Anti Ratner Rally Draws a Crowd
A tip for any developer wanting to put out publicity material: Make sure your models aren’t completely opposed to your plans.
Actress T. Sahara Meer, above, was recently asked to do a photoshoot for Getty Images, little knowing that her smiling face would grace the cover of a pamphlet for the most controversial development in Brooklyn at the moment: Bruce Ratner’s planned basketball arena and skyscraper complex at the Atlantic Yards.
Needless to say Ms. Meer, who lives in my neighborhood of Prospect Heights, was not pleased when she found out that she was the covergirl for a project she opposed. And today, she was one of almost a dozen speakers, including Steve Buscemi and Rosie Perez, who spoke out against the development at a rally at Grand Army Plaza organized by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
Stay with me all you non-Brooklynites. This is no ordinary nimby story. We’re talking about a massive development covering seven square blocks that includes a Frank Gehry designed 620ft skscraper, almost 7,000 housing units and a 20,000-seater basketball stadium. A plan which, for better or worse, will change this part of Brooklyn irrevocably.
I swore my last experience of demonstrating would be my last. And I went along today more out of curiosity than anything else. I wanted to see if the stoppers had enough support and I was pretty impressed. It was at least 90F today and the official turnout was 4,000. I’d say that’s a little overenthusiastic. Nevertheless, it was still considerable.
The anti-corporate performer Reverend Billy (seen on EiNY before) warmed up the crowd. Unfortunately, his mock evangelical act didn’t go down too well with some of the speakers that followed, especially Rev Dennis Dillon, chief executive minister of The Brooklyn Christian Center Rev. Clinton Miller of Brown Memorial Baptist Church Councilman Charles Barron and activist Bob Law.
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The Rev. Dennis Dillon chief executive minister of The Brooklyn Christian Center Rev. Clinton Miller of Brown Memorial Baptist Church.
If it was fighting words people wanted to hear they will have gone home happy. Here’s councilwoman Letitia James working up the crowd.
Steve Buscemi and Rosie Perez show their support. Buscemi read an amusing poem that will hopefully pop up online in the coming days.
Dan Zanes rounds off the afternoon with a singalong.
UPDATE: More rally coverage at Dope on the Slope, Doughnut, Atlantic Yards Report, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
UPDATE2: Thanks to Norman and Daniel for clarifying Rev. Billy’s detractors.
Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn, Bruce Ratner, DDDB
Destroy, then Develop
@William
Agreed. Every time I leave Manhattan (North, East, West, South, doesn’t matter), I think to myself: The only way to clean up this mess is to demolish and start over. I’ve never understood why people are so excited about Brooklyn. It’s just another dingy, litter-strewn outskirt on par with, say, Albany or Philly moreso than New York.
Well, i suspect that her agency will be a little reluctant to send her out again (as they should)
If she wants to make a “couragous stand” she should be able to do so.
She should, however, be charged full price for that stand against her client (the developer) and Getty (who is her employer)
Being able to use free speech against her employer and its clients does not reduce in any manner the right of those employers and clients to be dissatisfied with her deliberate injury of their interests. Nor their right to express that dissatisfaction in any legal manner to include firing and blacklisting as deliberately damaging the client’s interests after cashing the check.
Er, sounds like NIMBYism to me…
Hey, this country was built on real estate.
J’hn1: Personal images of models fall under a different copyright category. For a similar parallel regarding misrepresentation, I suggest a Google or Yahoo search of “Jessica Alba lawsuit”.
The photos convey the idea that Meer supports the development project. She lives in or near that area, and the project damages HER interests, including personal interests. She now has to explain to her friends and potential employers that she does NOT support the project. She may also be eligible for property devaluation compensation, if the project goes through.
Further, for her employer to sell rights to her image without informing her of how it is used, especially when used against her own interests, could constitute fraud (financial gain through false pretenses).
Suddenly, the financial liability doesn’t look so black-and-white, does it?
JZ: Seven square blocks is enough to include the back yard, the front yard, both side yards, and those of several thousand neighbors.
As far as “clients” and “employers” go: Meer was never paid by Getty or anyone for those pix. She did that so-called “photo shoot” one day in the park as a favor for a friend of a friend who was a photographer. The guy in the photo with Meer was also a friend of hers. They signed a release for the photographer the day of the shoot. Then the photographer later went and sold the pix to Getty. The only thing Meer received was copies of the original pix from the photographer. In the end, it was a favor gone bad.