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August 23, 2006
Critics, supporters to weigh in on Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards development plan
AM NY
By Michael Clancy
Today's hearing gets the cover treatment:
Opponents say it is unconscionable that state officials are holding only one four-hour public hearing just 36 days after releasing a dense draft environmental impact statement.
"The amount of information that we are analyzing is, all told, just short of 4,000 pages," said Jim Vogel, spokesman for the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, an umbrella organization representing 40 community groups fighting the project. "This is the largest development in the history in Brooklyn ... that they would give this the same amount of time as they would to a strip mall in Syracuse is kind of amazing."
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Ratner's group, Forest City Ratner Cos., will give a presentation and residents who may lose their property to eminent domain were asked to make a statement, so it's not clear just how many other people will get to speak.
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Opponents of the plan were fuming Tuesday because they said "obstructionist" state officials rebuffed questions about the forum -- such as what time doors will open and how overflow will be handled -- by treating them as requests under the Freedom of Information laws."We asked pretty simple basic questions and to hear that our information request is being treated as a Freedom of Information request -- could you slap the public in the face any harder?" Vogel said.
NoLandGrab: Brooklynites have been trying to find out answers to simple questions, such as how long will participants have to speak, what is the purpose of the Sept 12 "Community Forum." AM NY and Metro NY have reported 3 mins, but the official hearing notice doesn't say.
If it is true that the ESDC is now treating these questions as Freedom of Information Requests, this is very disturbing and a sad comment on our democracy.
Posted by lumi at August 23, 2006 6:52 AM