"Trees Won't Grow in Brooklyn" NY Post 05/13/06

Different borough, same dumb taxpayer-subsidized boondoggles destroying our neighborhoods.


TREES WON'T GROW IN BROOKLYN
NY Post's Letters to the Editor

May 13, 2006 -- THE ISSUE: A Brooklyn group's opposition to Bruce Ratner's plan to develop Prospect Heights.

Contrary to Andrea Peyser's latest diatribe, thousands of lifelong Brooklynites oppose Bruce Ratner's 24- acre land grab ("Celebrity Moles Boro-ing Under B'klyn's Hopes," May 9).

Did it make Peyser feel good to imply that their views somehow belittle poor Tajmere Clark's murder?

And that hypodermic needle trick has already been done by Ratner's p.r. team. Doesn't Peyser have any new ideas up her sleeve?

Maybe she resorted to those ugly tactics because she knows the Ratner boondoggle can't stand up to the slightest criticism, let alone real public scrutiny.

If hate wins the day, Ratner has an invaluable ally in Peyser.

If common sense and the democratic process win, she and Ratner are both in big trouble.
Jezra Kaye
Brooklyn

*****

I rent in the giant footprint of Ratner's plan.

Ratner's architect, Frank Gehry, boasts that this is his chance to "create a neighborhood from scratch."

Memo to Gehry: The neighborhood is already here. I live in it, and so do 15,000 others.

We live here because we want to, and we think it's beautiful.

While I don't share Peyser's contemptuous take on Prospect Heights, I do agree that movie stars, who know the neighborhood even less than she does, look pretty foolish as pop-up Jane Jacobses.
Kris Hackett
Brooklyn

*****

Peyser's venomous and utterly misinformed article warps reality and defrauds her readers - but that's her stock in trade.

Just one paragraph of lies shows that her column's best use is as fish wrap.

Twenty-six of our 33 board members live within walking distance of the proposed project.

Most have lived in Brooklyn for decades, contributing to its evolution through journalism, fiction-writing, filmmaking, art, architecture, design, music, acting, firefighting, education, publishing, preservation, business, religion, politics, activism and civic leadership.

The remaining seven are experts in issues related to Ratner's proposed plan.

The project, which includes 16 towers and an arena, proposes abusing eminent domain and taking homes, businesses and city streets in the midst of five thriving, low-rise, historic residential neighborhoods.
Daniel Goldstein
Spokesman
Develop
Don't Destroy Brooklyn
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