No Land Grab

“Unfortunately the Committee had only 15 minutes to meet with us, but we were given a respectful hearing,” Ms. Merchant said right after the meeting. “The IOC seemed quite interested to learn that New York City’s government and citizens have been systematically excluded from the planning and decision-making process and that the Nets Arena will require the construction of a tax-payer subsidized platform just like the Jets Stadium.”

Merchant made the following points about the proposed Ratner arena, which DDDb has called “a landgrab wrapped in the Olympic rings”:

• NYC2012’s bid claims that NYC’s formal land use review process is already underway, when in fact that process has been completely and intentionally bypassed.
• The Games are being used as an excuse to seize and condemn 13 acres of private property when the proposed Arena would need only 1/10th of the land Bruce Ratner is trying to acquire.
• The Olympics are ostensibly about embracing diversity, and should not be rooted in the destruction of an ethnically diverse community (on the footprint).
• NYC2012 claims there is no organized opposition to its Olympic plan—yet tens of thousands of Brooklynites passionately opposed the Nets arena, which is being touted as an essential feature of the Plan.
• NYC2012’s bid is too expensive and not in keeping with the IOC’s efforts to contain bid costs; the bid can be strengthened by using one of the many existing arenas in the NYC region as the gymnastics venue, instead of constructing a new arena in Brooklyn.

For a full list of points made by DDDb to the International Olympic Committee, go to: http://www.dddb.net/DDDB_IOCpresentation.pdf

Ms. Carponter represented the environmental and public safety concerns of the People’s Firehouse—and the people of Williamsburg, Brooklyn—with the following points:

• According to NYC2012’s bid book, the swimming, archery and volleyball events will be sited next to an 1100-megawatt power plant and the City’s only toxic waste transfer station, respectively.
• The fire station that would respond first to these venues has been closed by Mayor Bloomberg.
• Current plans call for the Olympic Village to be placed next to the world’s largest underground oil spill and NYC’s largest wastewater treatment plant on Long Island City.

For a full list of points made by the People’s Firehouse to the IOC, go to: http://www.dddb.net/peoplesfirehouse.pdf

For more information regarding Williamsburg Brooklyn’s People’s Firehouse organization, contact Phil dePaolo, 347-200-2353, pdepaolo@nyc.rr.com.