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June 6, 2007
Another Setback for Brooklyn Arena Foes
AP, via "Houston Chronicle"
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis dismissed one of two major legal challenges to the project, which is also to include office space and as many as 6,400 new apartments in towers designed by architect Frank Gehry.
Thirteen holdout tenants, homeowners and business owners in the mega-development's vast footprint sued last year to save their properties. They said the planned seizures were a sham, orchestrated for the sole purpose of enriching the Nets principal owner, Bruce Ratner.
Garaufis called that allegation baseless.
"Because plaintiffs concede that the project will create large quantities of housing and office space, as well as a sports arena, in an area that is mostly blighted," he wrote, no reasonable juror could conclude "that the 'sole purpose' of the project is to confer a private benefit."
Ratner released a statement calling the ruling "an important victory" for Brooklyn.
An attorney for the residents, Matthew Brinckerhoff, said he will appeal.
"We are confident that the appellate court will allow this case to proceed to trial, at which the citizens of New York will finally learn the real reason plaintiffs' properties were selected to be forcibly taken, and why Ratner was chosen to reap an unprecedented financial windfall," he said in a written statement.
The AP wire story also ran in NY Newsday, "Judge delivers setback to Brooklyn arena foes."
Posted by lumi at June 6, 2007 11:05 PM