BREAKING: Judge Backs Eminent Domain Seizure at Yards
The Brooklyn Paper is reporting that State Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges this morning ruled against property owners in the footprint of the Barclays Center, paving the way for Forest City Ratner to begin construction on the controversial arena. In one fell swoop, the judge rejected 14 claims by the owners as being meritless. The…
The Brooklyn Paper is reporting that State Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges this morning ruled against property owners in the footprint of the Barclays Center, paving the way for Forest City Ratner to begin construction on the controversial arena. In one fell swoop, the judge rejected 14 claims by the owners as being meritless. The properties affected by the ruling include the home of Develop Don’t Destroy leader Daniel Goldstein, above.
Judge Rules Against Yards Property Owners [Brooklyn Paper]
Sorry to hear it worked out that way, but love him or hate him, Daniel Goldstein changed the way projects work in New York City. You CAN fight the Man, and change his life forever. He may have lost, but I don’t think any other mega-developer will think he/she can just sail in and run roughshod over neighborhoods without being taken to court and delayed for years. If the city had done the right thing in the first place – 1. sold the rights and the Yards to the highest bidders, not the guy with the sweetheart deal, 2. been upfront and transparent with all matters, instead of bypassing the communities involved,3. carried out legal due process, discovery, environmental studies, etc, etc in an above board way, instead of avoiding it with backroom politicing, and 4. not played dirty dealings with race baiting, false claims of “blight”, and bogus promises of “affordable housing” and permanent jobs, not to mention eminent domain, THEN this annoying man and his followers would have been forgotten years ago. But they didn’t. You go, Daniel. Good luck to you.
No the general ED case was already ruled upon – this was simply about condemnation.
slopefarm – I know you were joking, but literally every AY post has 5 comments about how the deal sucks because the Nets suck. Drives me crazy. I agree, though. They need a big star. They should be able to afford two – hopefully (my bias shows!) Brooklyn Arena will be on the way so that free agents will believe that they won’t have to spend their careers in Newark.
As much as I am not particularly a fan of this project in some ways I am relieved that whatever is going to happen is going to happen at this point. DDDB had basically nowhere else to go but to stall this thing inevitably which leaves a gaping hole and no Carlton Ave bridge etc.
Fsrq:
what were the narrow issues in this case? I understand the arguements on eminent domain in general- was this something more narrow?
Rookie,
You can’t have taken me seriously. Obviously, whether the merits and drawbacks to the arena and the overall AY plan have nothing to do with how good or bad the Nets are this year. Likewise, there has been substantial “blight” on the court over at MSG for years. Perhaps we could use some eminent domain there, too.
Nets do have a decent young core, but no one who can take over a game. Can they survive a season this bad without developing a losing culture?
fsrq — While I agree that bx jumped the gun in suspecting corruption on this decision, so much bad news in terms of corruption has come out of that courthouse in the last few years (none involving Gerges that I am aware of) that it is commonplace for people to suspect corrumption on any important decision that doesn’t go their way. I doubt bx would have made that assertion if this were a Manhattan court or a federal judge. Sad.
BK Nets BK Nets BK Nets
nice ring to it.
with Knicks still in POS status, it would be nice to have an alternative team to cheer for
Bxgrl – I am the last person who ordinarily would defend Gerges but frankly it is despicable to publicly accuse a NYS Supreme Court Justice of taking bribes with ABSOLUTELY ZERO EVIDENCE, and especially since any reading of the law left the guy no other choice in ruling here. Gerges wasnt involved in AY, in its “transparency” or its “favors” or its “agreements” – he got a narrow case and ruled on it – thats it.
Every time AY is brought up, people go on and on about how bad the Nets are. I’m guessing there aren’t too many NBA fans on here, because it’s widely thought in the league that they have one of, if not THE brightest futures of any team. They have a couple of killer rookies, a HUGE amount of cap space (they have been saving money to lure a couple of free agents this off-season) and they will probably have the #1 pick this year in what is shaping up to be one the best college drafts in a while. No one thought they would be this terrible, but a lot of this was supposed to happen -they are bad by design so that they can be really, really good when they get to BK.