Lupica on Goldstein: "the guy didn't get into this to get rich, he got into this to fight for his neighborhood"
Unlike the nasty New York Daily News editorial board, sports columnist Mike Lupica joins metro columnist Juan Gonzalez in taking a sympathetic view of the settlement to which Daniel Goldstein agreed this week:
(Of course, as noted, after lawyers fees and a finding a replacement apartment, it wasn't close to $3 million.)Daniel Goldstein, of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, held out against the Atlantic Yards project, and Caring Bruce Ratner, longer than you believed anyone ever would.
He was the last guy in the building and the last guy on the block, and it was like being behind enemy lines.
So I'm glad he got his $3 million from Ratner.
I wish it had been more, because the guy didn't get into this to get rich, he got into this to fight for his neighborhood, and that doesn't make you a hustler like Ratner, it makes you a good, tough New Yorker.
To The Editor (letters@nytimes.com)
ReplyDeleteNew York Times
Dear Editor:
With a headline reading "$3 Million Deal Ends a Holdout in Brooklyn"(April 22, 2010) and your reporters gratuitously offered reason that "Mr. Goldstein, the last residential holdout in Mr. Ratner’s way, agreed to walk away from his apartment by May 7 for $3 million", as opposed to a quote as to what actually happened, the NYT has mistakenly made it appear as though his fight against the misuse of eminent domain for a developer driven project was all about money. It was most certainly not.
Moreover, given the opening sentence of the story, that for "For the past six years, Daniel Goldstein has been at the center of just about every rally, house party, concert and lawsuit opposed to the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project near Downtown Brooklyn" we readers have to ask you where was the NYT during these "past six years in covering the "why" as well as the "what" Mr. Goldstein was so busy doing?
The answer is you paid little attention to what and why he was doing all he could to stop The Empire State Development Corp, three NYS Governors, Pataki, Spitzer and Patterson, Mayor Bloomberg -- both Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg you never revealed were longtime close buddies of Bruce Ratner -- from aiding and abetting private developer Bruce Ratner and his company Forest City Ratner, a development partner of the NY Times, which you didn't reveal until years more recent than the beginning of this battle.
Daniel Goldstein was a real "David", a real hero standing up to all the Goliaths on behalf of his thousands of neighbors and contributors, including many from around the country, those many Brooklynites and Americans who disdain and work to stop the misuse of eminent domain when developers drive politicians to okay projects which enrich these same private developers as clearly is the case in Brooklyn today. Mr. Goldstein and his wife selflessly gave up nearly seven years of their lives and their livelihoods to "fight City Hall."
They should be praised by the NY TIMES not criticized with innuendo of self interest when the exact opposite was the case. They stood up for their community, their neighbors, and all opposing unfair use of eminent domain.
Yours truly,
Lawrence J. Goldstein, Daniel Goldstein’s father
________
Daniel H. Goldstein you should be proud.
You fought the good fight.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.