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November 14, 2011
Occupy Wall Street finally gets a Brooklyn accent
The Brooklyn Paper
by Eli Rosenberg
The Occupy Wall Street movement finally took on a Brooklyn accent on Saturday, with protesters decrying “crony capitalism” at several controversial sites — rallying most heatedly at a spot that many call the ultimate symbol of corporate control of democracy, the Atlantic Yards megadevelopment.
Occupy Brooklyn protesters started their march at the JP Morgan Chase complex in Downtown’s Metrotech Center, complaining that the bank got a sweetheart tax subsidy deal, but the main target of the anger was Bruce Ratner’s heavily subsidized Atlantic Yards project, which was approved by a secretive state panel in late 2006 without going through the city’s normal public review process.
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Brooklyn Heights Press, Occupy Brooklyn Marches to Atlantic Yards
About 100 “Occupy Brooklyn” supporters gathered at Korean War Veterans Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday for teach-ins, performances and a march to sites they say represent corporate greed in Brooklyn, with a heavy emphasis on Atlantic Yards. Younger Occupy Wall Streeters were joined by groups like the Brooklyn Green Party, FUREE and Common Cause. Speakers said that companies like Forest City Ratner and Chase Bank broke their promises to employ thousands of local workers in return for millions of dollars in subsidies. “They’ve gamed the system against the 99 percent,” they said.
Photo: Mary Frost
Posted by eric at November 14, 2011 6:31 PM