Extensive Press Coverage of Duffield Street

Our press conference on June 19 was wildly successful- check out some photos here. We spread our message around the globe and around New York. Moreover, much of the press implicitly or explicitly questions the credibility of the NYC Economic Development Corporation and AKRF.

The most coverage came from AP, which was picked up in the Houston Chronicle Battle Over Possible NY Slave Quarters, New York Post 'SLAVE SITE' RAZE FUROR, and 1010WINS NY Sued Over Plan to Raze Sheltered Slave Houses.

New York City papers picked it up, including the NY Times A Juneteenth Riddle: Was Duffield Street a Stop on the Underground Railroad? and the NY Sun, History on Duffield Street. The New York Times article includes room to make comments, which are worth reading in themselves.

The Brooklyn newspapers that have covered it so far are The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Supporters Rally Once Again at 19th-Century Duffield Street Houses and Brooklyn Downtown Star Duffield Street Files Suit. The Star has a long history of excellent coverage of this issue, but this article makes some surprisingly blatant mistakes, including stating that two buildings are threatened with eminent domain, when in fact the EDC wants to confiscate and demolish 7 privately owned properties. The Courier-Life publications printed a pretty thorough article, Commission walks away from Duffield houses - President pens letter stating history will be ‘better served’ without saving buildings.

The blogs also had their say, including The Gowanus Lounge Another Effort to Save Duffield St. Underground Railroad Houses and the comprehensive NoLandGrab.org EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites.

I posted WBAI's coverage at UndergroundRailroadSafehouese.org. It's a big file, and I haven't been able to edit it down yet.

The result of all this coverage is that the EDC/AKRF are looking less credible. It still seems odd that the EDC would waste so much effort on such a small piece of land, even if it had no historic significance. They have bigger projects to work on.