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February 16, 2007
Clarke to Ratner: Fear the Wrath of Congress
The Brooklyn Paper
Rep. Yvette Clarke will call for congressional hearings on the Atlantic Yards development unless developer Bruce Ratner and Barclays amend their $400-million naming-rights agreement to her satisfaction, she told The Brooklyn Paper this week.
“One way of bringing transparency to a mega-project of this magnitude, is to bring hearings that put all of the elements on the table,” threatened Clarke (D-Park Slope).
NoLandGrab: "All of the elements on the table?" Could Clarke be talking about the use of eminent domain to expand a private real estate monopoly?
Black leaders, including Clarke, took part in a historic sit-down with Ratner last week after she expressed outrage that the impending Nets arena would be named for Barclays, a bank that profited from the slave trade, froze the accounts of Holocaust victims, and operated for decades in apartheid South Africa. Rico
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Fort Greene) and Rev. Clinton Milller, of Fort Greene’s Brown Memorial Baptist Church, were also at the meeting.
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Clarke stopped short of calling for the termination of the agreement.“I’m not quite there, but I did want [them] to know that we’re not the type of constituency you can take for granted,” said Clarke. “I will not stand for the community being blindsided.”
While the Barclays naming-rights deal may remain on the table — and leaders may try to wrangle more money from Barclays — at least one issue is no longer up for discussion.
Posted by lumi at February 16, 2007 10:42 AM