Renter's Suit Against Ratner Di(smi)ssed

While the smart money was already betting against the 13 tenants in two rental buildings (one of Dean and one on Pacific, right) in the Atlantic Yards footprints in their case against Forest City Ratner (Supreme Court Justice Walter B. Tolub's had shown his hand back in March), it was nonetheless a discouraging setback for AY opponents when the judge dismissed the case against Forest City Ratner yesterday, saying that the claim belonged in the appelate division (where, it turns out, the tenants are already pursuing legal recourse against the state for not offering relocation housing that is "comparable"). The tenants had claimed that since they were not owners, they couldn't bring the case in the appellate division. Tolub disagreed: “Plaintiffs, for the purposes of a bringing an [appellate] proceeding, are condemnees," he said, later adding that “this action was brought both in the wrong church and the wrong pew.” And with that, the ordered the tenants to reimburse Forest City Ratner for its defense costs.
Atlantic Yards Suit Rejected [NY Post] GMAP
State Judge Boots Suit [AY Report]
Photo of 624 Pacific from AY Report

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Comments

Yet another defeat in a very long list of failures by AY opponents. Can these people accomplish anything?

Thankfully, this will soon be over. The federal eminent domain suit will surely be dismissed and the environmental review suit will meet the same fate. Face it, guys, you are losing badly and nothing that you do can make a difference at this point. So, why not call it quits, have a Brooklyn Weiss, and lighten up a little?

D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L!

Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 10:35 AM

It is a vast and thick web of corruption these days at all levels of power.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 11:59 AM

Just because they MAY lose, does not mean that AY opponents should roll over and die. This is still supposed to be America where anyone has a right to oppose a project of this nature in the streets, on line and in a court of law.

If everyone just gives up, or worse, doesn't fight at all, whenver the big dogs bark, we give up more than just the homes and businesses in the footprint of AY. We are then allowing anyone with money and power to just run roughshod over all of us, whenever they please. And trust me, they may not be planning to bulldoze you today, but that doesn't mean they won't try tomorrow. No matter the outcome, this project deserves to be fought to the bitter end, even if it is only to be a primer to aid in fights in the future.

Posted by: Sterling Silver at May 18, 2007 12:01 PM

More like why are they pursuing these issues in the wrong courts. These rulings aren't on the issue at hand, they're on jurisdiction.

Posted by: andomb at May 18, 2007 12:03 PM

Sterling Silver's post illustrates a chief reason why the AY opposition continues to fail: a heavy reliance on trying to instill fear in others. I shouldn't be surprised by this. Given that all of their efforts have flopped, the logical backup is to make hyperbolic predictions. They sound like the homeless guy on the train who tries to guilt you into giving him $ by saying, "you, too, could be homeless". So ineffective.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 2:02 PM

If that's what you got from Sterling Silver's comment, then you got bigger issues than AY. To me, it was more about a right to protest, not a some kind of "hyperbolic prediction".

While we're at it, "you, too, could be homeless" is true, as well. It only takes a fire, or even a large tree, or a gas leak to make you homeless, if only temporarily. Maybe that won't send you into the subways, but no one is immune from losing everything.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 2:15 PM

“this action was brought both in the wrong church and the wrong pew.”

sweet poetic justice. I defer. I acquiesce. Now I realize that my actions have consequences beyond simply voicing the concerns of a mere, individual citizen.

You can happily expect no more hyper-rhetoric or "hyperbolic predictions".

"And with that, the ordered the tenants to reimburse Forest City Ratner for its defense costs"

I knew that life was unfair but this I believe is an all time low.

Signing out

Posted by: hyperbolic preacher boy at May 18, 2007 6:52 PM

I just scooped up a stack of DDDB literature from the lobby of my building and promptly dumped it in the garbage.

Where it belongs.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 7:10 PM

Homeless? I had a good laugh the other day when a woman who bought not one but two units in Greenehouse with her "displacement" money from 636 Pacific St (The Atlantic Arts building which is where the head of DDDB lives) put "one" of her units up for resale at an amazing resale price. I for one think eminent domain abuse people should be called tax payer abuse !!!

Posted by: anon at May 18, 2007 7:47 PM

Just to clarify. this suit is completely unrelated to the two suits DDDB is involved in. From DDDB.net:
CORRECTED. NY Press Corps Gets It Wrong.

http://dddb.net/php/latestnews_Linked.php?id=761

Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 10:41 PM

Bruce Ratner is a scumbag. Lets be clear on that. The smoke will clear one day soon enough.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 19, 2007 12:41 AM

Why is it that some people always use the example of a tiny, tiny minority of people who cheat, or defraud, or get over, to damn everyone else in a certain program, or the program itself? So a couple of people supposedly unfairly profited from the payoff they received from Ratner - big deal. Let's destroy the whole forest because you don't like a couple of trees. Let's debate the real issues at work here, not the side bar of a couple of people perceived to be getting over. Compared to how FCR is getting over on the entire borough of Brooklyn, not to mentions the city and state, these people are rank amateurs.

Posted by: Sterling Silver at May 19, 2007 1:38 AM

So serial killers should be jailed while those who have murdered only one person should go free?

Posted by: Anonymous at May 19, 2007 11:22 AM

Hardly the same thing, 11:22.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 19, 2007 11:53 AM

D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L!!!

Posted by: Anonymous at May 20, 2007 12:40 PM