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August 21, 2007
NYC moves to condemn property in Brooklyn's other land grab
Breaking news concerning Brooklyn's other land grab: the City is going ahead with plans to condemn the historic Duffield St. houses, as well as property owned by Track Data. To add insult to injury, officially, there are no plans to develop the property owned by Track Data — the City just wants it.
This article ran in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
City Gets Go-Ahead To Seize Duffield Homes, Financial Services Firm
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development ruled today that the city should use its powers of eminent domain to seize 21 properties on three blocks in Downtown Brooklyn — including several homes allegedly involved in the Underground Railroad and Track Data Corporation, a financial services firm that employs 150 people.
As earlier reported in the Eagle, the city plans to raze the Duffield Street homes to build an underground parking garage and one-acre park. Track Data is in the BAM Cultural District, and at the time of the hearing last May, a Downtown Brooklyn Partnership spokesman confirmed that there is no development in any planning or approval stage to replace the firm.
Duffield St. Underground comments:
It would be a little easier to take [the City] seriously if they could figure out from whom they are seizing the properties.
They sent a letter to Ed Atwood at 227 Duffield Street. They will have a hard time making him turn over this property, since he's dead. He was the ex-husband of Joy Chatel, and anyone who has been following this issue will know that she is the most prominent of the residents fighting the HPD's plan.
...
The HPD wants to destroy Track Data Corporation, a financial services company that employs 150 people. As reported by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, as of last May, the would-be condemners testified that there is no development in any planning or approval stage to replace the firm. So let's just confiscate and demolish a functioning business without any plan to replace it. That's the HPD's idea of good government!And let's thank Bloomberg while we're at it. He announced a lovely panel to commemorate Brooklyn's Abolitionist history. The readership of this blog is limited, so it really helped us out that he spread the word far and wide about the importance of this history.
Posted by lumi at August 21, 2007 9:37 AM