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December 26, 2007
Proponents: Give Ratner a break - Say press coverage is too negative
Courier-Life Publications
By Stephen Witt
Here's the link to the article featured this morning on Atlantic Yards Report, in which two signatories of the Community Benefits Agreement agree that too many column inches are being devoted to opponents of Bruce Ratner's highly controversial, historically dense, publicly funded land-grabbing megaproject:
It's not enough that Bruce Ratner has to pay people to say nice things about him, but now they're worried that they're not getting enough press.
Charlene Nimmons (middle) says she held a successful job fair and all she got was a lousy article:
“We hear more about the opposition, but we don’t hear anything about the groups that are working to bring forth positive action in the community,” she added.
Nimmons said a case in point is the FCRC-sponsored Economic Resource Fair that her organization hosted last week at the Atlantic Terminal Community Center, 501 Carlton Avenue.
“Our event was successful. We know there’s a need for people to receive services. There’s a need for job training and employment. So we set up the event for the local public housing communities,” said Nimmons.
Rev. Herbert R. Daughtry says we can trust in Bruce, but don't ask him to be specific about where the money is going:
“We made it very clear that whatever amount of money is raised, a percentage will go to people in the community having the severest crises and a another percentage to people doing prison work,” said Daughtry.
“We have had no problems with them (FCRC) at this point and don’t anticipate we will have any,” said Daughtry.
NoLandGrab: With the official approval of the Atlantic Yards in hand for over a year, and every newspaper editorial board's blanket approval (with the exception of The Brooklyn Paper and El Diario/La Prenza), it's bizarre that Ratner supporters would cap off a relatively fruitful year by protesting in the media to the media. Seriously, except for some recent bad press, 2007 marked the year in which developer Bruce Ratner managed to secure another $105-million direct cash subsidy from NYC and a special clause in the State's affordable housing reform legislation (worth approx. $150 million).
Based on their comments, one might assume that supporters are worried that the project is in danger of failing and that their primary source of funding will dry up.
Posted by lumi at December 26, 2007 4:15 PM