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Reflecting those stakes, KARA has mounted a lobbying effort of its own. They're meeting with members of the Council's land use and zoning panels, and pressing residents to call Councilman Oliver Koppell, whose district nearly abuts the Armory. At least one church in the area handed out slips of paper to congregants one recent Sunday with phone numbers for Koppell's two offices. Koppell did not return a call from City Limits seeking comment.

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A spokesman for Councilwoman Katz, who sits on the zoning subcommittee, says she does not take a position on land use items before the hearing. A spokesman for Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder, also on the zoning panel, said his office had received letters and phone calls about the deal but would wait until the hearing to take a stance. The panel's chairman, Tony Avella of Queens, says he has never seen so much organized opposition to a project that has come so far through the land use process. He addressed the October 25th rally, saying, "Nobody knows their block better than the people who live there. It's time the city paid attention to you."

Other members of the panel did not return calls. Four of the nine members are leaving office at the end of the year, having lost their races for re-election or higher office.

Keeping the KARA coalition together could prove difficult as negotiations move into the 11th hour. Already, the city's Construction and Building Trades Council of Greater New York has broken from the coalition to say it supports the deal.

Some community members, meanwhile, seek an altogether different development than the one Related is proposing—one that includes "a family-oriented recreation facility with low-cost membership" and a bookstore, according to KARA's website. It's unclear that a mall—even one that pays living wages—will meet those more ambitious expectations.

And the process itself is becoming a sore point, says Pilgrim-Hunter. As the developer, the community board and politicians negotiate, she feels that the community groups who've been involved in the battle since the beginning have been left without a seat at the table. "It would be very unfortunate," says Pilgrim-Hunter, "if at the very last moment the community got sold out."

[Editor's Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Armory sits in Councilman Koppell's district. It is in outgoing Councilwoman Maria Baez's district.]