The Armory Meets the Machine II - You're Being Played The Fool

I'll start with the conclusion then repeat it after the background info. I'd hate for you to miss the crux!

Ex-felon Clarence Norman, Jr. started showing up at CB9 meetings exactly the time that the Armory housing and community center opportunity was coming online. His dad's Local Crown Heights Development Corp (LCHDC) even made a play to be the lead developer, but lost to Slate, which due to its crookedness lost it in turn to BFC. Around the same time, longtime Norman pal BP Eric Adams shook up our Community Board with 18 new members in a single year, more the following year, losing all the people they knew would interfere. NO OTHER CB SAW ANYWHERE NEAR THIS KIND OF TURNOVER. Then the new board ousted its longtime Chair and District Manager, and guess who came out of the fray on top? Longtime Norman followers Carmen Martinez (as DM, out of dozens of qualified applicants) and Musa Moore (as Chair, and Demetrius Lawrence before him and Dwayne Nicholson). The wrench in this audacious plan? One Sterling resident Alicia Boyd, who has continued to thwart the common sense of unaligned locals (um, me, and maybe you) and politicians (every last one). The problem is...even she still doesn't get WHY all this is happening.  She's just worried about her precious Empire Blvd. Wanna know the mastermind behind the plan? Check out Ingrid Gordon, the BP's longtime political strategist. The bold names above are longtime friends and neighbors. Once in a position to do so, Gordon saw to it that a singular vision for the nabe was set in motion, and that only loyalists were in place. After a stint in jail for shaking down judges, Stormin' Norman fires back, unseating the man who put him in jail (DA Charles Hynes) and wedging his recently passed dad's baby (LCHDC) into the middle of the neighborhood's renaissance.

Folks, wake up. Your neighborhood is being hijacked - actually it's always been hijacked - by a small group of cronies who don't always have your back. Now to the tune of $500,000 for LCHDC to sway locals to the BFC deal, but rest assured, this is just the beginning. You've even got a State Senator in Jesse Hamilton who thinks he can just opt-out of the Democratic Party days before the election without bothering to explain himself (lame answers here). He has the huevos to call those who disagree with his decision "disingenuous," and bizarre accusations have been leveled that racism is causing the backlash (because white Democrats don't like being played the fool? I dunno, you tell me. I thought shifty politics was shifty politics, regardless of the hue). And don't count on your Council person to come riding to the rescue! It's high time for all of us to engage. We can only blame ourselves for the results if we don't.

The Backdrop:

Okay. Lots of intrigue going on in Washington. I know that what happens in our little parcel of the world is hardly big potatoes. But let me lay out there as clear as I can so there's no mistaking what's happening in local politics. Because this is a pretty big year, and if we're to reform and improve the levers of power, it's always good to start locally. That's where our individual voices are heard loudest.

This year we've got the Mayor's reelection campaign, and our City Councilperson - Mathieu Eugene - is running for a ridiculous 3rd full term, which would be 14 total years since he was "placed" in the job by finishing out Yvette Clarke's term when she was promoted to Congress. If you're new around here, or weren't paying attention, Yvette and her mother before her - Una Clarke - were the Council people before Eugene and continue to be among the most powerful players on the Central Brooklyn scene. You can decide for yourself what you think of these ladies, but you should not underestimate their influence. The "machine" is alive and well, though around these parts. But in a very real sense, the Central Brooklyn machine is broken two. Let's just call it the Clarkes and Normans shall we? Our very own Hatfield and McCoys.

Google around and you'll see the degree to which Clarence Norman Jr./Sr. and the Yvette/Una Clarkes have spread their influence. It's not inconsequential that the Clarkes hail from the Islands; Norman and his influential pastor father Clarence Norman Senior are African-American. If you're not from around here you might say "so what?" Lordy, you got a lot to learn. There is no simple storyline here, but suffice to say it's not all holding hands and singing Kumbaya when the sun goes down. And this is coming from a white guy who has a deep-seated respect for black culture, not just here but around the world. To much of white America, blacks come in a single package. And it's this monovision that leads to the ignorant garbage we hear from so many well-meaning people, and not just the Trumpies. Anyone who claims they have a policy solution for black Americans is guilty as charged. Which black Americans, exactly? Are Sasha and Malia to be recipients of your policy prescription? (Muslims and Hispanics and Asians too of course get just as much stereotyping. So much easier to make sense of the world when everyone fits their mold. To me this a HUGE problem when it comes to progressing past race as THE definer, the one demographic signifier that's ALWAYS requested on the form. Recognizing the differences withIN groups goes a long way to understanding our own prejudices, and recognizing the humanity common to us all. Frankly if I didn't believe this to the fiber of my being I probably wouldn't be writing this blog at all. If you hadn't noticed, it's kinda at the root of everything I opine about.)

So the Norman/Clarke divide is very much in play at the Bedford/Union Armory and in everything else around here. Need a scorecard? BP Eric Adams, State Senator Jesse Hamilton and his Council-running protege Pia Raymond, CB9 chair Musa Moore , new CB9 District Manager Carmen Martinez - these are clearly in the Norman lineage, The Clarkes will likely (in my opinion) switch allegiance from Mathieu Eugene (their poorly chosen anointed successor) to Council-runner Brian Cunningham. Diana Richardson is a bit of a maverick, but she's got Island roots and sure enough, there were the Clarkes at her victory celebration a couple years back. The dynamic Jumaane Williams is also part of the Clarke world. I don't know where Walter T. Mosley and Laurie Cumbo come down in all this, but I know Laurie and Walter were (somewhat) handpicked by Hakeem Jeffries, a guy who is alarmingly handsome in person by the way. I think that Hakeem/Laurie/Walter thing might be more of a VelmanetteMontgomery/Ed Towns/Major Owens lineage but don't quote me. There's only so much one white boy from Iowa can keep track of, and I've only lived in Brooklyn for 30 years for crying out loud. BOTTOM LINE: the Machine decides your leaders. Your vote is not really respected, as long as the Machine can turn out victories on not election day - primary day.

And let me tell you they're all pretty nice people, the aforementioned, hard-working, smart, well-suited to politics. All except...Mathieu Eugene, a true Boob among Boobs. If he wins another term I will...I will...oh I don't know but it's gonna be gross and unpleasant and you're going to wish you'd never seen me do it.

Yep. There's more. But I felt the need to offer the above backgrounder before launching into my main beef. Which in a nutshell is this. Why on earth is it okay for BFC Partners to cough up $500,000 to a local development group (LCCHD) with deep and direct ties to the Clarence Normans all in a ploy to quiet neighborhood resistance to the deal? You can read more, again, here.

To repeat:

Ex-felon Clarence Norman, Jr. started showing up at CB9 meetings exactly the time that the Armory housing and community center opportunity was coming online. His dad's Local Crown Heights Development Corp (LCHDC) even made a play to be the lead developer, but lost to Slate, which due to its crookedness lost it in turn to BFC. Around the same time, longtime Norman pal BP Eric Adams shook up our Community Board with 18 new members in a single year, more the following year, losing all the people they knew would interfere. NO OTHER CB SAW ANYWHERE NEAR THIS KIND OF TURNOVER. Then the new board ousted its longtime Chair and District Manager, and guess who came out of the fray on top? Longtime Norman followers Carmen Martinez (as DM, out of dozens of qualified applicants) and Musa Moore (as Chair, and Demetrius Lawrence before him and Dwayne Nicholson). The wrench in this audacious plan? One Sterling resident Alicia Boyd, who has continued to thwart the common sense of unaligned locals (um, me, and maybe you) and politicians (every last one). The problem is...even she still doesn't get WHY all this is happening.  She's just worried about her precious Empire Blvd. Wanna know the mastermind behind the plan? Check out Ingrid Gordon, the BP's longtime political strategist. Longtime friends and neighbors many of the above. Once in a position to do so, Gordon saw to it that a singular vision for the nabe was set in motion, and that only loyalists were in place.

Folks, wake up. Your neighborhood is being hijacked - actually it's always been hijacked - by a small group of cronies who don't always have your back. Now to the tune of $500,000 for LCHDC to sway locals to the BFC deal, but rest assured, this is just the beginning. You've even got a State Senator in Jesse Hamilton who thinks he can just opt-out of the Democratic Party days before the election without bothering to explain himself (lame answers here). He has the huevos to call those who disagree with his decision "disingenuous," and bizarre accusations have been leveled that racism is causing the backlash (because Democrats don't like being played the fool?) And don't count on your Council person to come riding to the rescue! It's high time for all of us to engage. We can only blame ourselves for the results if we don't.