Progressive Democrat Issue 74: THOUGHTS
Since my last newsletter, I have been, shall we say, becoming controversial in my local politics. I have been getting lots of attention, positive and negative, for some of my blogging. It has been exhausting. I will skip over the continuing saga of the local Democratic Club that has become split and filled with bad feelings. As I said before, this newsletter is not intended for airing strife among Democrats.
But I will share another one of my more controversial pieces, one that got huge attention this last week on two separate sites.
This may be a bit too local for some folks, but what is happening in Brooklyn, NY, is illustrative of a lot of what is going wrong in America. What is happening may be a version of the murder through neglect that is happening to New Orleans, or it may be outright corruption seasoned with arson and homicide. In essence, multi-cultural Brooklyn is under attack by those who want to develop it into nothing but office space, chain stores and luxury housing. My neighborhood is losing small businesses left and right, and they are being replaced almost exclusively by real estate agencies and expensive baby boutiques.
But there is more going on. Brooklyn is burning and arson is suspected.
A local hot-headed politician, Bill Batson, recently dubbed it the Disneyfication of NYC through Arson. (As a side note: I had some debate with people whether that should be spelled “Disnification” or “Disneyfication.” I think the former is more correct but the latter is clearer). Are developers really using arson to further their goals? I am as yet unconvinced, but the alternative explanations are almost as bad.
I first became suspicious when an apartment building at 1033 Pacific Street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, burned down, killing four people. It was while reading about this fire that I became aware that there has been an unusual spike in suspicious fires in Central Brooklyn. What particularly struck me was how many of those suspicious fires were in and around the area that uber-real estate developer Bruce Ratner, good friend of Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, wants to develop. It was one of those thoughts you don’t like having. When you make a connection that is far-fetched and disturbing, but does fit the facts. There is a huge push to declare the entire region blighted so Ratner can come in and develop it with Frank Gehry-designed skyscrapers, an arena and much, much more. It isn’t just the locally infamous Atlantic Yards project. There are surrounding neighborhoods that have already been promised to Ratner by Pataki and Bloomberg, a fact that was only made public because of a freedom of information act request by the neighborhood group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. Ratner has already stooped to back room deals and corruption to further his ends. He has even paid his own lawyer to work with the Empire State Development agency to review his own project. And the State was going along with it. It was only blocked by a lawsuit, which forced the Empire State Development agency to hire its own damned lawyer.
When we heard about the fatal fire in Prospect Heights and the unusual number of fires in that area, my wife and I both had the same thought: that the sudden spate of suspicious fires was awfully convenient for Ratner’s plan to declare the area blighted. Coincidence? Quite possibly. But it is a disturbing thought. I pushed that thought aside because although Ratner certainly employs thugs to push his agenda (I have encountered some), I have never witnessed any sign of anything beyond run of the mill, in-your-face intimidation. In fact I even saw Ratner foe, City Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP), diffuse that intimidation by essentially going up to the thugs and hugging them, leaving them rather sheepish looking.
On Wednesday night, two politicians independently raised the same specter of arson in Brooklyn at the Park Slope Democracy for NYC meeting. This time the suspicious fire was the massive Greenpoint warehouse fire that has recently made headlines. First Wellington Sharpe, running for Assembly in the 58th district, then Bill Batson, running for Assembly in the 57th district, called the recent fires in Central Brooklyn and now at the waterfront arson and linked them with the plans to overdevelop Brooklyn. The waterfront fire has since been looking more and more like arson when it was revealed that the developer of THAT project had had a similar suspicious and convenient fire happen before.
The Greenpoint warehouse fire was one of the largest fires in NYC in recent years, the 9/11 WTC fire aside. It spread so rapidly that the police strongly suspect arson. What raised eyebrows at the DFNYC meeting was the revelation that the warehouses that burnt down were the focus of a fight to declare them landmarks, which would interfere with plans to develop the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront. The fire occurred mere days before the meeting scheduled to discuss landmark status for the warehouses. Coincidence? Quite possibly. But once again I am disturbed by the implications.
Another explanation for the sudden spate of Brooklyn fires is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s closing of many of NYC's firehouses. The Central Brooklyn fires have been occurring in the very neighborhoods that are now considered too distant from firehouses since Bloomberg’s mass closing of firehouses to “save money.”
Neglect or arson? Either explanation is a condemnation of NYC. Is Brooklyn burning because Bloomberg wants to save some money or is it because developers want to get inconvenient buildings and people out of the way?
Wellington Sharpe and Bill Batson expressed deep concern that these fires are deliberate attempts to push undesirable communities (that means blacks) out of Brooklyn so that developers can build more office space and housing for the wealthy. They also expressed concern that the development, aided intentionally or unintentionally by the fires, is destroying the diverse culture and heritage that Brooklyn should be proud of. Batson in particular finds it interesting that black heritage sites like the Harriet Tubman museum are among the first things to be destroyed by the new development. Batson suspects that there is an effort to destroy black heritage in Brooklyn as a prelude to pushing out poor blacks to make room for the wealthy.
Bill Batson called it the "Disneyfication of NYC through Arson". This is a phrase that just might be a true and chilling picture of our future. I am not one to believe conspiracy theories. I think 9/11 was carried out by al-Qaeda and that the Bush administration was guilty only of incompetence and hubris, not complicity. I believe that JFK was killed by Oswald’s bullet. I do not believe that vast, evil conspiracies are common. But arson for insurance money and arson to drive out residents blocking real estate deals do occasionally happen. And anytime there is an unusual spike in fires, we have to consider that the fires are being set intentionally and are benefiting someone. This cannot be merely dismissed as paranoia.
Do I really believe that developers are burning down Brooklyn to make it easier for them to rebuild? I certainly don’t want to believe it! But whether neglect or deliberate destruction is destroying the diverse and unique Brooklyn we all love, it is still a trend that is horrible and disastrous. Katrina wasn’t caused by Bush, but the disaster that befell New Orleans was the fault of deliberate neglect of the infrastructure on the Gulf Coast, mainly levees and wetlands. The fires of Brooklyn are at best the result of similar deliberate neglect by the Republican Bloomberg administration that closed our firehouses. At worst it is an example of criminal acts by people who want to profit from Brooklyn’s loss. At a bare minimum we need our firehouses back. But we also need a thorough investigation into why Brooklyn is burning.
But I will share another one of my more controversial pieces, one that got huge attention this last week on two separate sites.
This may be a bit too local for some folks, but what is happening in Brooklyn, NY, is illustrative of a lot of what is going wrong in America. What is happening may be a version of the murder through neglect that is happening to New Orleans, or it may be outright corruption seasoned with arson and homicide. In essence, multi-cultural Brooklyn is under attack by those who want to develop it into nothing but office space, chain stores and luxury housing. My neighborhood is losing small businesses left and right, and they are being replaced almost exclusively by real estate agencies and expensive baby boutiques.
But there is more going on. Brooklyn is burning and arson is suspected.
A local hot-headed politician, Bill Batson, recently dubbed it the Disneyfication of NYC through Arson. (As a side note: I had some debate with people whether that should be spelled “Disnification” or “Disneyfication.” I think the former is more correct but the latter is clearer). Are developers really using arson to further their goals? I am as yet unconvinced, but the alternative explanations are almost as bad.
I first became suspicious when an apartment building at 1033 Pacific Street in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, burned down, killing four people. It was while reading about this fire that I became aware that there has been an unusual spike in suspicious fires in Central Brooklyn. What particularly struck me was how many of those suspicious fires were in and around the area that uber-real estate developer Bruce Ratner, good friend of Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, wants to develop. It was one of those thoughts you don’t like having. When you make a connection that is far-fetched and disturbing, but does fit the facts. There is a huge push to declare the entire region blighted so Ratner can come in and develop it with Frank Gehry-designed skyscrapers, an arena and much, much more. It isn’t just the locally infamous Atlantic Yards project. There are surrounding neighborhoods that have already been promised to Ratner by Pataki and Bloomberg, a fact that was only made public because of a freedom of information act request by the neighborhood group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. Ratner has already stooped to back room deals and corruption to further his ends. He has even paid his own lawyer to work with the Empire State Development agency to review his own project. And the State was going along with it. It was only blocked by a lawsuit, which forced the Empire State Development agency to hire its own damned lawyer.
When we heard about the fatal fire in Prospect Heights and the unusual number of fires in that area, my wife and I both had the same thought: that the sudden spate of suspicious fires was awfully convenient for Ratner’s plan to declare the area blighted. Coincidence? Quite possibly. But it is a disturbing thought. I pushed that thought aside because although Ratner certainly employs thugs to push his agenda (I have encountered some), I have never witnessed any sign of anything beyond run of the mill, in-your-face intimidation. In fact I even saw Ratner foe, City Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP), diffuse that intimidation by essentially going up to the thugs and hugging them, leaving them rather sheepish looking.
On Wednesday night, two politicians independently raised the same specter of arson in Brooklyn at the Park Slope Democracy for NYC meeting. This time the suspicious fire was the massive Greenpoint warehouse fire that has recently made headlines. First Wellington Sharpe, running for Assembly in the 58th district, then Bill Batson, running for Assembly in the 57th district, called the recent fires in Central Brooklyn and now at the waterfront arson and linked them with the plans to overdevelop Brooklyn. The waterfront fire has since been looking more and more like arson when it was revealed that the developer of THAT project had had a similar suspicious and convenient fire happen before.
The Greenpoint warehouse fire was one of the largest fires in NYC in recent years, the 9/11 WTC fire aside. It spread so rapidly that the police strongly suspect arson. What raised eyebrows at the DFNYC meeting was the revelation that the warehouses that burnt down were the focus of a fight to declare them landmarks, which would interfere with plans to develop the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront. The fire occurred mere days before the meeting scheduled to discuss landmark status for the warehouses. Coincidence? Quite possibly. But once again I am disturbed by the implications.
Another explanation for the sudden spate of Brooklyn fires is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s closing of many of NYC's firehouses. The Central Brooklyn fires have been occurring in the very neighborhoods that are now considered too distant from firehouses since Bloomberg’s mass closing of firehouses to “save money.”
Neglect or arson? Either explanation is a condemnation of NYC. Is Brooklyn burning because Bloomberg wants to save some money or is it because developers want to get inconvenient buildings and people out of the way?
Wellington Sharpe and Bill Batson expressed deep concern that these fires are deliberate attempts to push undesirable communities (that means blacks) out of Brooklyn so that developers can build more office space and housing for the wealthy. They also expressed concern that the development, aided intentionally or unintentionally by the fires, is destroying the diverse culture and heritage that Brooklyn should be proud of. Batson in particular finds it interesting that black heritage sites like the Harriet Tubman museum are among the first things to be destroyed by the new development. Batson suspects that there is an effort to destroy black heritage in Brooklyn as a prelude to pushing out poor blacks to make room for the wealthy.
Bill Batson called it the "Disneyfication of NYC through Arson". This is a phrase that just might be a true and chilling picture of our future. I am not one to believe conspiracy theories. I think 9/11 was carried out by al-Qaeda and that the Bush administration was guilty only of incompetence and hubris, not complicity. I believe that JFK was killed by Oswald’s bullet. I do not believe that vast, evil conspiracies are common. But arson for insurance money and arson to drive out residents blocking real estate deals do occasionally happen. And anytime there is an unusual spike in fires, we have to consider that the fires are being set intentionally and are benefiting someone. This cannot be merely dismissed as paranoia.
Do I really believe that developers are burning down Brooklyn to make it easier for them to rebuild? I certainly don’t want to believe it! But whether neglect or deliberate destruction is destroying the diverse and unique Brooklyn we all love, it is still a trend that is horrible and disastrous. Katrina wasn’t caused by Bush, but the disaster that befell New Orleans was the fault of deliberate neglect of the infrastructure on the Gulf Coast, mainly levees and wetlands. The fires of Brooklyn are at best the result of similar deliberate neglect by the Republican Bloomberg administration that closed our firehouses. At worst it is an example of criminal acts by people who want to profit from Brooklyn’s loss. At a bare minimum we need our firehouses back. But we also need a thorough investigation into why Brooklyn is burning.
posted by mole333 | 9:14 PM
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