 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
tel/fax:
718.362.4784
Please note our new postal address when sending
contributions to the legal fund:
121 5th Avenue, PMB #150
Brooklyn, New York 11217
About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and
there are 51 community organizations formally
aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.
DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000
subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition
signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB
to form our various teams, task-forces and committees
and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person
volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our
retained attorneys.
We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large
and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.
We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual
donors.
More about
DDDB...
|
|
|
|
 |
ARCHIVES:
By Date|
By Category|
Text Search
|
Atlantic Yards - It's a Crime! Schedule of Events for September 26, 27, 28, 29
MEDIA ALERT: September 18, 2012
Atlantic Yards – It’s A Crime!
Events on September 26, 27, 28, 29
Brooklyn Was Promised Much More Than An Arena
As Barclays Center Opens, Series of Events Highlights
Failures of Atlantic Yards and Demands for Change
What: It’s A Crime! Events to Coincide with Barclays Center Opening, (details below)
Who: Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, Brown Community Development Corporation, BrooklynSpeaks, Fifth Avenue Committee, Brooklyn for Peace, Park Defense Fund Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Park Slope Neighbors, East Pacific Block Association, Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, South Portland Block Association, Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, Fort Greene for Peace, Brooklyn Clergy, Elected Officials, Rumur Inc, Tracy Collins and more.
> WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 7PM
Battle for Brooklyn screening at The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
53 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn [Directions]
> THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 7PM
Candlelight Vigil
Join Brooklyn clergy, elected officials and community organizations for a vigil remembering the people and families displaced by the Atlantic Yards project’s use of eminent domain, as well as recognizing those at risk of displacement today. We plan to gather close to the arena entrance at Pacific Bears Community Garden, corner of Flatbush and Pacific. Please follow this link for more information on the exact meeting location.
> FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 (arena opening day)
11AM: Press conference @ Barclays Center, in front of the Pacific Bears Community Garden, opposite the arena, at triangle tip where Flatbush and Pacific meet (details to follow).
12PM - 4PM: Popup actions all around the Barclays Center
5PM: Virtual rally—tweet #BarclaysCenter and @AYCrimeScene for housing and jobs now.
6PM: OWS Guitarmy’s Teach-in in Response to Jay-Z Comments
8PM: Free outdoor screening of Battle For Brooklyn (battleforbrooklyn.com)
@ Dean Playground Ball Field, just half a block from the arena
(Dean St. between 6th Ave. and Carlton Ave. MAP)
> SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 4PM
Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) March for Housing, Jobs and Justice
This march to Barclays Center concludes FUREE’s 10th Annual Convention @ 80 Willoughby St. 12PM-4PM. March starts at corner of Bridge St. and Willoughby St Join FUREE and local residents for a march through communities under attack from greedy developers and their friends in government.
6-8 PM: Photographer Tracy Collins’ exhibit, ATLANTIC YARDS: DECONSTRUCTED, opening reception at the Soapbox Gallery (636 Dean Street, 1.5 blocks from the arena site, MAP). The exhibit traces the “on the ground” impacts of the development over the past 9 years through photography, video and other media.
BROOKLYN, NY— While the opening of the Barclays Center fulfills the “Hoops” part of the Atlantic Yards’ “Jobs, Housing & Hoops” slogan, the hype and hoopla around the opening cannot mask the fact that the jobs and housing that were once touted as the justification for the project have at best been relegated to the distant future, and at worst may never be realized as the public was led to believe.
Starting on Thursday, September 27, the sponsors of the “It’s a Crime” weekend have organized multiple events, not to protest the arena itself, but to draw attention both to what the State of New York, the City of New York, and developer Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) promised to the people of Brooklyn, and also to what must be done now to ensure critically-needed jobs, affordable housing and other public benefits are delivered.
At the time of Atlantic Yards’ approval in 2006, in return for an estimated $2.1 billion in taxpayer subsidies, access to the power of eminent domain, the purchase of public land below its market value, and an override of the City’s zoning regulations as well as a bypass of its democratic land use review process, FCRC committed to provide within ten years 2,250 units of affordable housing, 10,000 permanent jobs, 8 acres of open space, and a thriving mixed-use 15-tower development.
But less than three years later, the State agreed to modify the project terms. In a move courts have ruled violated State law, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) attempted to conceal an extension of the project schedule from 10 to 25 years—an extension which pushed the vast majority of promised jobs and housing into the distant future.
Now, two and a half years after the arena groundbreaking, the gap between promise and reality is stark:
- As the result of displacement through eminent domain, demolition and project construction, Atlantic Yards has caused the loss of 171 affordable apartments from the its footprint.
- Not a single unit of affordable housing is under construction. Groundbreaking for the first residential tower has been repeatedly delayed, with current plans calling for only 9 apartments for low-income families.
- Plans for the office building that was to provide space for the bulk of the permanent jobs have been shelved. FCRC has claimed the arena will provide 1,900 part time (and non-living wage) jobs, and 105 full-time jobs.
- A one-acre “interim plaza” in front of the arena is likely to be the only open space available for at least a decade, and perhaps much longer.
- The rest of the site, roughly 18 acres, remains a demolished wasteland of vacant land, and a blighting surface parking lot.
When it put the economic interests of a single private developer before critical promised public benefits, the State of New York failed in its obligation to the people of Brooklyn and the taxpayers of New York.
We demand that the State now:
Good jobs and affordable housing for Brooklynites are too important to be held hostage by the whims of a single developer. If Forest City won't deliver on its promises, it's time to find other developers who will. A new plan must protect the public’s interests by including multiple firms and a fair and transparent contracting process.
The sponsors invite the media and the public to join us at all of the planned events.
More info at: www.AYCrimeScene.com.
Posted: 9.18.12
|
|
|
|
