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February 28, 2007
Lawmakers Push for the Release of Atlantic Yards Financial Documents
The NY Sun
By Eliot Brown
A lawsuit filed by two Brooklyn legislators is forcing the public release of long-awaited documents regarding finances surrounding the Atlantic Yards project.
An ESDC spokeswoman told The New York Sun it now intends to release the documents to Mr. Brennan, likely this week, which include development company Forest City Ratner's business plan for the $4.2 billion project in Brooklyn. Assemblyman James Brennan, joined by state Senator Velmanette Montgomery, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Empire State Development Corporation alleging that the agency was improperly withholding documents detailing the project's finances.
Critics of the project for at least two years have been attempting to determine the amount developer Bruce Ratner stands to profit, and they say the hundreds of millions in city and state subsidies should justify its status as public information.
...
"Ratner's basic premise for having to build this so large and so dense was that it has to be to make this financially feasible," a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Candace Carponter, said. Without knowing Mr. Ratner's potential profit, the public has been unable to properly evaluate his claims, Ms. Carponter said.
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A spokeswoman for Forest City Ratner said the company had no comment regarding the lawsuit, and has complied with government agencies in the public approval process.
Posted by lumi at February 28, 2007 7:59 AM