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May 1, 2007
EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites
DUFFIELD ST., BROOKLYN
The NY Sun, Lawmakers To Consider Fate of Seven Brooklyn Houses
A bitter fight over the fate of seven Brooklyn houses is coming to City Hall today, with community activists vowing to poke holes in a city report denying the houses should be saved as historic landmarks despite claims they were used in the Underground Railroad. The houses are to be razed to make way for a parking garage.
The historic preservation battle has won support from a City Council member of Brooklyn, Charles Barron, a former Black Panther, and a Brooklyn organization, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, which is upset by development plans for the borough. The homes under threat of demolition are in Council Member David Yassky's district.
Back in July 2006, Yassky pledged to homeowner Joy Chatel, "I will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you, and we are going to keep fighting." Today his stance appears more lukewarm:
Mr. Yassky said yesterday that the study and effort to save the homes are highlighting Brooklyn's role in the Underground Railroad and in the history of slavery, a point he said should not be forgotten.
"There are a huge number of historical resources that we still have to help people understand the history of slavery, of underground railroads," he said. "It absolutely is a top priority to preserve this history and help make it accessible."
He added, however, that it's not clear whether these particular houses were involved in the effort to free slaves.
The Gowanus Lounge, Duffield Street Underground Railroad Houses Get Hearing
GL posted the Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse video about the effort to save the Duffield St. homes from eminent domain abuse.
WILLETS POINT, QUEENS
NY Newsday, Willets Point's has last and lone defender
The Mets owner Fred Wilpon sells out his neighbors, leaving the small-business owners fighting to save their businesses out in the cold. Oh, and don't forget the reference to the eminent domain poster-child, Bruce Ratner:
The higher the concrete towers and steel framework of Citi Field rise, the lower the hopes of Ardizzone sink. But while Bruce Ratner has been successful in displacing -- or, to use the preferred term of the real estate vulture, "relocating" -- thousands of city residents to make way for the future home of the Brooklyn Nets, Ardizzone says there is no way the city, or the Mets, or any combination of the two, will evict the one and only resident of Willets Point, N.Y.
"They'll have to kill me and drag me out of here first," he said. "This is my home. This is not democracy. This is not American. Why should I have to leave the place where I've lived my whole life so some billionaires can get richer?"
...
Now, they realize their enemy is not only the city, but also the Mets."Since 1994, Fred Wilpon told us, 'We've co-existed with you for 40 years and we can continue to co-exist with you,' " said Richard Musick, the spokesman for the Willets Point Business Association. "But about two years ago, he stopped returning our phone calls."
Crain's NY Business, Willets Point plan to be protested
The NYC review process for Willets Point is starting, Crain's explains:
The first public hearing Tuesday on the city's plan to redevelop Willets Point in Queens is likely to become a forum for local property and business owners to protest the use of eminent domain.
The purpose of the meeting is a scoping session on the environmental impact of the Economic Development Corp.'s plan for the area, now a collection of auto body shops and metal scrap yards next door to Shea Stadium.
In the city's development process, Tuesday's double-session meeting is the first in a series of meetings that will define the parameters of the city's environmental impact statement, which is required before any development can begin. Once the parameters are set, the city will then perform the study, whose release is followed by a further comment period.
Posted by lumi at May 1, 2007 9:05 AM