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June 15, 2009
Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Plaintiffs File Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals
From Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (dddb.net):
Late last Friday the nine owners and tenants challenging New York State's effort to seize their properities by eminent domain for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards development plan, filed their Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals on Constitutional Grounds.
Atlantic Yards Report, Plaintiffs in eminent domain case file Notice of Appeal; the Court of Appeals is not required to accept it
Though, the "Notice of Appeal states that 'this appeal is taken as of right... because the judgment directly involves the construction of the New York Constitution and presents multiple substantial constitutional questions,'" Norman Oder points out that the Court of Appeals may not agree and refuse to hear the case, though attorneys for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn are optimistic that the court will.
The constitutional questions include:
1) whether the public use requirement in the state Constitution "imposes a more stringent standard for takings" than does the federal Constitution, a question not yet considered by any state court
2) whether the state Constitution's public use requirement can be satisfied when the condemning authority does not examine whether the public benefit "is not incidental or pretextual in comparison with benefits to particular, favored private entities" (a phrase from a separate 2009 case)
3) whether the project violates a clause of the state Constitution which requires that subsidies for reconstruction of blighted areas must be restricted to "persons of low income"
Posted by lumi at June 15, 2009 6:57 AM