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December 1, 2006
GO FISH!
State says anti-Yards suit is threadbare
The Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
State lawyers this week slammed a suit seeking to block the Atlantic Yards mega-development as nothing but a “fishing expedition” designed to delay the imminent approval of the $4.2-billion project.
Empire State Development Corporation lawyer Douglas Krause called the lawsuit, which was filed last month by 10 residents and business owners who would be evicted to make room for Atlantic Yards, “without merit.”
...
With time running short, Matthew Brinckerhoff, the lawyer representing lead plaintiff and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein, called on the judges to expedite his request for access to the documents.“It’s profoundly disturbing that public officials are resisting [public access] to information about a public project,” he said.
Calling his case a “fishing expedition” is the state’s way of claiming there is no evidence of wrongdoing, he added.
“But [we know] there is a mountain of evidence that this process has been and continues to be unconstitutional.”
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“If they discover something wrong or truly embarrassing, the political climate could be changed at a key moment,” said David Reiss, a Brooklyn Law School, who did not think the term “fishing expedition” was apt.“They are looking for potentially important disclosures or some kind of smoking gun. The defendants are trying to prevent that from happening.”
Posted by lumi at December 1, 2006 7:08 AM