www.rumur.com/protest

We shot a great deal for the film yesterday and threw together this short piece for the NY Times Local blog. We kept it as even handed as we could.

It was a very sad day.

From DDDB-

On Thursday, March 11...
Join Our Groundbreaking to Bury the Soul of Brooklyn
Then Protest Ratner's Ceremonial Groundbreaking
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Many of us are angry, no...mad, and lots have already said, "I'll be there."

THIS IS THE MOMENT to express your anger and outrage:

Take off work or take a long lunch to express all of your anger and outrage about the abusive, destructive, and corrupt Atlantic Yards project...

Thursday March 11 at 12:30pm
DDDB' Groundbreaking to Bury the Soul of Brooklyn
We will be joined by Bloomberg, Pataki, Spitzer, Paterson, Markowitz and Ratner.
Exact location (in the project footprint) yet to be determined...stay tuned.

Then...
Thursday, March 11. Reportedly 1:30pm
Join us to Protest and Drown Out the Barclays/Ratner Boondoggle Ceremonial Groundbreaking
Exact location (in the project footprint) yet to be determined...stay tuned.

ALL HANDS ON DECK

Next Thursday, March 11th, Forest City Ratner will stage a “groundbreaking ceremony” for the money-losing Barclays Center Arena. We presume it will take place in the Atlantic Yards project site though we do not yet know exactly where. We also presume they will do all they can to keep Brooklynites away from the site and limit our free speech. We are working on that.

Note there will be no groundbreaking for any "affordable housing" and the Barclays Billion Dollar Boondoggle will not house a single Brooklynite.

The ceremony of dirt shoveling politicians will signify the start of prepping to eventually build an arena, not the promised affordable housing Bruce Ratner still claims he is going to build. It is a ceremony to celebrate a money-losing arena and at least 25 years of blight and interim surface parking where a neighborhood once stood.

It is a classic bait and switch.

This is why we ask you to join us this Thursday first at our Groundbreaking to Bury the Soul of Brooklyn, then to loudly protest Ratner’s/Bloomberg's/Markowitz's/Paterson's/Prokhorov's “groundbreaking."

Mr. Ratner apparently doesn’t know Brooklyn very well.

Because by now, he ought to know that Brooklynites are mad, very mad, about his project.

We’re mad that a top-down, developer-driven, Big Brother-style project has been billed as “involving the community.”

We’re mad that our city laws have been overridden and our democratic city land use review process has been bypassed and subverted.

We’re mad that billions of dollars that belong to taxpayers will be wasted on a folly whose prime beneficiary will be Bruce Ratner.

We’re mad that the unelected, unaccountable Empire State Development Corporation has abused eminent domain for the benefit of a private real-estate project.

We’re mad that 22 acres at the heart of Brooklyn, including city streets, private homes and businesses, and publicly owned land are being given to Ratner in a no-bid, no-vote deal, granting him a land monoply at the Borough's crossroads.

We’re mad that publicly owned land is being awarded to the lowest bidder, in a faux bidding process, by the unelected, unaccountable Metropolitan Transportation Association, the same MTA that has neglected to properly maintain the Vanderbilt Railyards so Bruce Ratner can claim “blight.”

We’re mad that public money is being wasted on a frivolous, money-losing arena while public transportation, schools, infrastructure and social services go wanting.

We’re mad that our own elected representatives, like Tish James and Velmanette Montgomery, have been ignored by the powerbrokers in Albany and City Hall who try to hide their cronyism by saying that they know what’s best for Brooklyn.

We’re mad that for all the phony Brooklyn and Dodgers nostalgia pushed by Bruce Ratner and his supporters, the naming rights for the arena have been sold to a British bank with a sordid past while Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov and Bruce Ratner pocket all the money.

We’re mad that a project that will do nothing but cause blight has been falsely sold as blight removal.

We’re mad that public streets are being closed and discredited superblock designs are taking their place.

We’re mad that Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson have continued to keep their head in the sand about this boondoggle.

We’re mad that the ESDC railroaded through a sham environmental review, ignoring comments from thousands of citizens and telling Brooklyn residents that we’ll just have to deal with the project’s many unmitigable adverse impacts.

We’re mad that Bruce Ratner has told us that his out of scale, out of character project is what’s best for Brooklyn, when we know much better.

We’re mad that Bruce Ratner and his political supporters have exploited the housing crisis in New York City to sell the public a project that will cause instant gentrification (if it is ever built) and cause the displacement of thousands of lower-income residents, while never fulfilling its affordable housing promises.

And on and on and Etc.

It is greatly important for all those who oppose Atlantic Yards and its abuses, whether you have been involved in the fight against the project to any degree or not at all, to come out to this protest and demonstration.

Let the political dignitaries who have allowed this corrupt project to proceed hear and know of your opposition and anger.

Let them know that they are not getting away with this unnoticed. Let them know that WE, the people, are angry and watching…. very closely.

If you, too, are mad about this miscarriage of justice and abuse of our political system, taxpayer dollars, about this irresponsible, unsustainable boondoggle, about this Land Grab, join us this Thursday from 12:30 onward to express your anger.

Bring your signs, slogans, posters, effigies and noisemakers—drum, horn, trumpet, kazoo, a pot, a whistle—make some noise, and let Bruce Ratner and his political cronies know that Brooklyn is mad as hell, and we’re not taking it sitting down or quietly.

(More to come as details emerge about the event. Please check back at www.dddb.net/upcoming for more details on precise locations for the two groundbreakings.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

This is a nice short that focus's on Freddy's bar- which is slated to be demolished for the arena- but not without a fight.

Our good friend JL Aronson has been working on a film about the changes at Coney Island. His project is here- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JLAronson/last-summer-at-coney-island-documentary...

I thought that those of you who are interested in the history and future of Brooklyn might also be interested in this project

Today Judge Gerges transferred title of the remaining properties in the Atlantic Yards footprint to the ESDC who will lease the entire project site- including the now de-mapped city streets - for $1.

The press has had a field day with the story - and you can see most of the missives at www.nolandgrab.org

Dan and Shabnam knew this day was coming and handled it all very well.

There is one strong lawsuit, which should be decided this week, that could throw a major wrench in the works. Several groups including sued to stop the adoption of the amended project plan (approved in September) because they felt it needed to have a new environmental review. If the judge agrees......

We want to thank The Video Association of Dallas (videoFest), The Dallas Film Society, and the Lone Star Film Society - as well as the Magnolia Theater- for hosting the best rough cut screening we've ever had. Often times just seeing the film with an audience clarifies what works and what doesn't. It was great to see it with an audience for that reason, but the feedback was also extremely useful. Bart Weiss, who pulled it all together, wrote about the event - http://www.kera.org/blogs/culture/2010/02/18/2-docs-2-nights-2-much-to-be-worried-about/

We're back in the office working away with renewed vigor and focus.

We've also got the t-shirts in - so our packages are going out.

Thanks again for all of the support.

Michael, Suki, David

We have a rough cut screening set up in Dallas at the Magnolia Theater- Feb 16th 7:30
With the support of Dallas video fest- Dallas Film Festival - and Dallas film society we'll be screening a full length version of the rough cut to get feedback. If you or anyone you know is in Dallas we'd love to have you there. The last half of the film is still pretty rough but it's invaluable for us to have the opportunity to show it to an audience to get a sense of how it's working. It will be especially good to show the film to people who don't know very much about the story.

The ending of the film isn't there because the story continues. A week ago Friday a hearing took place -at which the judge was expected to transfer title of the properties to the esdc. He didn't as he said he had to review the papers... so the story continues.

We apologize for the delay in getting out rewards. We are having the T-shirts custom printed and trying to round up copies of Horns and Halos. These rewards should go out shortly

Thanks again for all of the support.

We got a lot of great feedback from our Dec 10 screening. We made a number of changes in response to the feedback and feel that the first 30 minutes works much better now. Thanks everyone

We have also continued to shoot. Unfortunately, on Dec 23, the state and the developer held a master closing, and hours later Daniel and the other property owners were served with papers, initiating the formal takings process. They continue to fight for their homes and businesses. Over at Freddy's prohibition era bar they are fighting fast and furious. Over the last few weeks they have:
1. Installed chains on the bar to handcuff themselves in case there is a standoff. The ESDC quickly responded that they would dragged off by force. Way to go government!!!!
2. Built a 9 ft beer can guillotine to kill eminent domain
3. Arranged a big boycott event for this weekend at Freddy's. Look for Steve de Seve and Donald O'Finn on Fox and Friends this Monday.

I'm updating this post because it was pointed out that I made it seem that the fight was over. It is far from over and I want to correct that.

- On another note- The NY POST named the AY story the most important Brooklyn story of the decade
http://www.nypost.com/p/brooklyn_top_stories_of_the_decade_kQFJVanQWQ7ImagKgxU3YO

Also,in breaking news- FCR's other big NY area project - Ridge Hill- in Yonkers (just north of the city) - made headlines today when several city officials were indicted for corruption charges related to the project.... maybe FCR is next
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/01/forest-city-ratner-unnamedunindicted.html

Thanks again for all of your support.

Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, David Beilinson

Norman Oder covered our fantastic screening/ panel discussion event -
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/12/battle-of-brooklyn-film-prompts.html
we filmed the discussion and should have it online in the coming weeks.

It was great to see the first section of the film on the big screen with a big crowd. We got a lot of feedback and have already made a lot of small changes that help significantly.

In not so good news. Forest City Ratner sold their tax free bonds today which will be used to pay for part of the arena. They had to sell them before Dec 31 because the IRS declared PILOTS (payments in lieu of taxes) illegal but allowed Ratner to grandfather their issue.

DDDB continues to fight the project.

REMINDER- SCREENING- FIRST 30 MINUTES OF THE FILM

December 10, 2009 at 7 P.M.
Cantor Center at New York University
36 East 8th Street
New York, New York 10003
Doors Open at 6:45 P.M.
Followed by panel discussion on eminent domain in New York City.

The screening--a sneak peak at the first portion of the film--will be followed by a panel discussion about the use and abuse of eminent domain in New York, featuring:

Mindy Fullilove, PhD, professor at Columbia University and author of Root Shock
William Stern, former CEO of New York State's Urban Development Corp.
Daniel Goldstein, lead plaintiff, Goldstein v. Empire State Development Corp.
Michael Galinsky, producer, Battle of Brooklyn
Norman Siegel, civil rights attorney
Robert McNamara, attorney, Institute for Justice

Excited and overwhelmed. That's how we feel right now. Your enthusiasm has inspired us, and we are extremely grateful that you chose to support this project.

373 of you stepped forward with $25,507 and pledged to help us finish Battle of Brooklyn. Getting to meet so many interesting and like-minded backers has made this Kickstarter campaign priceless. It was nail-bitting to the very end, and like the story at the heart of this film proves anything is possible with the help of communities who care about each other.

December 10th we're holding a private preview screening of the first thirty minutes and we hope those of you in New York can attend.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rumur/battle-of-brooklyn/posts/3891

In the next few days we'll update you on our next steps with the project and will send out your respective rewards.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Stay tuned...

Mike, Suki, David

We have been editing pretty much full time for over a year- and for the previous five years we logged tapes- and did minor editing. It's hard to put together a story when you don't have the end.

The following is one version of the opening of the film that we put together. When working on a film, one of the things you have do often is "kill your darlings." One has to be able to take out some of the best scenes if they don't serve the larger goal of telling the best overall story. My partner Suki just pointed out that one way to deal with doing this is to avoid looking back. It's difficult to let things go - but it's nice to be able to share them in this way.

Thank you all again for your support.

michael, David, Suki

I know that many of the people pledging to our film have done so without a lot of background information on the Atlantic Yards Project.

It's kind of hard to believe, but when we started shooting, blogs were just beginning to become a part of mainstream culture. However, blogs grew to have a major impact on the story and the project. I wanted to point you to three of them as they can quickly bring you up to speed if interested.

Atlantic Yards Report was started by journalist Norman Oder as a response to what he thought was terrible coverage by the NY Times. It has grown into THE source of original reporting on the project. Last May Mr. Oder posted this primer. His reporting is much more in depth than any other coverage of the project and is now read by most journalists covering the story. Just yesterday he broke a story about the ESDC possibly floating an extra 400 million dollars in bonds for the project.

nolandgrab is currently run by Lumi Rolley, Eric Mcclure, and Steve Soblick (researching the founders right now). Each day the site compiles all of the news that touches on the story. The site has been very supportive of our kickstater efforts- and it's one of the first things I check each morning. I can't keep up with Norman Oder and they do a good job of paraphrasing his posts.
DDDB.net is the website of the primary opposition group. Like nolandgrab this site compiles news and analysis- but it also has alternative plans - and loads of important information.

With a 2 hour movie it is going to be impossible for us to cover the complexities of the story- including the imapct of the blogs. We'll be working on a very dense website that will work to include these aspects of the story. The same is true with a short blog post. I also wanted to ad Noticing New York, another blog that had done a great job of getting to the truth about the story from an ex-insder's perspective.

Here's a tv news story about the project that aired on CBS tonite. They were gracious enough to allow us to film as they put it together. We like to film as media covers a story because it allows us to both convey important information- and give viewers a sense of how these events affect the characters lives.