Twitter Feud Leads To Forum On Downtown Brooklyn Placard Abuse

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — A debate that started with a Twitter feud between a Brooklynite and Borough President Eric Adams will get its own forum at Borough Hall next week, Adams announced.

The borough president has scheduled a community meeting about placard abuse for Tuesday, Sept. 3, hours after Adams likened an anonymous Twitter user to a member of the Ku Klux Klan for accusing him of cowardice on the issue. The debate started when the user called out placard misuse on Jay and Tillary streets.

"I'm true to what I say," Adams wrote on Twitter. "I will always be open for engaging in real civic dialogue. No matter the issue, we solve it better together."

The Twitter user, @CorruptBrooklyn, had claimed that city officials commonly throw MTA vests, police identifications and other city gear on their dashboards to avoid be ticketed while parking in the dangerous downtown Brooklyn intersection.

"It's a sad day in Brooklyn when our own borough president @BPEricAdams is too scared to say that it's wrong for the police to park in a TURNING LANE," tweeted @CorruptBrooklyn.

"My life work speaks of my courage," replied Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. "Your hidden face is in the tradition of others who hid themselves with white hoods."

Adams, in another Tweet, and a representative from his office that spoke to Patch said the borough president prefers meeting face-to-face for civil conversations, rather than the back-and-forth online.

"Brooklyn Borough Hall is open for anyone to meet with me, face to face, and have a real conversation," he said.

Placard abuse has long infuriated New Yorkers to the point where Mayor Bill de Blasio promised in February he'd get rid of parking passes for city officials and replace them with a digital system. And NYC Transit chief Andy Byford warned in June his office would crack down on employees abusing their placards to park where they please.

The forum will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Patch reporter Kathleen Culliton contributed to this story.