ESDC Seeks Final Evictions Today
And then there was one. It was widely reported earlier this week that Freddy’s Bar, the long-time gathering place of Atlantic Yards opponents, had made plans to relocate at the end of this month. And now, with the ESDC set to formally request eviction orders from a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge today, The Brooklyn Paper…
And then there was one. It was widely reported earlier this week that Freddy’s Bar, the long-time gathering place of Atlantic Yards opponents, had made plans to relocate at the end of this month. And now, with the ESDC set to formally request eviction orders from a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge today, The Brooklyn Paper is reporting that all of the remaining residential hold-outs except for one have cut deals to relocate. We have successfully worked to find comparable or better housing for every family in the footprint except one, said Forest City’s MaryAnne Gilmartin. Not surprisingly, the last man standing is Daniel Goldstein the founder and face of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. Based on a post on Atlantic Yards Report, however, his recalcitrance could have more to do with practicality than principle at this point: He’s still being low-balled on the value of his own apartment ($395 per square foot compared to a market average of $475 in Prospect Heights) and has only been offered apartments in two buildings so far. The final screwing in a screwed up process.
Goldstein Now, Officially, the last Yards Holdout [Brooklyn Paper]
ESDC Suggests Comparable Condos [Atlantic Yards Report]
Curtain to Fall on Last Atlantic Yards Holdouts [Crain’s]
Freddy’s Finds Amnesty in Park Slope [Brownstoner]
True, brooklynlove. Babs, like many posters on this board, live in an insulated world.
too bad you speak only for a tiny sliver of brooklyn residents
“I don’t get it. If all of you were so passionate that this never should have happened, why didn’t you all spend some time, energy and money with DDDB???”
True that, DIBS; I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to over the last several days who told me how awful this arena crap was going to be for Brooklyn (unbidden by me; they raised the subject). And I wanted to ask them where they were when we needed them. Perhaps, like one poster above, they buried their heads in the sand. And why? Because they had already given up against the forces of money, greed, and corruption?
I am proud to say that I did devote as much money and as much time as I possibly could to DDDB over the last six years (I was living abroad until 2004) and that I intend to continue to do so, to insure that nothing like this ever happens again. When I first joined the group I knew that the outcome was far from certain, but I also knew that if I didn’t do everything within my power to stop this rape of Brooklyn’s very heart and soul that I could never live with myself, whatever happened.
A crime has been committed against all the people of New York State and especially Brooklyn and I and my fellow DDDB volunteers and contributors did everything we could to prevent it.
And in the end, I do believe in karma. Things have a funny way of working out and bad people do eventually get punished, in one way or another.
And sorry I misspelled Dan’s name above – didn’t sleep too well last night.
As usual, FCR’s pre-prepared “press release” was full of inaccuracies and downright lies. Here is Dan Goldstien’s official statement:
“Contrary to press reports I have not given up my First Amendment rights or my involvement with Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. (Ratner, though he tried to hide it, did require this of nearly all those who sold their homes to him years ago, and they agreed to it.) Ratner and ESDC tried very hard to force me to agree to give up those rights and the work I do with the organization I helped found. It wasn’t enough, I guess, for Ratner to decimate my neighborhood, take my home, and kick me out, they also felt they had to cut out my tongue. For nearly 3 hours of talks mediated by Judge Gerges I refused to accept any kind of gag order. I would not have taken any amount of money to do that, and I did not.
I did agree to give up my title as “DDDB spokesman”, but that’s just a title. And I did agree to remove my name from one outstanding lawsuit which remains in court despite that. Otherwise I can do and say whatever else I want, and my agreement explicitly states that I have maintained my First Amendment rights. So they have not succeeded in silencing me and I am free to criticize and speak about the project, the developer and the ESDC as much as I want. I intend to do that whenever the need arises.
For seven years my wife Shabnam Merchant (who I met as a fellow activist against Atlantic Yards) and I have worked and fought day after day—giving up an income for many of those years—in an effort to help bring community-based, democratic development to Central Brooklyn. This meant, obviously, opposing Ratner’s corrupt, developer-driven, undemocratic project.
As a co-founder of DDDB I will continue that work to the best of my ability and as time allows. I’ve not been silenced, and I am not leaving DDDB as it transitions into a new phase of fighting Atlantic Yards, exposing its corruption and false promises, and advocating for changing the State’s abusive eminent domain laws and the way development is done in New York. And should Atlantic Yards falter, and the land return to its contested state, DDDB will be prepared to jump in.”
What a hero. Several years of sham litigation resulting in a delayed and diluted projected and no positive outcome for anyone except Goldstein.
Very true BoerumHill. Amazing, isn’t it- the people who scream loudest that he should shut up and get out are now the loudest complaining that he did. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. And tazpayers will still be lining Ratn er’s pockets, the MTA will still get only a pittance for the yards, and the neighborhoods surrounding AY will have 25 years of construction, let alone all the traffic and mess from stadium nights.
As for blaming Goldstein for the lack of movement on NY re ED- that’s is a total laugh. Like the powers that be would ever go against their developer friends. Please benson. Get real.
Although Forest City — which was the development partner of The New York Times in its Midtown Manhattan headquarters — could have waited for a ruling that might have netted Mr. Goldstein far less, removing him from the site allows the developer to move forward with demolition and construction. The developer is paying $6.7 million a month in finance and other overhead costs, according to court filings.
Mr. Goldstein said that a “big chunk†of the money will go to his lawyers. Michael Galinsky, a filmmaker who is making a documentary about Mr. Goldstein and Atlantic Yards, said it would have been “irresponsible†not to have settled. “It was either move out in two weeks or move out in two months and take what the state offered,†he said.
A bartender at Freddy’s, Mike Sternfeld, said that under the circumstances, it would be difficult to criticize Mr. Goldstein. “He’s given up everything to do this over the last six or seven years,†Mr. Sternfeld said. “He has no block left. He has a family to look out for.â€
…
so tiring. these fools brought every conceivable lawsuit in the realm of theory and brownstoner is still crying foul. so the politicians are corrupt. the courts are corrupt. who else? is this goldman sachs’ fault also?
goldstein – for the love of god – move on. you received more of an opportunity to object than you ever deserved and you still lost thoroughly on every one of your obstructionist arguments. keep pressing your luck and you’ll learn what it means to be defendant.
3 Mil? well. He can buy himself a big ol’ house now
and have plenty left over for hookers and blow.