No Land Grab

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) spokesman Daniel Goldstein said, "If a genuine and comprehensive review of the environmental impacts of the Ratner proposal is undertaken, it will be shown that the project, as currently configured, is inappropriate for Brooklyn and its impacts are too overwhelming for it to be built as proposed. The ESDC must take the public comment seriously. When analyzing the environmental impact they should act on behalf of the public with an honest analysis and avoid past problems of kowtowing to the developer or any political meddling."

Goldstein continued, "We are opposed to the Ratner plan, as are most New Yorkers, and we are adamant that the approval process should run through the city's oversight instead of the non-representative state process that has been undertaken. But since it is the process we have to work with, we will vigorously work to make sure it’s a legitimate process. If we find the analysis to be illegitimate over the coming months we will seek recourse in the courts."

The Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods (CBN, www.cbrooklynneighborhoods.homestead.com/CBN_info.html), a coalition that formed ten months ago with the sole mission of ensuring a fair, genuine and methodologically acceptable environmental impact study, has collected over 600 responses to its public scoping survey over about a 2-week period. These 600 responses show the public's grave and serious concerns about the impacts of the Ratner plan and will be submitted to the ESDC.

CBN, DDDB, Community Boards 2, 6, 8 will all be submitting robust responses to the ESDC draft environmental scope.

Goldstein concluded, "As often happens at these hearings, project proponents try to pack the room with bussed in union members and 'ringers' bussed in by the developer. We hope that this does not occur, but if it does we want to ensure that the community is allowed its fair time to speak about environmental impact issues."

The public scoping hearing is meant to obtain comments on the draft scope of analysis for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) as part of the State Environmental Quality Review Act procedures.

WHAT:
Atlantic Yards Public Scoping Hearing

WHO:
Empire State Development Corporation
Forest City Ratner
The Public

WHEN:
Tuesday, October 18. 5-8pm

WHERE:
New York City College of Technology’s Klitgord Auditorium
285 Jay Street in Brooklyn
(between Tillary and Johnson; A/C/F to Jay Street for the nearest subway service)
subway map: http://dddb.net/map.gif
street map: http://dddb.net/map2.gif