The fact of the matter is this: it was a sweltering hot day on a Sunday in the middle of July. That 2000 people felt passionately enough to come out and protest Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project is a big deal.

I ran into a friend today who said he just couldn’t get himself over to the rally.  I was also unable to attend. But Hepcat did go over and took pictures. I’m sure a lot people felt the way my friend did. They may oppose the plan but that doesn’t translate into showing up at a demonstration.

Some people don’t like being part of demos. They don’t like chanting or singing "We Shall Not Be Moved." Some don’t believe demonstrations do anything. Some feel helpless; that the Ratner project is a fait accompli.

Hey, I was a kid in the sixties and I went to many anti-war rallies and later pro-choice demos in Washington. I get teary singing, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"

But not everyone is comfortable with that, not everyone can identify with the activist mentality.

Apparently DDDB was expecting many thousands more people. But I have to say, the scheduling of the demo on a Sunday in the summer may not have been the best idea.

It’s New York. In July. People can barely drag themselves out of their air-conditioned apartments. And many more were away for the weekend or at the beach.

Apathy?  Maybe. People will come out for an anti-war protest. But an anti-development rally might be a harder thing to get passionate about.

And yet, many of us are passionate about this community, the architecture, the scale, the history, and the quality of life. All of these things are worth being passionate about.

And we certainly don’t think a for-profit developer should be allowed to determine the future of Brooklyn. What about traffic? What about scale? Quality of life? The historical architecture in downtown and brownstone Brooklyn? What about affordable housing?

Developers shouldn’t have the power to do this. It’s disgusting and yet it is the way things have always gotten done in New York CIty.

I am proud that so many Brooklynites are rising up to say: ‘We’re sick and tired and we can’t take it anymore.’ Stop destroying our city for your profits! Let’s have parks not condos. Let’s think about the future of our borough and shape it in a meaningful and livable way.

There are other ways people can register their opposition to the Ratner plan. They can give money in support of DDDB. They can go to No Land Grab and find out how to write to politicians, etc.

There are ways other than demonstrations that people can be counted as part of the cause.
In this age of inclusivity, there must be many points of entry for people to get involved in something they believe in. Even from afar.