Nearly 500 protesters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday evening in a
show of solidarity against Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards
development and other contentious projects.
Marchers from Yonkers, NY, and Greenpoint joined Brooklynites in slamming
Ratner and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose administration masterminded
the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning plan. Yonkers is the site of another
Ratner retail and housing project. Like his Brooklyn site, the one in
Yonkers would award Ratner an allotment of government-owned land.
A giant check written out to Forest City Ratner — symbolizing government
subsidies — was pinned to the front of a podium, where protesters
headed after crossing the bridge, at the corner of Broadway and Park Place
in Lower Manhattan.
“Hey-hey, Ho-ho, Ratnerville has got to go!” chanted marchers
as they poured off the bridge.
“Brooklyn, united, will never be defeated!” declared Councilwoman
Letitia James, who represents Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights.
“We will not take second seat to Manhattan.”
Other speakers included Norman Siegel, former President of the Americans
for Civil Liberties Union and current candidate for Public Advocate; Rev.
Dennis Dillon of the Brooklyn Christian Center; Daniel Goldstein of Develop-Don’t
Destroy Brooklyn; Patti Hagan, of Prospect Heights Action Coalition; Philip
DePaolo, of the Williamsburg-based People’s Firehouse, and Eric Adams,
a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.
While the Altantic Yards plan wasn’t the only issue that brought
the group out, it was a central point of speeches that touched upon everything
from building a borough-wide base of united opposition, to the effect
of big box stores on locally-owned produce markets.
Behind metal gates that penned them in, demonstrators waved handmade signs,
some bouncing children on their hips.
Not all passersby were clear about the purpose of the event.
“Why is everyone in this city so against development?” asked
John Rectenwald, as Fort Greene activist Lucy Koteen handed him a flier.
“We’re not against development, we’re against taxpayers
giving subsidies to developers for projects that are only for their private
profit,” said Koteen.
“If they hand out all our money for subsidies then it’s not
going to pay for things the community really needs,” she said.
Ratner says his Atlantic Yard project would create as many as 7,300 new
housing units, 10,000 temporary construction jobs (1,000 contracted workers
per year for 10 years), and 6,000 permanent jobs, as well as a 19,000-seat
arena for Ratner’s professional basketball team, the New Jersey Nets.
It would also require an agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority for the use of land above the Long Island Rail Road train yards
on Atlantic Avenue.
Additionally, the project is expected to require as much as $1.6 billion
in public subsidies to pay for facilities to accommodate the new residents,
including schools and roads, according to literature provided by the developer
and statements made at a City Council hearing on May 26.
