Nets Coming Late to Atlantic Yards and Suit Coming Soon
Two new developments in the Atlantic Yards saga. Atlantic Yards Report reveals that the Nets have three more years at the Meadowlands’ Izod Center, not two, meaning the 2010 opening date Bruce Ratner has been promoting may be nothing more than a pipe dream; we might be looking at 2012 for the team’s debut. Besides…
Two new developments in the Atlantic Yards saga. Atlantic Yards Report reveals that the Nets have three more years at the Meadowlands’ Izod Center, not two, meaning the 2010 opening date Bruce Ratner has been promoting may be nothing more than a pipe dream; we might be looking at 2012 for the team’s debut. Besides the team’s schedule, there’s the issue of construction. Ratner tells some outlets that groundbreaking won’t begin until January; to others, he says November.
As construction remains stalled at the site, a lawsuit goes forward. Nine property owners and tenants filed a petition against the Empire State Development Corporation in the Appellate Division Second Department of New York State Supreme Court. They’ve got five beefs: The seizure of their property violates the public use clause contained in the Bill of Rights of the New York Constitution; violates the due process clause contained in the Bill of Rights of the New York Constitution; violates the equal protection clause contained in the Bill of Rights of the New York Constitution; violates the low-income and current resident requirements of the New York Constitution; and violates the “public use, benefit or purpose” requirement contained in New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL). They expect to hear the case in January of 09, apparently long before a single building will rise on the site. Check out the press release below.
AY Arena Might Open 2011 [AY Report]
Goldstein et al. v. Empire State Development Corporation [DDDB]
Appeal Over Atlantic Yards Suit Filed [Brownstoner]
Supreme Court Won’t Hear AY Eminent Domain Case [Brownstoner]
Photo by threecee.
DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN
For Immediate Release: August 4, 2008
Nine Property Owners and Tenants File Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Challenge in New York State Court
Petitioners Seek to Prevent New York State’s
Seizure of Their Homes and Businesses by Eminent Domain
BROOKLYN, NY— Late Friday nine property owners and tenants—with homes and businesses New York State wants to seize for developer Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project—filed a petition with the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court seeking an order rejecting the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) findings and determination to seize their homes and businesses by eminent domain.
The court argument will likely be in January 2009.
“New York Courts have a proud history of interpreting the New York Constitution as providing greater protections for individual rights than the federal constitution. This case presents an opportunity to continue that tradition by declaring that the New York Constitution prohibits the government from seizing private homes simply to turn them over to a developer who covets them for a massive luxury condominium project,” said lead attorney Matthew Brinckerhoff of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP. “We are confident that the court will see this for what it is: government officials bending to the will of Bruce Ratner, allowing him to wield the power of eminent domain for his personal financial benefit.”
Facing the seizure of their homes and businesses, the petitioners have alleged five claims against the ESDC— the condemning authority utilized by Forest City Ratner to take the petitioners’ properties and give them to Forest City Ratner. The five claims are that the ESDC’s determination to forcibly seize the properties should be rejected because:
1. It violates the public use clause contained in the Bill of Rights of the New York Constitution.
ESDC’s claims of public benefit are a pretext to justify a private taking.
2. It violates the due process clause contained in the Bill of Rights of the New York Constitution.
The public process was a sham. The outcome was predetermined in a back room deal between Ratner, Pataki and Bloomberg.
3. It violates the equal protection clause contained in the Bill of Rights of the New York Constitution.
By singling out the petitioners, for unequal, adverse, treatment, and selecting Ratner as the recipient of irrational largess, the ESDC violated the petitioners’ right to equal protection under the law.
4. It violates the low-income and current resident requirements of the New York Constitution.
The New York State Constitution provides that no loan or subsidy shall be made to aid any project unless the project contains a plan for the remediation of blight and the “occupancy of any such project shall be restricted to persons of low income as defined by law and preference shall be given to persons who live or shall have lived in such area or areas.”
The Atlantic Yards project is not “restricted to persons of low income” and no preference has been given to “persons who live or shall have lived in such area.”
5. It violates the “public use, benefit or purpose” requirement contained in New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL).
ESDC’s determination that petitioners’ homes and businesses will serve a “public use, benefit or purpose” has no basis in fact or law.
The petition to the Court for the case, Goldstein et al. v. Empire State Development Corporation, can be downloaded at: www.dddb.net/eminentdomain
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Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn—in its effort to defend the homes and businesses of community members and advocate for their rights—organized the eminent domain lawsuit, and raises the funds for the lawsuit.
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DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN leads a broad-based community coalition
fighting for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them
DDDB is 501c3 non-profit corporation supported by over 4,000 individual donors from the community.
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yeah, i’m pointing out the contradiction in what you said. the yards would have remained empty and no organic development would have resolved that. 6th avenue and carlton bridges would still be dumping grounds and the area fronting the yards attractive only to more big box stores. no one would have taken on the yards themselves without major upside potential, and that necessarily implies building something, or some things, that are of a scale or for a purpose that you probably would protest. yes, in a perfect world we could keep all of the stuff that was perfectly good and get rid of all of the bad stuff, but reasonable minds can differ on what is good or bad. new condo? good. maybe. but maybe less good as what would replace it.
as for ratner, it probably would help your cause to try to figure out what his actual motivations are (and the motivations of people who support AY), as infantile characterizations of those motivations tends to minimize whatever power your arguments might have.
A manifesto of a crazy man. It won’t be dissimilar to the writings of the unibomber. Maybe one of the What’s relatives are reading this and will out him.
A manifesto on how to behave like a petulant child on the internet.
Plenty of people was banking on appreciation! Yep, Atlantic Yards was going to be the Asshats windfall!
Prospect Heights gentrified in the late 80’s, not now. Asshat Hill was the benefactor of a Mutant Real Estate Bubble.
With Government deficits, shrinking Tax revenues and a imploding asset bubble you think the values of your “investments” wont fall, stop hogging the joint!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end..
BTW Compile my posts and use them for a Manifesto!
i disagree- I also said the area was coming back before Ratner got interested. Why do you think Goldstein was fighting? Buildings were being renovated, there are viable businesses with employees in the area. I didn’t say the area would remain barren at all. You don’t think it’s wasteful to tear down a perfectly good, newly renovated condo building just to show the world how big your financial dick is? (Sorry- everytime I see the Ratner plans all I can think of is him walking into the office and announcing, “See! Mine is bigger than anyone elses!”)
And it isn’t a matter of spiting an arena. It’s the huge waste of money and resources, that we get very little return on. $1 billion back over 30 years? That’s chump change. An arena within a realistic development that augments instead of drains the community- yeah, I could go for that. But AY ain’t it.
given that the residents of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill were largely against the AY, I don’t see why this would cause anyone to cry or worry about their investment. I agree I don’t think AY will ever happen now but I don’t think this fact spells doom for Brownstone Brooklyn. I think that, as everyone has been saying, that area has been barren for years and Fort Green, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights developed themselves despite that. Something else will happen there eventually and we will all continue to live the lives we are living.
I can never remember is The What saying our brownstones aren’t going to be worth anything because Atlantic Yards is happening or because it isn’t happening? C’mon What, even the Unibomber eventually managed to compose a manifesto with more depth than just calling everyone “asshat.”
i’m no AY-booster, but here goes: the self-deluded fools are the ones who think that there is any developer, or set of developers, out there who would have or would take on the risk of fixing the infrastructure of AY without huge upside potential. huge upside potential does not come with “organic development.” this wasn’t simply not happening “as far or as fast,” it wouldn’t have happened at all without large amounts of public subsidy. AY has been barren for years, as bxgrl says, and it would have stayed barren. you want to have your cake and eat it, too – it was barren! it was improving! – but that’s just not reality. i think what it comes down to is that you’d rather have a disgusting dead zone for 20 more years just to spite an arena (sports!? music?!? the horror!), and to me is the sad thing.
Brownstoner Brooklyn is finished, done and kaput! I wonder how you Asshats feed now Ratner will not build that stadium? I think the equity is seeping from your houses!
LMMFAO! I love it and yes I take full glee watching this thing implode! Come on everyone tell me this thing is being built…
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…