Before the end of November, New York State’s Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) is expected to be asked to give final approval to the proposed "Atlantic Yards” Nets arena and high-rise project.
However, on October 26th, a number of homeowners, tenants and business owners in the footprint of the proposed “Atlantic Yards” project filed a federal lawsuit challenging the use of eminent domain to evict them from their properties.
The arena, and several other components of the proposed project, cannot be constructed without the use of eminent domain.
We believe it’s imperative that the PACB postpone any vote on the proposed project until the courts have resolved the eminent domain question.
If the PACB were to approve the project, several buildings at the site could be demolished. If at a later date, however, the courts were to disallow the use of eminent domain (and DDDB’s lawyers believe strongly that this will be the case), many aspects of the project, including the arena, could not be built, and our community could be left with rubble surrounding the homes and businesses of those victorious in the eminent domain challenge.
Therefore, it’s critical that state officials allow the courts to determine
the legality of this project before taking a vote on whether it should
move forward. Please use the template
below and fill out the form to have your letter sent to the PACB.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn will deliver your letter to the PACB, along
with those submitted by others, and a copy of all the letters will be
sent to Brooklyn members of the State Legislature, Attorney General Eliot
Spitzer, and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. (If you’d prefer to
send your letter directly rather than using our letter-writing mechanism
please click here
for contact information). Feel free to personalize your comments, but
please be respectful in your tone.
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Dear Governor Pataki, Speaker Silver, and Majority Leader Bruno:
In the coming weeks, it is expected that the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) will be asked to vote on the publicly subsidized, $4.2 billion Forest City Ratner Atlantic Yards development proposed for Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
However, on October 26th homeowners, business owners, and tenants in the proposed project site, who are facing the taking of their properties by eminent domain to clear the site for the development, filed a federal lawsuit. The suit charges that the takings by eminent domain for this project are unconstitutional, and it seeks to halt the takings of the properties for transfer to the private developer, Forest City Ratner.
The arena, and several other major components of the proposed project, cannot be constructed without the use of eminent domain.
It is imperative that the PACB postpone any vote on the proposed project until the courts have resolved the eminent domain question.
I believe that it is incumbent upon you, as guardians of the public trust, to ascertain the constitutionality, through the courts, of the exercise of eminent domain upon which the proposed project is contingent, before taking any vote.
If the PACB were to approve the project prior to judicial resolution, substantial numbers of buildings at the site could be demolished. If at a later date, however, the courts were to disallow the use of eminent domain, many aspects of the project, including the arena, could not be built, and the community would be left with a demolition site amid acres of vacant land. This uncertainty regarding the project’s viability, prior to a court decision, requires a postponement of any decision by the PACB.
I urge you to postpone any PACB vote on the Atlantic Yards proposal until the eminent domain issues are resolved in the courts. It is the wise and responsible thing to do.
With respect and sincerity,
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