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September 14, 2006
Primary Postmortem
The NY Sun Editorial
Though the NY Sun acknowledges that Yassky's stance on Atlantic Yards probably lost him the nomination for the 11th District Congressional seat, their analysis is based on the assumption that Brownstone Brooklyn is most concerned with preserving the free-market status quo:
Third, the rise in homeownership and property values is changing the shape of politics in the city. Close watchers of Brooklyn politics say that Mr. Yassky lost the primary in Brooklyn because of his ardent support of the Atlantic Yards project to bring a basketball arena and skyscrapers full of "affordable housing" to Brooklyn in a plan that the developer, Bruce Ratner, has stated in writing is aimed at stemming the harmful effects of "gentrification." The Park Slope and Boerum Hill Brooklyn gentry Mr. Yassky had been counting on to vote for him responded by voting instead for an anti-Atlantic Yards candidate, Chris Owens, in large enough numbers to put a third candidate, Yvette Clark, over the top. The gentry, it seems, want housing provided at market rates. What was Mr. Yassky thinking?
NoLandGrab: On the street, the brownstoned gentry seem rather unaware of Bruce Ratner's pr ploy of claiming to stem the tide of gentrification. In fact, the project is widely seen as insta-gentrification, and nearby residents have been occupied with dealing with the environmental effects of the project: traffic, pollution, extreme density, subway crowding, noise, shadows, wind tunnels and reduced open space.
Posted by lumi at September 14, 2006 7:22 AM