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November 27, 2006
To the editor: Attorney George Locker
Attorney George Locker's letter to the editor of The New York Times didn't make the cut, but makes a good point that "key social concerns" are being ignored while the Times (and by default, most of the mainstream media) focuses on the racial divisions over Atlantic Yards.
To the editor:
Your article, Perspectives on the Atlantic Yards Development Through the Prism of Race (NYT November 12, 2006), diverts attention from the key social concerns: (1) the assault on democracy, the rule of law, and the right of citizen participation (the massive Project cannot be built without a state override, utilizing eminent domain, of well-established City planning guidelines, zoning laws, and review procedures); (2) the abdication of political leadership at the highest levels (who elected Bruce Ratner the mayor of Brooklyn?); and (3) the abject failure of City and State government to alleviate our massive shortage of affordable housing (every year, NYC loses more units of existing housing than are newly built).
Where there is no democratic process, no honest voice to be heard from almost every elected official, and no genuine program of housing construction, it is no wonder that an outside chance for a piddling few jobs and housing units, dangled by a cynical developer who knows how to spread the cash and hide the facts, would promote resentment among the most disenfranchised against those in the community – black and white -- who readily condemn Atlantic Yards as the anti-democratic, private land-grab and civic disaster, which it is.
George Locker
Mr. Locker is an attorney who represents 15 rent-stabilized tenants who face eviction from the proposed Project site.
Posted by lumi at November 27, 2006 6:47 PM