment.. the area you talk about has basically been abandened.
(of course it’s brooklyn not manhattan)
I find it incredibly sad that one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in all of Manhattan, a place that is dripping in the artifacts of its rich maritime history and was moments away from its renaissance, is now moments away from being destroyed by Ikea.
Take a walk along the New York Harbor waterfront in Red Hook; wander out on to some of its beautiful old piers. A little further and round the bend and you get to Buttermilk Channel. Standing at the end of the renovated Valentino pier you can see the Statue of Liberty, Governor’s Island, downtown Manhattan, Staten Island and New Jersey. My heart aches it is so damn beautiful at the end of that pier and each time I go out there I fall in love with this city all over again.
Red Hook was moments away from transforming into one of the most incredible neighborhoods in New York City. Now the thousands of passengers standing out on the deck of the Queen Mary 2 as it sails into port in Red Hook will be greeted by two symbols of New York City…The Statue of Liberty and Ikea. We have just sold our sole.
Sorry for the purple prose but this really hurts.
At the Target, there’s always someone applying for a job. Just check out the 2 in-store computer terminals for that purpose — often there’s a line of people waiting to apply.
I had to run in there unusually often over the past month, and it really struck me.
To use unemployment roll figures to actually measure unemployment is useless. BCBB shouldn’t be that lame in their argument.
Just think about it: you HAD TO HAVE HAD A JOB that qualifies in the first place, then you’re on the rolls for SIX MONTHS and then . . . off the map. Plus all the under-employed, never employed . . .
I don’t pretend to know the unemployment answer, or the IKEA answer. Red Hook sure looks like it needs some development, that’s for sure.