- And in addition, this project will attract
the type of people to Brooklyn who have the resources
to spend their dollars at local businesses.
As a result, more jobs will be created
and working-class wages will rise, and that's...
- Okay, so here's the deal.
Jamal is very involved in the community.
I'm pretty sure we've got his vote locked down.
Mr. Ramsey is a no.
Which means we've gotta focus on Robert.
Okay, we get his vote, we can save the center.
- I mean, a state-of-the-art gym
with a Starbucks and a fro-yo place?
Come on, people. This is a no-brainer.
Kinda like my first husband.
[chuckles] Okay? You know.
- And now speaking in opposition
to the Harrison International Project is Shaveese Diggs.
[cheers and applause]
- As exciting as it sounds to have new money
coming into the community, please forgive me
if I do not cheer at the demolition
of the Tompkins-Marcy Community Center,
as it will also be an annihilation
of prenatal programs, day care, and after-school tutoring.
The kids need a place to go so they can stay out of trouble.
- Tell them, girl!
[applause]
- Brooklyn needs your attention.
And all we're asking you to do is hear us out.
We are out here fighting for our lives.
- Yes! Yes! Yes! [applause]
- Who wants free apartments? [all gasp]
We at Harrison International are prepared to hold a lottery
to give away six rent-free luxury apartments
to members of this community.
Free apartments. all: Free apartments!
Free apartments! Free apartments!
all: Free apartments! Free apartments!
Free apartments! - I'm reclaiming Veesy's time!
- Sir, that's not how this works.
You're not Veesy. - I'm reclaiming my time, then.
- Still not how that works, but it's an open mic.
So speak your mind.
- Thank you, Your Honor. - Go, Tray.
[chuckles] Mwah!
- My name is Tray Barker. I went to 33.
And before that, I went to 59.
Times were rough for me, man, coming up.
But I gonna sit here and complain
about what I ain't get.
I wanna talk about what I got, and I got y'all.
- Yes, sir! [applause]
- Now, you know what we are? We a pebble.
When you drop a pebble in a pond,
those ripples gonna spread through the whole pond
no matter how big the pond is.
And right now, the pond is Brooklyn.
'Cause Brooklyn is in the house, all right?
You see this lady right here giving me the stink-eye?
Nobody in this room loves this community more than her.
She is the backbone and the spirit of this whole community.
Not some building.
She's an example for all of us to turn the hoods
back into neighborhoods and be neighborly.
When I was growing up,
if you did some knucklehead stuff,
you got your ass whooped three times
before you even got upstairs.
[laughter] That is a neighborhood.
And that's why this community center is so important.
Because it's a place for the kids and the elderly to go
to find love, to find hope, to work out their aggressions,
to talk to somebody about the pressures of the streets.
And it's gotta be important to us.
It has to be.
'Cause when they don't have a place like this,
they either wind up doing 25 to life,
pregnant, or dying alone.
And we don't want that. Okay?
So what we gonna do, y'all?
Are we gonna make Brooklyn
and our neighborhoods a better place?
- Yes. - Yes.
- Or are we gonna sell out
for some free apartments? - No!
- We gonna focus on being a pebble...
all: Yes!
- In this big beautiful pond called Brooklyn?
all: Yes! - Y'all with it?
all: Yes. - Y'all with it?
[crowd cheering] - I'm out.