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February 25, 2007
Ratner propaganda--playing soon at a town near you
Save Our Land
A Developing Story - New York Times -- Note the propaganda techniques as the Ratner family tries to manipulate public opinion with the "foregone conclusion" hat trick. I think we've all had about enough of this, and it's time to start speaking the truth, all of us. This op-ed piece by Jennifer Egan, a novelist--an artist--who happens to live near the scene of the Atlantic Yards sellout, is articulate and points to many basic problems we in Cleveland have in common with Brooklyn. There are three salient points that play out over and over, like some sort of sick drill to take the town apart on the way to the bottom.First of all, as is once again exemplified by these embarrassing, tacky, and inconsiderate Ratners, the money's in the wrong hands, selfish hands. Second, the people we have running our governments and our nonprofits suck up to the people with money and sell out very, very cheaply, chump-style, but they keep their little jobs and aggrandize their little positions, as much as that's possible. Third, the public interests are subverted and the public winds up paying in many, many ways, as the developer confiscates the common wealth of generations and puts future generations under obligation.
We need to take our money back, along with our cities. We in Cleveland have seen all this before, as we swirl further down the drain, and now Ratner is sucking Brooklyn into the vortex as well--the earmarks are the same--the faddish Frank Gehry buildings, the promises of jobs and tax revenue and affordable housing, the sports arenas, the doctored impact statements commissioned by the developer. Read the entire article. You'll recognize the patterns of lies, deceit, sins of omission and commission, the corruption. Dwell on the last sentence. Blog. Congregate.
Posted by amy at February 25, 2007 3:39 PM