« Opponents To File Suit On Atlantic Yards | Main | ESDC's new strain neglects campaign refrain »
April 5, 2007
Clearing of Atlantic Yards’ Site Proceeds as Legal Thicket Grows Denser
The NY Times
By Andy Newman
Amazing... on the eve of the announcement of a lawsuit based on the environmental review of Atlantic Yards, the Times published a follow-up article on a bunch of lawsuits it has missed so far.
Assemblyman Jim Brennan's lawsuit forced NY State to admit that they never saw the financial plan for the project and to adopt a strained defense:
The most recent was filed last month by Assemblyman James F. Brennan, who is trying to force a state agency that approved the project, the Empire State Development Corporation, to release any Forest City business plan for Atlantic Yards that it has.
Mr. Brennan characterized the information vacuum as bizarre, as well as in violation of an agreement that directed Forest City to submit its business plan to the authorities.
A spokesman for the Empire State Development Commission, Errol Cockfield, took mild issue with Mr. Brennan’s complaints yesterday. “We did not receive a document labeled ‘financial plan,’ but the information we received, taken together, constitutes a financial plan,” he said.
The federal eminent domain suit is still under consideration:
...the federal judge who has control of the case heard several hours of arguments on whether to keep the case in federal court.
The environmental impact study is headed to court today:
Mr. Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn said that the development corporation had failed to adequately consider traffic problems and security concerns that the project would raise, among other things.
The environmental monitoring of work at the site appears to be ad hoc:
George Locker, a lawyer for several residents, said he would take the state development corporation to court next week claiming it was flouting a requirement to have an independent environmental monitor on hand.
Posted by lumi at April 5, 2007 10:05 AM