Councilman Charles Barron abstained from casting a vote at a Land Use
committee hearing at City Hall on Wednesday based on his apprehensions
about a commitment to the community by Ikea, the Swedish furniture company
that has plans to develop a big-box store on the Red Hook waterfront.
While speaking to a colleague about his decision to withhold his vote,
the East New York legislator said he didn’t feel as if the council
members were well-enough informed to vote on the massive project.
“The reason I know anything about this project is because I keep
on top of these things, we read The Brooklyn Papers, and I’ve been
following the concerns and questions raised by the community,” Barron
said, standing in the back of the council chambers following his committee’s
otherwise unanimous vote to approve the Ikea proposal.
Asked about his non-vote, Barron said that Ikea’s attempts to win
the community over by donating money to a few community programs was not
sufficient for “one of the richest men in the world,” Ikea owner
Ingvar Kamprad, whose estimated net worth is $18.5 billion.
“Why doesn’t he commit Ikea to profit sharing?” he asked
rhetorically. “You want to empower them, how about putting one or
two percent of the profit towards developing other parts of the community,
ensuring small businesses can stay there as well.”
At the vote, Barron stated his concern that Ikea store employees are not
unionized, and that the hazy promise of jobs was dubious because it lacked
any signed commitments.
“You can create jobs without violating the environment. You can create
jobs so people can work towards something. We don’t need a Rite Aid
pharmacy, we need a right-on pharmacy, that you own. I’m all about
that, ownership,” he said.
He added that no sufficient discussion had been held on traffic impacts,
and thought that all new developments in Brooklyn could start to set a
precedent for community involvement.
“Downtown Brooklyn is going to be a mess environmentally on traffic,
on how developers use eminent domain, on how developers give out jobs,”
he said, noting that he was afraid the desperation of populations like
those in Red Hook’s public housing, which comprises 75 percent of
the Red Hook population, focus too much on immediate needs for survival,
instead of grasping a larger picture of what could be accomplished.
“What happens is people personalize these projects,” he said,
“and when they get a little more than usual they are a little over
enthusiastic. We need to make sure developers come into communities and
have relationships that are empowering, not exploitative.”
Barron said he was afraid the kind of jobs offered would be unlikely to
provide advancement or growth opportunities, which was an arguing point
for opponent groups, none of which, he noted, approached him for help.
To illustrate his point about jobs, Barron brought up the Gateway Estates,
a massive mall complex that was built in his district near Starrett City.
Despite community agreements that each company that moved into the mall
had signed pledging to hire locally, he said the jobs were of poor quality,
did not offer advancement to managerial positions and led to high turnover.
“Is East New York better for it? No!” he said. “Right now
those little jobs they’re offering — [the businesses are] getting
it back from what you spend a thousand-fold.”
Barron seemed convinced that profit sharing would be a surefire answer
to community involvement. “That’s a real commitment, to say,
‘We’ll come in and let you invest money.’ You want to raise
the bar? Then raise it to there.”
