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DDDb is the leader and organized voice of a broad-based coalition
of organizations opposing Forest City Ratner's proposed arena
/ high-rise project in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH, EDUCATION, AND COLLABORATION
WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:
- Reached out to tens of thousands of community members
by petitioning, maintaining web sites and e-mail lists,
attending community board and block association meetings
throughout Brooklyn, issuing direct mail, press media, and
maintaining regular contact through a newsletter with a
mailing list of thousands of supporters.
- Recruited more than 250 volunteers who carry out the organization's
work.
- Become the information clearinghouse for civic organizations,
individuals, journalists, and professionals looking for
information and status on the issue.
- Organized several community rallies–including a
march from Brooklyn Borough Hall to City Hall–the
largest of which was attended by 3000 people and supported
by 40 organizations.
- Led a collaborative effort with several other organizations
to reach out to more than 400 community-based organizations
in the area to engage and educate the community at large
about the environmental review process.
- Recruited dozens of local community-based groups and citywide
government watchdog groups to create public letters demanding
fiscal transparency, accountability, and adherence to the
established legal process.
- Held numerous meetings with citizens who live in the proposed
development's footprint and surrounding neighborhoods.
RESEARCH
- Researched and/or released and secured widespread attention
for five major, detailed reports or white papers:
POLITICAL OUTREACH and PUBLIC RELATIONS
- Drove the successful effort to force the land-holding
government agency (MTA) to release bids to the public.
- Organized lobbying trips to Albany to educate state assemblymen
and senators about what's wrong with the FCRC proposal and
what type of development would truly benefit the affected
communities. Met with legislators as well as their heads
of staff in numerous private meetings.
- Met with the district managers and chairpersons of local
Community Boards 2, 6 and 8 and attended dozens of committee
meetings to participate in discussion of issue.
- Met with more than half of New York's City Council members
and successfully lobbied for two major City Council public
hearings. Provided expert testimonies at various official
hearings and at public information meetings. Appeared and
spoke at MTA board meetings.
- Held numerous press conferences, driving the opposition's
position in the media. Gave countless interviews to local,
city, and national media as primary source for opposition
viewpoints. Met with editorial boards of NYC's major daily
newspapers. Quoted and cited in majority of articles published
currently.
- Exposed BUILD IRS documents
showing $5 million payment from Forest City Ratner
ALTERNATIVE PLANS
- Co-sponsored the creation of three alternative development
plans (for both an arena and for the site targeted by FCRC)
that illustrate flaws and weaknesses in the FCRC Plan.
- Participated in the Atlantic Yards Development Workshop,
sponsored by Councilwoman Letitia James, that resulted in
the UNITY Community Development plan. (http://dddb.net/public/UNITY.pdf).
- Promoted and brought widespread attention to the UNITY
plan in the months following the workshop.
- Participated in the development of the community guidelines
from the
UNITY plan.
- Distributed the government's RFP and the community development
guidelines to developers around the world. Located a developer
that submitted a superior, financially viable, alternative
bid, gaining national attention, forcing a 45-day delay
in the process, and an increase of the FCRC bid by $50 million.
LEGAL INITIATIVES
- Established a multi-faceted legal team including noted
Civil Liberties lawyer Norman Siegel and top-ten-rated New
York State law firm Young,
Sommer to mount a range of legal challenges to the FCRC
Plan.
- Filed amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the
United States Supreme Court in support of the New London,
Connecticut homeowners in the landmark eminent domain case,
Kelo v. The City of New London (www.dddb.net/public/DDDBamicusbrief.pdf)
- Secured pro-bono legal consultation and advice for the
lower-income tenants in the footprint of the proposed development.
- Lodged a Conflicts-of-Interest complaint about the City
Planning Commissioner's investment in the proposed project,
resulting in the commissioner recusing herself from decisions
pertaining to the proposal.
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Go to: Community Board 2
6
8
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