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January 5, 2007
Roger cuts ‘Green’ for Yards review
Citing racism, lawmaker/breaker blocks grant bucks
The Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
In a final strike against Atlantic Yards opponents, outgoing Assemblyman Roger Green blocked a promised grant of $100,000 for an independent review of the project by a coalition of 40 civic groups, citing a racially charged comment made by a lone individual.
Green, who is black, told The Brooklyn Paper that he instructed state officials to remove the allocation from this year’s $112-billion budget after Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for the anti-Yards group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, referred to developer Bruce Ratner as a “white master” in June.
Goldstein is white.
“I was not going to approve any money to any group that included members that had used language that was hurtful to the African-American community,” said Green (D-Prospect Heights), who blocked the grant to the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods before his term ended this month.
“Would you give money to a group that included a member who called a developer in a Jewish neighborhood the ‘manager of a concentration camp?’ ” Green said.
Green’s decision to block the grant is not without irony. Despite being a strong Atlantic Yards supporter, he was the lawmaker in control of the grant to the CBN, which opposed Atlantic Yards.
NoLandGrab: Amazing, Bruce Ratner and friends won final state approval of Atlantic Yards and they are not only still playing the race card, but vindictively trying to stick it to local community groups, who will have to hold a lot of stoop sales to cover the tab.
Posted by lumi at January 5, 2007 8:42 AM