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April 20, 2007
Gentile: "I would never try to PULL A RATNER."
The Brooklyn Papers: "Yellow Hooker"
By Matthew Lysiak
Councilman Vince Gentile took exception to our headline two weeks ago linking him to Bruce Ratner. “I am a big fan of the Yellow Hooker,” he said after reading the recent column about his efforts to save the Green Church. “But let me make one thing clear, I would never try to pull a Ratner.” Then he followed up with an e-mail: “I just got a call saying, ‘Bless you for all you’ve done to try to save the Green Church.’ I wonder if Bruce Ratner gets those calls?”
NoLandGrab: Here's some background on "pull a Ratner."
Entry Word: pull a Ratner
Function: verb
1 to double-cross the community presumably in the name of public benefit, frequently with large amounts of public subsidy <an honest politician would never pull a Ratner>
2 to use eminent domain for private profit frequently (and often) <the developer wasn't making enough money with two malls, so he pulled a Ratner to build another>
Posted by lumi at April 20, 2007 8:09 AM