Sunday, November 13, 2011

Occupy Brooklyn Marches to Atlantic Yards and Other Sites of Corporate Greed

A multi-generational crowd showed up at Korean War Veterans Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn yesterday for the Occupy Brooklyn community event. The Green Party, FUREE and Common Cause joined the Occupy Brooklyn group.

The day included teach-ins about community organizing and the impact of big money on our politics, a hot lunch, performances and a march to sites of corporate greed in Brooklyn, including Atlantic Yards. Speakers said the 1 percent spend their political money to game the system against the 99 percent.

Occupy Brooklyn obtained a permit to exercise their constitutional right to walk on the sidewalk. An amazingly large number of police accompanied them.

Kudos to the cooks!

The march -- powered by a cheerful brass band -- made stops at various sites including Chase Bank, Citipoint, Joy Chatel's house and several Forest City Ratner properties, including Barclay's Center at Atlantic Yards. Speakers said that Atlantic Yards promised thousand of housing units, 8 acres of public spaces, 10,000 jobs, a public school and more in return for their $300 million in subsidies. While about 100 people are employed at Barclay's Center, they said, none of the other promises have been kept.

Noticing New York points out that Ratner's holdings "sit astride a confluence of Brooklyn’s key subway lines and most important subway stations."

More Occupy Brooklyn events are happening today. Here's the schedule.

- Occupy Brooklyn this Weekend, If You Don't Get Run Over

Photos by MK Metz

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

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