MTOPP Member Responds to Alfred Cockfield’s Daily News Op Ed.
While the 960 Franklin Ave ULURP application is still working it’s way through the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) the few voices in favor of the development are beginning to submit opinion pieces to local papers.
Alfred Cockfield had an opinion piece posted in the Daily News in which he proclaimed that we should “put people before flowers“.
In our opinion, this op-ed had many misleading statements and inaccuracies. While many posted comments about the piece on Facebook and other social media, one of our members, Nick Smith, sent his opinion piece to the Daily News. Here’s his response appearing in the July 13, 2021 edition (on pg 24 under Voice of the People).
Elitist conceit
Brooklyn: Alfred Cockfield’s op-ed is disingenuous in the extreme (“Put New Yorkers before flowers,” July 9). First, he spouts lots of abject nonsense regarding the concept of affordable housing. The unfair gauge of affordability, namely Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), is calculated by adding in the average income in affluent Westchester County, and then planners apply that average to Crown Heights. How affordable is that? Not very. Secondly, Cockfield misrepresents the issue of sunlight on the Botanic Garden. If developers have their way, far more minutes of sunlight would not shine on the green space, which would ultimately kill plants. Cockfield talks about elitism but apparently, in his view, rich people living along Central Park in Manhattan are allowed to have their green space while poor people living in Brooklyn aren’t allowed to have nice things like parks. If that is not elitist, what is?
Nick Smith
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