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May 23, 2010
No Cheers in Brooklyn for Replacing Freddy's Bar
AolNews
By Dana Chivvis
This article recounts some of the story of the Atlantic Yards fight as seen from the now defunct neighborhood bar, Freddy's.
Mikhail Prokhorov, the new owner of the New Jersey Nets, blitzed the media earlier this week, entertaining the press with an artillery of one-liners. In some ways, the story of Prokhorov's latest purchase does seem like a joke: A 44-year-old Russian billionaire, known for being a playboy, buys the NBA's worst team and then moves it from New Jersey to New York, where it's renamed "the Nyets."
But New Yorkers displaced by plans to build a new arena for the team -- the crown jewel in a 22-acre development project in Brooklyn -- feel as if the joke is on them. To make way for the new commercial space, office buildings, condos and arena, the state used eminent domain to seize homes and evict iconic neighborhood businesses, like Freddy's Bar and Backroom, located in the project's footprint. Opponents complain that city's gritty, patchwork neighborhoods are being replaced with a shiny, plastic megalopolis.
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The state's ability to seize private land for public use is a constitutionally granted power. The Supreme Court affirmed its legality in a landmark case in 2005, Kelo v. New London, leading 43 states to amend their laws to restrict eminent domain powers. New York was not one of those states.
"You can say anything is for the public good. A basketball stadium is for the public good, houses are for the public good," said Dana Berliner, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which argued on behalf of Susette Kelo. "New York is the worst state in terms of the abuse of eminent domain."
Posted by steve at May 23, 2010 9:19 AM