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June 30, 2008
Where are they now: Jim Stuckey
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Where is Stuckey?
We found Jim Stuckey!
...Where is he now? Where has he gone to face those challenges? He is now partner at Verdant Properties, where his profile touts his service for Forest City Ratner and the Atlantic Yards stewardship.
...Mr. Stuckey should feel free to use DDDB as a reference for his work doing "sustainable, harmonious development"...we have much to say about his efforts with that Atlantic Yards proposal.
Atlantic Yards Report, Former FCR executive Stuckey aims to cash in on insider info
The more important asset Verdant brings, however, may be the inside track. To quote the company's web site:
With over three decades of proven experience, and relationships with property owners and tenants; brokers and appraisers; architects and attorneys; title companies and accountants; and, lenders and investors – the principals of VERDANT PROPERTIES, LLC™ frequently learn of opportunities to acquire properties long before their competitors, and often times, these assets are never publicly marketed.
(Emphasis added)Remember, Forest City Ratner was anointed developer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard 18 months before an RFP was issued.
Posted by eric at 9:55 AM
FCR consultant Zimbalist adds millions to AY subsidy total, calls for ULURP hearings (not quite)
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder points out some glaring inconsistencies in the positions of sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, which seem, not surprisingly, to correlate with the source of his paycheck.
Andrew Zimbalist, the sports economist Forest City Ratner hired to produce a dubious study of Atlantic Yards costs and benefits, mostly dismissed a very big thing: the economic value of the tax-exempt bonds used to build the arena. And when writing about a very similar financing plan for the West Side Stadium, he called such bonds the equivalent of a public contribution.
So, would the $800 million in tax-exempt bonds for AY count as a public subsidy? Not under Zimbalist's logic, given that, in a 1/22/06 New York Times op-ed, he blessed a similar financing plan for the new Yankees Stadium, contrasting it with the West Side Stadium by noting that "the Bronx is already in a tax abatement zone."
But maybe that's not quite right--and it deserves scrutiny as the State Assembly takes up tax-exempt financing for the Yankees, if not the Nets, during a hearing on Wednesday.
There's increasingly less justification for such tax exemptions. Just as the city's longstanding 421-a tax exemption for outer-borough residential construction recently got an overhaul, given that the residential market had long since improved in certain neighborhoods, so have there been recent calls to reform the city's Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program (ICIP), on which the AY arena tax exemption would rely.
Posted by eric at 9:35 AM
Summons drives Wendell Gault to battle for justice over broken parking
NY Daily News
by Clem Richardson
Atlantic Yards makes a cameo appearance in a story about a Prospect Heights man who fought the system — and won!
[Wendell] Gault is not one to let things go. He has fired off letters to elected officials about a number of community issues, from the nearby Atlantic Yards project to the inequity of having alternate side parking four times a week in Prospect Heights but only twice a week across Flatbush Ave. in Park Slope ("Are they saying we're dirtier on this side of Flatbush?" he asked.)
...Armed with a video camera, Microsoft's Moviemaker program and with girlfriend Linda Simpkins providing technical assistance, he made a film clip of the meter doing its shortchanging thing.
Gault took the video to his hearing. It was enough to convince Associate Law Judge Richard Ballerini to throw out the ticket.
"He said if I went to that much trouble, I must be telling the truth," Gault said.
Meter 324-0188 was still broken as of Friday.
NoLandGrab: And Bruce Ratner probably likes it that way, since in the Forest City Ratner playbook, a broken parking meter is no doubt cited as evidence of "blight."
Posted by eric at 9:13 AM
Tax-subsidized stadiums vs. early childhood education? An expert's view
Atlantic Yards Report
Unlike so many of his colleagues in the House, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is not a lawyer, which may explain why he didn't follow the rule of never asking a question to which you don't already know the answer:
During the 10/10/07 hearing, Professional Sport Stadiums: Do They Divert Public Funds From Critical Public Infrastructure?, held by the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Arthur Rolnick, Senior Vice President and Research Director, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (but speaking for himself only), explained why early childhood education is a much better public investment than sports stadiums.
Ranking minority member Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was a bit skeptical.
Issa: Did you also look at physical fitness, health and welfare, aspirations of young people, everything else that goes when they go to one professional baseball game and they say, "I want to be like that. I'm going to join my Pop Warner and I'm going to do this." Did you look at any of the other -- did you apply those same metrics to that?
Rolnick’s response didn’t mention, uh, steroids, but he still knocked it out of the park.
Rolnick: Yes, we did. Actually, we did. And we do know that baseball is going to exist in this country whether we subsidize it or not. It was interesting when the Minnesota hockey team left Minneapolis for Dallas a number of years ago.
So what happened with those kids who loved hockey? They started to go to the high school games, they started to go to the college games. It isn't that entertainment, sports entertainment disappears. They started to go to some of the minor league games.
Posted by eric at 9:02 AM
Booker attempts to woo new-look Nets
MetroNY
By Joe Brescia
Here is yet another story about negotiations that are under way to move the Nets to Newark, rather than Brooklyn.
When Newark Mayor Cory Booker welcomed Bruce Springsteen, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Yogi Berra and others into the New Jersey Hall of Fame weeks before the NBA draft, Booker said he hoped to welcome another group of athletes to town in the near future: the Nets.
Booker is trying to help Jeffrey Vanderbeek, the owner of the Devils, assemble investors to purchase the team.
Bruce Ratner, the Nets’ principal owner, has denied reports that he is interested in selling the team or moving it to Newark. Booker, though, says otherwise.
“I’m going to work very hard to make it happen,” Booker says. If the deal were to go through, the team would play at the Prudential Center, the newly built Devils’ home arena. Both teams played at the Izod Center, the former Continental Arena, in East Rutherford, N.J., before the Devils moved to the new facility in Newark last season.
Posted by steve at 6:32 AM
To federal regulators, ESDC claims Forest City Ratner has "acquired" 85% of AY site
Atlantic Yards Report
Perhaps Forest City Ratner "owns or controls 86 percent of the land needed for Atlantic Yards," but that didn't stop the project sponsor, the Empire State Development Corporation, from telling a little white lie to federal regulators:
According to the "Atlantic Yards Chronology" (p. 6 of this PDF): Forest City Ratner Companies ("FCRC"), the developer of the Project, has already acquired approximately 85% of the project site.
NoLandGrab: Well, at least the ESDC didn't lie when it identified Forest City Ratner as "the developer of the Proejct."
Posted by lumi at 4:19 AM
So, would Brooklyn be 2010 or 2011?
Atlantic Yards Report
In articles this weekend, The NY Times "offered that not-so-credible 2010 date for the Nets' assumed Brooklyn move," while the Boston Globe had it, "probably in 2011."
Norman Oder bets on the Globe:
I think 2011 is a more likely best-case scenario. Remember, the Nets are promising only "calendar year 2010," which might just be New Year's Eve.
NoLandGrab: The New York Times Company owns both The Times and The Globe, so someone in Boston apparently didn't get the memo.
Posted by lumi at 4:15 AM
Popular Fulton Mall plans expansion
NY Daily News
In this article about plans for the Fulton Mall, reporter Allison Colter has rebranded the Atlantic Terminal Mall as "the Atlantic Yards complex."
Target is said to be considering taking space as an anchor tenant - even though it already has a megastore further along Flatbush Ave., in the Atlantic Yards complex.
NoLandGrab: Even Ratner's branding efforts haven't taken it that far.
Posted by lumi at 3:59 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Gowanus Lounge, Ward Bakery Destructoporn, Black Chair Edition
We offer this photo that was dropped into our GL Photo Pool by Tracy Collins for the absurdity of the black chair sitting there in the rubble. Mr. Collins’ body of work is a must for anyone interested in the neighborhood where the big project may rise.
The Footprint Gazette, This just in...
"Ratner is..."
Two graffiti can't be wrong.
Krispy Kruller's All Nite Sugar Palace, Brooklyn Represent!
The controversial Atlantic Yards project is beginning to stick to Jay-Z, who is a minority owner of the NJ Nets.
Now, I'm not a big fan of Jay-Z. I don't like his music; I don't like his role in the Atlantic Yards project, but you gotta admit, this is pretty funny. One of the Gallagher twins from Oasis didn't want Jay-Z playing at Glastonbury, because it's traditionally a rock concert, it's no place for rappers, etc.
So what does Jay-Z do?
WARNING: Like Atlantic Yards, it's not pretty. Unless you're tone deaf, you may want to skip this link.
uacash.com, США: жить в центре города уже не модно
В связи с этим, в 2008 году в центрах некоторых крупных американских городов были приостановлены масштабные проекты, например, проект Brooklyn Atlantic Yards стоимостью в 4 млрд долларов, который включал в себя постройку стадиона для New Jersey Nets и квартир общей площадью 750 тыс. кв. м.
In connection with this, in the centers of some large American cities were in 2008 stopped scale projects, for example, the project Of brooklyn Of atlantic Of yards by cost in 4 billion dollars, which included building stadium for New Of jersey Of nets and apartments with the total area of 750 thousand sq. m.
Posted by lumi at 3:50 AM
June 29, 2008
July 2 Showdown Over Yankees (and Nets) Tax-exempt Financing
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
Presumably the discussion at the hearing below will include the $800 million (at least) in tax-exempt financing Forest City Ratner seeks for its proposed $950 million, and counting, Barclays Center Arena...
Assembly Standing Committee On Corporations, Authorities And Commissions Assembly Standing Committee On Local Governments Assembly Standing Committee On Cities Assembly Standing Committee On Ways And Means
Notice Of Public Hearing
SUBJECT: The request for increased public financing for construction of a new Yankee Stadium in New York City.
PURPOSE: This hearing will examine the recent requests by the New York Yankees for additional funding in the form of tax-exempt bonds from the New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYC IDA), a subsidiary of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC), for construction of a new Yankee Stadium in New York City.
NEW YORK CITY
Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 10:00 am
Assembly Hearing Room, Room 1923, 19th Floor
250 Broadway
New York, New YorkORAL TESTIMONY WILL BE BY INVITATION ONLY
The NYC IDA is the financing branch of the NYC EDC that provides assistance to businesses and companies operating in the five boroughs of New York City through tax-exempt bond financing. In 2006, the NYC IDA approved the issuance of $920 million in tax-exempt bonds to the New York Yankees for the construction of a new Yankee Stadium in the borough of the Bronx. The issuance of these bonds was made possible when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) waived regulations which prohibit the use of public financing for sports facilities. Shortly after the waiver was granted, the IRS instituted stricter enforcement of its regulations prohibiting such use of tax-exempt bonds.
Reports in the news media have indicated that the New York Yankees are seeking an additional $350 million in tax-exempt bonds from the NYC IDA to complete construction of the stadium despite IRS regulations prohibiting such use of public financing, and efforts are underway to have a waiver granted once again so that the sports team can acquire the funding. This hearing will allow the Committees to obtain information on the status of the financing plans for the construction of the Stadium, and to investigate the requests for additional funding.
Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky Chair. Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions
Assemblyman Sam Hoyt Chair, Committee on Local Governments
Assemblyman James F. Brennan Chair, Committee on Cities
Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell, Jr. Chair, Committee on Ways and Means
Posted by steve at 11:00 AM
EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites!
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Castle Coalition
Rally To Support Willets Point Businesses
New York City officials wants to wipe out over 200 profitable businesses in Willets Point in order to transfer the land to a private, yet-to-be-determined developer. The 45-acre area employs thousands of highly-skilled workers, and generates billions of dollars in economic activity and millions in tax revenue for the city - yet for decades, the city has refused to supply the area with basic municipal services like garbage collection, plumbing and electricity. And now, after sabotaging the area for years, the city is pointing to the blight that it created as justification to condemn the businesses that have nonetheless thrived there.
This Monday, the Willets Point businesses need your help:
RALLY
Monday, June 30 @ 6:30pm
Union Plaza Senior Home
33-23 Union Street
Flushing, NYCome out and show your support for the business owners. In the meantime, if you live in New York City, contact:
Community Board #7: 718-359-2800, QN07@cb.nyc.gov
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall: 718-286-3000, mcontessa@queensbp.org
Mayor Michael Bloomberg: 212-788-3000, fax 212-788-2460
Let them know that you oppose eminent domain for private gain!
Posted by steve at 10:42 AM
June 28, 2008
The Post's Brooklyn Tomorrow advertorial is back
Atlantic Yards Report
Here's an assessment of the latest advertorial featuring thoughtless rah-rah promotion of the proposed Atlantic Yards development.
As I wrote last June, Brooklyn Tomorrow, the promotional magazine inserted in the New York Post and the Post-owned Courier-Life chain, is not labeled advertorial though it certainly reads as such. But the latest edition of the annual publication, featuring enthusiastic articles from bylined Courier-Life staffers, certainly helps explain why, despite considerable reason for skepticism, the Post editorial page last week twisted its way to an Atlantic Yards hooray.
NoLandGrab: With a cover featuring an artist's rendition of an office building that has no anchor tenant, tomorrow could be much further away than Forest City Ratner cares to admit.
Posted by steve at 9:20 AM
CBA Block Party Cancelled
The Community Benefits Agreement Third Anniversary Block party, expected to take place yesterday, was cancelled. Did someone forget to buy the balloons, or did it turn out that Thursday is a better party night? Three different blog entries try to figure out what happened:
The "brutally weird" block party scheduled for yesterday--on a to-be-demapped AY footprint block--by Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) signatories was canceled without public explanation yesterday. Apparently Forest City Ratner and its surrogates recognized that 1) it was bad form and 2) block parties usually involve residents celebrating their block, and there weren't any of them. (Image from DDDB.)
Well, there was some largesse distributed. As told to DDDB and to me by an eyewitness, CBA signatory BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development) and Forest City Ratner representatives "were out in front of the [homeless] shelter at 603 Dean handing out pizza, drinks and Nets tote bags to shelter residents." The shelter is on the block just below the block where the party was to be held.
The Real Deal: Ratner's Atlantic Yards block party cancelled
Three years ago today, Forest City Ratner entered into a community benefits agreement for its Atlantic Yards project, promising affordable housing and work for local and minority businesses to help build Brooklyn's biggest-ever development. A block party planned for today to celebrate the anniversary has been canceled.
The party was to be in the footprint of the struggling Atlantic Yards project, on Pacific Street between Vanderbilt and Carlton avenues. Delia Hunley-Adossa, chairwoman of the Atlantic Yards Community Benefit Agreement, said the block party had been planned for months, but was canceled after the U.S. Supreme's Court decision Monday not to hear an eminent domain petition presented by property owners and tenants challenging the government's ability to seize their homes. The ruling followed a string of legal losses for the project's opponents.
"We wanted to be sensitive to the community that the decision came down Monday," said Hunley-Adossa, who works with both the developer and the community.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn: Offensive Atlantic Yards "Block Party" Cancelled
Developer Forest City Ratner’s partners and surrogates announced last Monday afternoon that they planned to hold what they claim to be a “block party” to “celebrate” the third anniversary of what experts have called a toothless, illegitimate “Community Benefits Agreement” (CBA) for the developer’s Atlantic Yards proposal.When the time came today for the party today nobody showed up. Our eyewitness sources tell us the "block party" was cancelled. But no worries, we got this eyewitness report that: "BUILD and FCR (Forest City Ratner) were out in front of the [homeless] shelter at 603 Dean handing out pizza, drinks and Nets tote bags to shelter residents."
Posted by steve at 7:34 AM
Atlantic Yards Camera Club
A Walk Around the Blog
Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn and Tracy Collins of Not Another F*cking Blog share their thoughts on photoblogging and talk about the Web Cam that is documenting the demolition at the Atlantic Yards site.
Posted by steve at 6:52 AM
Random Notes from a Night to Remember
Nets Daily Blog
Here is yet another example of less-than-skeptical acceptance of Forest City Ratner's claim that the proposed Barclays Center arena will open in time for the Nets' 2011 season:
Make no mistake about it, tonight’s moves were as critical to the Nets’ future as those at the trade deadline when Jason Kidd was traded. In one aspect, this was opening night for the Brooklyn Nets…the team started making real plans for the 2010-11 season in the Barclays Center, a building yet to rise above the Atlantic Yards.
NoLandGrab: Even if FCR can overcome all the legal and financial barriers that have so far prevented ground breaking on the proposed Atlantic Yards development, it is extremely unlikely that an arena can be completed before 2011. But don't just take our word for it.
Posted by steve at 6:33 AM
Ikea has meatballs, couches and … jams
The Brooklyn Paper
By Ben Muessig
Guess what's in store for neighborhoods around Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project if the developer builds the 19,000-seat arena next to the "temporary" surface parking lot for 1,400 cars.
Check this coverage of the opening weekend at Ikea and the 1,400-car overflow parking lot.
Quiet Red Hook streets became bumper-to-bumper traffic jams when hordes of furniture-crazed shoppers flocked to the newly opened Ikea on its debut weekend.
Once-dreary roads that connect the Beard Street big box with the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway saw such a big uptick in traffic that cops from the 76th Precinct rushed in to police the area and bolster the efforts of 17 off-duty officers hired by Ikea to handle traffic.
...
Red Hook residents say that the influx of cars made Columbia Street look more like a parking lot than a thoroughfare.“It was unreal. I’ve never seen so much traffic in my life,” said Jay McKnight, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Association. “I was fearful of crossing Columbia Street — it was bumper to bumper and everyone seemed like they were in a hurry, trying to inch up between cars.”
To handle traffic, Ikea built a 1,400-spot primary parking lot and acquired a temporary overflow lot on the neighboring site of the former Revere Sugar refinery, which it has secured at least until Labor Day.
Before opening, the furniture giant also paid to put up new signs directing drivers to the store, and hired 17 off-duty NYPD cops to form a “paid detail unit” that would help direct traffic.
But even with Ikea’s preparations, cars clogged Red Hook roads.
NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards supporters will note that Ikea is not convenient to public transportation, while Ratner's arena would be located above one of the area's largest transporation hub, which begs the question, why does the developer need so much parking?
Posted by lumi at 6:13 AM
June 27, 2008
The balance of power?
The Brooklyn Paper
Editorial
At its core, the issue in this case is New York State’s insistence that Bruce Ratner’s basketball arena, office and housing mega-project will bring about a “public benefit.” The declaration of such a “public benefit” enables the state to use its eminent domain power to seize the 11 properties from their owners and give them to Ratner.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that when states condemn private property for a public benefit, they do not violate the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
But in its most-recent ruling on such takings — the 2005 Kelo decision — the High Court declared that the “public benefit” cannot merely be a pretext for handing over one person’s land to another person.
In a word, the benefit must be real.
But who determines if the public actually benefits from a development? In its brief to the High Court, state officials said that only the state itself has the power to make that determination.
The 11 plaintiffs in Goldstein v. Pataki allege that a corrupt and cronyism-riddled Empire State Development Corporation simply used the pretext of public benefit to hand over properties so Ratner could make millions. Two federal courts have declined to examine this claim, saying that judges have no role in hearing challenges to a state’s determination that a project is a “public benefit.”
So, if a state agency says that a project is a “public benefit,” it is, de facto, a public benefit.
But what if the so-called “public benefit” isn’t a benefit at all?
Posted by eric at 9:55 AM
No-property-tax status was supposed to raise the price of the Vanderbilt Yard
Atlantic Yards Report
There's another obscured benefit for Forest City Ratner in the bid for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. In its September 2005 report on Atlantic Yards, the city's Independent Budget Office (IBO) stated:
IBO’s estimate of new property tax revenue lost to the arena PILOT does not include a loss of property taxes for the MTA land that would be part of the arena building foot print. The city currently receives no tax payment from the MTA for the rail yard because the MTA, like other state entities, is exempt from local property tax. Under the MTA’s Request for Proposals, any developer acquiring the development rights to the site would probably enter into a long-term lease, leaving the MTA in place as the owner. Therefore, the property would likely remain off the city’s tax roll, resulting in no impact on the city budget. Indeed, the MTA has an incentive to make a deal that maintains the tax exemption in order to maximize the price it receives for the development rights.
(Emphasis added)That hardly happened. Forest City Ratner paid $100 million in cash, and values its total bid at $379.4 million, though that's questionable. Meanwhile, the developer expects tax breaks worth $800 million, as tax-exempt bonds are repaid by PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes).
It doesn't sound like the MTA maximized much.
NoLandGrab: Not true! They appear to have maximized the sweetness of the deal for Forest City Ratner. Meanwhile, taxpayers and transit riders can expect MTA service cuts — and fare hikes.
Posted by eric at 9:47 AM
Pacific Street
Photo, by Tracy Collins, via flickr Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
This will be the site of [today's] (7/27/2008) Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Third Anniversary Block Party, sponsored by "Local Community Groups."
There are not many residents on this stretch of Pacific Street. The red brick buildings on the left are occupied by renters who are in court fighting their eviction by the developer, Forest City Ratner. Further down Pacific Street, past the Ward Bread Bakery (currently being demolished), is a homeless shelter.
Posted by lumi at 5:43 AM
Gargano flashback: "no taxpayer money will go to build a sports arena"
Atlantic Yards Report
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn points to a 8/23/04 interview with Charles Gargano, then chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, who seemed definitive that there would be no help for Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards arena:
The governor and I have made it clear for nine-plus years that no taxpayer money will go to build a sports arena. We will consider helping with infrastructure improvements, like a platform over the rail yards on the West Side or new subway stations, which helps the public at large.
Norman Oder unpacks that damn lie in the rest of the article.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has more on its web site, including Gargano's yarn about Yankee Stadium, which is turning out to be one of the most successful boondoggles for one of the most successful professional sports franchises in history.
Posted by lumi at 5:12 AM
"It's Our Pleasure to Serve You"
Photo by Tracy Collins, via flickr Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
According to Collins:
I think our community is certainly being "served."
Ward Bread Bakery
Dean Street near Vanderbilt Avenue
Prospect Heights
Brooklyn, New YorkThe Ward Bread Bakery is currently being demolished for Atlantic Yards.
NoLandGrab: Idea for another episode of "The Ratner-Zone," "To Serve You."
Posted by lumi at 5:09 AM
RESOURCES: Documents Related to Proposed IRS Regulations on Tax-exempt Bonds
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn compiled resources concerning the "Proposed IRS Regulations on Tax-exempt Bonds" which, depending on how the Internal Revenue Service rules, will have a big effect on the financing structure of Bruce Ratner's controversial and heavily subsidized Atlantic Yards project.
This page should be particularly interesting and helpful to reporters and bloggers covering the story — and Larry Penner.
Posted by lumi at 5:02 AM
Pole-a-rized
Dope on the Slope
The combination of weird angle, polarizing filter, and oblique late afternoon sun gives this picture a twilight zone quality. It's the light pole at the corner of Pacific and Vanderbilt next to the Vanderbilt Railyards.
I took this photo while strolling around with Brit in Brooklyn. We noticed a taut monofilament line stretching from the pole to the fence surrounding the project site. What could its function possibly be? Hanging banners?
NoLandGrab: "Hanging banners" for today's Ratner-Zone Block Party, to be celebrated on a block that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is planning to demap?
Posted by lumi at 4:57 AM
Congressman offers unskeptical endorsement of Zimbalist's dubious AY study
Atlantic Yards Report
In Congress last year, Andrew Zimbalist's dubious study of Atlantic Yards for Forest City Ratner got a mindless endorsement from the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives, even though an expert witness warned that accepting studies that were not peer-reviewed was akin to federal drug regulators embracing reports created by the drug companies themselves.
...
[L]ater in the hearing, some non-peer-reviewed research, albeit with an academic gloss, was promoted by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ranking minority member. He declared (see p. 123):Mr. Chairman, I would also like to put into the record an economist's study from the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College in Massachusetts. It is from May 1, 2004, and it specifically deals with Atlantic Yards, estimating that the total of $2.93 billion over 30 years or a net present value of $1.08 billion would be the advantage for that operation. Although it may not be the one that is going to carry the day, it certainly seems that independent bodies such as university economist very much believe that there can be a net economic benefit, and I ask that be placed in the record.
Except that Zimbalist was a consultant "retained" by the developer, not an "independent body," his study was deeply flawed, and it was never peer-reviewed (nor the subject of journalistic scrutiny).
NoLandGrab: When a report by a paid consultant makes it into the record at a congressional hearing, we'd say Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner got his money's worth.
Posted by lumi at 4:51 AM
Digging the Yards
From Brit in Brooklyn
Bruce Ratner isn't the only one who digs Atlantic Yards.
Photo's from an evening walk around the Atlantic Yards footprint.
Posted by lumi at 4:42 AM
Ratner's Relocation Plan Revealed!
The Footprint Gazette
After years of empty promises, are workers finally preparing the rent-stabilized holding pen for footprint tenants???
One of the multitudinous reasons that Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards Project has lost it's momentum is that the tenants currently living in the proposed construction site have not been offered any clear options for what's to be done with them. There was vague talk of a relocation plan, but that plan never had any kind of details associated with it.
Well the details have finally surfaced and I was lucky to get a shot of where the tenants are to be relocated.
Posted by lumi at 4:36 AM
With Jefferson gone from the Nets, the AY permanent campaign adjusts
Atlantic Yards Report
Now that Nets forward Richard Jefferson has been traded to Milwaukee for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons, the Nets page on the Atlantic Yards web site has been updated--likely temporarily--to feature one player (Vince Carter) and two owners (Bruce Ratner and Jay-Z).
...
In the previous iteration of the page (below), Jefferson occupied the slot currently held by Jay-Z. Of course, before team leader Jason Kidd was traded to Dallas for Devin Herris, the page featured a Carter/Kidd/Jefferson/Nenad Krstic panorama, plus a shot of Kidd alone.What's clear is that the Nets, with two strong draft picks and a young guard in Harris, are rebuilding, and two of the three stars paraded to help sell the Nets to Brooklyn, Kidd and Jefferson, will be long gone before an arena opens. But they served their purpose in the Atlantic Yards permanent campaign.
Posted by lumi at 4:21 AM
empty seat
Photo, by Tracy Collins, via flickr Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
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Front row seat in the Ratnerville demolition playhouse.
Posted by lumi at 4:14 AM
Meet 'The 100'
At Four Seasons Awards Ceremony, New York Observer Fetes New York's Real-Estate Power Circuit
Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report hobnobbed with the who's-who in NYC real estate.
Posted by lumi at 4:08 AM
June 26, 2008
Everyday Chatter
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York
I picked up this Forest City Ratner advertisement disguising itself as a magazine on a bench outside St. Mark's Church today. It came from the NY Post. One of the stories is called "Feeding the Need to Shop." Another refers to the Coney redesign as a "new day dawning at the shore." The gentrification of Flatbush is hailed "Old Nabes Take On New Life." Brooklynites, here lies your grim future:
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NoLandGrab: Judging from the looks of that "stacked shoe box" design, this must be the much-anticipated Summer 2008 edition of Brooklyn Tomorrow.
Posted by eric at 4:27 PM
Karl Fischer bunker beds
Restless
Bruce Ratner rates a (dis)honorable mention in a blog post about ubiquitous NYC architect Karl Fischer, complete with a humorous rendering of a Gehry-less Atlantic Yards (click image to enlarge).
Real estate magnate Bruce Ratner's problem is that he thinks too big. If he had quietly bought a block at a time and hired Karl Fischer, Atlantic Yards would be done by now (right). Instead, it's every other block of Williamsburg that gets an arbitrary eyesore from the napkin doodles of The Master.
NoLandGrab: Thanks, but we think we'll get our Prospect Heights fried chicken at Bob Law's Seafood Café.
Posted by eric at 3:23 PM
O'Connor: Nets, Knicks envision a future with LeBron
Bergen Record
by Ian O'Connor
As a franchise, the Nets have rarely dealt in the currency of good luck. So there was a time recently when it appeared the Dodgers would be playing home games in Brooklyn before the Nets did.
Then something funny happened on the way to an abandoned project and another quarter century or more of self-loathing in the East Rutherford marsh.
The Supreme Court, of all entities, decided to play ball with the Nets. The justices decreed that property owners and tenants in and around Atlantic Yards had no right to stop Bruce Ratner, Nets owner, from building a Brooklyn arena for his team and a fresh set of skyscrapers that would serve as a monument to himself.
In other words, the Supreme Court allowed the Nets to resume their slow-break into New York City, longstanding home of the God-awful Knicks.
“That was a big one, a good one,” Nets president Rod Thorn said of the eminent domain ruling that would alter the dynamic that exists between his team and the Knicks.
“If we’re in Brooklyn, then [the rivalry] might be entirely different. Then we’re competing for the same people and the same turf.”
NoLandGrab:
Memo
From: Brett Yormark
To: Rod Thorn
Subject: "If" vs. "When"
Rod —
Bruce only wants us to use "when" when talking about Brooklyn. Never "if." Only "when." Got it?
— Brett
P.S.: Good luck with the draft 2nite.
Posted by eric at 9:38 AM
A Large Cloud Over Brooklyn
From Brit in Brooklyn
A place where church spires are still some of the tallest buildings.
NoLandGrab: Speaking of "a large cloud," this is a view that would become scarce around Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 4:48 AM
For Ground Zero, Paterson promises timeline candor; for AY, it's the party line
Atlantic Yards Report
Regarding Ground Zero reconstruction, Gov. David Paterson has expressed skepticism about the professed timetable, and asked for clarifications. Despite reasons to doubt the professed timetable for Atlantic Yards, he has not merely failed to express skepticism, his administration has endorsed the chimerical timetable asserted by developer Forest City Ratner.
...
[I]n a 5/8/08 letter to the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department, the New York City Industrial Development Authority and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) cite the chimerical timetable in arguing that the PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) plan for arena financing should stand, even though the feds want to change the rules for tax-exempt bonds.Part of the argument is that Atlantic Yards has already proceeded significantly. But a realistic timetable would acknowledge the project is much farther away from its completion date.
...
[T]he IRS and the Treasury Department should take the ESDC's claims with a big grain of salt. And Governor Paterson should explain why he approaches Ground Zero with much more skepticism than he analyzes Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 4:44 AM
Who spent $219 million on AY? The city and state obscure the issue
Atlantic Yards Report
In a 5/8/08 letter to the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department, the New York City Industrial Development Authority and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) argue that the PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) plan for arena financing should stand, even though the feds want to change the rules for tax-exempt bonds.
Part of the argument is that Atlantic Yards has already proceeded significantly. But on more than one issue, the city and state obfuscate rather than explain.
Posted by lumi at 4:39 AM
Bloomberg's desire to control board members is part of why public authorities reform bill died
Atlantic Yards Report
In a letter to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky rattles off a litany of reasons NY State Public Authorities need to be reformed, including, "massive subsidies provided for sports facilities," and then pins the blame on Bloomberg for scuttling the bill at the last minute:
Our work has been assisted by the private sector, most notably by the Millstein Commission, and we have produced a sweeping reform bill that will fundamentally change these authorities, and return them to the control of democratic institutions. Last year the Governor and Assembly agreed on legislation which we passed, while the Senate passed a very similar bill. All this was known to the City. Now, at the last minute the City has produced a list of demands which would destroy the progress we’ve made on reaching a consensus, make the system worse than it is today, and leave the problems we’ve identified completely unchanged.
Posted by lumi at 4:34 AM
City Council Members propose bill that would require EIS-like reports for subsidized projects
Atlantic Yards Report
A group of City Council members and advocacy groups yesterday announced the introduction of legislation designed to ensure that projects eased by tax breaks and bond financing are accompanied by economic impact reports. Whether such reports, which would resemble mini environmental impact statements (EIS’s), could make a major difference is an inevitable question, but proponents said it’s a start.
NoLandGrab: By "mini environmental impact statements (EIS's)" we think that Norman Oder is including all of the problems with EIS's, like the fact that these documents only require disclosure, not candor.
Posted by lumi at 4:29 AM
ACORN on Displacing Residents and Businesses ...In Coney Island
This was brought to our attention by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:
From Crain's:
...“Here we go again,” said Bertha Lewis, executive director of Acorn. “The administration is proposing yet another mega-project that will displace residents and small business.”...
Ms. Lewis is talking about Coney Island.
Posted by lumi at 4:27 AM
US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Atlantic Yards Case
Brooklyn Downtown Star
By Jeffrey Harmatz
Residents protesting the possible eminent domain seizure of their homes because they are in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards project were dealt a setback on Monday, as their petition for a hearing was rejected by the Federal Courts.
Eleven property owners and tenants joined together to file Goldstein et al. v Pataki et al, an action that seeks to overturn the use of eminent domain to acquire property within the footprint of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards plan, which includes a basketball arena and thousands of units of affordable housing.
Their petition was filed on March 31, and asserts that the project will only benefit Forest City Ratner rather than the public, therefore the state’s use of eminent domain is unwarranted. The Federal Supreme Court denied to hear the case, but the residents have said that they will continue to fight the seizure of their property.
Posted by lumi at 4:23 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Supreme Court Won’t Hear AY Case, State Court Next for Plantiffs
News from Task Force Members Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn: The US Supreme Court has denied the petition to grant a hearing to to eleven property owners and tenants challenging developer Forest City Ratner’s legal rights to use eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards development project. Now, the plantiffs will file an action in New York state court.
The Privatopia Papers, SCOTUSblog » A new vote for property rights?
Mystery Reader sent this SCOTUSblog piece by Lyle Denniston speculating about Samuel Alito being a balance-tipping fifth vote in favor of property rights.
DMI Blog, Vann Bill Demands Developer Disclosure
In light of recent controversial, high profile development projects like Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards, one of the most vexing questions facing neighborhood stakeholders is, how do you ensure that developers feeding from the public trough do the right thing when pursuing a large development project in a low- and moderate-income area? Community Benefit Agreements, like the hotly controversial one generated between ACORN and Forest City Ratner for the proposed Nets stadium and surrounding development, has been one way for community-based organizations to assert some minimal control over the kind of impact that powerful, deep-pocketed, politically connected developers have on the city.
In this same spirit, Council Member Al Vann today announced new legislation that would compel developers receiving public subsidies accountable to disclose what kind of demographic and economic impact their projects would have on the surrounding area.
NoLandGrab: Having closely watched the environmental disclosure process for Atlantic Yards, it seems that further disclosure requirements might result in another invitation for developers to lie about the impacts and benefits of their projects.
Posted by lumi at 4:11 AM
Pissing on the Footprint Pt. II
The Footprint Gazette confirms the "official epidemic" of street pee within the borders of Atlantic Yards project and begins to contemplate payback.
NoLandGrab: This street pee epidemic was brought to you by the letters F, C, and R and the number 4-billion dollars.
Posted by lumi at 3:51 AM
June 25, 2008
OVERHEARD
Re: Invitation to Community Benefits Agreement Block Party
Friday, June 27, 2PM—4PM
Pacific St. between Vanderbilt and Carlton Avenues.
"Only in the Atlantic Yards project can you find a group of people celebrating with a 'block party' on a block that will be demapped."
Posted by lumi at 8:44 PM
Frank Gehry: Super-Genius or Blundering Artiste? You Decide!
List of Top 10’s of Everything, Top 10 Smartest (Intelligent) People on Earth
Frank Owen Gehry
He is one of the world’s most influential architects. His designs for the likes of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA are bold statements that have imposed a new aesthetic of architecture on the world at large, enlivening streetscapes and creating new destinations. Mr Gehry has extended his vision beyond brick-and-mortar too, collaborating with artists such as Claes Oldenberg and Richard Serra, and designing watches, teapots and a line of jewelry for Tiffany & Co.
Now in his 70s, Mr Gehry refuses to slow down or compromise his fierce vision: He and his team at Gehry Partners are working on a $4 billion development of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and a spectacular Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which interprets local architecture traditions into a language all his own. Incorporating local architectural motifs without simply paying lip service to Middle Eastern culture, the building bears all the hallmarks of a classic Gehry design.
NoLandGrab: "All the hallmarks?" Like, it will roast people and leak?
Business Standard, The folly of modern architecture
Take the example of the iconic Frank Gehry and two of his projects, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Stata Center at MIT. The Disney Concert Hall has vertically-curved layers of shiny stainless steel sheets at different angles, which amplify and reflect abundant California sunlight in all directions, blinding residents and heating up their neighbouring apartments by several degrees. After many complaints, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had to solve the reflection problem by covering up the steel facade with unglamorous matte cloth. Had Gehry taken into consideration the impact of the building on its surroundings, he would not have used mirror-like panels in the first place. It seems Gehry did not learn his lesson, as his subsequent work on the Stata Center exemplifies.
MIT had sought a new large building to house several science departments and research labs, in a harmonious and collaborative environment. Gehry took the latter part of agenda a bit too seriously, at the expense of function, low maintenance, and cost savings. Outside, the centre looked like the crooked house from Mother Goose, as Silber aptly puts it, with flat glass roofs that wilted under Massachusetts rains and snow, subjecting expensive computer and lab equipment to damage from frequent leakage. Inside, it was equally chaotic. Gehry had wanted to do away with walls between offices, but after the faculty insisted on their privacy, he compromised with glass walls that failed to block sound or visual distractions. Ironically, there are glass walls in the cryptography departments and other centres that conduct secret military and industrial information. For this building that was completed four years behind schedule, MIT paid nearly twice the original estimate of $100 million. In late 2007, MIT would sue Gehry for providing designs with major structural deficiencies leading to high maintenance and repair costs.
Posted by eric at 4:29 PM
Chicago, Say No to the Olympics!
Gapers Block
by Ramsin Canon
A warning to Chicagoans to reject the 2016 Olympics includes a reference to the "now-infamous and loathed Atlantic Yards development," and offers up a link to our favorite project watchdog.
There could be a continued dilution of any top-down negotiated "Community Benefits Agreement," as happened in New York City in the now-infamous and loathed Atlantic Yards development, as reported by In These Times' Michael Gauss. In that case, developers sought political cover by enticing a community group (in that case, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN) into a backroom deal that left plenty of room for developer wiggle room.
Posted by eric at 12:18 PM
Pols Remain Masters of Domain
RealClearMarkets
by Steven Malanga
The Manhattan Institute Fellow and RealClearMarkets editor makes a convincing free-market case against the rampant use (and abuse) of eminent domain.
In her two great works--The Death and Life of Great American Cities and The Economy of Cities—Jane Jacobs explained that effective economic development and urban renewal arise from the bottom up as the product of thousands of enterprises and people working on their own without a master plan, rather than from the top down, as planned by politicians or bureaucrats. The vibrancy and diversity of city markets and neighborhoods lie in “the creation of incredible numbers of different people and different private organizations, with vastly differing ideas and purposes, planning and contriving outside the formal framework of public action,” she observed.
This week, it is exactly three years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, which endorsed a very different view of how local economic progress occurs. In that decision, the court said that it was okay for government to condemn and take private property and use it for new economic development if officials believed that the seizures would "provide appreciable benefits to the community, including…new jobs and increased tax revenue." The court’s decision expanded the so-called “takings” clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which previously had been interpreted to mean that government could only take private property to create a public “good,” such as construction of a needed new highway or water pipeline.
...Most Americans object to such takings because the intended uses of the land don’t justify violating property rights when the owner is unwilling to sell to government. But as Jacobs observed, another important objection is that government planners often do a lousy job of anticipating the marketplace when they take property to be developed into something new. What I call mega-project ‘state capitalism,’ the grandiose schemes of politicians and their planners to invest public money in big projects like stadiums, downtown super-malls, and subsidized entertainment districts, has been on the rise for years, often with disastrous results which should have given the Supreme Court justices pause before they gave their blessings to seizures that "provide appreciable benefits to the community."
...In the wake of public reaction against Kelo, officials in many states promised they would seek laws limiting local use of eminent domain, but although a few states have put in tougher restrictions, in many places there has been little reform because regardless of public sentiment, officials like the power of takings that the Supreme Court gave them.
...Today, three years after Kelo, the game of public sponsored economic development subsidized by taxes, tax-free bonds, tax-breaks for favored businesses, and the threat of eminent domain, is alive and well, supporting everything from mega-projects like the massive 22-acre Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, N.Y., to the efforts by the tiny California town of Hercules to take land away from Wal-Mart because the town fathers objected to the big box retailer invading their domain. Kelo has allowed local officials throughout the country to remain masters of eminent domain, and private markets continue to suffer as a result.
Posted by eric at 11:58 AM
Atlantic Yards: 20 Court Decisions v. 20-ish Lies
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
DDDB has had enough of Forest City Ratner's false claim of being 20-0 in Atlantic Yards court decisions, and in return, they've compiled a list of 20+ prevarications promulgated by the developer.
Without lying, we now list for you 20 Atlantic Yards lies from the Forest City Ratner team and Bruce Ratner—there are plenty more but we are striving for symmetry (we failed). In no particular order:
- There will be 50% affordable housing in Atlantic Yards. (LIE, do the math: 6,430 units, 2,250 so-called "affordable")
- There will be a public open space on the arena roof. (LIE)
- There will be a private green roof on the arena. (LIE)
- Ratner spokesman Loren Reigelhaupt: “When it comes to sharing information with the public and governmental bodies, there’s no such thing as too much, as far as we are concerned." (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards will take 10 years to build. (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards went through a rigourous public process. (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards will create 15,000 construction jobs. (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards will create 10,000 permanent jobs. (LIE)
- "The $6 Billion Lie." (LIE)
- "Arena development to begin at the end of 2004, with completion set for summer of 2006." (LIE, see page 5)
- Arena will open in 2008. (LIE, see page 14)
- Arena will open in 2009. (LIE)
- Arena will open in 2010. (LIE)
Posted by eric at 9:41 AM
Bronx Groups Demand a Voice in a Landmark’s Revival
The New York Times
by Terry Pristin
We're not sure exactly what tangible benefits will accrue to members of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance in the Bronx, but we're reasonably confident that they have lots of rallies and blockparties in their future.
Now community organizers in the area, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, are seeking a private contract with the Related Companies, the developer chosen by the city in April to transform the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall with 575,000 square feet of retail space, including a department store, a multiscreen movie theater and restaurants.
...In recent years, a growing number of private pacts, known as community benefits agreements, or C.B.A.’s, have smoothed the way for developments around the country, including Related’s Grand Avenue project in downtown Los Angeles.
But only a few such agreements have been forged in New York. In 2005, the Bloomberg administration publicly applauded a private agreement between housing advocates and Forest City Ratner, the developer of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, but now it no longer supports the concept.
“When you do a C.B.A., the decision may be made in a vacuum, and that’s what we’re looking to avoid,” Seth W. Pinsky, president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said in an interview last week. “We’re not opposed to benefits for the community, and we’re not opposed to community involvement. But we just think it should be part of the larger process.”
NoLandGrab: "The larger process?" How about any process? It's apparent that the Bloomberg Administration now recognizes that Atlantic Yards is the blueprint for how not to do large development projects in NYC.
Posted by eric at 9:20 AM
Ratner's central party planning committee invites you...
The participants in Bruce Ratner's "Ye Olde*" Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) have officially transformed themselves into Brooklyn's finest Party Planning Committee.
Instead of doing what community groups say, Ratner supporters do what we DO. When Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods and Brooklyn Speaks hold a rally with local politicians, Ratner's crew holds their own rally. And now after the Dean St. Block Association has a block party, Ratner supporters are throwing their very own "block party."
We must be doing something right, because we appear to be getting under their skin. We can't wait for Bruce's "Blockbuster Bake Sale" (featuring FREE cookies?).
Atlantic Yards Report calls it "brutally weird" and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn deemed it a "joke."
We wonder if Bruce Ratner's party planning committee can't find something more important to do.
* That faux-parchment thingie still cracks us up.
Posted by lumi at 6:46 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Footprint Gazette, Another Glimpse Into Our Future?
My fears regarding my own apt. were realized this weekend for a number of families in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Construction alongside their building caused long cracks to it's foundation. The tenants were told to grab only a few light items and then vacate. 'Light' because anything heavy might cause the building to shift.
inversecondemnation.com, Note to Self: Avoid June 23 at the Supreme Court
Though we usually ignore the stupidsticious, the headline is funny in a black humor sort of way.
Posted by lumi at 6:11 AM
A Stadium Story: eerie echoes, curious contrasts, and cautionary lessons for AY
Atlantic Yards Report
Remember the battle over the West Side Stadium, that 15-month donnybrook, from March 2004 through June 2005, that dominated the city’s discourse over sports facilities, leaving scant attention for the Atlantic Yards and baseball stadium controversies?
The documentary A Stadium Story, screened in 2006 but not yet in wide release, offers some eerie echoes, curious contrasts, and cautionary lessons for Atlantic Yards watchers. (The film is well worth watching; for now, it’s available for $25 from the official web site, but it should be distributed soon, according to the filmmakers.)
...
[S]tadium opponents had a wealthy patron, Cablevision (owners of Madison Square Garden), to amplify their criticisms. Thus what on one level seemed liked a David-and-Goliath story was, at least from the perspective of lobbying expenditures, much more of a fair fight.If Atlantic Yards opponents had had such a megaphone, the public debate, if not the result, would have been different. Even so, the protracted Atlantic Yards battle--already three times longer than the West Side Stadium fight--suggests that the issues raised and the opponents' effort deserve to be taken seriously.
Posted by lumi at 5:38 AM
June 24, 2008
City approval for Atlantic Yards? The Daily News rewrites history
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder corrects some of the factual irregularities in today's Daily News editorial:
From a Daily News editorial today, headlined Yes, in their backyards:
No, these were all about snarling an extraordinarily beneficial project, approved up and down by the city and state....Approval by the unelected Empire State Development Corporation and the "three-men-in-a-room" Public Authorities Control Board, with no official role for the city at all, is hardly "up and down."
Also, the editorial refers to "22 down-at-the-heels acres in the heart of Brooklyn," as if Forest City Ratner were doing some kind of favor to the public. Rather, developer Chuck Ratner calls it "a great piece of real estate."
Posted by eric at 4:17 PM
Supreme Court won't hear Nets case
Field of Schemes
Subsidized-stadia critic Neil deMause splashes a little cold water on those celebrating yesterday's pass by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the lawsuit against use of eminent domain to clear land for Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project, which would include an arena for the New Jersey Nets. The plaintiffs say they'll now file a similar suit in state court, but that's considered an even longer shot to succeed.
Don't expect the steamshovels to power up just yet, though: A pending appeal of a state case challenging the project's environmental review is still set to be heard in September, and yet another state lawsuit (by tenants on the site) has just started working its way through the courts. Add in that developer/Nets owner Bruce Ratner is still uncertain how much of the project he can afford to build, that the proposed financing plan might be illegal under new IRS regs, and that local elected officials are demanding a moratorium on new demolition until Ratner can confirm that all the promised housing will be built, and Atlantic Yards' prognosis still needs to be considered "questionable."
Posted by eric at 3:25 PM
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal By Atlantic Yards Opponents
NY1
The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected an appeal from tenants and property owners who face eviction to make room for the Atlantic Yards development.
The group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn had hoped to stop the skyscrapers and new arena for the Nets from moving forward, arguing that the use of eminent domain was unconstitutional.
They say the government's power to take the property is in violation because the project benefits the developer more so than the public. But the justices did not agree.
...Community members say they will now file an action in state court to make their case.
article/video [dialup/broadband]
Posted by eric at 2:38 PM
Atlantic Yards News: NY Papers Applaud Supreme Court Decision in Atlantic Yards Favor
 |
"In Atlantic Yards Favor?" We think they meant "In Atlantic Yards's Favor," but yes, the Supreme Court (excepting, at minimum, Justice Samuel Alito) did do Atlantic Yards a favor in not taking Goldstein v. Pataki. And the Daily News and the Post did Forest City Ratner a favor, too, by penning editorials that saved the company's PR department from having to come up with something of their own.
Yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court decision put an end to the federal lawsuit opposing Atlantic Yards by challenging eminent domain, eliminating what was potentially the most serious remaining legal hurdle for the project. The New York Post and Daily News weigh in today with editorials applauding the decision and calling for Atlantic Yards to move forward.
For press coverage of the decision, please visit our [they mean their] website.
Posted by eric at 1:13 PM
Yes, in their backyards
NY Daily News Editorial
In its typically understated fashion, the Daily News (aka, Errol Louis) gloats on its editorial page about yesterday's Supreme Court boost for Atlantic Yards.
Opponents of the $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project got unceremoniously stuffed yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was a fitting end to a grand legal hoax perpetrated by a handful of not-in-my-backyard naysayers.
The high court tossed the case without comment, adding to the legal defeats suffered by the development's foes. On the merits, their arguments were losers. But the merits had nothing to do with these court battles.
No, these were all about snarling an extraordinarily beneficial project, approved up and down by the city and state, in endless time-consuming litigation in the hope that delay might prove fatal. And four years of nonsense have at least been damaging.
Presented in headier times by builder Bruce Ratner, the Atlantic Yards plan was conceived as turning 22 down-at-the-heels acres in the heart of Brooklyn into the home of an arena for the pro-basketball Nets, plus 6,000 units of housing, much of it priced to be within financial reach of poor and middle-class New Yorkers.
Now, Ratner is facing the challenge of an economic downturn and tightened credit markets. And his victory in the Supreme Court over 11 - count them, 11 - holdout property owners may prove hollow. He says he's committed for the long term. Let's hope so, because the Atlantic Yards would be great for Brooklyn and the city as a whole.
NoLandGrab: "Four years of nonsense?" Has it been that long since the Daily News first opined in favor of Bruce Ratner's monolithic boondoggle? As far as we can see, the greatest damage has been that done to the News's reputation; the paper once prided itself on being the champion of the little guy.
And as far as a "grand legal hoax perpetrated by a handful of not-in-my-backyard naysayers," here's what Mr. Louis had to say recently about city plans to relocate a homeless-intake facility into his neighborhood:
"And that is why we must be prepared to go to war - with protests, lawsuits, the whole nine yards - to prevent the city from magnifying its proven incompetence into the collapse of an entire neighborhood."
Indeed!
Posted by eric at 12:00 PM
NYC Donut Report's Got Beef with SCOTUS
NYC Donut Report!!
The "International donut reporter" takes a break from chronicling the world of tasty deep-fried dough to mourn the Supreme Court's refusal to hear Goldstein v. Pataki and what it could mean for the future of everything that makes New York City — and especially Brooklyn — great.
If you love the quirky independent donut shops that we cover on this Web site, then you ought to detest the Supreme Court's refusal on Monday to take up the case of Brooklynites who are being forcibly evicted from their homes and businesses to make way for tacky high-rise condos. The court has now cleared the way for real-estate developers all over the city -- and indeed across the country -- to use the power of eminent domain not to build roads and other works that serve the public good, but instead to build condos, malls and office towers to make money.
The power of eminent domain, now used just to turn a profit. This ruling gives the developers yet another incredibly powerful weapon in their campaign to literally demolish all the homegrown donut shops, dive bars, corner bodegas, independent bookstores, hole-in-the-wall burger joints, art-house theaters, Chinese apothecaries, junk shops, wig emporiums, dumpling houses, Bulgarian discos, peep shows, Gray's Papaya hot dog joints, word-of-mouth supper clubs, cutthroat Korean ping-pong gyms, stinky fishmongers, brownstone stoops, rent-stabilized apartment buildings, chrome diners, kebob carts, basement barber shops, cramped jazz clubs, wholesalers of obscure items and taxidermy shops -- in short, to destroy all the things that make New York distinctive -- and replace them with condo developments and "festival marketplaces" you could just as easily find in Denver or Scottsdale.
The trends in Brooklyn are especially not good. The Coney Island that you and I know as one of the great symbols of Americana is about to be utterly sterilized. Acres and acres of gross condo towers are going up in the Atlantic Yards project that Antonin Scalia and his cronies are so enthused over. And what's the third big project going on in the borough? Why, it's funny you should ask. They're going to reopen -- and double the size of -- the Brooklyn House of Detention.
Shopping malls, million-dollar condos, overblown arenas for the New Jersey Nets to suck in, a massive prision smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood -- it's all the same to the developers. They all make money, and they all have no purpose but to make money.
Posted by eric at 10:01 AM
In state court case, questions of “condemnation blight” and "reasonable" efforts to proceed
Atlantic Yards Report
All the Atlantic Yards legal action wasn't taking place in Washington yesterday, and Norman Oder has an exclusive:
On Monday morning, when most Atlantic Yards watchers were waiting to learn whether the Supreme Court would hear the AY eminent domain appeal (it said no), another legal drama was playing out in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, before State Supreme Court Justice Jane Solomon. Tenants, nearly all with rent-stabilized leases, in two buildings, are charging (lawsuit, follow-up) that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) is violating a provision of the Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL) that requires disposition of properties within a decade.
Solomon seemed skeptical of the main thrust of the argument made by attorney George Locker, who has filed two previous cases on behalf of the 13 tenants, who live in two Forest City Ratner-owned buildings within the footprint of the planned arena block.
Then again, she did seem somewhat sympathetic to Locker’s effort to paint the footprint as suffering from “condemnation blight,” a state of suspended neglect, and that the project has changed enough to require a public hearing.
The petitioners seek to annul State Funding Agreement agreement Law and also to order the court to require another public hearing, based on the law establishing the ESDC.
Posted by eric at 9:33 AM
NY Post editorial twists its way to an AY hooray
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder pokes some holes in the logic in today's pro-Atlantic Yards New York Post editorial.
The New York Post editorial board goes through some interesting gyrations in its editorial today, headlined A WIN FOR ATLANTIC YARDS. The newspaper opines:
Atlantic Yards, to be sure, has never been a perfect project. For starters, Ratner has relied heavily on special subsidies and tax breaks.The Post itself has estimated the tab at $2 billion. Doesn't that imply some effort at a cost-benefit analysis?
Posted by eric at 9:11 AM
A WIN FOR ATLANTIC YARDS
NY Post Editorial
Downtown Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards redevelopment got a huge and welcome shot in the arm yesterday - courtesy of a favorable decision from the highest court in the land.
...Atlantic Yards, to be sure, has never been a perfect project. For starters, Ratner has relied heavily on special subsidies and tax breaks.
And, of course, the state is threatening to use its eminent-domain authority (a power we've argued should never be used lightly) to acquire some of the land - sparking the court case in question.
Still, at the end of the day, the city can't afford to leave neglected, run-down or under-built areas languishing.
Posted by eric at 9:05 AM
Ratner's "20 court decisions" claim requires proof
Atlantic Yards Report
Yesterday, Forest City Ratner CEO Bruce Ratner, upon the U.S. Supreme Court's announcement it would take the Atlantic Yards eminent domain appeal, said, "The opponents have now lost 20 court decisions relating to Atlantic Yards...." That was repeated without skepticism in the press, such as in the New York Times's CityRoom blog [and today's paper].
Is that true? Well, maybe they've lost 20 decisions if we count decisions on specific motions. But then we'd have to count motions that opponents have won. And we'd have to count the cases opponents have won. NoLandGrab's scorecard, while probably flawed, strikes me as more accurate than Ratner's claim, especially since Ratner has provided no list.
Until the developer provides a list of the 20 decisions won, the press shouldn't be quoting the claim without rebuttal. The facts are verifiable.
NoLandGrab: Um, Norman Oder challenges journalists to practice "journalism of verification," while he concludes that our own analysis is "probably flawed" without providing any facts? Oder may be overworked, but that doesn't mean he is "probably" overworked.
It is disturbing, though, that reporters don't question something as simple as a statistic. At least it makes the pr professionals' job so much easier!
Posted by lumi at 5:23 AM
The Morning Papers: SCOTUS Eminent Domain edition
The NY Times, U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Atlantic Yards Case
Mr. Ratner, whose company was a development partner in the Midtown headquarters of The New York Times Company, said in a statement, “We are gratified that the Supreme Court has decided to put an end to this lawsuit. The opponents have now lost 20 court decisions relating to Atlantic Yards, and we are now one step closer to making these benefits a reality for the borough and the city.”
NoLandGrab: The claim to have won "20 court decisions" is another one of those unquestioned lies promoted by Bruce Ratner. Shame that it made it into the NY Times. Atlantic Yards Report examines the claim in today's post.
NY Daily News, Court won't review Nets arena project
And while we're pointing out flaws in coverage, the Daily News still believes that the project is in "downtown Brooklyn:"
The Supreme Court Monday turned down the latest appeal to block construction of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn.
Opponents vowed to file a new suit in state court to block what they call a shameless land grab.
NoLandGrab: If Ratner calls the Atlantic Yards footprint "Downtown Brooklyn" does that mean reporters have to do the same?
NY Post, COURT KOS YARDS FOE
The high court's inaction leaves the state with the green light to begin eminent-domain proceedings.
"We believe, and the courts have repeatedly agreed, that Atlantic Yards provides significant public benefits, including thousands of affordable homes and much-needed jobs, for Brooklyn," Ratner said yesterday.
The developer, however, is not planning to break ground until the end of the year, after a suit challenging the legality of the state's environmental review of the project is decided.'
Opponents yesterday were continuing their full-court press against Ratner, saying they'll now take the case to state court.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Atlantic Yards Case
The opponents of Atlantic Yards continue to lose each and every lawsuit and appeal that they file.
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However, shall there be a sixth lawsuit filed by the opponents of Atlantic Yards?
MetroNY (print edition only)
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amNY (AP), Property owners will still fight NYC arena plans
Posted by lumi at 4:57 AM
Big-time spin: Ratner claims Supreme Court pass ushers in arena construction
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder bets against the hyperbolic headline on Forest City Ratner's Dear-Norman email.
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Posted by lumi at 4:48 AM
Adventures in obscurity, via the New York Times
Atlantic Yards Report
A New York Times article yesterday on holding protests and press conferences at City Hall, headlined To Make a Stir at City Hall, Make an Appointment, contained, in the print edition, a photo with a very curious caption.
Um, that "Brooklyn real estate project" would be Atlantic Yards, and that was a press conference regarding the Atlantic Yards Development Trust--an event not reported on in the newspaper.
NoLandGrab: To call "Atlantic Yards" a "Brooklyn real estate project" is sorta like calling President Bush a "Washington DC-based politician." That's aside from the similarity between approval ratings of both.
Posted by lumi at 4:34 AM
Al-Qaeda’s Law Firm
Newsbusters
A conservative screed against Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights* calls the lefty hero Michael a "wealthy communist," brother Bruce an "eminent domain abuser" and, in what is a new low for the blogosphere, sister Ellen is labeled a "journalist."
Name-calling aside, our point is that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has earned a national reputation for his repeated abuse of eminent domain.
* That would be the "Constitutional Rights" minus the Fifth Amendment, since Michael Ratner is a part owner of the NJ Nets and stands to benefit from the taking of private property to build the team a new basketball arena.
Posted by lumi at 4:19 AM
MISSING: Atlantic Yards Report
Here are two items from Atlantic Yards Report that we missed from yesterday.
Bill to reform Public Authorities stumbling in Albany
The New York Times reports today that Assemblyman Richard Brodsky's effort to reform the governance of public authorities may be running aground, given Mayor Mike Bloomberg's effort "to have more power over his own appointees to authority boards — ostensibly independent."
Today's the last day of the legislative session.
As vote for NYU to absorb Polytechnic approaches, some strange silences
Today the Higher Education Committee of the New York State Board of Regents will discuss a proposal "to amend the charter of Polytechnic University, as requested, to effect an affiliation with New York University," and a vote on the proposal will be held Tuesday. As I've explained, the proposed "consolidation" or "merger" is more like an absorption by the larger NYU of the MetroTech-based Poly.
While there are clear potential benefits for both institutions, there are also reasons to be wary, reasons that, unaccountably, neither the major media nor the Board of Regents seem to have noticed.
Posted by lumi at 4:07 AM
June 23, 2008
PRESS RELEASE: "Subject: Brooklyn Arena Construction to begin"
FOREST CITY RATNER STATEMENT ON UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISION NOT TO HEAR EMINENT DOMAIN CASE
June 23, 2008 - Brooklyn, NY - Bruce Ratner, the CEO and Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies, today applauded the United States Supreme Court decision not to hear an eminent domain suit requested by opponents of the Atlantic Yards project.
Today the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, affirmed the State's right to use eminent domain relating to Atlantic Yards. In February, the Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, unanimously affirmed the District Court's decision in a case brought by opponents of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn on the grounds that the use of eminent domain violates the Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The District Court had previously decided against the plaintiffs in the case citing the numerous public benefits generated by the project.
"We believe, and the courts have repeatedly agreed, that Atlantic Yards provides significant public benefits including thousands of affordable homes and much needed jobs to Brooklyn," Mr. Ratner said. "We are gratified that the Supreme Court has decided to put an end to this lawsuit. The opponents have now lost 20 court decisions relating to Atlantic Yards and we are now one step closer to making these benefits a reality for the borough and the City."
Background on Atlantic Yards
Construction on the Site
- Construction work on Atlantic Yards began in February of 2007. FCRC expects to open the Barclays Center in the 2010 calendar year.
To date, roughly 53% of the structures on the site have been demolished or are in the process of being demolished. 30 structures have been demolished and an additional 3 buildings are being demolished or are slated to be demolished in the short term. There are 11 vacant lots and 29 other remaining structures.
Minority- and women-owned businesses have received a large percentage of the work. Construction contracts awarded at Atlantic Yards total approximately $43 million. The total MBE awards are $16.4 million or approximately 38% of total purchases. The total WBE awards are $2.9 million or approximately 7% which brings the total M/WBE participation thus far to $19.4 million or approximately 45%.
Construction of the Temporary Rail Yard is under way. The Carlton Ave bridge is in the process of being demolished and critical upgrades to the 100 year old sewer and water infrastructure have begun.
Legal Update
- February 1, 2008. US Court of Appeals, the Second Circuit, unanimously rejects the opponents' appeal in the federal eminent domain lawsuit that was dismissed in June, 2007.
January 15, 2008. The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a challenge to the project approvals under Section 207 of the Eminent Domain Procedure Law in November 2007. Opponents' request for an appeal was denied in January, 2008.
January 11, 2008. NY State Supreme Court rules against opponents in a case on environmental review procedures. Opponents are appealing the case.
October 2007. A second suit brought in the NY State Supreme Court challenging the State's use of eminent domain was dismissed in May 2007, and the dismissal was affirmed by the Appellate Division in October 2007.
This email was sent to you by Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, 390 Murray Hill Parkway, East Rutherford, NJ 07073.
Posted by lumi at 8:25 PM
More coverage of US Supreme Court denial to hear case
The Brooklyn Paper, Supremes sing the blues to Yards foes
The Supreme Court will not hear a case brought by property owners who are slated to lose their land to make room for Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project — but the property owners say they will take their case through New York State’s court system, which has traditionally not been sympathetic to property owners in eminent domain cases.
The Supreme Court denied without comment the 11 property owners’ request that the High Court take up case, which has been rejected by two lower federal courts — though the court did reveal that Justice Samuel Alito, a known skeptic of eminent domain, voted to hear the case.
GlobeSt.com, Supreme Court Rejects $4B Project Petition
Crain's NY Business, Top court denies Nets arena appeal
WNYC News Radio, Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Atlantic Yards Suit
Village Voice, Supreme Court Declines to Hear Atlantic Yards Challenge
The NY Sun, U.S. Supreme Court Turns Down Atlantic Yards Appeal
Posted by lumi at 8:14 PM
Legal Blogging
SCOTUSBlog, A new vote for property rights?
Lyle Denniston explains the implications of what happened today in the US Supreme Court:
The Supreme Court refused on Monday, amid a flurry of orders, to reopen the heated controversy over the power of government to seize private property for a new economic development project, but owners of property appeared to have picked up a potential new ally on the Court. Justice Samual A. Alito, Jr., was the only member of the Court to note that he would have granted review of a significant Second Circuit Court ruling on property rights in the face of a massive new project in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Because the Court simply denied review of the Second Circuit decision, it set no new precedent. But the case had been closely watched for the Court’s reaction to the one of the first significant sequels to arise in the controversy that spread rapidly across the country following its much-disputed 2005 ruling in Kelo v. New London, allowing private property to be taken for economic redevelopment by private organizations. Justice Alito was not on the Court for Kelo; his predecessor, now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, wrote the main dissent. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented; they did not reveal their votes Monday in the Goldstein case. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., also not on the Court for Kelo, did not reveal his vote Monday (his predecesssor, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, dissented in rhe 2005 decision).
The Wall St. Journal, Law Blog, High Court Says ‘Fuggedaboutit’ To Brooklyners’ Appeal, Kelo Challenge
As a Brooklyn resident, the Law Blog enjoys many quality local newspapers, from the Daily Eagle to the wonderfully understated Brooklyn Paper. If there’s one topic that’s consistently dominated the headlines of these publications, it’s the the Atlantic Yards project — a massive development plan by Bruce Ratner’s company, Forest City Ratner, to build a sports arena for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, to be renamed the Brooklyn Nets, as well as offices and condos.
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Today, that suit hit a snag when, on the third anniversary of Kelo v. New London — the controversial eminent domain decision from 2005, in which the Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could seize property for private development — the Court refused to reopen the same controversy that’s now raging over the Atlantic Yards project.
Castle Watch Daily, U.S. Supreme Court denies cert in Goldstein v. Pataki
Goldstein’s case goes back to the state court system in New York. Also, FNC’s Special Report with Brit Hume featured Goldstein’s case last Thursday and places it in the context of Kelo.
LAW OF THE LAND, SCOTUS Denies Cert in Goldstein v. Pataki – Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Case
Links to other coverage including, SCOTUSBlog and Atlantic Yards Report.
According to the orders list handed down today, Justice Alito would have granted cert. See page 9 of the following orders document: http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/orders-mon-0623.pdf
Posted by lumi at 7:38 PM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Here's what they're saying in the blogosphere, in no particular order:
Gothamist, Atlantic Yards Appeal Rejected by U.S. Supreme Court
Today the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by 11 Brooklyn property owners and tenants whose homes and businesses would be razed to make way for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project. Coincidentally, today marks the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s narrow 5-4 ruling in the case of Kelo v. City of New London, which affirmed the government’s power to use eminent domain to accommodate private
Hoodman, Supreme Court Decides not to Hear Atlantic Yards Case
Definitely disappointing that the Supreme Court didn’t hear the case concerning the Atlantic Yards project. Ratner, Hova, and friends are seizing land owned by Brooklyn residents and business owners for their new Atlantic Yards project that doesn’t just include the Nets moving to Brooklyn, but also huge high rises and mini-mall type shits being built.
Radar Online, Downtown Brooklyn Ready For Razing
Brooklyn homeowners have failed in their attempt to get the Supreme Court to undo the damage of that court's 2005 decision in Kelo v New London—its third anniversary is today, by the way!... It's enough to make anyone into a wackjob libertarian!
Reason Hit & Run, Eminent Domain Abuse in Brooklyn
Damon Root says:
As someone who just relocated from one of the thriving neighborhoods sitting in dangerous proximity to the proposed site, I'm here to tell you that the Atlantic Yards will be a catastrophe and a disgrace, ruining many more lives and livelihoods than this lawsuit could ever hope to reflect.
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Another interesting fact: Justice Samuel Alito noted that he would have granted review to the case. No other member of the Court shared their votes, nor is it common for them to do so when simply denying review.
The Knickerblogger, A Personal Note
So can the state, will the state (because hope of winning in state court, where the judges are utterly corrupt, is a long shot) be brazen enough to take the land from the property owners even though its obvious Ratner won't build for a long long time?
Gowanus Lounge, Breaking: Supreme Court Won’t Hear Atlantic Yards Case
There are potentially still many, many more months of litigation ahead in the case. It is believed that Forest City Ratner will launch a vigorous effort to try to prevent the case from being heard in the State Courts.
Nets Daily, Supreme Court Rejects Arena Critics’ Appeal
In the latest and the most devastating defeat for critics of the Nets’ new arena, the US Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant a hearing on their appeal of lower court rulings favoring Bruce Ratner. The Court rejected the appeal with only Justice Sam Alito in favor. Critics had hoped the Court would revisit an eminent domain decision from 2005. The decision is likely to clear the way for ground breaking later this year.
NoLandGrab: Additional lawsuits could get in the way of ground breaking for 2008.
Posted by lumi at 5:49 PM
Supreme Court denies AY eminent domain appeal; state case would be more of a long shot
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder offers a sober assessment of the chances of an eminent domain victory for Prospect Heights plaintiffs in New York State court, while enumerating the many significant challenges still facing the Atlantic Yards project.
The Supreme Court's decision, announced today, to reject the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case, Goldstein v. Pataki, is certainly a setback for project opponents, though the case was always a long shot.
Remember that the decision does not mean that the cases below were decided correctly, just that the appeal didnt present enough issues of law--conflicts in the interpretation of the 6/23/05 Kelo v. New London decision--to merit review.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn indicates that it will organize a case to be filed in state court. That is surely more of a long shot than the federal case, but even that case might delay key elements of project--the acquisition of property via emiment domain and the opportunity to issue bonds for construction--by several months. Then again, some of the 11 plaintiffs in the federal case may feel increasing pressure to settle.
Posted by eric at 12:36 PM
High Court Won’t Hear Appeal on Atlantic Yards
City Room [The New York Times]
by Sewell Chan
The United States Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by 11 New York City property owners and tenants whose homes and businesses are scheduled to be taken over by the government and demolished to make way for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
Without comment, the justices refused to hear the plaintiffs’ argument that the seizure of their property would violate the United States Constitution. In February, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a trial judge’s dismissal of the landowners’ and tenants’ suit.
However, the plaintiffs, including Daniel Goldstein, the leader of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, which opposes the Atlantic Yards project, vowed to continue their legal fight by turning, once again, to the state courts.
...The Supreme Court’s decision today was a victory for the developer Bruce C. Ratner and for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who supports the project. At the center of the $4 billion development plan, which 16 high-rise office and apartment towers, is a basketball arena intended to house the New Jersey Nets. Brooklyn has not had a professional major league sports team since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.
Lawyers for the mayor and other governmental defendants in the case argued that the project “serves multiple undisputed purposes,” including the transformation of blighted neighborhoods in Brooklyn. But in fact the area has already been rapidly gentrifying. Moreover, the faltering economy could slow down the construction of th