By: Marna Berkman
Yesterday I received a beautiful, heartfelt email of gratitude from Brooklyn's Reverend Herbert Daughtry, National Presiding Minister of the House of the Lord Churches located on Atlantic Avenue. He was responding to an email I had sent him on Tuesday. I will not post the Reverend's response email, but I will say that it was beautifully written and expressed and he cc'ed his response and my email to Bruce Ratner and the staff of Forrest City Ratner and he sent warm regards to my father Charles Berkman.
Here is a copy of my email. I wrote it in the third person because I wasn't sure if the email was going directly to him or not.
I was impressed with Reverend Daughtry's appearance on News 12
Brooklyn this morning, talking about the Barclay's Center. A resident
of Brooklyn for the last 18 years or so and a downtown Brooklyn small
business owner, a lawyer, I remember the controversy surrounding
building Barclay's and the hoops that my office's landlord at that
time had to jump through to get things going. I also felt bad for
people who had to be displaced, etc. but I agree that it has been a
great thing for our great borough of Brooklyn, and I am proud and
happy to be there each of the times that I have attended events there.
In fact, I bought tickets for my 86 year old father, Charles Berkman,
an original Coney Island native, to see Barry Manilow there tomorrow
evening, and I know that he will be thrilled to be at Barclay's for
the first time and will also be proud for Brooklyn!
I appreciated hearing the Reverend's views and work on opening
Barclay's. I tend to be a good judge of character and as an observant
person within my own faith, I sensed in Reverend Daughtry a great
genuineness and desire to help others. As I also like helping people
out when I have a sense that injustice is being done, I am happy to
attempt to help you or any of your or his congregants out if the need
arises. My office is located at 111 Livingston Street and my
telephone number is 718-855-3627.