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July 25, 2005
ATLANTIC YARDS: Supporters of Project Vow To Fight If MTA Decides To Reject Ratner Bid
RIVAL BIDDER EXTELL TO OFFER $150M IN CASH FOR RIGHTS TO SITE
The NY Sun
by Daniel Hemel
Ratner supporters rallied to the call of Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday.
Though The Sun picked up the false claim by members of BUILD that Ratner was only using $100 million of public money (as opposed to the $200 million stated in public hearings and agreements with the City and State), the paper printed the erroneous claim that 3,000 affordable housing units were planned in the Ratner proposal. Only 2,250 units have been agreed upon.
Waving an ivory staff as he spoke before a crowd of about 140 yesterday afternoon, a community activist from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Atiim Ferguson, vowed to wage “a war in the streets” if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rejects the bid by the developer Bruce Ratner for the 8.4-acre rail yard in downtown Brooklyn.
An noteworthy observation in the article foreshadows the main concern of area residents if the arena is built:
Traffic slowed to a crawl along Atlantic Avenue yesterday as supporters of the Ratner bid walked from Rev. Daughtry’s church to the desolate rail yard site.
NoLandGrab:
At yesterday's rally local Ratner supporters:
* demonstrated how traffic would back up on game day,
* threatened violent street action,
* exploited a near-tragic building collapse in Manhattan, and
* resorted to being economical with the truth.
Will their efforts draw attention away from the fact that Extell's bid for the railyards is three times the size of Ratner's?
More coverage:
NY Daily News, Rev. Al rallies for arena
Posted by lumi at July 25, 2005 9:15 AM