The city has finally decided that tearing down an Underground Railroad safehouse, part of Brooklyn's rich heritage, to put up a parking lot was not a good idea. From a press release from South Brooklyn Legal Services:

ISTORIC DUFFIELD STREET HOME SAVED
FROM EMINENT DOMAIN!

Brooklyn, NY 11/29/07 — In settlement of a lawsuit filed by Joy Chatel and Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) the City has pledged that it will not use eminent domain to condemn 227 Duffield. The property has been the subject of controversy since 2004 when the City announced that it intended to take the property by eminent domain as part of their Downtown Brooklyn Redevelopment Plan. The Downtown Brooklyn Plan is a massive redevelopment plan based on a rezoning of the area in 2004. The plan calls for over 4 million square feet of new retail, commercial and luxury housing in the middle of a historically low-income community.

I have been busy filling up our new blog: http://duffieldst.blogspot.com/. There are many developments in the effort to promote the Abolitionist heritage on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn. City Council Representative John Liu lead a press conference at 227 Duffield on Juneteenth (last Tuesday), and we got sympathetic coverage in almost every paper.

Only one paper came out in favor of using eminent domain against the historic buildings. The Daily News published an article saying that it was cynical to stop the development of Brooklyn. The Daily News subscribes to the EDC's logic that the economy of Brooklyn would grind to a halt if the proposed parking lot and 1.5 acre grassy knoll were not built... well I'm slightly exaggerating, but check out this link to read for yourself:
http://duffieldst.blogspot.com/2007/06/daily-news-calls-grassy-knoll-key...