« Frank Gehry, recession victim? | Main | Affordable housing in Atlantic Yards project could mean just 300 units in 12 years, 120 of them low-income (or ten a year) »
June 15, 2009
Daughtry slams Yards critics
Courier-Life Publications
By Stephen Witt
The Reverend Herbert Daughtry takes aim at project critics by sidestepping some of the most serious issues, in an interview with project sympathizer and reporter Stephen Witt.
“I think they [Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and City Council member Letitia James] have been captured by a tiny minority that are bent on destroying the project,” said Daughtry.
NoLandGrab: It's worth pointing out that the State Senator and City Councilmember are free to take whatever stand they wish, while Daughtry has struck a deal with Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner and must publicly stump for the project.
Here's the best hey-lookie-over-there moment of the article:
When questioned about how Atlantic Yard (sic) blogger Norman Oder, who many media outlets utilize for information without checking his facts, continually writes how CBA signatories have taken money from FCR, Daughtry said his CBA strategy comes from working directly with Martin Luther King.
“Was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a sell−out? If he was a sell−out, then I’m a sell out,” said Daughtry, explaining how he headed King’s Operation Breadbasket initiative in New York City.
Atlantic Yards Report, Sloppy and irresponsible, the Courier-Life’s Witt gives the Rev. Daughtry a platform to soliloquize without rebuttal
Norman Oder is such an obvious sore spot with Bruce Ratner and supporters, that Stephen Witt can't help but to grumble about other media outlets' reliance on his track record of solid reportage on Atlantic Yards.
Today, Oder, who has studied the published works of Daughtry, explores Witt's own track record and publishes a line-by-line rebuttal of the article, citing facts, quoting officials, and (gasp!) linking to primary source documents.
...the Courier-Life’s notorious Stephen Witt irresponsibly chose to give an unskeptical platform to the Rev. Herbert Daughtry (at right, heckling), a project supporter and the most disruptive person at the event.
The article is wrongheaded and unfair, so I'll go through it line by line.
Posted by lumi at June 15, 2009 6:24 AM