Federal Eminent Domain Lawsuit Rejected
Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed the eminent domain lawsuit that opponents of the Atlantic Yards project had seen as their best shot at derailing the current plan. In ruling in Goldstein v. Pataki, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said that even if the benefits of the project (jobs, housing, etc.) fall short of what…
Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed the eminent domain lawsuit that opponents of the Atlantic Yards project had seen as their best shot at derailing the current plan. In ruling in Goldstein v. Pataki, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said that even if the benefits of the project (jobs, housing, etc.) fall short of what has been promoted by Ratner and the State, no reasonable juror would have grounds to conclude that the “sole purpose’ of the Project is to confer a private benefit. The judge also ruled that any claim that the condemnations would not benefit the public were baseless. The 13 plaintiffs, a mix of owners and renters, plan to appeal the decision. Speaking afterwards, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Matthew Brinckerhoff, said he thought his clients had a good shot on appeal: “It’s undisputed that no other developer was considered to do this project, that the genesis was Forest City Ratner, that they identified my clients’ properties [for eminent domain], and that the government, broadly speaking, agreed to do exactly what [the developer] asked for.”
Judge Rejects Main Argument of Effort to Stop AY [NY Times]
Judge Dismisses Federal ED Lawsuit; Appeal Planned [AY Report]
Federal Court Ruling Clears AY Obstacle [NY Sun]
Atlantic Yards suit dismissed [Metro]
Photo by Flatbush Gardener
D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L!!!
ahh, the joker pro-development crew was out in full force today here on brownstoner! keep on truckin’ as you support heavy political corruption, misuse of tax money, and emminent domain abuse.
Dear Norman Oder,
I’m so tired of you and your AY Report website. Can you please go back to your day job? Get a life, dude! You’re infatuated with AY and Ratner and you’re wasting your entire life analyzing something that is so inevitable that no one cares about with the exception of your nutty NIMBY friends.
Do you have a wife? Go make love to her. A family? Reach out to them and catch up on old times. Children? Give them a hug and tell them that you love them. Seriously, go spend some time with love ones or anything else but your obsession with AY is borderline psychotic. I’m sure that this is not the first time that you’ve heard this. Take it to heart. Get yourself a real life and smell the roses.
This is awesome news! It’s a serious shot in the arms for those fringe nabes east of Flatbush Avenue and will accelerate gentrification in such a way that will ultimately reduce crime, improve local public schools, attract better goods and services to the community and, more importantly, drive up property values. This is truly a great day!
And for those constantly citing the Extell plan as being better, please don’t be fooled. I have friends who are senior executives at Extell. Extell is one of the largest luxury condo builders in NYC. The reason why Extell sided with DDDB was because the company desperately wanted in on the deal. They hated the fact that Ratner got the biggest development project in Brooklyn’s history and wanted a piece of the action at whatever cost.
If Extell had won or got in there first, it would’ve been the same large scale high rise development with the exception of the arena. Who is anyone fooling here? I seriously hope that no one truly believes that a sophisticated company such as Extell was planning to pay $150 million for the rail yards alone and 100’s of million more to build out the development site simply to build some low scale, low density housing for low to middle income families. How stupid can you be?
Extell’s intention from the very start was to use the community groups to stop Ratner and hopefully steal the project away from him so that they could build their own high density, high scale version of AY. Check out their website. These guys don’t do low and boring. Never have and never will. Sorry for busting your bubble guys… 🙁
http://www.extelldev.com/
6:41 DDDB’s results speak for itself
Is this brownstoner.com
or backseater.com ?
DDDB leaders and supporters, please consider 3:21 Anonymous, especially 4:50 Parksloper and 4:56 Anonymous. Coalition-building is predicated on inclusiveness. I also agree it’s too bad the project will be built this big. But DDDB sucked the air out of the room and resembled just another progressive cause. CBN came along one year too late, and it was never truly independent.
parksloper: are that judge? So how are YOU being called corrupt.
regarding the NY: the poster’s style was a bit rough, but many people still think its ‘the paper of record’ even after blair, miller and as some of us are aware- they actually whitewashed stalin’s crimes – (and the reporter that did so is still proudly displayed as a pulizter winner)
Anon 4:56
Yes, those problems are serious so are property rights because once property rights are taken away war on the middle class accelerates, and control of property is centralized. That’s not healthy for a democracy.
your statement is analogous to saying “what’s the big deal about restricting the press, when children are dying of AIDs”
4:27,
Eminent domain abuse is one of the most serious problems in America?
Oh yea, forget HIV, child abuse, poverty, uninsured millions, etc.
What kind of bubble are you living in?
Drama, exaggeration, hysterics. Keep it coming, because this is why you are FAILING.