Past issues
The Paper in print
RSS feeds
Print edition (PDF)
Email Alerts- The current issue
- Neighborhood Map
- Bay Ridge
- Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
- Brooklyn Heights
- Downtown, DUMBO
- Carroll Gardens
- Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
- Fort Greene
- Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
- North Brooklyn
- Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
- Park Slope
- Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
- GO Brooklyn
- Brooklyn Cyclones
- Not Just Nets
- Police Blotter
- Perspective
- Parenting
- Politics
- Transit
- Podcasts
- The Brooklyn Bride
- Brooklyn Boom
- Classifieds
- Merchant news
- About The Paper
- RSS Feeds
-
A tale of three community boards
Print this story
digg
del.icio.usIt was neither the best of times, nor the worst of times, but three community boards surrounding Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development held hastily scheduled, little-publicized and legally irrelevant public hearings last night (Thursday, Aug. 3) to give residents a chance to vent. 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. In the style of The Brooklyn Papers’ triple-threat Brooklyn Cyclones coverage, we now offer a menage-a-transcript from last night’s event.
| Board | Community Board 2 | Community Board 6 | Community Board 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Long Island University | Long Island College Hospital | Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation |
| Number in attendance | 125 | 60 | 70 |
| Number of speakers con vs. pro | 29–5 (3)* | 24–5 (3)* | 30–21 (6)* |
| Celebrities | Assembly candidate Hakeem Jeffries and Forest City Ratner Vice President Jim Stuckey | Gloria Mattera (former Green Party candidate for borough president), Forest City Ratner Vice President Jim Stuckey and “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz | Develop Don’t Destroy spokesman Daniel Goldstein and Forest City Ratner Vice President Jim Stuckey |
| Time | 2:06 | 1:25 | 2:00 |
| Main concerns aired (ranked in order) | Traffic; lack of community input; scale/density; Ratner “sweetheart deal” to get the Yards site. | Scale of project/impacts; Ratner’s “sweetheart deal” to get the Yards site; lack of community input; use of eminent domain | Jobs; affordable housing; Ratner’s record in the neighborhood; eminent domain/displacement |
| Biggest applause line | “I personally apologize for the process. It is the most corrupt [development process] being done in America,” said state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D–Prospect Heights) | “I’m not a rocket scientist, but new buildings aren’t built strong enough,” said Lila Smith. “They’ll implode within 10 years.” | “If you all aren’t ready for change, then I’m sorry, because we are,” Leola Holmes, speaking in favor of the project.” |
| Fun fact | Jeffries signed in as “For” the project, but spoke mostly against it! | Meeting was held in the same place where our editor’s wife had her birthing classes! | The board offered free food — and it went fast! |
| * number in parenthesis is the number of speakers who are Ratner employees/consultants/Community Benefits Agreement signatories | |||
©2006 The Brooklyn Paper
Enter your comment below
By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:
You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.
