SEE: Demonstrators Clash Outside Of Controversial Brooklyn Armory Site

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A group of community leaders hoping to voice their support for the city's plan to redevelop an old Armory in Crown Heights were met by a small, but vocal, contingent of neighborhood activists who oppose it, setting off a shouting match across police barricades on an otherwise quiet, sunny Sunday afternoon.

The demonstration came just days after City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who will cast crucial land-use votes on the development, announced they were against the plan to turn the city-owned Bedford-Union Armory into a rec center, office space and apartment complex

The leaders who came out Sunday morning included the Rev. Daryl G. Bloodsaw and District Leader Geoffrey Davis, two public faces of support for the plan. They say the recreation facilities and affordable office space for local non-profits will be a boon for the community.

Those opposed want the apartments to be all affordable housing, instead of the 50-50 split that exists under the current plan.

The project is expected to be certified on Monday to begin the city's lengthy land-use review process, which starts at the community board level and goes to the borough president's office, city planning commission, city council and then Mayor Bill de Blasio's office.

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"I know the dire necessity of getting more affordable housing in this community," Bloodsaw told Patch after the event. "But what I'm not going to do is take the idealistic approach that if we say kill this deal there's another deal coming."

He said if the deal is killed, the Armory could sit vacant for 20 or 25 years until another one comes along.

"There's a deal on the table now," Bloodsaw said. "We all as a community, those who are for it and those who are against it, need to come to the table and let's make this deal a deal that the community needs."

Those who showed up Sunday didn't appear to be in any deal-making mood.

The conflict started in earnest when Alicia Boyd, a notable neighborhood rabble-rouser, walked up to the Armory's front door and demanded to be let inside, asking who had the authority to stop her from doing so.

After a few minutes of shouting, police quickly assembled a metal barricade around the space where the event was going to be held, pushing back protesters and a few reporters who had showed up. Once Bloodsaw, Davis and their crew came around the corner of the building, the booing and chanting from the activists began.

As the speakers took the microphone in front of their group of about 20 people, they were drowned out by the two dozen or so people across from them chanting of "Sellout!" and "Fight fight fight, housing is a right."

At one point, Davis started to lead his group in chants of "What do we want? A community center. When do we want it? Now!" as the group across the barricade shouted "Kill the deal!"

After the speakers were through, they were jeered by some activists who stayed behind.

"When we heard that BFC and their faith-based business partners were holding a 'rally for peace' in support of their ungodly plan for the Bedford-Union Armory, we responded with righteous indignation," Esteban Giron, an organizer with the Crown Heights Tenants Union, told Patch via text message after the rally.

"It's clear from the Facebook Live footage that these folks underestimated the tenacity of this neighborhood. Gentrification IS violence, and any talk of 'peace' that threatens our homes and families is disingenuous. We will keep fighting until Laurie Cumbo agrees to #KillTheDealForReal, and we will settle for nothing less!"

Giron and other activist groups, which include housing and tenants rights organizations, say the proposed rental split at the Armory — half of the 330 units will go for market-rate prices and the others will be designated various levels of "affordable" — is unacceptable and will only speed up gentrification in their neighborhood.

When you add in the proposed condos that would be for-sale, 83 percent of the housing at the re-developed Armory would only be affordable for families who make around $90,000 a year, analysis from one of the groups, New York Communities for Change, shows.

Supporters of the project, though, say the plan will bring much-needed recreational space to the community.

"We believe the Armory will play a vital role in efforts to close the achievement gap that still makes it less likely for a Crown Heights student to graduate high school than his or her peers in a wealthy Manhattan district," Dario Trujillo, the executive director of the Central Brooklyn Soccer Club, wrote in a Patch op-ed.

The Armory would also provide affordable office space for five local community organizations.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Bedford-Union Armory Plan Loses Critical Support Of City Council Rep, Brooklyn Prez
• OP-ED: Bedford-Union Armory Can Help Close the Achievement Gap in Crown Heights
• Brooklyn Anti-Development Activists Pick Awkward Moment To Bombard Councilwoman
• Bedford-Union Armory Developer, Activists Disagree On How White Its Condos Will Be
• Bedford-Union Armory Public Hearing In Crown Heights Draws Supporters, But Mostly Protesters

Image via BFC Partners