« Nets welcome Prokhorov, "new big man" with "winning attitude" | Main | An arena for the Islanders near CitiField? Not without major subsidies (and what about financing and the arena glut?) »
May 13, 2010
Life After Atlantic Yards
Brooklyn’s Daniel Goldstein led the fight against the Atlantic Yards mega-project for years. Days before moving out of his home, he spoke with The Indypendent about why he fought so long and what he learned.
The Indypendent
by John Tarleton
Here's a must-read interview with last-man-standing Daniel Goldstein. We've excerpted some of the highlights.
[Daniel] Goldstein had hoped to put down roots in Prospect Heights, then an increasingly vibrant low-rise neighborhood near where Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues converge and within walking distance of Boerum Hill, Clinton Hill, Park Slope and Fort Greene. Instead, Bruce Ratner moved into the neighborhood too, and in a big way.
The billionaire developer whose giant Forest City Ratner real estate firm bears his name, announced his plan to purchase the New Jersey Nets basketball team and move it to Brooklyn. With the support of powerful political allies, Ratner was promised 22 acres of prime real estate around the Atlantic Yards rail terminal (including the block on which Goldstein lives) to build a basketball arena and 16 luxury condominium towers, a $4.9 billion dollar project that would eventually receive almost $2 billion in direct and indirect government subsidies.
Ratner’s allies hailed the project as a jobs and affordable housing panacea. A small army of opponents, including Goldstein, cried foul, saying the project was a billiondollar boondoggle that would wreck several Brooklyn neighborhoods while failing to deliver its promised benefits. And they did more than that. They got organized in a major way, forming a tenacious organization called Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, which battled Ratner and his cronies in the courts of law and public opinion for years.
Goldstein emerged as the leader of the group, through which he met his wife Shabnam Merchant, who was also organizing against Ratner’s mega-project. The last property owner holding out against the project, Goldstein folded in April, taking a $3 million settlement from Ratner after all his legal options were finally exhausted. Days before he and his family were slated to move out of their home, Goldstein took a break from the chaos of packing to speak with The Indypendent about why he had stuck it out so long, the wisdom of fighting City Hall and what he might pursue next, including a possible future in politics.
...JT: What will be the long-term impact of the fight over the Atlantic Yards project on other projects like it in the city?
DG: There’s been some impact as far as the Columbia [University] expansion and the victory that property owners there had in court over eminent domain. I think many community organizations will learn from the fight we waged. If there is an attempt to ram a project like this down the throat of a community again, it will be fought in a similar fashion.
...JT: Why did you make the deal with Ratner?
DG: On March 1, I became a tenant of New York State after the state took ownership of my apartment, from which it was preparing to evict me. Had I gone all the way to being evicted, I would have had to leave my home and then go back to court just to get maybe fair-market value for my home. Whether or not I accepted a settlement, it would not have impacted the fight against the project.
There was a four-hour back-and-forth separately between attorneys on each side and the sticking point wasn’t money, it was they wanted a complete gag order on me that I refused to accept. If I had, I wouldn’t be talking to you now or say anything ever again about the project. It was gut-wrenching. I wish it had never come to that. I would give back all of the settlement money if none of this had ever happened, if the neighborhood could be restored and grow in the way that it had been growing.
...JT: If somebody came up to you and asked if is it really worth it to fight City Hall, what would you say to them?
DG: Absolutely. I think it’s worth it. Everyone should fight City Hall when they think there is an abuse of power. There’s a lot to resist and fight against and expose and try to reform certainly when it comes to eminent domain and how development proceeds in the city.
Posted by eric at May 13, 2010 11:50 PM