“A spokesman for Ratner didn't immediately return a call for comment.”

Damon W. Root | March 23, 2010

Less than two weeks after New York real estate tycoon Bruce Ratner and his buddies in the state and city governments held their big groundbreaking ceremony for the Atlantic Yards boondoggle, an enterprising Brooklyn protester took matters into his or her own hands this morning by hacking into one of the signs redirecting traffic around the construction site. Photographic evidence first, via Curbed (caution: contains bad language), then some facts from the New York Daily News:

From the Daily News:

Workers removed the message around 10 a.m., but not before hundreds of drivers and pedestrians on the busy strip saw it.

It's unclear who was behind the vandalism, apparently accomplished by breaking a lock on the sign's control box.

Steve de Seve, a local activist behind several recent anti-Yards stunts, said he had nothing to do with it—but added that many people could be the culprit.

The Department of Transporation said the developer was in charge of maintaining the sign.

A spokesman for Ratner didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Click below to watch Steve de Seve and other neighborhood activists explain why they’re willing to handcuff themselves to Freddy’s Bar in protest against Ratner’s eminent domain abuse.

Reason needs your support. Please donate today!

Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time.

Colonel_Angus|3.23.10 @ 3:28PM|#

Vandalism, heh.

|3.23.10 @ 3:32PM|#

That is funny. But what really needs to happen is an angry mob needs to burn his home to the ground with him in it. That would deter future degenerates from stealing people's property.

Nipplemancer|3.23.10 @ 3:36PM|#

I'll bring the marshmallows

ed|3.23.10 @ 3:53PM|#

Kinky! Not exactly an historical parallel to what happened to Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson's house in 1765, but it would do in a pinch. According to the intertubes:

A mob under the direction of Ebenezer Mackintosh, a shoemaker, attacked the grand house of Thomas Hutchinson, the lieutenant governor, who fled with his family. Axes crashed through doors and men poured through, ripping down hangings, breaking up furniture, smashing dishes, pocketing silverware, and scattering and tearing apart books and papers. A crew labored nearly three hours on the roof dismantling the cupola, then tearing off the slate and boards. Outside, the mob trampled the garden fence and pulled down fruit trees. The mob was still at it at daybreak.

That treatment seems wholly appropriate to Ratner's future Brooklyn digs. Not that I condone violence.

robc|3.23.10 @ 4:59PM|#

Like tar and feathering, all the good protest stuff isnt done anymore. Bunch of pussies that would get all upset if you did something like that.

virginia|3.23.10 @ 4:01PM|#

Ratner's a scapegoat. It's like blaming Bernanke for the Federal Reserve's shenanigans.

just trying that on for a while, not sure how it feels yet.

robc|3.23.10 @ 4:41PM|#

The "with him in it" goes to far. I want to see him weeping on the street.

ed|3.23.10 @ 5:02PM|#

Not just a little tar? For old-time's sake?

|3.23.10 @ 7:05PM|#

Yeah, that's a nice old Icelandic tradition.

Nipplemancer|3.23.10 @ 3:34PM|#

I hope it happens every day to every one of their signs.

Almanian|3.23.10 @ 3:36PM|#

Your construction signs are belong to us

Almanian|3.23.10 @ 3:37PM|#

PS Oh, yeah - FUCK Ratner

|3.23.10 @ 3:37PM|#

I find it funny that this post contains cautionary language about a picture showing a word used in the previous post, including in the title, in an easily parsable format.

Almanian|3.23.10 @ 3:48PM|#

You're right - teh chirrens shouldn't be exposed to "Ratner"

|3.23.10 @ 4:08PM|#

Thanks for warning about the bad word in time to avert my eyes.

Colonel_Angus|3.23.10 @ 3:39PM|#

I hope major vandalism happens to the development. I really don't care, fuckers like that don't deserve property rights.

|3.23.10 @ 3:48PM|#

Hey, That is private property you are talking about.

Bruce Ratner|3.23.10 @ 3:50PM|#

PS Oh, yeah - FUCK me

Joe Biden|3.23.10 @ 3:51PM|#

This is a Big Fucking Deal!

Captain America|3.23.10 @ 4:28PM|#

Watch it with that potty mouth, mister.

Colonel_Angus|3.23.10 @ 4:40PM|#

With the new controller of said property having benefited from the seizure of actual private property, and massive government subsidies, the development doesn't count as private property at all.

Fuck Ratner, Gehry, New York City and State, all of the contractors, investors in this project, fuck the people who will be purchasing or renting from Ratner, and fuck anyone who even has a mutual fund with one single share of anything that benefited from this bullshit.

West Coaster|3.23.10 @ 3:44PM|#

Xeones did it.

|3.23.10 @ 3:50PM|#

Hey if this language is good enough for our esteemed vice-president, it's good enough for...

|3.23.10 @ 4:00PM|#

Oh Biden just thinks using that word will make him look as tough as Cheney without having to shoot his friend. ;-)

Dick|3.23.10 @ 4:29PM|#

Without having to? Shooting a friend in the face was one of the perks of the job Bush swayed me into taking it for.

Sotomayor|3.23.10 @ 4:25PM|#

But, but, Kelo was about blighted neighborhoods. That is what I told everybody in my testimony.

creech|3.23.10 @ 4:48PM|#

Isn't this the Ratner dude who is a big Obama contributor and ACORN supporter? Didnt he buy ACORN's approval of this community-destroying project for millions?

Other Matt|3.23.10 @ 6:57PM|#

Just for any possible instigators out there, there are typically a limited number of people who rent these signs. There are two types. The older style has a keyboard built in, and the newer style has a detachable keyboard. All it really takes is to find the rental company, and if you work in the business you can get the password in about five min. Not that anything like this ever happened on 270 southbound in time for rush hour or anything a couple years ago. I wouldn't know anything about it. I'm just sayin....

|3.23.10 @ 7:07PM|#

So it was you who changed the sign to say "merge left." You clever bastard.

p90x sale|6.25.10 @ 2:25AM|#

Thanks

mtb shoes|7.7.10 @ 9:14PM|#

This kind of shoes are very especial and beautiful. I recommend it to you. Hope you like it!

JACK|4.3.11 @ 10:32PM|#

like your article!

wholesale nhl hockey jerseys|7.10.11 @ 9:28PM|#

If you are a hockey or other ball games fans, here, and you can see you like the team's star shirt
hockey jerseys custom
new ice hockey jerseys
cheap authentic jerseys
wholesale cheap nhl jerseys
custom hockey shirts
new ice hockey jerseys
cheap ice hockey jerseys
nhl jersey cheap
customized hockey jerseys
custom hockey jerseys
nhl hockey shirts
cheap nhl jersey
hockey jerseys for cheap
authentic nhl jerseys
nhl 11 jerseys
hockey practice jerseys
nhl 11 jersey codes
cheapest nhl jerseys
nhl cheap jerseys
jersey codes for nhl 11
wholesale nhl hockey jerseys
cheap nhl hockey jerseys
custom nhl jerseys
customized hockey jerseys
buy nhl jerseys online
personalized nhl hockey jerseys
Can come here to see
xinyixian711

custom jerseys|7.31.11 @ 2:16AM|#

I received my initial NFL Youth Jerseys introduction into the wholesale solution pricing in a single of my very NFL Jerseys wholesale first wholesale consulting gigs. I used to be heading more than the costs of their very best selling goods to discover the earnings margins when I used to be impressed with just how NFL Throwback Jerseys small the value of merchandise was
contact us:
http://www.custompersonalityje.....-1187.html or http://www.custompersonalityjerseys.com
or send a E-Mail to us:custompersonalityjerseys@hotmail.com

Reason.com