Atlantic Yards and the Despicable Bertha Lewis

Damon W. Root | April 22, 2010

The New York Times also reported today on the news that Brooklyn homeowner Daniel Goldstein has finally been forced out by the state’s eminent domain abuse. And the paper turned to ACORN chief Bertha Lewis for some gloating commentary:

Bertha Lewis, a housing advocate who supported the project, bid Mr. Goldstein “good riddance.”

“Low- and moderate-income people had to wait years for housing while he obstructed the Atlantic Yards project,” she said.

Of course, Lewis is much more than just a “housing advocate who supported the project,” she was the CEO of ACORN, a group that signed a contract with Bruce Ratner “to publicly support the [Atlantic Yards] Project by, among other things, appearing with the Developer before the Public Parties, community organizations and the media as part of a coordinated effort to realize and advance the Project.” In return, Ratner pledged to include a certain amount of “affordable housing” in the project, units that ACORN stood to make a fortune from marketing and managing. As the New York Post reported, “Anita MonCrief, a former ACORN official-turned-whistleblower, estimates the anticipated deal could bring the group $5 million to $10 million annually over multiple years.”

And the money didn’t stop there. In 2008 Ratner bailed ACORN out to the tune of $1.5 million dollars after the news broke that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from the group back in 2000 and the national leadership had covered the crime up for eight years. The financial fallout from that scandal threatened to ruin ACORN until Ratner stepped in with a $1 million loan and a $500,000 grant. This desperately-needed cash kept ACORN alive and allowed it to keep providing cover for Ratner’s corporate welfare and eminent domain abuse.

So if it wasn’t for Bruce Ratner’s taxpayer-subsidized bribes and handouts, we would’ve bid good riddance to ACORN long ago. Apparently the New York Times didn’t think any of that context was important to the story.

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BakedPenguin|4.22.10 @ 9:28AM|#

Daniel Goldstein also objected to bringing over teenage sex slaves, so it's good that he lost his house.

Dan T.|4.22.10 @ 9:31AM|#

“good riddance.”

Well said.

|4.22.10 @ 10:47AM|#

Now, there's an ironic coincidence.

The Gobbler|4.22.10 @ 11:09AM|#

The Libertarian Guy|4.22.10 @ 11:20AM|#

You're a prick, Dan.

|4.22.10 @ 4:53PM|#

Nope, just a big fan of the Nets. Who cares about some deadbeat? The Nets!!!!

Jeffersonian|4.22.10 @ 9:35AM|#

The financial fallout from that scandal threatened to ruin ACORN until Ratner stepped in with a $1 million load and a $500,000 grant.

Hey, just because we have the Thirteenth Amendment doesn't mean that you can't buy and sell black folk, and even make them sing songs for you. Just look at Bertha Lewis.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 9:42AM|#

:clapping: Well done.

How is it that RICO doesn't apply here?

|4.22.10 @ 9:39AM|#

joe | October 17, 2008, 2:47pm | #

God bless ACORN, out there registering 13 million new voters. They're doing God's work in some of the toughest neighborhoods in America.

10/17/08 NEVER FORGET

Dan T.|4.22.10 @ 9:43AM|#

joe was the best commenter this board ever had. If you had listened to him, maybe you wouldn't be so stupid. But no... joe challenged the groupthink. He had to go.

|4.22.10 @ 9:50AM|#

joe challenged the groupthink.

How is repeating every idiot leftist talking point "challenging groupthink"?

You really are in a different universe.

|4.22.10 @ 4:56PM|#

I'll reply with a witty retort soon, I just have to step over to the Huffington Post for a bit of research...

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 9:54AM|#

Challenged the groupthink? If by challenged the groupthink you mean proudly and exceptionally filled the role of village idiot you may be right.

Yeah that's what I meant. Why, is that bad?

Jethro|4.22.10 @ 10:00AM|#

I am the real Dan T.

|4.22.10 @ 4:57PM|#

Spoofer!

-|4.22.10 @ 10:21AM|#

Incorrigible troll-feeders.

|4.22.10 @ 10:30AM|#

Oh, so now the official story is that he was kicked out? All this time I thought he was a little bitch who took his ball and went home.

|4.22.10 @ 12:45PM|#

you are an idiot

|4.22.10 @ 4:54PM|#

No, I'm mentally retarded. There's a difference.

Solanum|4.22.10 @ 9:40AM|#

Is that joe in the pic?

"My brothers and sisters - ACORN, they're doing God's work! Can I get a hallelujah?"

|4.22.10 @ 9:40AM|#

Nope, that guy's about two feet too tall.

NeonCat|4.22.10 @ 9:41AM|#

It's a damn shame that political prostitution is legal. Bertha, you ain't nuthin' but a whore.

NeonCat|4.22.10 @ 9:42AM|#

*With apologies to sex workers everywhere. You don't deserve to be tarnished with the same brush as Bertha.

Gilbert Martin|4.22.10 @ 9:41AM|#

"Apparently the New York Times didn’t think any of that context was important to the story."

You wouldn't expect pigs to fly, would you?

The Gobbler|4.22.10 @ 11:11AM|#

Actually, they do.

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200803/r233611_936550.jpg

|4.22.10 @ 4:58PM|#

Guess what? Swine flu.

Michael|4.22.10 @ 9:48AM|#

“Low- and moderate-income people had to wait years for housing while he obstructed the Atlantic Yards project,” she said.

Yet just two paragraphs prior...

Mr. Ratner, the chief executive of Forest City Ratner, was elated. The developer has started work on a $1 billion basketball arena for the Nets, the centerpiece of Atlantic Yards, and has the right to build 16 towers with up to 6,000 apartments, office space and a hotel. At least 30 percent of the units are for tenants with moderate or middle incomes.

Okay, so which is it?

|4.22.10 @ 9:53AM|#

Remember also that this is happening in New York, they probably consider $700k a year as middle income.

|4.22.10 @ 11:45AM|#

Well, ask the reporter. However, expect a delay in an answer. If NYC is anything like Chicago than "moderate income" has a few thousand definitions that contradict each other.

Jeffersonian|4.22.10 @ 9:54AM|#

Out of bounds, asshole.

|4.22.10 @ 9:59AM|#

[Please note that Jeffersonian is responding to a deleted post and not the opinions of Michael or capitol l.]

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 10:01AM|#

Damn! Now I wanna know what I missed.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 10:02AM|#

Nevermind. I remember what it was.

Jeffersonian|4.22.10 @ 10:05AM|#

Thank you, SF.

|4.22.10 @ 10:11AM|#

No problem. I was just refreshing at the right time to see them both.

|4.22.10 @ 10:06AM|#

What was gist of the deleted post?

|4.22.10 @ 10:10AM|#

See chacha below and make it less polite.

|4.22.10 @ 10:45AM|#

Goddamnit! It's gone too.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 10:11AM|#

Look at the 10:00am "chacha" post below. Nearly the same but the second word sounds like "Tigger."

Xeones|4.22.10 @ 9:52AM|#

But no... joe challenged the groupthink. He had to go.

Hey, many of us wish joe was still around, so we could rub his nose in the fact that the president he went to the mat for is just George W. Bush with a tan. He is far, far too cowardly a motherfucker to face up to his own past statements, and that's why he doesn't come around here anymore.

I'll say this for him: he did at least engage in the occasional reasoned debate, and even had a point from time to time. You should take lessons, you slimy, disingenuous fuck.

|4.22.10 @ 9:57AM|#

At it again...

# joe from Lowell Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 8:19 pm

In any form, during any period, there was nothing wrong with the CRA. The CRA made lending safer. It reduced foreclosures. It reduced unaffordable loans. It reduced predatory lending. It reduced defaults. It squeezed our irresponsible loans by the non-banks.

God bless the CRA. We really need to strengthen and expand it.

|4.22.10 @ 10:49AM|#

Entertainingly surreal.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 10:03AM|#

No.

|4.22.10 @ 10:05AM|#

I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the liberal trolls trying to discredit the board.

My thoughts as well.

|4.22.10 @ 10:16AM|#

Could be Dan T. throwing a tantrum. He got all butthurt because no one can tell the parody of his drivel from the drivel itself.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 11:32AM|#

That fucking tigger...

Ha!

|4.22.10 @ 10:04AM|#

Ahh, that's what America is all about, ain't it? If you are poor (and except for Gates and Trump, we're all poor aren't we?) the thing to do is manipulate the government to help you steal some other guy's stuff.

|4.22.10 @ 10:09AM|#

The sooner the better, scumfuck.

[Out of context due to a deleted post.]

Solanum|4.22.10 @ 10:50AM|#

If you are poor (and except for Gates and Trump, we're all poor aren't we?) the thing to do is manipulate the government to help you steal some other guy's stuff.

The deleted comments have turned this into bizarro H&R.

BakedPenguin|4.22.10 @ 11:12AM|#

I wonder if the liberal trolls coming here to "discredit" H&R are just getting in practice for discrediting Tea Party rallies.

SugarFree's "scumfuck" is too tame a word for them. I hope that the Tea Partiers recognize and beat the shit out of the "racist" agent provocateurs.

|4.22.10 @ 11:14AM|#

But then they could be described as a violent fringe group.

The best way for liberals to discredit the Tea Party is to show up with giant patriot puppets.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 11:17AM|#

That would still work in their favor. Perhaps even moreso.

A difficult and delicate battle. Especially considering that the media is hungry to either showcase the Tea Party/anti-Obama/anti-Big Government/Sane movements as barbaric and "evil" or just dying for the ratings bump violence at one of these events would bring.

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 11:20AM|#

Aaaaarrrggghhh!!!

Almost every damn time I've posted today someone else has posted something similar to what I'm saying before I do but after I've hit the "reply to this" link.

I swear I'm only lightly copying others!

But, as of today, those housing units are priority numero uno!

Mike M.|4.22.10 @ 10:20AM|#

I must admit I had no idea this guy Ratner was tight with the ACORN scum. He's appropriately named in more ways than one, that's for sure.

|4.22.10 @ 10:22AM|#

Apparently the New York Times didn’t think any of that context was important to the story.

Since I have no intention of RTFA-ing, did they by any chance mention their "partnership" with Ratfuck in the palatial new NYT HQ? Or was that also unnecessary to the tale?

|4.22.10 @ 10:58AM|#

Well, for $1.5 million, I can be bought.

I might have to remove all the mirrors from my house, though.

ed|4.22.10 @ 11:04AM|#

Ethical question: would it be morally justifiable to chase off the night watchman and dynamite Ratner's shiny new arena? Not that I would do that.

ed|4.22.10 @ 11:07AM|#

I even have a name for destroying a building that was created through eminent domain: "Roarking."

Jordan Elliot|4.22.10 @ 11:12AM|#

It depends to whose or which morals you wish to be justified with.

According to mine, so long as no one is hurt, go for it.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of the progressive disruptor-mole project.

|4.22.10 @ 11:19AM|#

I think that might actually be a plus; hopefully, the possibility that the guy bitching about Obama's racial heritage might be an agent provocateur will encourage anyone nearby to shut him up (by stern but peaceful admonishment, of course).

Bertha|4.22.10 @ 11:25AM|#

Bertha Lewis is scum, and so is the Libertarian Guy. Go back in to your bottom feeder hole.

Michael Ejercito|4.22.10 @ 11:29AM|#

I have heard that the reason for the infitada against Israel was because the Jews stole the land.

Should not Ratner's robbery of land inspire an infitada if the above is true?

Dan T|4.22.10 @ 11:38AM|#

Radical Islamists are not our teachers, grasshopper.

Michael Ejercito|4.22.10 @ 11:41AM|#

People all over the world are bending over to accommodate them.

There is something to be learned from that...

|4.22.10 @ 5:03PM|#

I said they aren't our teachers, not our pitchers. Ummmmm...

bleek obummer|4.22.10 @ 1:33PM|#

“Low- and moderate-income people had to wait years for housing while he obstructed the Atlantic Yards project”

Sure. You only own what you have until someone with deep pockets and/or political connections eyes your property. Ask Suzette Kelo how that works Bertha.

Good to see that the ACORN always falls close to the dumbass.

Paul|4.22.10 @ 1:35PM|#

You know what I lilke about ACORN? They like that old school corrupt. Like that serious 1950's mobster corrupt.

|4.22.10 @ 3:11PM|#

I'll vote for the first Presidential candidate who promises to prosecute ACORN under the RICO Act. There's never been a more deserving target.

anonymous|5.1.10 @ 1:53PM|#

If you have any information on Bruce Ratner's corruption and/or his ties to ACORN or Obama, Click "Whistleblower" at http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/

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