Metro

Bruce Ratner greeted with not-so-welcoming sign in Brooklyn

Developer Bruce Ratner got a special message today he’ll likely never forget when someone hacked into an electronic traffic sign near his Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, manipulating it to flash “F—- Ratner.”

The sign at the corner of Flatbush and St. Marks avenues in Prospect Heights was tampered with in time for the morning rush and wasn’t fixed until several hours later at about 10 am – but not before many drivers and pedestrians got an eyeful.

Eladia Causil, who runs a pre-school across the street, said many of her 3-year-old students read the message on the way to class and kept asking questions about it all morning.

Her son, George Causil, said, “You got to hand it to New Yorkers. The person who did this was pretty crafty in getting their message across. It was hilarious.”

Ratner being a target of expletives in the neighborhood is not a shock.

He is Public Enemy No. 1 to many for convincing the state to use eminent domain to take private property and displace residents for Atlantic Yards. Turner Construction, which Ratner hired as lead contractor, earlier this month kicked off construction a few blocks away on Atlantic Yard’s centerpiece — an NBA arena for the Nets. Turner controls the traffic sign, which is supposed to inform drivers that Fifth Avenue is now closed from Flatbush to Atlantic avenues to pave the way for the project.

A white box below the large sign contains a typing pad for what is known as a “variable message” system. According to local merchants it was unlocked for days, allowing anyone to get in.

A city Department of Transportation spokesman said the agency was alerted to the prank and notified Ratner’s firm, who then alerted the contractor. DOT issued a permit for the electronic sign.

Turner workers were later seen closing up the box with barbed wire and resetting the password. One worker said it appeared that the prankster figured out the password. Another specifically blamed opponents of the project.

“They are a bunch of juvenile idiots,” he said.

Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for the Atlantic Yards opposition group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, said he did not know who sabotaged the sign.

Joe DePlasco, a Ratner spokesman, said, “Some irresponsible prankster apparently thinks it’s fun to compromise public safety by hacking into the sign and changing the message. It is not funny. It is serious and offensive and, most importantly, a safety issue. We are reporting the vandalism to the Police Department.”