« Pro-Atlantic Yards Rally Attracts Huge Crowd | Main | Ratner cooks up rally for Brooklyn project »
June 6, 2008
He’s a ‘Yards’ party pooper
The Brooklyn Paper, Letters to the Editor
Last week, this page had a letter to me from a group calling itself United Neighbors of Brooklyn (“Yards foes extend hand to critic of Ratner and DDDB,” Letters, May 31). But this letter was certainly not a response to my words of May 17 (“This guy faults Bruce Ratner and Atlantic Yards foes,”).
I did not express the desire for the broadest coalition possible against the Atlantic Yards proposal. I jotted down some thoughts on Bruce Ratner’s depredations and how I have sat out the fight against him because his foes are also arrogant.
I rue the disrespect shown Ratner backers. The animosity will linger whether Atlantic Yards gets built or not. If it doesn’t, what a bitter victory. Their letter made assumptions about me.
In my mourning for lost human ground, they heard a cry for city services. A big jump. I am hereby turning down UNB’s invitation to join them in their continued effort to bring together all the communities negatively affected by Forest City Ratner’s past and current plans.
In closing, I do not know even one signer on the UNB letter, yet all five have felt free to call me by my first name, Leon — twice. They couldn’t give me the common respect of Mr. de Augusto.
Leon de Augusto, Bushwick
NoLandGrab: We're happy to use Mr. de Augusto's preferred form of address, though his turning his back on the "common ground" he'd said he wanted doesn't seem very respectful to us.
Posted by eric at June 6, 2008 8:58 AM