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December 15, 2011
Valery Jean, Executive Director of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, on FUREE's 10th Anniversary Party
Runnin' Scared
by Steven Thrasher
Today we're talking to Valery Jean, Executive Director of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE). FUREE (whom we've interacted with several times this year, including during our coverage of Mary Lee Ward's foreclosure) is celebrating 10 years of stirring up trouble in Brooklyn on behalf of poor and working class New Yorkers trying to hold on.
...So that enormous Ratner development is going up and will open next year. How big a loss do you think Atlantic Yards is, from your point of view
How big a loss is it to the community? We know we can't stop development, but it can happen in a way that's responsible and fair, and in which it gets input from the community. The loss here was that there were major opportunities for the city and the state for what could have been a positive impact on the community.
[Atlantic Yards] wasn't developed on a human basis, but for the needs of the developers. The loss - and what we're learning is that things can be learned from every situation - is that if there were sound and effective community benefit laws, it wouldn't have led to the loss of jobs and homes which can totally devastate families on many levels, including the diversity of what those families look like.
For me personally, I grew up on Vanderbilt, near Atlantic Yards. When I go back, it's nothing like I remember it at all. We're hoping there are still opportunities out of it, but it's also a wake up call for our community.
Posted by eric at December 15, 2011 11:46 AM