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John Kerry was born on December 11, 1943, at Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where his father Richard, who had volunteered to fly DC-3’s in the Army Air Corps in World War II, was recovering from a bout with tuberculosis. Not long after Sen. Kerry’s birth, his family returned home to Massachusetts.
A graduate of Yale University, John Kerry entered the Navy after graduation, becoming a swift boat officer, serving on a gunboat in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat.
By the time Senator Kerry returned home from Vietnam, he felt compelled to question decisions he believed were being made to protect those in positions of authority in Washington at the expense of the soldiers carrying on the fighting in Vietnam. Kerry was a co-founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America and became a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War – Morley Safer would describe him as “a veteran whose articulate call to reason rather than anarchy seemed to bridge the gap between Abbie Hoffman and Mr. Agnew’s so-called `Silent Majority.'” In April 1971, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he asked the question of his fellow citizens, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) thanked Kerry, then 27, for testifying before the committee, expressing his hope that Kerry “might one day be a colleague of ours in this body.”
Fourteen years later, John Kerry would have the opportunity to fulfill those hopes – serving side by side with Sen. Pell as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But in the intervening years, he found different ways to fight for those things in which he believed.
Time and again, Kerry fought to hold the political system accountable and to do what he believed was right. As a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Kerry took on organized crime and put the number two mob boss in New England behind bars. He modernized the District  attorney’s office, creating an innovative rape crisis crime unit, and as a lawyer in private practice he worked long and hard to prove the innocence of a man wrongly given a life sentence for a murder he did not commit.
In 1984, after winning election as lieutenant governor in 1982, Kerry ran and was elected to serve in the United States Senate, running and winning a successful PAC-free Senate race and defeating a Republican opponent buoyed by Ronald Reagan’s reelection coattails.
Like his predecessor, the irreplaceable Paul Tsongas, Kerry came to the Senate with a reputation for independence – and reinforced it by making tough choices on difficult issues: breaking with many in his own party to support Gramm-Rudman Deficit Reduction; taking on corporate welfare and government waste; pushing for campaign finance reform; holding Oliver North accountable and exposing the fraud and abuse at the heart of the BCCI scandal; working with John McCain in the search for the truth about Vietnam veterans declared POW/MIA; and insisting on accountability, investment, and excellence in public education.
Sen. Kerry was reelected in 1990, again in 1996, defeating the popular Republican Governor William Weld in the most closely watched Senate race in the country, and in 2002. Now serving his fourth term, Kerry has worked to reform public education, address children’s issues, strengthen the economy and encourage the growth of the high- tech new economy, protect the environment, and advance America’s foreign policy interests around the globe.
John Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry. He has two daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa. Teresa has three sons, John, Andre, and Christopher. Senator Kerry lives in Boston.
Defending the American Homeland
The most basic responsibility of government is to provide for the common defense. The Bush Administration has provided too little support, too little leadership, and too little vision for the common defense of our homeland. John Kerry has the courage to roll back George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can invest in homeland security.
John Kerry believes we shouldn’t be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them in Brooklyn. Our first defenders should never come in last in the budget. Firefighters are first up the stairs and John Kerry believes they deserve to be first in line when we decide our spending priorities.
America needs a new strategy for homeland security that asks Americans to do more and take steps as big as the threats we face. We need to put our faith and trust in the people on the frontlines – and back it up with real resources. We need to make sure first defenders have the gear and support they need, and the benefits and protections they’ve earned. Kerry has a six-point plan to ensure that we are safer, stronger and more secure on our own soil.
A New ‘Era of Opportunity’
for Small Business.
Small businesses are the engine of the American economy but they have been suffering under George W. Bush. Over the past two years, the number of small business closures has been greater than the number of small business openings. As the former chairman and current ranking member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, Kerry has been a national leader in promoting small business growth. Kerry owned his own small business, a cookie and muffin shop – Kilvert and Forbes – that he opened in 1976 with a friend in Boston’s Quincy Market, giving him firsthand experience of the obstacles faced by small business owners. As president,   Kerry will bring the lessons of owning and working in a small business and his leadership fighting to support small businesses in the Senate to the White House.
Restoring Jobs and Rebuilding Our Economy
George W. Bush has chosen tax cuts for the wealthy and special favors for the special interests over our economic future.  Kerry’s priority will be middle class families who are working hard to cover the mortgage, pay the high cost of health care, child care and tuition, or just trying to get ahead.
The first thing  Kerry will do is fight his heart out to bring back the three million jobs that have been lost under George W. Bush. He will fight to restore the jobs lost under Bush in the first 500 days of his administration. Kerry has proposed creating jobs through a new manufacturing jobs credit, by investing in new energy industries, restoring technology, and stopping layoffs in education.
Kerry has a plan to secure America’s economic future and ensure that workers can achieve the American dream in our changing economy  Kerry has the courage to roll back Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can invest in education and health care. He isn’t afraid to crack down on corporations that are hiding their money in Bermuda to avoid paying their fair share and will end special tax giveaways to companies that ship jobs abroad. And he will defend the rights of workers, consumers and shareholders in holding corporations accountable for their actions.

John Edwards was born in Seneca, South Carolina, and raised in Robbins, North Carolina, a small town in the Piedmont. There, John learned the values of hard work and perseverance from his father Wallace, who worked in the textile mills for 36 years, and from his mother, Bobbie, who ran a shop and worked at the post office. Working alongside his father at the mill, John developed his strong belief that all Americans deserve an equal opportunity to succeed and be heard.
A proud product of public schools, John became the first person in his family to attend college. He worked his way through North Carolina State University where he graduated with high honors in 1974, and then earned a law degree with honors in 1977 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For the next 20 years, John dedicated his career to representing families and children hurt by the negligence of others. Standing up against the powerful insurance industry and their armies of lawyers, John helped these families through the darkest moments of their lives to overcome tremendous challenges. His passionate advocacy for people like the folks who worked in the mill with his father earned him respect and recognition across the country.
In 1998, John took this commitment into politics to give a voice in the United States Senate to the people he had represented throughout his career. He ran for the Senate and won, defeating an incumbent.
In Congress, Senator Edwards quickly emerged as a champion for the issues that make a difference to American families: quality health care, better schools, protecting civil liberties, preserving the environment, saving Social Security and Medicare, and reforming the ways campaigns are financed.
As a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Edwards has worked tirelessly for a strong national defense and to strengthen the security of our homeland. He has authored key pieces of legislation on cyber- bio- and port-security.
Senator Edwards and his wife Elizabeth, whom he met when both were law students at Chapel Hill, were married in 1977. They have four children including their eldest daughter, Catharine, a student at Princeton University; five-year-old Emma Claire, and a three-year-old son Jack. Their first child, Wade, died in 1996.

“Cities are the centers of American life, but they are also sites of the most concentrated inequalities in America. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty. In 2001, George W. Bush declared war on opportunity by shifting the tax burden from unearned wealth onto work and leaving our cities behind.” Senator John Edwards
Supporting Civil Rights And Equal Opportunity For All Americans
Senator Edwards grew up in the South, in a small town in rural North Carolina. He knows how important it is that we not go backwards in the cause for civil rights. He was brought up to believe in an America where we embrace and lift up everybody, no matter who you are, no matter who your family is, no matter what the color of your skin.

Dana Berliner
Institute for Justice, Washington, D.C.

Excerpts from the Keynote Address at the Seventh Annual New York Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA, October 18, 2003)
Property rights are fundamental to the American system and they are really the foundation of all freedom. Yet people tend to treat them in a way that reflects their thinking that property rights are sort of dry and not as important as what are perceived as personal rights, like the right to be free of discrimination or the right to speak freely. But property rights are civil rights just as much as those things are civil rights. There is nothing that touches people more personally than their home and their business, and that’s what property rights are all about. They tend to get talked about in this very large corporate way, but I think what all of you know is they are really personal. It’s a question for some people whether they can build or whether they cannot build, whether they can keep people off of their land, whether they can continue to live in their home, and these are very personal rights and that is something I think that needs to be recognized.
Today I am going to talk, not surprisingly, about eminent domain, which is one of my major areas of litigation at the Institute for Justice.
Eminent domain is the power of government to take land. It is something that has existed at least since Roman times, and it is considered a pre-constitutional power, but the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of every state placed two limits on the use of the power.
Those two limits are that property can only be taken for public use and property can only be taken with just compensation. Those are the two constitutional limits…
Eminent domain has always been called the “despotic power” because it is the power of the despot. It is the power to throw you out on your ear. For that reason it was intended to be very much limited. Now, over time the constitutional protection of public use has eroded, just like a lot of other constitutional protections have eroded as government has grown and gained more
and more power over our lives.
We have been getting calls about the issue of eminent domain since 1996, and I honestly think we are up to about 200 a year on the issue of eminent domain….
Let’s consider New York.  Unfortunately for all of you, New York is the worst state in the entire country for abusing the power of eminent domain. And it is the worst in a number of different ways.
It has some of the most condemnations for private parties. It came out to about 146 threatened or were actually condemned.
The courts in New York are utterly deferential about eminent domain. They will sanction anything, and I think you have been hearing today in the legal session about other situations where the New York courts just do not care when people’s rights are blatantly violated.  Now, I do think that the changes that are happening judicially will come to New York, but they are not coming soon unless something radical changes.
New York has some of the most spectacular failures of eminent domain projects.  Two that I know about are in New York City. The New York Stock Exchange wanted to build and the court said, hey, no problem. Take those people’s businesses. Take those apartment buildings. We don’t care. Good idea. The New York Stock Exchange is important. We can’t let them move to New Jersey. Well, the New York Stock Exchange didn’t move. So all of the people in the apartment buildings left, the businesses closed, and then there was no building. So then they had to start facing this. It was just a mess, with huge payments by New York, by the Empire State Development Corporation and the city, to try to make it up to the owners and compensate them. It is a disaster.
There was another one on Friday, as you, I am sure, have heard about. The Empire State Development Corporation, again, was condemning a whole bunch of businesses for a new New York Times headquarters, and those people who owned the businesses fought. They lost. The Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, refused to hear it. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear it. So they closed up shop, the businesses ended, and on Friday they announced they don’t have funding for the project.
So they are not going to build it until they find some funding, which could be never or it could be another ten years. So that, too, is another example.
There is nothing there, and that was five years ago. So New York has a spectacularly  high failure rate on its condemnations for private parties.
It has also got the worst eminent domain process in the country in terms of telling the people what is going on. New York’s process is completely Byzantine-like.
You would think, if you get sued, then you can defend yourself. Not in New York. If you get condemned, it is too late to defend yourself. You had to do it anywhere from a month to ten years earlier, because there is a 30-day window where you can challenge the public use of condemning your property and they don’t tell you when it is.
They don’t send you a notice about it. The only thing that you can do to find out, at this point, is if you hear about the public hearing, go and afterwards check the legal notices section every day for the next three months and you will find out when your 30-day window is, although it won’t say 30-day window. It will tell you there has been a determination and findings and that is when your 30-day window starts.
It is the craziest system I have ever seen and I have seen some really bad ones. This is something, actually, that we have a constitutional challenge to and the case had been itself mired in a lot of procedural difficulties for about the last two years.
Two weeks ago, the Second Circuit revived it; so now I think I am finally going to get a decision on whether that system is constitutional, and it clearly isn’t. So hopefully, you will get something changed about that.
There had been a proposal this year in the New York legislature to change it and at least tell people about the 30-day window. It passed unanimously in the Assembly and the Senate, and Pataki vetoed it.
He said it was too expensive to let people know about their rights by having to mail them, and find out who they were to mail them. Perhaps that will change another year.
Is there any hope on the horizon for New York? On the distant horizon in terms of the courts.I don’t think that you can count on them at this point, certainly not on the state courts. But the judicial tide is turning in other parts of the country. There is starting to be a lot more decisions striking down condemnation where the beneficiary is a private party.
The main thing that is really changing around the country is the degree of activism against eminent domain abuse. The thing that you are hearing so much about today is the importance of activism. That is so true.
Because we were hearing about so many cases, we actually formed a group just for the purpose of providing information and support to activists against eminent domain abuse. It is called the Castle Coalition. It is at castlecoalition.org as in “Your home is your castle.” There is practical information on the web site about how to go about fighting as well as questions to ask your lawyer, things to find out from your government.  How to do FOIA’s.  It is meant to be a how-to for people who are fighting against eminent domain abuse.
The message throughout is that the second that you hear that something might be going on, you have got to get in gear, because the main way these days that these projects are getting defeated is through activism. Frankly, that is something that surprised me. Being a lawyer, I hadn’t really thought about that possibility. It was after we saw three different communities successfully fight off projects that had been done deals, completely locked up, and yet they were killed, that we began to realize that activism was something that truly could change the world on this.
There was a situation in Baltimore County where there was a deal for a private development and they were getting rid of businesses, they were getting rid of homes, and the legislature, I think except for two people, voted for it and the Baltimore Sun was in favor of it. Everybody who was anybody was in favor of that, and they got it on the ballot and it was overwhelmingly defeated.
Basically, everybody in power loves eminent domain. It doesn’t matter if they are Republican or Democrat. Once they are in power they like it, they want to be able to use it to give benefits to their friends. And everybody who is not in power does not like it!
Any ordinary person with just a home or a business, and not connected enough to really be somebody, can’t stand the use of eminent domain for private parties. So when you are able to tap into that, you can get a lot of public opposition.
Most people don’t know about it. Most people think government will only take property for a road, a bridge, public school, but they won’t do it for a shopping mall. They won’t do it for a private office building.
And that is just not true. They will. They will try, and the only way often and certainly in New York, is to stop it by fighting in the public sphere.
One of the examples that I was particularly impressed with was actually in New Rochelle. There was a community that was getting condemned for an Ikea, and the community was not particularly wealthy. It was actually sort of an odd mix of small industrial uses and homes, and, nonetheless, everybody knew each other, everybody was friends. They would help each other, borrow each other’s stuff, just very close knit, and there were people who had lived there for 50 years and businesses that had been there for 50 years. It was a perfect location right on the highway. Ikea thought it would be great. The city thought they would like the tax dollars from Ikea a lot more than they would like the tax dollars from these working class homeowners, and they cut a deal. Ikea bought up from people who were willing to sell, bought up more than half of the property, and it seemed like it was unstoppable.
But these people organized like you would not believe. They did it really noisily and creatively, and that is part of the trick. You have got to be really loud about your objections, not in volume but in terms of visibility. I realize that is a mixed metaphor, loud in terms of visibility, but flashy in terms of visibility. They enlisted unlikely supporters. They got the neighboring towns to help them out.
They found some random professors at different universities to help, and they did really colorful demonstrations. They organized a demonstration where everyone they knew would drive around the town showing what the increase in traffic was going to be. They picketed the Swedish consulate.
They did all of these just really creative and newsworthy kinds of demonstrations against it, and-Ikea gave up. They just couldn’t take it anymore… So they were incredibly effective, and that is what you need to do.
In the longer term, I think there is some potential for changing this politically. The New York legislature is probably not going to be the place to start. Pataki was going to veto a bill that just told you about your rights. He is certainly not going to approve a bill that actually gives you some rights.
But there is political potential at the local level. Some cities have actually forgone the power of eminent domain or taken the power of eminent domain away from redevelopment agencies, and that is something that you can work on in your own town if you are not in the middle of one of these acute battles.
But especially if you win one, right when it is over is the perfect time to get rid of the power, because then everyone is exhausted and they have just been through this sort of big dramatic thing. So that can be a good time to do it.
You really just need to also educate people about it, because, as I said, most people don’t know this can happen, and most people really are disturbed when they find out it can happen. The forces in favor of eminent domain are very strong on the part of the government. It is financial, both in that they like to give favors to their friends, and they think it will give them more tax dollars.
For private businesses, those with no scruples in particular, it is the ultimate weapon. If you are trying to do real estate deals and you can just make the other person comply completely with everything you want, then it is a desirable tool. So there are strong forces in favor of it and that’s why it keeps happening. However, there are starting to be forces against it, in some places in the courts, and really everywhere just among ordinary people with a home, a business, who oppose it.
Certainly I believe taking property rights is unconstitutional and it is wrong. It’s got to stop. Some day the courts are going to agree with me, even the New York courts, that it is unconstitutional, but until that time it is your job to make everybody around you recognize that this is going on. Write about it. Tell people about it. When you find out about it, really make a fuss, – and really inform and educate people about just how wrong it is and stop it whenever you can, and together I think we can change this. I think we can change the world.
c 2003 Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. This material may not be broadcast, published, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

The Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project  was announced at Borough Hall this past December and depending on where you live, it is either a boon for Brooklyn or a Sultan of Subsidies= dream come true, or both.  The plan is for Forest City Ratner Companies to build an arena for the NBA Nets, along with phased-in residential units, commercial and retail space and six acres of public space including an open-air, rooftop skating rink and running track.    The estimated $2.5 billion project is said to be primarily privately funded, with what the press release calls, AIncremental revenues (which) will be derived from sales taxes on tickets, food and merchandise sold at the new arena.@
Job Creation, Mayoral Support
According to the release, the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards is projected to bring Amore than 15,000 construction jobs over 10,000 permanent jobs created and/or retained in the commercial offices, 400 permanent jobs at the arena and additional indirect benefits.@
At the press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said,  AOur administration is ready to put on a full-court press for its approval – just as we=re prepared to team up with Forest City Ratner Companies and with the elected officials and people of this borough to bring the Nets to Brooklyn. We=re rooting hard for their success.@
Economic Opportunity For Brooklyn
In a separate interview, Una Clarke, director of the Brooklyn office of the Empire State Development Corporation, voiced support for the project.   Ms. Clarke said  AWe=re all here today to support and endorse the project and concept, and then look at the mitigating circumstances and concerns of  local people who may not understand the scope of the economic opportunity that this is for the borough of Brooklyn.@   Ms. Clarke asserted that; AMy interest is the participation of minority and women-owned construction firms to be able to be subcontractors in the project.  I=m also concerned that when employment comes, that women in particular, who are qualified for positions, will be in there.@ 
Speaking of the Avisionaries@ who conceived the project, Ms. Clarke, whose state-controlled agency used its power of condemnation to assist another Forest City project, the yet-to-be-built new home of The New York Times, was glad  that they had seen fit to include housing as part of the plan.   And regarding the Astiff@, as she termed it, traffic and parking, Ms. Clarke said; AI=m sure that people who study cities and how they work will be able to design it in a way that everything will fit neatly together in downtown Brooklyn.@
Benefits for
communities of color
Asked about how this is going to benefit the African-American and Latino communities in Brooklyn, Assemblyman Roger Green said, AThe challenge is going to be to put together a formulation that includes opportunities on the investment side, some affirmative- action proscriptions, project labor agreements and enhanced educational services for the project.  If we get that, then I think it=ll be a good thing.@  The assemblyman noted that businessman Bernard King, former basketball player and former resident of Fort Greene Houses, is going to be investing in some of the commercial buildings with his brother Albert.  AJay- Z, who comes out of Marcy Houses, may be one of the partners in the Nets as well,@ he added.
The assemblyman said that ALondel Macmillan is going to be our point person in these negotiations.   Londel started out as a sports agent, he=s on the cover of Black Enterprise this month, he=s going to be the lead person in the negotiations for the African-American and Latino- elected officials as we put our menu of issues together.@
Speaking of how her constituents would view this project, City Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D/WFP), who=s 34th Council District covers Williamsburg and Bushwick, was of the opinion that; AThis is perhaps the revitalization plan we need for Brooklyn, to spearhead job development opportunities and residences that are badly needed.   We need the players to come together and unite all the elected officials and create a package that can deliver to the people of Brooklyn.@ 
Councilman Kendall Stewart (D- 45th CD) added, ANow that we have people at the table there is no doubt that young Black people will have an opportunity to see history in its making and be part of this in terms of economics, in term of opportunity, education, services and that is very good for all of us.  Even the homeowners around the area, their property value will escalate.@ 
Potential is there, but…

Bedford Stuyvesant Councilman Al Vann,(D- 36CD), said he didn=t know yet if the project was a good thing for his community.  AWhat they project in terms of jobs being available, of housing being available for low- income people, all of that sounds good and of course whenever you have that kind of economic stimulus, it can have a tremendously powerful impact on Bed-Stuy and beyond.@  Councilman Vann went on to say that he reserves his personal decision on it, but AI do recognize the possibility and the potential.  When we have an opportunity to have a different kind of meeting with the Ratners and the people involved, then I will be able to speak more publicly about it.  But I know if you=re not in at the beginning of the equation, you won=t be in at the finish.  So before we put our imprimatur on this project, we have to see that we, the community, African and Latinos are there from the beginning to the end.@

Objections to arena project
AThis project is a bad idea,@ said Councilwoman Tish James of the 35th District where the project is located.   Ms. James was speaking at a community forum held at the Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church.  Declaring her support for residential Ahousing, housing, housing@,commercial and community-centered development including recreational programs for young people, Ms. James is opposed to the arena component and the size of the envisioned complex.  
Health and community impact concerns
Citing health concerns, Councilwoman James says the 19-20,000 seat arena would add to the traffic density and air pollution.  AWith the high rate of asthma and other respiratory problems already in the community, this project has serious environmental concerns.@ 
Speaking of what she called the Adisruption to the character of a vibrant community@, what the councilwoman found Aparticularly offensive,@ was Athe exercise of eminent domain in taking private land, homes and places of business, for a private commercial development.   Eminent domain is supposed to be used for public projects, not for private developers.@
Public financing an issue
Then there are the tax dollars used in the project.  AWe just had a property tax increase, and at a time when the schools are crumbling, they=re closing firehouses, and services are being cut back, this is not the best use of public resources.@ 
The public financing Ms. James refers to is Atax increment financing;@ a method of financing a project that uses the increase in tax revenue generated by the project to pay for the costs of development.  (See AWhat is a TIF? page 8)
On the issue of jobs created, Ms. James said that she has looked at arena projects in other cities and there is no real evidence of net job gain.   She added that most of the jobs created will be at the low end of the wage scale.   (The arena is also not a very efficent job-producer, providing a job for every 2,000sq. ft. while the commercial space provides a job for every 216.7sq. ft.)
 Francis Byrd, Democratic District Leader and State Committee person for the 57th Assembly District,said that the scope and magnitude of the project was a major objection.  Mr. Byrd said that canvassing by the Prospect Heights Action Coalition has shown that over a thousand people with homes and businesses would be displaced.  AWe have to see what we can do as  a group to stop this project.@
Explaining her stance on the project, Ms. James asserted that AThis is not a payback for Prospect Heights voting overwhelmingly to put me into office.  As I stood on the corner looking at the railroad tracks, I don=t think it makes sense.  It goes against the character of the community.  I think it=s going to destroy Prospect Heights and Fort Greene and divide the two communities.  These are young communities with a lot of children.  And I don=t believe you want to live in residential towers taller than the Williamsburg Bank Building or an arena in your backyard.   You want better schools, more day care, some character in the community, some commercial, some retail and we need more housing. 
AEminent domain requires legislation which means they have to go to the state legislature or the city council.  I=m not prepared to accept this and I don=t want to hear any further discussions about; >Well, when are you moving?  When can we begin negotiations with Ratner?=@
AThey  tell you  it is private financing but that=s not true at all.  Tax Increment Financing are funds that should be going to city coffers to pay for schools and social services.@ 
James says that Ratner has several hurdles to get over.  AFirst; he=s in a war with New Jersey, he still has to buy the team; two, he has to get past some elected officials, eminent domain has to be approved by the state and the city.  Three, he has to get past all of you and a bunch of environmentalists who are very concerned about the impact on the area.@                              
AWe are prepared to fight this.  I am with you and you are with me, we are one.  One shared purpose and one shared common destiny to stop this.@

AI=m here to support our councilwoman,@ said State Senator Velmanette Montgomery.   AShe=s the captain here and I=m an excited soldier,@ Ms. Montgomery warned that there was a disinformation campaign being waged in the press and by some of Aour colleagues who believe what they have been told.@ They believe Athis is going to be a boon to the economic development of Brooklyn.  It=s going to benefit small businesses in the area.  Bring in new jobs and we=re all going to be happy and richer.@  AI don=t know where an arena has added to the economic vitality of a neighborhood ….I think we=re being sold a bill of goods.@
Regarding the misinformation, Senator Montgomery said that her new office in the YWCA building at Third and Atlantic gave her a view of Atlantic, Flatbush and the beginning of Lafayette Avenue.  AAt 3 o=clock; the cars are just parked on all those avenues.@  The senator said there was a report that the people downtown had higher rates of lung diseases. AWell, there=s more to come.@ 
We have to send the message that we will not accept the burden of this  traffic, pollution, and uprooting of our community, to benefit other people.@    I can guarantee you it is not going to be built with private money.  This is an opportunity for a developer to make a lot of money and we should not have to pay for it.@
The Prospect Heights Action Coalition is a neighborhood organization that is investigating the area to be condemned.  Organization member Patti Hagan reported that a census the  PHAC is taking has so far revealed that over a thousand people will be displaced, Aand for many of them, their homes are their businesses.@   Among the businesses, Ms. Hagan lists are a violin maker, a jewelry maker, artists, writers, home care attendants, movers, truck drivers, storage companies, carpenters, canvas stretchers and frame fabricators, and more.   Some of these are multigenerational businesses.  The Atlas Auto Service on Vanderbilt Avenue, for example, has been owned by the Sarno family since 1960. 
ANext door the Privat=s, a Haitian family, has been there for 40 years running World Class Auto.@  Owner  Leslie Privat was raised on Vanderbilt Avenue and is raising his children there now.  AThese are the homes and the businesses that Marty Markowitz and Bruce Ratner want to bulldoze,@ says Ms. Hagan.  AEminent domain is to be used for public purpose only.  In this plan they have only eleven acres  over the train tracks.  An additional ten acres are privately owned.  They want to seize it. During the public comments a supporter of the arena project said she and her friends thought it was a good idea because of the jobs it would bring.  Councilwoman James said the arena will only bring a few hundred Abasically low-skilled and low-wage jobs.@  Ms. James drives home the point about jobs by bringing attention to MetroTech. AYou have a housing development with 75% unemployment right across the street from MetroTech and its been that way since MetroTech was built.  They did not hire from the community. @
Local resident Sue Metzer was of the opinion that Athe content and the process are despicable.@ and that Agovernment has not consulted us anywhere along the way.   We have two elected officials here and we have to support them.  Markowitz has been a traitor to our community, he=s selling our community and he has no right to do that.@   AWe don=t need places to watch the game, we need places where the kids can play the game.   We need subsidized housing, but not towers.   The government has been captured by the private developers so it is political work we have to do.@
Standing like a general calling her troops into action  Ms. James, AThis is not a done deal as of yet.  Do not concede anything to Ratner, the borough president, or any powers that be.  I am not prepared to say we are defeated.   I am prepared to fight this and the question is, >Are you with me?=@   Declaring they were, many signed the committee sheets in the back of the church for  the upcoming fight. If  Bruce Ratner is able to buy the Nets, it will be a tough fight to win.    Reports in The Brooklyn Papers are that the project would be a state imposition that bypasses the city=s Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), allowing no input from the community boards, city council or the City Planning Commission.

 We can=t achieve anything just by talking about the problems.  If you don=t have the answer at your fingertips, give some information as to where to get it and follow up on it. We have to use our library, bcome an expert in that area of interest and make a collective difference.@
Richardson also said  that we must think collectively about everything we do. AWhat we can do collectively can make the difference. It=s not a >me= issue, but a >we= issue. >We= must be economically independent as a collective to stop gentrification.
Richardson covered some crucial the statistics. ALet=s take the Administrative Children=s Services (ACS). The status is 70% black that are taken from their families. There=s the criminal and jail system population which is 85% black and Hispanic.  There=s the U.S. military and the homeless. Both disproportionately black.@
Jerry Muhammad, Nation of Islam, credited Elijah Muhammad with saying that gentrification is a form of genocide. A We=ve lost our property, our lives, and our livelihood through the use of words. If you have the knowledge of selfYthen you become an Aindependent being@ and therefore, refuse to allow white criteria to be the vehicle, which defines who you are. You have a Adependent identity@ when you use something derogatory (ex., nigger) and incorporate it as something good.@
Muhammad stated, AWe must ask for reparations in order to give the Caucasian the opportunity to atone for what they have done. We also want land, because we want full and complete freedom, because we have never been free in AmericaCjust a freed slave. Because they never gave back what they took, the damage done to us keeps us hating ourselves and keeps us from rising as a people.@
Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, president of Shabazz Real Estate emphasized, AWhites are taking over black communities with a process called gentrification. Everyday realestate deals are going on and we are not at the table. We know nothing about it. We must become property owners, we must invest.
AOnce  I spend my money with the white man, that money is gone versus spending money on property. I spent too many years out of the real-estate business.  I was talking black power and making the white man rich. Let=s not think the game is being played fair.@
Shabazz urged, AJoin an anti-gentrification coalition. Get involved and change the political process. Move from being tenants to owning some property. It is not just about gaining an immediate profit. Land is the basis of independence.
AWhen you have equity in the land, you have a much more powerful position. If you don=t deal with politics, politics will deal with you. We should have been on this (gentrification) years ago. Gentrification isn=t over til, it=s over. It only speaks to the urgency of what we have to do.@
Pastor Anthony Mann, Baptist Temple Church, stressed understanding the process of enslavement. AAfrican-American@ is not a word we should be using. We had civilizations long before enslavement.  We have got to stop coming from that Aold-time@ religion.  We must stop looking at others as God and respect each other as individuals.  Who cares about religion! It was given to us to keep us in line.
Pastor Mann also said that we need to stop saying we don=t need therapy. AWe must get into a spiritual realm before we can get into any war. Until we stop being dysfunctional, we can=t make rational decisions. Don=t believe that people with the same color are always with you. We have learned to hate and hurt ourselves on a subconscious level and we have become immune to it. We have to first love one another. This process is not going to be an overnight thing.@
Pastor Mann implored, AOwn something!, Cause it=s going to be valuable. We must own land! We must look at technology and computers. This is a global market. We should not have to ask the white man for nothing!
Minister Kevin Muhammad, Nation of Islam Mosque #7 said, ALand is everything.  Stop buying the jewelry and material things and get some land! You have everything on your ass, but you have no assets.@  Minister Muhammad insisted that, AWe must pool our resources and learn to trust one another. Learn, study and become successful in everything we do.@
Self -examination is what is called for.  AWhat can we offer someone? What can we bring to the table? We need to have something! We have to get into property acquisition now!@ 
Dr. James McIntosh (psychiatry), a student of the late John Henrik Clarke, defined gentrification as corruptive, deceitful and nothing more than colonization.

In his keynote address, Councilman Charles Barron, said the gentrification workshop was Aright on time.@  Councilman Barron doesn=t believe it is a form of genocide as it relates to killing, but does believe re-gentrification or gentrification is another name for racism. AThe white people know many of us can=t afford the high housing prices. Most black people=s income is in the $30,000-$35,000 range. Much of the housing is priced at $600,000 and up, therefore you can=t afford to buy a home. We are never eligible and that is where the racism comes in. They don=t kill youC they just price you out!@ Councilman Barron explains what re-gentrification means. AGentry@ means elite. ARe-gentry@ means to bring back the elite.  Re-gentrification means they were here before and now want it back, whereas gentrification means to move the elite in. The white population wants to come back to the inner cities and reside close to their businesses. This causes a displacement of the people who already reside there. We must fight it! Continue to organize and mobilize (collectively) around this issue. We need the power equation in New York to change because white men have too much power in this city. There needs to be a balance. We must make sure HPD (Housing Preservation and Development) changes their policies regarding affordable housing, quality and availability. Their (HPD) income requirements for purchasing a home are too high.
HPD, which is the largest developer of affordable housing in the nation, has provided over $5.6 billion toward rehabilitation and construction of housing.  (HPD) plans to spend at least a billion more. Half of that funding for should go to low-income people.@

Gentrification  is not an automatic occurrence just because whites and upper- class move in to a lower class or lower income area. There are certain conditions to be met in which gentrification takes place. First, there has to be a displacement of original residents in order to attract those who have a higher standing (elite). This is accomplished by making it unaffordable for the low-income people. Many of the upper-class people are attracted to the area. Second, there has to be a physical upgrading or renovation to increase property value and bring more business into the area or communityC thus attracting more affluent people. Third, there has to be a change in character or flavor in a neighborhood in particular that no longer caters to the original residents, but now caters to a more affluent clientele.
To  understand the reasons why and how something takes place is one thing, but it is truly a genocide to embrace or ignore that which is bringing us down and preventing us from becoming mighty. We must take and hold on to what is rightfully ours and what has been with us for generations. We have come too far to stick our heads in the sand and pray the problem away. We have come too far to be self-important and egotistic. We can=t afford to be.
Artaymis Ma=at