Monday, October 08, 2007

An Open Letter To Errol Louis Regarding The Atlantic Yards Project

oo

I guess the article written by Mr. Errol Louis in yesterday's Daily News made my husband so mad that he sat down today and composed this letter to him. I couldn't agree more with his sentiment. Way To Go!

Mr. Louis,
I have just read your article (10/7/2007) about Atlantic Yards and am surprised that you don't see the hypocrisy in this whole deal. I have been involved in my community (Carroll Gardens) for years and I talk to a lot of people. The only people who are supporting this are the people taking money from Bruce Ratner - the politicians, the unions, and his stooges. Of course they are, they are all being promised whatever they want. Almost everyone else I talk to thinks this is too big and that the concerns of local residents are being dismissed. Surely you realize that supporters use divide and conquer tactics against opponents to minimize their numbers - this happens all the time to allow the few to benefit over the many. Supporters brand anyone as "anti-development" for just asking questions like: "Why are we selling public real estate to anyone except the highest bidder ?" "How are we going to deal with the traffic in an already congested area ?" "What is being done to provide the additional infrastructure which is needed ?" I believe that most people in the area would like to see the area developed but on a more appropriate scale which will not become a burden. We can improve the traffic congestion, add housing and open space but this is clearly not the priority. The priority is to maximize profit for the developer and our politicians are bending over backwards in this sweetheart deal to do just that. Your opinion is quite simplistic and based on too little information. I encourage you to investigate further and listen to opponents with an open mind so that we don't end up with this over-sized whale of a project. It is public property which makes this project a possibility so the public has a right to have a say. Let's develop sensibly and build what we want - not what will make the most money for a private individual.
G. K.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Way to go! I was so dismayed by the Louis article myself.....He is surely practicing wishful thinking as those jobs and affordable housing units that he longs for are only a smokescreen for the real Ratner agenda, as the AYR blog so patiently and thoroughly points out to us each and every day (for those of us willing to actually read over the real facts and statistics, not the high gloss info that is fed to the us by the paid media. The lesson here for the public is this: We must do our OWN!! homework and not wait to be spoon fed.