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January 21, 2010
Atlantic Yards foes protest homeless shelter closing
NYPost.com
by Stephen Witt
Steve Witt rewrites the press release.
A homeless shelter shuttered days before the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday became a cause célèbre among elected officials and opponents of the Atlantic Yards project.
The Pacific Dean Shelter, 603 Dean Street, which housed about 80 families, was closed Jan. 15 to make room for the $4 billion-plus 22-acre project.
About 30 protestors from the neighborhood, along with City Council Member Letitia James, State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and pop singer Crystal Waters, who sang her hit “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless),” protested last week in front of the shelter and down the street from it at Freddy’s Bar (which is also facing condemnation for the project).
This part is Witt's own touch.
Ironically, back in 2002, before the city and developer Bruce Ratner announced the Atlantic Yards project, members of the community protested the shelter coming into the neighborhood.
NoLandGrab: Even more ironically, Witt has been one of those promoting the myth that only newly arrived (white) gentrifiers oppose the Atlantic Yards project, so how could they have even been around to protest the shelter's opening in 2002?
Related coverage...
The Real Deal, Community rallies around Brooklyn shelter closed due to eminent domain
A homeless shelter serving a predominantly African-American population at 603 Dean Street in Downtown Brooklyn, within the planned Atlantic Yards development area, was shut down yesterday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, through the use of eminent domain, sparking outrage in the community.
India Times, TODAY: Pop Star Crystal Waters comes to Brooklyn this Saturday
Someone on the sub-continent is reading NoLandGrab.
Since Barclays is in England, and has no branches in New York, Crystal Waters (who resides in England) is asking Barclays Bank to have a heart and request that the City keep this shelter open, at least until the spring....
Posted by eric at January 21, 2010 10:55 AM