LETTERS:

Both the report by Deborah Kolben and commentary by Neil Sloane accuse
Ms. Foster of “hid[ing] in the hallway” and “ducking”
the vote because she “felt pressured” and “intimidated”
by certain plan protestors. In addition, Mr. Sloane called for Ms. Foster’s
resignation on the front page of your newspaper. Neither reporter offers
any reliable support for such serious accusations and demands. Instead,
they fall back on the most questionable and unsupportable of journalistic
tricks, the alleged, hearsay statements of a single anonymous source.

To anyone familiar with Ms. Foster’s professional background, the
claims that she was “intimidated” by, or “cowered”
at, last week’s community board meeting is preposterous. As a Legal
Services attorney, Ms. Foster has spent many years fighting for the rights
of the poor, the victimized and the voiceless. Throughout her entire career,
she has consistently stood up to the powerful on behalf of the powerless.
This is not a woman who would “cower” in the face of a few protesters.

We call on The Brooklyn Papers to investigate this matter. We have no
doubt such an investigation will show the paper’s so-called reporting
regarding Ms. Foster’s conduct to be wholly inaccurate. And we can
only presume that, having called for Ms. Foster’s resignation, Mr.
Sloane will himself resign when it is established that he has violated
his core professional duty and responsibility — reporting the truth.