Brooklyn, NY -- Gloria Mattera, Green Party candidate for Borough President, received the highest ever voting percentages for a Green candidate in a city borough-wide race.

Her 7 percent tally more than doubled that achieved by Ralph Nader in his high profile presidential run five years ago.

Impressively, Mattera hit 30 percent or higher in several neighborhoods surrounding the proposed Atlantic Yards project.

"Our totals in the 52nd and 57th Assembly Districts clearly show that there is a lot of community opposition to the Forest City Ratner Corporation," said Mattera. "People who have never voted Green before did so in big numbers. They see us working side by side with the community in its fight against tax-subsidized private development and eminent domain."

Pointing to the fact that she beat Markowitz in several electoral districts close the Atlantic Yards, Mattera said "This should serve as a wake-up call for elected officials-that they can no longer take voters for granted and will be held accountable for actions that undermine our communities."

Many volunteers and contributors to the Mattera Campaign came from areas where Marty Markowitz has handed control over community planning to real estate developers, including Fort Greene, Prospect Heights and Park Slope. Mattera took the Brooklyn High School of the Arts polling site in the 57th AD. The preliminary vote tally there was 346 to 289, and she won in 4 out of 6 election districts at that location.

"This has been a valuable opportunity for us to form alliances with neighbors and community groups opposed to the Ratner plan," said Susan Metz, a coordinator for the campaign who lives on Park Place in the 57th AD, "We look forward to planning our next steps in stopping this harmful project."

Mattera cautioned, "We are the leading opposition party in a good portion of Brooklyn, but we're completely unknown in many areas. This depresses our overall percentage."

"We have to spread our success to other parts of the borough. But the trend is upward."