WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 3
Anti-gentrifi cation rally held at Myrtle-Wyckoff Plaza
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
Hundreds of protesters marched
across Brooklyn from Barclays
Center all the way to
the Myrtle-Wyckoff Plaza on the
Ridgewood/Bushwick border over
the weekend during the Brooklyn
Anti-Gentrifi cation Network (BAN)’s
fi rst borough-wide march against gentrifi
cation, racism and police violence.
BAN, a grassroots coalition, organized
the Sept. 9 march to demand
that the city and its leaders fi ght back
against the ongoing gentrifi cation of
areas throughout Brooklyn and the
racism that many residents continue
to face.
“The city has squandered and mismanaged
public assets to enrich developers
while the people they serve
face impoverishing rents and landlord
harassment, loss of small aff ordable
businesses, and crumbling public
transit and parks systems,” BAN said
in their release for the march. “BAN
challenges the de Blasio administration
and politicians who run on
platforms of fi ghting inequality while
perpetuating the tale of two cities.”
Along the route marchers were
heard chanting phrases such as “Hey,
hey, ho, ho, these greedy landlords
got to go,” “Whose city? Our city,” and
“What do we want? Aff ordable housing.
When do we want it? Now” to bring
light to their cause.
During the all-day event, BAN also
held rallies at six locations along the
route in gentrifying neighborhoods
which featured speakers who have
faced rent hikes, landlord harassment,
police violence, and the privatization
of public land in their communities.
The fi nal rally location for the march
was held at the Myrtle-Wyckoff Plaza.
BAN amassed the support of more
than 100 community-based organizations,
local small businesses, tenants
associations, families who have been
impacted by police violence, and local
chapters of national anti-police brutality
groups.
Some of the things the marchers
want to see the city tackle head-on are:
An end to certain rezonings and
deals for public land, tax exemptions,
and subsidies which they claim are
largely favorable to developers;
Investing public funds into the New
York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
in order to maintain it — not privatize
it — and to grow low-income housing
programs;
Enforcement of rent regulations;
An end to what the marchers called
“police suppression of resistance” and
the NYPD’s Broken Windows policing;
Greater protection of small businesses
and jobs by supporting commercial
tenant protections and ending
policies that advance development for
the super-rich; and
The political defeat of city and state
elected offi cials who support major
zoning and development projects that
fuel gentrifi cation.
For more information about BAN,
visit their website at bangentrifi cation.
org.
Photo via Facebook/BANgentrifi cation
Hundreds gathered at the Myrtle-Wyckoff Plaza for the last stop of the
BAN anti-gentrifi cation march.
NYCB ELITE RATE 12-MONTH CD
1.35%
APY1
$500 minimum to open and to earn interest. Get this
NYCB Elite
NYCB Elite Gold Checking account and
maintain $100,000 or more in combined balances2.
1 Annual Percentage Yield (APY) above is accurate as of date of publication and is subject to change without notice. The minimum balance to open the promotional CD and to earn the stated
2
Those not enrolled in NYCB Elite will earn 1.25% APY on the 12-Month CD.