Alicia Boyd is a fighter. She’s brash. She’s fierce. No time for nonsense. She has been called everything under the sun and that’s okay for this rugged individualist.
Because that’s exactly where she wants her neighborhood to be: always enlightened. And she wants her favorite park, a section of it which could be draped in shadow by a “monster tower” ( if developers have their way), bathing in light.
As we go to press the anti-developer, urban environmentalist, community activist was holding a press conference about yet another win, in and outside the courts. In her challenge to big-moneyed developers who would dare build a tower on Flatbush Avenue — that would “overshadow” Brooklyn’s historic backyard gardens, Boyd says no. She’s represented herself in court, and has continued to score points over the past few years.
But she recently won support of Mayor DeBlasio — a big deal, and more importantly she has the developer on pause. Not so easy to do, as pols in gentrifying Brooklyn already know.
Below is Gothamist’s story outlining the history of this 21st century flowerpower movement and Boyd’s efforts to save the sunshine for the Botanic Gardens.
In Surprise Shift, Mayor De Blasio Says He Opposes Controversial Crown Heights Towers
By Elizabeth Kim
www.gothamist.com
Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced his opposition to the development of a controversial residential project in Crown Heights that had sparked fears of gentrification as well as the casting of plant-killing shadows over the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
For more than a year, housing activists as well as Botanic Garden supporters have protested the plan, known as 960 Franklin. Led by high-profile Manhattan developer Bruce Eichner of Continuum Company, the project seeks to build two 39-story residential towers, both rising above 400 feet, near the perimeter of the Botanic Garden.
“We need to ensure that new developments meet public needs and support our communities,” the mayor said in a statement released to Gothamist on Monday afternoon.