Brooklyn Paper’s Bollard Coverage Gets Explosive

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sarcophagi 0 Brooklyn Papers Bollard Coverage Gets ExplosiveOf the at least nine articles the Brooklyn Paper has written regarding the ginormous new security bollards outside the renovated Atlantic Terminal—which the broadsheet has unilaterally, and rather humorously, dubbed sarcophagi—this one might well be our favorite. 

On Monday, the Brooklyn Paper ran an interview with Lionel Rawlins, “a former Marine and criminology professor” and now president of the counter-terrorism and anti-crime consultancy, the Von Frederick Group. Some choice quotes:

I have been in counter-terrorism for a long time and have never seen such monstrosity — anywhere,” he said.

“You do not see that sort of monstrosity in front of the White House or the Capitol do you?” Rawlins continued. “Someone wanting to do harm to the terminal … will do so from within the structure — not from outside — because the person(s) will want to make a statement.”

The Paper has been beating the bollard drum since the long-awaited January unveiling of the $108 million LIRR terminal renovation, when the paper quoted Councilmember Letitia James decrying the 14 bollards: “The coffins are ugly,” she said. “This is a facility that is supposed to celebrate openness, yet they put hideous barricades in front of it.”

Since then, Paper editor Gersh Kuntzman has declared the new terminal, “a monument to fear and paranoia,” and a reporter has done a man-on-the-street piece in which he got the following priceless quote from Rae Guy of Flatbush:”When I’m drunk, I guess I’ll have a place to lay down. They’re big, bulky and ugly.”

drubinstein@observer.com