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January 31, 2007
At B'klyn protest, bank shots will fly
NY Daily News
By Michael O'Keefe
A prominent Fort Greene minister is inviting Brooklyn religious leaders to a Sunday afternoon news conference to protest the Nets' naming-rights deal with Barclays, the British bank that activists have claimed profited from apartheid and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Rev. Clinton Miller of Brown Baptist Memorial Church, a critic of Nets owner Bruce Ratner's controversial $4billion Atlantic Yards project, said Brooklyn clergy members have told him they are troubled by the team's naming-rights agreement with Barclays. Ratner's development company, Forest City Ratner, unveiled the deal - worth up to $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights to the Nets' proposed Brooklyn arena - earlier this month.
"I'm troubled and concerned with this project's ties to this bank," Miller said.
Miller said he'll call on Ratner to terminate the agreement with Barclays or negotiate a better deal for the community. As part of its agreement with the Nets, the bank has agreed to spend $2.5 million to renovate Brooklyn basketball courts and other youth sports venues, but Miller said that's not enough.
Posted by lumi at January 31, 2007 8:47 AM