Alicia Boyd ACQUITTED of All Criminal Charges

They try. Oh, they try.

I am delighted to report that the criminal charges brought against the fearless anti-gentrification activist, founder of MTOPP, the Movement To Protect The People, Alicia Boyd, have come to naught.

After a trail lasting 6 days in Brooklyn Criminal Court, it took the jury all of 21 minutes to unanimously reject the prosecution's charges of obstructing government business, disorderly conduct (2 counts) and resisting arrest. This victory deserves to be celebrated by all New Yorkers angry that their city is being taken from them, block by block, house by house and shop by shop.

I had taken a walk thinking it would take at least hour for the verdicts to come in. I'm told shock was evident on the faces of the prosecutors as well as the judge as the verdicts were read aloud. So confident were they of a conviction that NYPD was posted in the hallway, assumedly to quash the expected ruckus as she was remanded to Rikers. Their confidence was ill-advised; those of us in the gallery, watching the faces of the jurors throughout the proceedings, were every bit as confident of an acquittal. Several jurors were people of color and residents of gentrifying neighborhoods including Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg. They see the corruption and displacement that is epidemic in this town. No way were they going to lock up a fighter on their behalf.

The three members of CB9 who testified as expert witnesses for the prosecution could not agree on how many people were on the land use committee on the night in question, nor how many of them were eligible to vote, nor what constitutes quorum. Their conflicting testimonies brought into high relief the lawlessness of Brooklyn CB9 beginning with a complete lack of understanding of the rules governing the conduct of community boards (City Charter, Open Meetings Law, their own By-Laws), and contempt for residents who dare to question their decisions.

The self-dealing Ben Edwards, a real estate broker from landmarked Lefferts Manor and former chair of the ULURP Committee, referred to the protestors as no more than "troublemakers," denied knowing what "gentrification" is, admitted never having spoken to any of the protestors in any forum, knew nothing of a petition with 4,000 signatures protesting the submission of a request to City Planning for a "study." Mr. Edwards stands to make some serious coin on the condos and co-ops DCP has in mind for un-Landmarked Black Crown Heights.

Making an issue of quorum was something of genius move on the part of the defense, led by Boyd's two attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild, First Amendment specialist Jonathan Wallace (below, left) and criminal defense attorney Martin R. Sollar (right), long may they run. One cannot obstruct government business if quorum has not been established, you see. Such is not a legal meeting. A vote on the resolution to City Planning should never have been taken.

In my opinion, by bringing these charges against Boyd, Brooklyn CB9 was attempting to kill the protest movement by locking up the leadership. Let's not forget that a charge of Assault with a Deadly Weapon was also levied, also unsuccessfully, against MTOPP's Maxine Barnes by board member Evelyn Williams, for allegedly throwing a piece of paper that resulted in a paper cut to Williams's face. Williams wore one of those little round band-aids that comes in the variety package during her ridiculous recovery. History has proven cutting off the head to still the body to be an effective strategy. Boro Prez Eric Adams, the former state senator from this area, should be ashamed of his assumed role in pursuing such a strategy. Which side is he on? Sing with me.

Also shocking was the tearful revelation by former District Manager Pearl Miles that she had been convicted of prostitution under an alias prior to being hired by CB9 30 years ago. Prior to Miles' perfunctory dismissal over a year ago, Miles was the highest paid, longest-serving DM in the city of New York, a job she held for 20 years. She was thrown under the bus by CB9 in order to make a previous lawsuit brought by Boyd go away. Miles is, of course, bringing a lawsuit of her own against them. Chickens, roost, etc.

The prosecution relied heavily on video evidence. Let's talk about that for a moment. There were two cameras on tripods that night, in addition to cellphone cameras. The tripod cameras had the same owner; they faced each other, but only one video was posted to the internet. Maxine Barnes, knowing of the other camera angle, obtained the reverse view from the videographer, to use in her defense. Boyd's prosecutors used a compilation video that neatly excised perhaps single second, the moment where a collapsible banquet table was overturned atop the squirming Alicia Boyd, who had dropped to the floor when approached by police.

In creating a compilation video using evidence from another case the DA's office broke I don't know how many rules, but I'm advised that this is a very serious offense. The prosecutor claimed the tape had been posted to the MTOPP Facebook page and insinuated that Maxine Barnes, a professor of technology at the New York City College of Technology, had posted it, using her expertise. Because we all know only an expert can post a video link to an open Facebook page. The idea was to blame Boyd for nearly being crushed by the heavy metal table. Nonsense. About a hundred of us, myself included, were in attendance at the raucous protest of May 19, 2015. My recollection is that the cops both turned over the table and, with the help of protestors, prevented it from falling on her. Perhaps you would like to try to upend a banquet table with one hand while lying on the floor.

The judge, name unknown to me, a young, ambitious Latina for whom I have some sympathy since Hispanics have been disgracefully prevented from ascending to the bench for decades, should never have allowed a compilation video of unknown origin to be admitted into evidence. It should also be noted that she allowed the prosecution seven (7) adjournments but refused outright to allow a second for the defense. She also refused to provide the jury with the City Charter rules governing community board committee votes, rules that made a joke of the prosecution's assertions. Sigh.

I don't usually have praise for the criminal justice system, but in this case the people were heard. Not The People as represented by the DA's office, but the people of the city of New York who are being forced from their homes and out of business by skyrocketing prices for co-ops and condos in full-on hideous towers made of cheap materials where once stood brick and frame houses and 6-story apartment buildings. WE, the people, spoke today, in no uncertain terms. Since the verdict, self-dealing CB9 chair Demetrius Lawrence has announced his sudden retirement from the board. Apparently the demands of his new job as some kind of technology officer with the Blackstone Group, "the largest real estate private equity firm in the world today with $103 billion of assets under management," by their own description.

In fact, despite the entire board recently having undergone training in the Open Meetings Law, Chairman Lawrence had issued new Rules of Conduct for all CB9 meetings which banned speaking out of turn, placards, raised voices, video- and audio-recording and other violations of First Amendment rights under threat of arrest. Both Boyd and I made it clear during the Public Comment period last month that adoption of these rules would result in a federal case. The rightly terrified Vice Chair, Dr. Zorina Fredericks, standing in for the absent Lawrence, wisely tabled the matter for further consideration.

Now we wait. We wait to see what Judge Saitta, the State Supreme Court judge who has delayed his rulings in Boyd's two other cases against CB9, while waiting to see what happened in Criminal Court. One case, to which I am a party, seeks to have the request to City Planning for a study rescinded for a second time. The other seeks to prevent the ethically-challenged Carmen Martinez from becoming the new District Manager. I am, we are, very hopeful.

Who is the Crown Heights South Association?

As you know, much energy and creativity continues to go into the fight to prevent the Department of City Planning from re-zoning our neighborhood in particular, Empire Boulevard. If Empire is changed from commercial to residential, Black Crown Heights will become Williamsburg. No amount of landmarking will prevent that. Empire is the fight.

Just as we are in court to fight CB9's illegal resolution letter to DCP, we are also fighting a PLGNA "study" of our area (not theirs!) funded by our elected officials, because any "community-based" study can be characterized by DCP as a request for a re-zoning. We have been successful in holding off DCP for over 2 years, an extraordinary achievement. That is why I am writing to convey my concern about the upcoming Town Hall Meeting and Landmark-Weekend organized by Crown Heights South Association. Landmarking requires studies.

I can't find any information about CHSA's membership. They have an email address and a Facebook page; that is all. This makes me suspicious. The Borough President is 100% eager to deliver Empire into the hands of the developers; CHSA could be a front organization.

I say this with assurance: There will be no landmarking in Crown Heights, just as there will be no downzoning. This is true throughout the city, not just here. In fact, earlier this year the Landmarks Commission DE-calendared 60 buildings that languished for years without being considered. All those de-calendared proposals involved hundreds of hours of research, documentation, analysis and substantial fundraising (I worked to protect a threatened landmark for 15 years; I have had a lot of experience in this area). And all those proposals were back-burnered, especially if in minority neighborhoods.

Through their bought and paid for shills on the City Council, the real estate industry is seeking to impose a time limit for landmark consideration, after which any proposal will be rejected, as opposed to, say, increasing funding to the Landmarks Commission to insure timely consideration.

To suggest, as Crown Heights South Association is doing, that "Automotive Row" (Empire between Flatbush and Rogers) is a viable candidate for landmarking is naive at best. To actually create such a proposal would be a yuuuuuge waste of scarce resources of time, effort and money.

I suggest that it would be more useful for CHSA, whoever they are, to join our ongoing fight to prevent the Dept of City Planning (Plotting) from rezoning Crown Heights, and in particular Empire Boulevard. If DCP succeeds in rezoning Empire from commercial to residential, Black Crown Heights will become Williamsburg. No amount of landmarking will change that.

Do Over! Carmen Martinez doesn't make the short list, so a new search begins!

The riot never stops over at CB9. The April general meeting was Popcorn Night! Every attendee was handed this playbill

featuring Board member Tim Thomas with added (by the artist, not by TT) clown nose and wig, as well as a bag of kosher popcorn, a gesture much appreciated by former Board chair Jacob Goldstein, who again found a way to let his contempt for current chair, Demetrius Lawrence, be known. This month his objection was to the scheduling, by Lawrence and Housing Committee chair Carmen Martinez, whom he also clearly despises, of a housing information forum on a Saturday. Never would have happened on his watch!

Protestors wore clown noses, too. Here I am; Alicia Boyd is behind me.

Much time was given over to the consideration/issuing of liquor licenses, to the growing disgruntlement of the community. Someone suggested the name of the neighborhood be changed to "Liquor Heights," while another pointed out that Black people prefer to buy liquor from the street side of bulletproof glass and sell it at home; I didn't know that. In other words, the bars proliferating on Franklin are not serving Black people. In so many ways. One applicant kept correcting himself every time he referred to his "restaurant" as a "bar", what it actually is, something more like this:

Then came the problem of what to do about Carmen Martinez, Eric Adams' choice for the new district manager of CB9, the former true-blue treasurer for convicted Brooklyn powerbroker Clarence Norman, Jr. and a woman allowed to retire from her job at the City Comptroller's office after admitting she stole 14 years of public service, basically keeping Clarence's dirty little empire in shipshape while the master did his time. Nice choice, Eric! This is a woman as loyal as she is self-serving and knows how to get things done!

You may remember that last month, Chair Lawrence said the Search Committee was going to have to be rejiggered and start all over again because quorum had never been achieved in their meetings. Lawrence was present at all of the meetings, of course, and had no objection at the time, not so long as the committee was putting a good face on the selection of Adams' candidate.

But, lo and behold, the Search committee chaired by Lawrence's go-to guy, Hector Robinson – at one point, Robinson chaired three committees – did their job and selected the three most qualified applicants, none of which was the disgraced crony the Borough President prefers. What's a puppet chairman to do?

And so the Board went into an illegal executive session to discuss. I say "illegal" because executive session is reserved for discussion of matters like the personal information of the applicants, salary negotiations, etc., not matters of policy and procedure, which are subject to the Open Meetings Law. Rumor has it that the session was a brawl, replete with accusations and recriminations. In the end, the Board, with few exceptions, voted to create a new Search Committee with members hand-picked by Demetrius Lawrence, who understand their marching orders, and grasp the need to fill the position by the end of the fiscal year in June, to accomplish in two months what they have been unable to do in eight.

Can they do it? I'll do my part to make sure it doesn't happen. Join me! We have our work cut out for us. Martinez is already running the CB9 office on Nostrand Avenue, following the sudden disappearance of Terry Witherspoon, who had been answering the phones since her former boss, Pearl Miles, was kicked to the curb last September. Witherspoon has been variously described as on vacation, sick, and on extended sick leave. Meanwhile, Martinez is in there, setting up her fiefdom.

Not this Carmen Martinez:

Disgraced Crony is Eric Adams' Pick

I don't read the New York Post, but maybe I should because so far the paper is the only one covering this shameful story, under the headline, "Community Board Feeling Heat To Hire Disgraced Politician's Crony," concerning Eric Adams' backing of serial offender CARMEN MARTINEZ to replace the ousted Pearl Miles as District Manager.

The last time Martinez earned $140,000 a year from the City (the DM job could pay as much), she was working in the Comptroller's office. In 2014, she was allowed to "retire" after having been accused of stealing 14 YEARS of public service while acting as the head of the Comptroller's Community Action Center, according to Conflicts of Interest Board documents. There were also other, unspecified, charges of misconduct.

Martinez continues to associate with convicted felon and former Kings Co. Democratic strongman, Clarence Norman, Jr., a regular at CB9 meetings in suits for which I think he paid too much. Released from state prison in recent years, Norman has been looking to re-consolidate his power. He certainly had/has his eye on the Bedford Armory development; a second community meeting to discuss its future is scheduled for tomorrow night at First Baptist, where Clarence Norman, Sr. was long the pastor. Junior would be a shoe-in if his father were alive.

We wondered why, at the last general meeting of CB9, Chair Demetrius Lawrence suddenly announced that the Search Committee tasked with identifying qualified candidates for the District Manager job had acted improperly and that the whole process would have to begin again. You could see the shock/embarrassment on the face of committee chair Hector Robinson, the Board chairman's go-to guy, who has chaired, however briefly, as many as 3 committees in his first year on the community board (got to be some kind of record).

The Post article asserts that the Search Committee re-boot can be traced to their collective failure to identify Carmen Martinez as a qualified candidate, even though they never properly advertised the job in the city newspapers because it is so expensive [I transcribed the tapes of one or more Search Committee meetings during evidence gathering for our case against CB9 in Brooklyn Supreme, which started this week]. Perhaps they actually identified qualified candidates! Poor Hector. What's a yes-man to do while still pretending to integrity?

I would be disappointed to learn that the terms of Martinez's retirement did not contain a promise not to pursue another high profile and high-paying job with the City of New York and I will be asking Scott Stringer just that. That Eric Adams would choose to return power to the likes of Clarence Norman and Carmen Martinez is, to me and mine, evidence of his growing desperation in terms of delivering Empire Boulevard to the Big Real Estate interests that got him elected. At the end of June, he will have failed for two years running; that's way past leg-breaking time.

The Unblackening Continues Apace

The New York Times, of all real estate-driven papers, reports this morning on the extent to which the disappearance of the 421-a tax break will "dampen" the number of so-called affordable units ever to be built in this city under the fantasy housing policy known as ZQA/MIH.

On the one block-long street where I live, the Unblackening (to borrow Larry Wilmore's monumentally shaming, heart-breaking phrase) continues. Three houses have sold in the last year, all to white people. I can think of two, probably three more destined for the same change, currently owned by aged black people, retired civil servants. My white boyfriend has been an owner on this block for 30 years: He was always made to feel welcome, loved for his curious choice of neighborhood. Now, we agree that once Black Crown Heights comes to fully resemble Park Slope, we're moving to Mexico. There ought to be a happy medium, but there's not; neighborhoods just turn over from one group to another. That's America.

If City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo thinks that these white newcomers are going to keep her as their representative, she is courting delusion. I have written her again today, urging her to stand with her current constituents in order to keep her office. We are watching.

The ZQA Hearings: A Warning to Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo

Dear Councilwoman Cumbo,

As I'm sure you know, Community Board 9 voted resoundingly against the Mayor's rezoning plan, as did the vast majority of community boards across the city.

What has this summary rejection of the Mayor's plan achieved for us? City Hall promptly issued a pamphlet reminding elected officials that community board recommendations are only advisory, not binding, which is to say they may be safely ignored. Safely, as in legally, but not safely if you expect re-election.

The Mayor behaves as though he is starring in some demented episode of that old television show, Father Knows Best, only in this case, Father only does what's best for him and for the real estate developers who fund his campaigns, and yours, and that of probably every elected official in this city, yourself among them.

Now the Department of City Planning is leaning on elected officials like you to vote against the LOUDLY EXPRESSED conclusions of their constituents. People like me see the city we love disappearing, handed over to an absentee oligarchy who don't even live in more than 50% of the luxury buildings displacing our people and utterly changing the fabric and character of our beloved home.

The stunning success of both the Sanders and the Trump campaigns speaks to the FURY of the American people at a rigged and corrupt system. America is divided over the causes of our troubles, but united in our resolve to say, "Enough is ENOUGH." The anti-gentrification battle in New York City is further evidence of that fury, be advised.

If you are to have ANY chance of re-election, you will stand against the Mayor's plan as your constituents clearly expect you to do. Otherwise, we will work as tirelessly to unseat you as we are working to stop this pillaging of the city we built. The diversity of our people, of every color and from every walk of life, our dreams, our energy, ideas, hard work, commitment to succeed, is the engine of this city, not its financial speculators. Without us, New York will soon be nothing but an overpriced Disney-esque shopping mall for the global elite.

Stand for us, or be un-seated. That is your choice.

Disgrace at CB9

Text of my letter to Borough President Eric Adams today: "I am a resident of Stoddard Place, a quiet street I know you know, hard by Empire Boulevard. I am very interested, intrigued and mostly concerned about what happens there, as are all my neighbors. We turned out in huge numbers for the last meeting at Medgar Evers, which spilled out onto the street and was then canceled. I attended the re-scheduled meeting, at SUNY Downstate, far from the ground zero in this matter. On the CB site, the announced address for the meeting was 450 Clarkson with a click for details link. In the link, it was revealed that the actual entrance was at 395 Lenox Road. Wouldn't want to make it easy for people to find. Distance and difficulty was reflected in the attendance; the auditorium was not close to full. As I recall, the link also displayed a bold red line reading "This Meeting is Convened for Public Comment" or words to that effect. What actually happened was that the evening wound on with discussions of speed bumps, slow zones, liquor license applications, some kind of stone monument and was then summarily adjourned by your newly installed president, Mr. Nicholson, who displayed an appalling lack of knowledge of parliamentary procedure throughout. Perhaps he could take an online course; put a better face on his ambition. The conduct of CB9 in this matter has been and continues to be contemptuous of the desperation of your former constituents, the most immediate of them, in particular, those who live close by the state senate office. They know what they have here, what beautiful housing stock and access to the park and gardens they have that has the developers salivating. They know that they got it as a consequence of white flight, too, and that Whitey has changed his mind. I say Whitey because I am one and so I can. I moved to this area for love 2 years ago, to a man, also white, who has been here for thirty (30) years. I was raised in Park Slope and returned there in 1985. I don't care to live there anymore. A city slated to become a playground for the global oligarchy with 20% of us waiting on them hand and foot is not what anyone ever had in mind for, or ever loved about, New York, much less Brooklyn, a city with its own legends and place in the world's imagination. Obviously, if you play ball with the shadow government that is real estate, then the indictment will never come down and you can come out of the seclusion you've maintained since your election and more enjoy the fruits of your winnings. We'll be your mirror."