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September 20, 2012
Brooklyn Holds Court: Documentary Outlines Controversy Surrounding Barclays Project
NY1
by Shazia Khan
Michael Galinsky, the director of "Battle for Brooklyn," wants to make sure that no one forgets just how the Barclays Center took center court.
"I love basketball," Galinsky says. "I'm a huge basketball fan. I don't think it negates the fact, though, that the process was really ugly and corrupt."
The film follows Brooklynite Daniel Goldstein's fight against developer Bruce Ratner, whose eventual use of eminent domain cleared the way for the arena, the cornerstone of his Atlantic Yards project. Towards the end of the more-than-eight-year process, Goldstein's condo is among the private properties seized for the project.
"Atlantic Yards was supposed to have been about jobs, housing and hoops," Goldstein says. "It was not supposed to be just about basketball and what's happening in these coming weeks is just basketball, just an arena. That's not what was promised and that's not why Ratner received so many public subsides, received the use of eminent domain.
"Battle for Brooklyn" premiered last year but it's set to have a nationwide release next week. Screenings around town include a showing at the Dean Playground Ball Field, just a stone's throw from the arena. The film will screen there next Friday, the same night the Barclays Center opens.
"We knew there was going to be so much press and hoopla about the arena," Galinsky says. "We wanted to make sure that people remembered what really happened."
link [with video]
Posted by eric at September 20, 2012 12:37 PM