Readers: Listen to the people!
COURIER LIFE, DECEMBER 25-31, 2020 25
Council Speaker Corey Johnson
debuted legislation last week that
would completely overhaul the
city’s land use process, which critics
have long derided as “broken.”
The legislation aims to spur
mutually benefi cial growth after
decades of disinvestment and disparities
in communities of color,
according to the Council speaker’s
offi ce, and would require the city
to come up with a ten-year comprehensive
planning system starting
in 2025.
Readers had a lot to say online:
Wait, what is wrong with “a barrage
of opposition by communities
fearing displacement or harm to
“neighborhood character.””? Why is
“neighborhood character” in quotes?
Why do we need some streamlined
consolidated system to “plan” the city
into yet another cookie cutter developers
paradise like every other city
that gave into these masterminds?
We got that with Robert Moses. I
think we can do without another one
of these hustlers.
MK
What’s really needed is to get rid
of the corruption in the land use
planning. The politicians have to
stop accepting favors in one form or
another from developers who want to
see their luxury condos go up at the
expense of the public. Instead, it’s
time for the politicians to act upon
what the community wants!
We lose precious public assets because
of this corruption. Consider
the ugly way we lost the the important
Brooklyn Heights Library. Consider
that we may also lose the Brooklyn
Botanic Garden, if the luxury condo
at 960 Franklin Avenue, on its perimeter,
gets built and blocks the sunlight
needed for the Garden’s survival!
Who thinks of destroying a library
that served people from all over Brooklyn
and Manhattan? Who thinks of
destroying a Garden that gives peace
and beauty to the thousands and thousands
who treasure its haven? Who?
It’s the greedy developers and the corrupt
politicians who want what they
get from the developers.
Steve Levin betrayed his communities,
went against their wishes,
even though he himself said, on tape,
that 98% of the people he represented
were against the destruction of that
library, and against the luxury
condo that would replace it. It’s time
to start listening to what the people
want, time to stop betraying their
wishes and pretending that it’s being
done for their own good.
Mara.
Crown Heights rezoning
kerfuffl e
A Kings County Supreme
Court Judge struck down the
2018 Franklin Avenue rezoning
on Monday, after a years-long
court battle waged by activists.
The ruling reverses the certifi -
cation of the 2018 rezoning, which
would have allowed for two 16-
story developments at 40 Crown
St. and 931 Carroll St. near the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Readers had plenty to say:
I am happy for the community. NO
REZONING.
Hummingird
None of this would have been necessary
had Alicia Boyd not illegally
blocked CB9’s request for a neighborhood
led rezoning years ago. She
takes credit for fi ghting a problem
she caused. Those of us who proposed
the rezoning wanted to set strict
height limits for the entire neighborhood.
Instead, we get one fi ght after
another. Don’t get me wrong — I’m
glad this project has been halted
(probably temporarily) and that
when it gets going it will be shorter.
BUT it will still be much taller than
anything we would have been able
to get out of City Planning by working
together with them. Keep your
eye on Boyd — she’ll rob your wallet
then come offering to buy you lunch.
QATParkside
Zoom call from hell
The Brooklyn Democratic Party’s
fi rst ever virtual full membership
meeting went off the rails on
Dec. 16, with party bigs miscounting
votes and members pushing
them for more transparency during
a wild 13-hour Zoom call.
The inaugural digital gathering
of the borough party — offi -
cially known as the Kings County
Democratic County Committee —
fell apart after a tabulation error
during a vote on renewing
party rules, which counted more
votes than there are members in
the party in total.
Readers weighed in:
This article is accurate, but
frankly downplays the absurdity of
the Party Leadership’s attempts to
withhold truth and data. There was
fl agrant suppression of all reformminded
voices as well as attempts to
completely erase the vote tally (from
the ONLY real vote we managed to
hold for the fi rst 11 hours) because
the leadership knew they lost. It is
an absolutely baffl ing and disgusting
display from people who are supposed
to be serving their community
and Brooklyn as a whole. A toddler
could have put together a better plot
to manipulate a body of electeds. It
took hours of protest and fi nally relentless
elevated voices to get Carlo
to admit that they could actually provide
the data that they had just spent
6 hours telling us they couldn’t. They
should all be removed from offi ce..
AD 57 CC Member
Good work. But the “negotiation”
at the end to resolve the 12+ hour
meeting happened in private too.
Maybe the only way at that point, but
the best reforms that start like that
need great vigilance....
Brkln Dem
Shameful. Democrats should be
the model of transparency but with
Bill deBlasio’s crony Carlo Scissura
at the helm, transparency, truth,
empathy, oh and did I mention truth,
will be absent. Government should
be in the PEOPLE business and this
crop of Bklyn democrats, with few exceptions,
are a mess. They care only
what real estate lobbyists and real estate
grifters want, against the interests
of real people and the communities
- neighborhoods - where we live.
Thank god for Josh Skaller but the
rest of them? Pffff.
Brooklynite
Pfi zer’s Brooklyn roots
Pharmaceutical company
Pfi zer, which manufactured a
COVID-19 vaccine along with
German-based BioNTech, got its
start in Brooklyn in 1849 and remained
a powerhouse in the borough
for more than 150 years.
The recent arrival of the
COVID-19 vaccine brings Pfi zer
back to the borough where it all
began.
Readers had a lot to say:
I worked in those buildings as a
local #3 Electrician installing various
systems and performing Maintenance
to keep the factory going .
Foptic1
NYC Department of Economic Development
actually gave Pfi zer millions
of dollars in tax breaks to keep
that plant and its jobs in Brooklyn
running. After taking the tax breaks
for several years, they shut down the
plant anyway. It:s called corporate
thievery..
Glenn Krasner
Let’s not forget Squibb.
Norman Richards
All in on the ‘Alliance’
Dear Editor,
I would like to commend Mr.
Maurice Kolodin for writing a very
thoughtful Op-Ed. As an immigrant
from the Former Soviet Union who
loves America, I couldn’t agree more
that all Americans need to come together.
We are living in a society that is
overly polarized and civil discourse
is virtually dead. The idea of “an Alliance
for America” is great because
when we come to the table and work
together we often fi nd that we have
more in common than we tend to believe.
Democrats and Republicans can
and should disagree, but they should
also work together on things that matter
to all Americans who love and care
about this country.
Best,
Inna Vernikov, Esql
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