Ratner-ProHo discussion on NPR!

Yeah, I'm listening too. But I just woke up and missed the first part. Who is the guest? And why is Brain Lehrer saying that Pheights is around Juniors? If that's what he just said. Again, I just woke up.

This is an ongoing series so you'll be hearing more in the coming weeks. Part I, airing today, is on the impact to the artist community in Prospect Heights.

It will also air tonight on All Things Considered, from 4-6 PM.

The transcript can be found here: http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/56996.

escap wrote: I was called by a polling agency yesterday and asked a bunch of questions about the AY project. Anyone else get this call?

Interestingly enough, I asked them who was financing it and the girl said she didn't have any details but that the sponsoring company was called "PCR". That sound suspiciously like she was misreading "FCR" but I didn't press her.

Having worked for such a polling place in college, I can say that often they're the equivalent of the Jedi Mind Trick. Do you find yourself now thinking that an arena would improve Brooklyn's identity compared to Manhattan? Hmm?

escap,

yes, you received a push poll call:

http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_13/28_13nets1.html

http://www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2006/02/keep_on_pushin.html


btw, nets resigned their lease in nj until 2010. the brooklyn resistance is paying off.

The judge approved the demo on narrow legal technicalities--the plaintiffs made it pretty clear in court that it's a shady abuse of the environmental review system to make it look like the project is proceeding. Probably primarily to keep their investors from getting anymore nervous than they already are.

But more importantly the judge came down hard on Ratner sharing a lawyer with the state agency that approves the project (total conflict of interest), and ordered that lawyer off the job immediately to protect the public interest.

For many of us resisting this project, that's an important victory. We know that the railyards will be developed somehow by someone, and ultimately that should be a good thing for Prospect Heights. But we don't want the process to be blatantly rigged to benefit a handful of rich men who will only ever see this neighborhood when they limo to their skyboxes.

bill c wrote: one of the groups opposing the ratner development, Fans for Fair Play, has called for a boycott of brooklyn brewery products b/c of their unsavory alliance with ratner. there was an article in one of the free newspapers (metro?) about it yesterday and more articles are going to be appearing in the next few days.

more here

I called Brooklyn Brewery today, and they said that they were in favor of bringing the Nets to Brooklyn, but they didn't want anyone to think that they were financially connected to the Ratner. The woman I spoke with seemed to be in favor of some sort of common ground with the pro-community/anti-Ratner/anti-conflict-of-interest crowd. A little prodding from their once loyal customers might make them realize that Ratner isn't the best friend to have in PHeights.

The point of the boycott is to alert Brooklyn Brewery consumers to Steve Hindy's support of the Ratner plan, not to drive him out of business. Hindy has sold a lot of beer to Brooklynites who support his plucky, small-guy business. Hindy knows this, and has ridden this horse successfully. Brooklynites are finding out Hindy's not the pro-Brooklyn guy many thought he was.

In short, Hindy's siding with Ratner goes against Brooklyn Brewery's carefully-crafted identity. It begs the question: has Hindy's "real Brooklyn" veneer been a ruse lo these many years?

Though Brooklyn Brewery has not contacted Fans For Fair Play, it has issued curt and pat responses along two lines -- that Brooklyn Brewery is just a misunderstood small business itself struggling with rising rents, that Brooklyn Brewery has no financial ties or state in the project, and that the Nets will be to Brooklyn what the Dodgers were.

On the first, FFFP has a tubful of crocodile tears for Steve Hindy, who spoke in favor of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint rezoning that is the engine for skyrocketing rents in his nabe.

On the second, BB is an official sponsor of the New Jersey Nets and has thrown events for the team at its Williamsburg location. Clearly, Hindy is counting on a big payday serving his brew in the increasingly unlikely Ratner Arena.

On the third, Hindy's just plain wrong, for reasons of changing times, shifting demographics, new culture, the type of ownership, the story of the home stadium/arena, and points in history of race, immigration and assimilation.

If Hindy wants to sell more beer to Brooklynites of every stripe, he'll make a bold, brave and admirable statement withdrawing his support for Ratner's luxury apartment skyscrapers.

That's all that FFFP and concerned Brooklyn Lager customers ask: that Hindy actually embrace and live by the ideals his company claim to believe in.

"The point of the boycott is to alert Brooklyn Brewery consumers to Steve Hindy's support of the Ratner plan, not to drive him out of business."

If you succeed in raising awareness, yet the brewery continues to sell its products, then what has the boycott accomplished? If it doesn't affect his bottom line, he's not going to change anything about himself or the way he conducts business.

qtrain wrote: [quote=Jack Krohn]If you succeed in raising awareness, yet the brewery continues to sell its products, then what has the boycott accomplished?

Without arguing whether the boycott will have an impact or not, a company that relies heavily on brand identity for competitive advantage may be just as concerned with consumer redefinition of that brand than with a temporary decrease in sales.

Sure, "may be", but only because anything is possible. Seriously, I cannot see this boycott having any effect whatsoever on how the brewery's products are viewed or how much money they make. Unless you hit a businessman in his pocket, he simply won't care. As for consumers, at the end of the day, a cold beer is more important than a protest act.

Jack Krohn wrote: ...at the end of the day, a cold beer is more important than a protest act.

Very true, but at the same time, it's not too much of a sacrifice for someone to reach past the Brooklyn in favor of one of the hundreds of other brands out there. In fact, I may head out to the bar and protest for a few rounds...

It's not unfair at all.

Steve Hindy IS financially supporting the project. He's an official sponsor of the New Jersey Nets.

http://www.nba.com/nets/team/sponsor_page.html That doesn't come for free -- or shouldn't, if Ratner's half the business mogul he claims to be.

Hindy has also paid for events at his brewery in Williamsburg.




Of course Hindy is "beind the Ratner project." Of course he's "a financial supporter."

The publlicity these events and sposorships create is currency in today's business climate. Fiscal outlay is not the point. Hindy is very, VERY publically supporting this thing -- both personally and with the clout Brooklyn Brewery provides. In some circles, BB's newly-minted iconic status gives Ratner a bit of Brooklyn cred he so desperately craves.

Plus, it's naive to think Hindy's only doing this out of the goodness of his hear. If Ratner's monstrosity gets built, Hindy's counting on a big payday. As are ACORN and BUILD, two other sponsors that Ratner's using for cred.

If you disagree with the project, it makes sense not to shop at the Atlantic Terminal Mall, go to Nets games or wear Nets gear, vote for Markowitz, Schumer, Bloomberg, Pataki, Yassky or Roger Green. Some have even stopped shopping at companies like Target and Starbucks that populate Ratner's developments. Why is BB any different?

The boycott is based on more than the fact that "Hindy disagrees with us." He's taking an active and visible role in enabling Bruce Ratner's plans. Hindy, by all accounts, is a smart man. He used to be a reporter for the Associated Press. For two years he's seent he growing community opposition to the Ratner project, and from Develop Don't Destroy to nolandgrab.org to Norman Oder's TimesRatnerReport dispatches to the many white papers that criticize the project, Hindy's had plenty of opportunity to make a decision on which camp to pitch his tent in.

Pitched it he has -- right next to Ratner's.

It's absolutely fair to ask why Steve Hindy's gone down this path.

And honestly, if, as a few have written here, he's really only going to listen to what the bottom line tells him, then he's as bad as any big-biz mogul. In other words, he's no longer the small-biz pro-Brooklyn nice-guy that would demand a different course of action.

If Hindy meets with the communities, hears us out, and does what so many across racial, class, gender and professional lines believe is best for Brooklyn -- come out against the Atlantic Yards project -- then we''ll be the first to buy a frost cold Brooklyn Lager.

It's up to Steve Hindy.

Fair enough, we disagree.

Should we not criticize Markowitz because, as best as we can tell, he's not financially supporting the project? Or the other politicians? Or Bertha Lewis of ACORN? (Lewis, of course, is being fiscally supported by the project, as is BUILD's Marie Louis and James Caldwell.)

As for whether we're getting support...

http://ny.metro.us/metro/yourturn

Again, FFFP doesn't wanna shut Hindy down. Whether his sales figures drop dramatically isn't the point. Getting him to understand his role working for the wrong side is.

Jack Krohn wrote: If you succeed in raising awareness, yet the brewery continues to sell its products, then what has the boycott accomplished?

Without arguing whether the boycott will have an impact or not, a company that relies heavily on brand identity for competitive advantage may be just as concerned with consumer redefinition of that brand than with a temporary decrease in sales.

I see your point - I think I must have interpreted it as support for the boycott. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

I think that Steve Hindy's support of the Nets is an intelligent business decision. As Qtrain's point about brand name makes clear, Steve Hindy will be able to tap a huge market once the stadium is built.

"And because its an intelligent business decision, it is the only choice he has. good point."

Those are your words, Dan, not mine.

Of course it's not the only choice he has, but it's certainly the wisest.