Brooklyn, NYC - Block Party/Rally re: New Arena

[CaptainClark23]

From: National Taxpayers Union

Attention all NTU Members in New York City!

A diverse coalition of grassroots action groups is holding a block party and rally against developer Bruce Ratner's attempt to abuse local taxpayers and property owners alike by using eminent domain and massive subsidies to build an arena for the Nets basketball team and to build a high rise development.


Information about the event is as follows:



Time: Saturday June 19th, 2pm


Location: Pacific Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Public transit serving this area includes: 2/3, 4/5, B or Q to Atlantic Avenue; N, R, D or M to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue.

There is no cost for the event!


More info is available at:
www.developdontdestroy.org;
e-mail: [e-mail];
telephone [phone]


Additional Information:


As developer Bruce Ratner's plan to build a new arena and high rise buildings in Brooklyn continues apace, the affected communities and supporters are coming together to draw the public's attention to exactly what is at stake. On June 19, 2004 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, a consortium of activist groups will be hosting the Celebrate Our Communities Block Party, an event celebrating our Brooklyn communities, while affirming the right of individuals everywhere to have a say in development projects that affect them. The event will highlight the problems of Ratner's Nets Arena and 17 High Rise Proposal - the demolition of homes and businesses, and misuse of taxpayer funds - yet the block party/rally will be first and foremost a celebration of the area's dynamic and viable communities and the residents who have done so much to transform this part of Brooklyn.


Popular Brooklyn musical acts will be performing and some of Brooklyn's finest restaurants and bars and crafts and design stores will be offering their wares; politicians, activists and performers will be keeping the crowds entertained from the pulpit.

[Renew Deal]

1. I am for the stadium.

It's good for Brooklynn and in turn good for the city. It should also help NY's Olympic bid. As far as the destruction of homes, what does that really mean? They are going to destroy dumps and build a state of the art money maker? Sounds good to me. Show me where someone is being wronged.

[CaptainClark23]

2. Frankly, so am I.

And I do not think any grass-roots movement is going to halt it. But I am concerned that it be done properly, with the concerns of the community addressed.

As far as dumps go, I grew up in a building not far from there that might be considered such. Only I called it home. My mother and I were unceremoniously thrown out so a developer could turn it into co-ops. Along with a rather elderly woman upstairs who lived at subsistence level. She was forced from the apartment she had lived in for over 40 years, and died in a crack-infested rooming house just weeks later, with no one she knew around her.

NYC is about progress and change, always has been. I just like to be sure no one is being run roughshod over. If we don't make noise, they will be, I guarantee it.