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June 29, 2009
RIVAL RIPS MARTY OVER YARDS WORK
NY Post
by Rich Calder
An East New York activist is trying to parlay the contempt many Brooklynites have for the embattled Atlantic Yards project into unseating Marty Markowitz as borough president.
Eugene Myrick, 37, recently became the first candidate to announce he's challenging the powerful two-time incumbent on the Democratic line in this September's primary. The underdog has yet to raise a cent but is already seeing a groundswell of support.
And it's mostly over Myrick opposing Bruce Ratner's $4.9 billion project to bring an NBA arena and 16 residential and office towers to Prospect Heights while Markowitz is widely considered its biggest booster.
...The challenger -- who runs a bridal website with his wife, ex-Kiss-FM deejay Kesha Monk - told the Post he's upset with "sweetheart" cost-saving deals cut last week by the state and MTA to bail out Atlantic Yards and ripped Markowitz for openly supporting it.
He also pointed out a Post investigation last October that found Ratner since 2003 funneled more than $680,000 to nonprofits set up by Markowitz to run pet projects and said the beep "is obviously indebted to the developer."
NoLandGrab: With Republican Beep candidate Marc D'Ottavio criticizing Markowitz for not supporting Atlantic Yards enough, it's clear that Eugene Myrick has the anti-boondoggle vote all to himself.
Posted by eric at June 29, 2009 1:46 PM