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September 19, 2011
Rescue mission
Ratner’s fight to help tragic Sudan teen
NY Post
by Rich Calder
"Liberal do-gooder" Bruce Ratner is "quietly" helping a young Sudanese refugee by giving the Post an exclusive complete with heart-warming photo op.
It’s not just basketball and skyscrapers with Bruce Ratner.
The uber-developer -- best known for his under-construction Brooklyn arena for the Nets -- is vigorously trying to cut through bureaucratic red tape to keep a teenage Sudanese ex-slave in the United States to help restore the boy’s eyesight.
Ratner and his sister, Fox News analyst Ellen Ratner, first met tortured, blinded Ker Deng, now 18, on a trip to Sudan in April, nearly a year after the rights group Christian Solidarity International rescued him from slavery. The Ratners were touched by Deng’s horrifying story.
...Bruce Ratner has quietly covered all of Deng’s expenses, including his travel and medical costs and those of an uptown apartment for him and a round-the-clock caretaker.
...Deng says he doesn’t know much about basketball, but Ratner hopes to change that when his Barclays Center arena opens in next fall.
“If you are still here, I am going to take you to the first Nets game and explain everything,” Ratner told Deng, while both embraced.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Post: Ratner "quietly" helping blinded Sudanese ex-slave
Well, Ratner's goal is certainly worthy, but it's hard to avoid thinking that the publicity effort is a tad strategic: after all, if "Ratner has quietly covered all of Deng’s expenses," he wasn't so quiet as to keep that information from the Post.
Ratner's been a little quieter about a lot of other things, such as the Independent Compliance Monitor required by the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement. And the latter surely would cost Ratner's firm far more than the support he's offered to one worthy, needy Sudanese.
Photo: Chad Rachman/NY Post
Posted by eric at September 19, 2011 11:00 AM