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June 5, 2012
Yes, Atlantic Yards is a (small) part of the race to succeed Rep. Towns
Atlantic Yards Report
Yes, Atlantic Yards popped up yesterday as a small factor in the 8th Congressional District race to succeed Rep. Ed Towns, who has endorsed (despite their differences) relative underdog and radical Council Member Charles Barron against the better-funded, more widely endorsed, and more mainstream fellow Democrat, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries.
From NY 1:
In the debate that was moderated by NY1 Political Anchor Errol Louis, Barron accused Jeffries of changing his position on several key issues in the community, including the Atlantic Yards development.
Barron: “Why should we trust you? You flip-flop on Atlantic Yards. You flip-flop on charter schools so you can get money from the hedge funds. So…why should we trust, if you do all this flip-flopping…why should we trust you when you go to Congress?”
Jeffries: “You have no evidence that I’ve flip-flopped on any of those issues. In fact, this is just another example of the reckless type of charges that you have been making for the last 10 years on a wide variety of people from President Obama to Governor David Paterson on down.”
Well, I wouldn't say that Jeffries has flip-flopped on Atlantic Yards, but he has muddled about the center, early on more positive than not, these days more negative than not.
Barron has been a staunch opponent, despite his longstanding ties (former Chief of Staff to the National Black United Front Daughtry headed) to the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a prominent project supporter and signatory of the much-criticized Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement.
And, despite Jeffries' response, on the NY 1 clip you can see him blinking uncomfortably at Barron's charges.
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Posted by eric at June 5, 2012 11:23 AM