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October 15, 2007
DDDB PRESS RELEASE:
Hundreds of Brooklynites Walk to Raise Funds for Ongoing Legal Battle Against Atlantic Yards Project
Project Opponents and Advocates for Responsible Development Will Continue to Fight for the Long Haul
BROOKLYN, NY — Opponents of the “Atlantic Yards” plan walked in Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s (DDDB) third annual Walk Don’t Destroy walkathon to raise funds for the ongoing, long haul legal battle against developer Forest City Ratner’s unpopular, anti-democratic, and outsized “Atlantic Yards” project and proposed experiment in extreme density, in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The walkathon is part of the continuing effort to build the community’s legal war chest against the project.
“We are close to marking the 4th anniversary of the struggle against the Atlantic Yards project, a purported ‘done deal’ whose time will never come,” said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “Today, once again, we are terribly proud of the community’s support in real dollars and in spirit. Along with so many other contributors, today’s walkers and donors ensure that DDDB will see the legal cases through to victory, so we can start over and develop the Vanderbilt rail yards in an appropriate, sustainable, and democratic manner.”
DDDB relies on the broad community for its support; its legal efforts are funded entirely by the community with over 3,500 individual donors, as well as various fundraisers throughout the year. DDDB’s efforts over the past four years, along with so many other organizations, have been a sustained, truly grassroots community movement, thanks to the community’s ongoing and continually growing support.
Leading the four year old opposition to the “Atlantic Yards” project, DDDB has organized and continues to fund two major, pending lawsuits—one in federal court with 14 property owners and tenants alleging that the use of eminent domain for the project violates the US Constitution, and one in state court, with 25 community group co-plaintiffs, seeking to overturn New York state’s environmental review and approval of the project, as well as the state’s “blight” determination and designation of the privately-owned arena as a civic project. While opposing “Atlantic Yards,” DDDB advocates for sensible, sustainable and democratic development of the Vanderbilt rail yard.
For more information about those lawsuits visit: http://www.dddb.net/php/status.php.
Posted by lumi at October 15, 2007 11:03 AM