No Land Grab: A REAL SCORECARD

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May 21, 2008

A REAL SCORECARD

FCR PR: Lie frequently and often!!

Atlantic Yards critics have been scratching their heads about developer Forest City Ratner's [FCR] claim of having swept the opposition in the courts (that's court of law, not b-ball), and their frequent trumpeting of their alleged 18-0 record.

Since there haven't been 18 court cases filed, we're assuming that FCR is counting court decisions.

Ratner may have "the math," but we asked Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn for the actual running tally of decisions, and found that the real math tells a somewhat different story, which leads us to the question, why don't reporters ask Forest City Ratner for proof of the company's outstanding record?

[The "journalism of verification" is supposed to mean more than just verifying that Ratner said what he said.]

Here's the tally, which comes out to 11-3 in favor of FCR, by our count:

CASE	Plaintiff	Defendant
DDDB et al v. ESDC et al, Demolition Case
DDDB et al v. ESDC et al, Appeal on David Paget Conflict of Interest
DDDB et al v. ESDC et al, Court of Appeals Denies plaintiffs Appeal on Paget Case
DDDB et al v. ESDC et al, EIS Case
Goldstein et al. v. Pataki et al, Eastern District Eminent Domain Case
Goldstein et al. v. Patakii et al, 2n Circuit Eminent Domain Case Appeal
Anderson et al v. ESDC et al, Rent Stabilization (RS) Tenants Supreme Court [Eminent domain (ED) violates RS laws]
Anderson et al v. ESDC et al, RS Tenants Appellate Division (ED)
Anderson et al v. ESDC et al, RS Tenants Denied by Court of Appeals (ED)
Anderson et al v. ESDC et al, RS Tenants Appellate Division [Relocation plan violates UDC Act]
Anderson et al v. ESDC et al, RS Tenants Denied by Court of Appeals (UDC)
DDDB et al v. ESDC et al, David Paget conflict case
752 Pacific LLC v. Pacific Carlton Development Corp., Ownership/control case
Williams v. FCRC, false arrest case, settled to benefit of plaintiff
TOTAL	3	11

Two Forest City executives who have been spreading the 18-0 lie:
Bruce Ratner
Joanne Minieri

Here are two reporters and one government official who have been lied to by FCR and should ask for their money back:
Charles V. Bagli, The NY Times
Simon Houpt, Toronto Globe and Mail
Avi Schick, Empire State Development Corporation

Maybe the reporters can get a correction printed, and hopefully both of them have learned their lesson about FCR PR.

In the end, who won what court decisions is of little consequence, when either side needs only to win at the finish line. Compiling this scorecard is practically a waste of time, except for the fact that Bruce Ratner and his troops are making a big deal of it and have proliferated this lie.

Posted by lumi at May 21, 2008 6:38 AM