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March 16, 2010
Pols Didn't Want to Be Seen at Ratner's Arena Groundtaking Ceremony
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
DDDB follows up on Norman Oder's report this morning on who showed (and who didn't) at last week's Bruce Ratner tent show.
Granted, Ratner had an unelected Governor, a Mayor who bought a third term through a multi-million dollar power grab, and a borough president who rode that power grab's coattails all present and pronouncing science fiction-worthy numbers at his March 11th ground
breakingtaking ceremony.But who else was there, willing to show their faces under the boondoggle tent?
Six elected officials, all but one representing districts far away from the project site, and all with deep financial and/or political ties to Ratner, his partners (BUILD), and his South Brooklyn political fixer Bruce Bender.
Atlantic Yards, they all claim, is the most important project in Brooklyn, and one of the two most important in all of NYC. So where was Speaker Quinn, Public Advocate de Blasio, Comptroller Liu or any one else from Brooklyn or beyond? (Where was Chuck Schumer, or a single member of the Brooklyn Congressional delegation?)
The poor showing gives the lie to the claimed popularity and importance of the bait and switch project. It also seems to be perhaps the biggest missed story of the day. Until now...
Posted by eric at March 16, 2010 7:08 PM