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May 7, 2010
Daniel Goldstein, $3 million Atlantic Yards holdout, packs his bags
NY Daily News
by Erin Durkin
It's moving day for Daniel Goldstein.
He'll leave his Pacific St. home for the last time today after fighting a losing battle to save his apartment, which sits at what will be center court in Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards arena.
"I feel proud about this fight," said Goldstein, who was inspired to fight the mega-project by his mother's death.
"But as far as the moment, I'm walking out the door and we can't come back in here again. I have to turn over keys, and leave a street I know we can never walk down again. I know I will feel sad about that."
Goldstein, 40, whose $3 million settlement two weeks ago drew both praise and criticism, spoke to the Daily News from his seventh-floor apartment in a living room piled high with moving boxes.
For nearly five years, he and his family have been the only residents living in the nine-story former warehouse.
He and his wife, Shabnam Merchant, 43, who he met as a fellow anti-Yards activist, and their baby daughter, Sita, will move to a rental a few blocks away while they search for a permanent place - and try to steer clear of Ratner's mega-project.
"We sometimes feel we never want to walk past this street," said Merchant.
Goldstein said 18-month-old Sita learned to sleep peacefully through the "building-shaking" 4 a.m. jackhammering that often kept him and his wife up at night.
"She's happily oblivious to pretty much anything," he said, adding there is at least one thing he wants to make sure Sita knows about.
"I have had some people say they'll make sure she knows what her parents did," he said. "I would hope ... she would be pleased to know that we did this."
Posted by eric at May 7, 2010 9:21 AM