DUMBO Residents Sold Out

Despite the objection of local Councilmember David Yassky and DUMBO residents, and a paltry few honorable councilmembers including Tony Avella, Eric Gioia, John Liu, and Charles Barron, the New York City Council's Land Use Committee approved Two Trees' Dock Steet DUMBO development on June 5. The project will wipe out the view of Mahhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge from the DUMBO neighborhood. Councilmembers bowed to Speaker Quinn's support and Mayor Bloomberg's bidding of this most recent overdevelopment of New York City. Yassky called for an invesitation due to the fact that a "sweetheart" relationship between the City's School School Contruction Authority and Two Trees has been uncovered by emails, obtained through a FOIA request. This is just another bad deal for New Yorkers, approved by Bloomberg and Quinn. Everyday New Yorkers get the shaft, again, under Bloomberg's watch. Tony Avella's reaction to the vote was that people will walk by and say, "Who the heck allowed this building to get built?" After the vote, DUMBO's Neighborhood Alliance President Gus Sheha lamented, "It's clear that this committee today sold the Brooklyn Bridge."