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August 10, 2011
Brooklynites ask, ‘Where the jobs at?'
New York Amsterdam News
by Cyril Josh Barker
Low-income and minority residents in Brooklyn say they are being left out in the cold while looking for jobs in developments springing up throughout downtown Brooklyn. An organization looking out for their interests, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), put together a job hunt last week, bringing together 50 unemployed young people. However, the search yielded no results, as they stopped at sites at the CityPoint development, MetroTech Center and others with no luck.
...FUREE also solicited developments near the MetroTech Center run by JP Morgan Chase, Forest City Ratner and the Partnership. Ratner is at the helm of one of Brooklyn's largest construction projects: the Barclays Center sports arena.
Ratner, despite having received over $675 million in government aid, currently employs only 430 workers but pledges 17,000 new jobs. FUREE is also accusing Ratner of failing to deliver other community benefits as promised.
...Meanwhile, Forest City Ratner said that it has numbers to back up claims that it is hiring workers from the community. The figures they sent to the AmNews indicate that there are 612 workers on site and 228 of those workers are from Brooklyn. There have been 102 placements to date and 59 of these workers are still on site. Forty-nine of those placements are residents of community boards 2, 6 and 8.
NoLandGrab: Of course, Ratner's jobs figures are pure fantasy.
Posted by eric at August 10, 2011 10:38 AM