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Immediate Release: June 27, 2005
RatnerÕs So-called ÒCommunityÓ Benefits
Agreement
Bypasses Community and Local Elected Officials
"CBA" is Insufficient Band-aid on a
Fatally Flawed Development Proposal and Process
BROOKLYN, NYÐ Four days after a sharply divided Supreme Court
decision, perceived to give a green light to Forest City RatnerÕs
(FCR) use of eminent domain for its private, for-profit, 20
high-rise and arena development proposal in Prospect Heights,
Brooklyn, the developer announced a so-called Community Benefits
Agreement (CBA) with eight signers.
ÒThere are 48 known community organizations (*see
below) and three of the districtÕs four elected officials
who are opposed to or very deeply concerned about the FCR
proposal,Ó said Develop DonÕt Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) spokesman,
Daniel Goldstein. ÒNone of these groups have been involved
in the ÔCBAÕ negotiations, while all of the groups that have
been involved have supported the project from the beginning.
Those most directly affected by the proposed project have
not been involved either. What was announced today may be
an agreement, but it is patently not a community agreement.Ó
The ÒCBAÓ concerns itself, primarily, with jobs and housing.
Any developer who builds on the Atlantic Yards should negotiate
with the community. However this ÒCBAÓ is extremely weak and
lacking because it has excluded all the concerns that deal
with community quality of life which will effect everyone
in the area: building scale, character and density, land use,
secondary displacement, eminent domain, environmental impact
during and after construction, health issues, project urban
design and serious traffic and transportation issuesÐeven
though these are major concerns of the five communities surrounding
the proposed development site. The State approval process
also includes no genuine opportunity for community input.
The Ratner ÒCBAÕsÓ very foundation is in violation of a key
principle of effective CBAsÐthey are meant to be the end result
of a negotiation process between the developer and a wide
spectrum of community groups opposed to, and supportive of,
a development proposal. But in this case, all oppositional
and most longstanding community stakeholder groups were excluded
from the outset.
ÒAn insufficient band-aid like this 'CBA' does not cure any
of the ills of the Ratner proposal or make up for the utter
lack of an accountable, democratic process. A ÔcommunityÕ
benefits agreement that excludes most of the community, ignores
serious impact concerns, is negotiated behind closed-doors,
and accepts eminent domain that disrupts the bedrock foundation
of communitiesÐhomes and businessesÐis dangerous and destructive
to communities,Ó Goldstein concluded. ÒAnd the timing of the
Ratner ÔCBAÕ, on the heels of the Supreme CourtÕs Kelo decisionÐa
decision that raises serious questions about the legality
of using eminent domain for the FCR projectÐleads us to believe
that Mr. Ratner is not intent on genuinely engaging the community
but would rather steamroll it with his $1.6 billion taxpayer
subsidized, sweetheart deal.Ó
For more information on CBAsÐCommunity Benefit
Agreements: Making Development Projects Accountable by California
Partnership for Working Families and Good Jobs First: www.dddb.net/cbahandbook2005.pdf
* Organizations that are Opposed
to or Deeply Concerned about The proposed Forest City Ratner
Nets Arena, 20-highrise Proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
1. 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement
2. Boerum Hill Association (BHA)
3. Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID)
4. Committee For Environmentally Sound Development
5. Creative Industries Coalition (80 local businesses, galleries
and collectives)
Develop DonÕt Destroy Brooklyn Coalition, www.dddb.net/position.php,
comprised of:
6. Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association (AABA)
7. Boerum Hill For Organic Development
8. Brooklyn Bears Community Garden
9. Brooklyn Vision
10. Cambridge Place Action Coalition
11. Develop DonÕt Destroy Brooklyn, Inc. (DDDb)
12. East Pacific Block Association
13. Fans For Fair Play
14. Fort Greene Association (FGA)
15. Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG)
16. Kings County Greens
17. New York Preservation Alliance
18. North Brooklyn Greens
19. Park Slope Greens
20. Revel Arts
21. South Portland Block Association
22. Times Up!
23. Warren St. Marks Community Garden
Downtown Brooklyn Leadership Coalition (DBLC), comprised
of:
24. Black Veterans for Social Justice (Job Masharaki)
25. Church of the Open Door (Rev. Mark V.C. Taylor)
26. Brooklyn Christian Center (Rev. Dennis Dillon)
27. Brown Memorial Baptist Church (Rev. Clinton Miller)
28. Emmanuel Baptist Church (Rev. Anthony L. Trufant)
29. Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church (Rev. Patrick
Perrin)
30. Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (Rev. David Dyson)
31. Old First Reformed Church (Rev Daniel Meeter)
32. Good Jobs New York
33. Kings County Affiliate, Libertarian Party of New York
34. National Taxpayers Union
35. NYCBasketball.com
36. Park Slope Civic Council
37. Park Slope Neighbors
38. Pratt Area Community Council (PACC)
39. Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental
Development (PICCED)
40. Prospect Heights Action Coalition (PHAC)
Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council
(PHNDC), www.phndc.org
about.php comprised of:
41. The Prospect Heights Association
42. The Park Place/Underhill Avenue Block Association
43. The Prospect Place Block Association
44. The Prospect Heights Parents Association
45. The Eastern Parkway Block Association
46. Senior and Retirees Committee of Willoughby Walk Cooperative
Apts.
47. Sierra Club, Atlantic Chapter
48. The Fifth Avenue Committee
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