The only public hearing before a committee of the City Council on the
Atlantic Yards project was held in a room so small that dozens of people
— including, for a time, Borough President Marty Markowitz —
were barred by police from entering.
Even for those who did get into the May 26 hearing, there was little time
for public input, although the committee allowed pro-development testimonials
by elected officials and representatives of the developer, Forest City
Ratner, to go on for more than two hours.
“The general public didn’t get to speak,” said Daniel Goldstein,
a persistent critic of the plan to build high-rise housing and office
buildings as well as an arena for the New Jersey Nets.
“[Committee Chairman James] Sanders cut it off at five [o’clock]
for no apparent reason other than he just felt like leaving,” said
Goldstein, who owns a home inside the project’s footprint.
The room designated for the hearing, at 250 Broadway, one block from City
Hall, had only 50 chairs, but at least 100 people showed up.
The room was crowded early by organized proponents of the Ratner project,
including trade union members and members of BUILD (Brooklyn United for
Innovative Local Development).
But even BUILD’s president, James Caldwell, a staunch Ratner ally,
expressed annoyance.
“A regular person that’s not involved in the project didn’t
come close to getting a chance to speak,” Caldwell said. “They
should’ve cut back on some of the politicians that were speaking,
and given an opportunity to have some of the public speak.”
Reporters without Police Department credentials who arrived after the
room was filled were prevented from entering the building, and reporters
with credentials had to seek special permission to enter.
Several reporters were personally ushered upstairs to the hearing by Forest
City staff.
Markowitz, a champion of the project, who arrived at the building a few
minutes after the hearing’s 1 pm scheduled start, was stopped at
a revolving door by three police officers who blocked his passage, saying
they couldn’t let him in.
Markowitz found himself on the same side of the glass doors as about 50
of the plan’s opponents, some of whom shouted, “We’re getting
locked out!” and “They’re trying to silence us!”
“I’m supposed to be in there,” Markowitz yelled at the
officers. Gesturing to the officials inside, he asked an aide, “Do
they know who I am?”
To project opponents, who gravitated towards him as he was let in, he
said, “Nobody’s getting locked out. Everybody’s going to
be heard.”
Inside the hearing, Markowitz touted the plan, saying, “This is a
cause for celebration.”
Two hours after the hearing began, a steadfast group of project opponents
continued to wait, hoping to get inside.
A guard working at the security desk, Elias Cabrera, explained that to
enter, people had to be pre-registered as speakers, and pointed to a printed
list prepared in advance.
Ken Diamondstone, a Community Board 2 member waiting in the lobby, said,
“So many people are engaged at this point, they should’ve known
there would be a massive turnout.”
City Council spokeswoman Leticia Theodore said the policy of the council
is to provide a forum to anyone who chooses to speak, but the room did
not have enough space.
“I don’t think they knew how many people were going to be here,”
she said.
The hearing was moderated by Councilman Sanders, who on May 19 attended
an event to promote a memorandum of understanding agreed to by Ratner,
the city, and the housing group ACORN, at which ACORN Executive Director
Bertha Lewis kissed Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bruce Ratner.
Also attending the hearing were Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Councilmembers
Eric Gioia, Lewis Fidler, Charles Barron, Yvette Clarke, Bill deBlasio,
Erik Martin Dilan, Letitia James, Domenic Recchia, Jr., Diana Reyna and
David Yassky.
Most of the council members left by the time the public had an opportunity
to speak.
“Marty didn’t come to listen, he just came to say his thing
and then left,” said Goldstein, whose prepared testimony was interrupted
repeatedly by the Chair and then cut short.
“[Speaker] Giff Miller came for five minutes, said his thing and
left — it’s hard to get an elected to listen to anything,”
he said, “and we need a lot of listening right now.”
“The [committee] should’ve been asking tough questions about
the economics of it, and none of them did,” said Goldstein.
“There’s a lot of anger on both sides, but particularly on this
side of the issue,” he added.
“The community groups, the citizen groups of both sides, were not
given the respect of having a larger committee there to listen,”
he said.
“Absolutely, that is so true,” said Caldwell, who was initially
told by Sanders he would not be allowed to speak. “The only two councilpersons
out there were the Chair [Sanders] and Councilwoman James, and he’s
the Chair so he had to be there.”
“I think the general public should’ve been given more of an
opportunity to speak. I think in the future that’s something they
should consider,” Caldwell said, adding that he didn’t think
another hearing was merited.
“I wouldn’t advocate for another meeting, because this project
needs to get done,” he said.
