« Slavery? Apartheid? Barclays deal is wrong for other reasons | Main | Thoughts on Atlantic Yards »
February 9, 2007
Yvette Clarke to Ratner: Reject Barclays
The Brooklyn Paper
By Dana Rubenstein
Rep. Yvette Clarke, a powerful supporter of the Atlantic Yards project, denounced developer Bruce Ratner’s $400-million deal with Barclays that would brand the Nets arena — the centerpiece of Ratner’s 16-skyscraper project — with the name of an institution that profited from the slavery and other horrors of human history during its “troubling past.”
“Barclays is a 400-year-old, $2-trillion, multinational financial empire that has been linked to Nazi Germany, Apartheid in South Africa and the transatlantic slave trade,” said Clarke.
The naming-rights deal comes “under very questionable circumstances,” added Clarke, who largely sat on the sidelines of the Atlantic Yards debate during her tenure in the City Council, but now raised the possibility of “congressional hearings on the impact of the Atlantic Yards development on my constituents.”
By issuing her condemnation, Clarke joined a growing group of black leaders — many of them Ratner supporters — demanding that the developer reconsider the agreement.
...
A spokesman for Forest City Ratner did not return calls for comment. Barclays denies a link to slavery.
Posted by lumi at February 9, 2007 12:09 PM