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tel/fax:
718.362.4784
Please note our new postal address when sending
contributions to the legal fund:
121 5th Avenue, PMB #150
Brooklyn, New York 11217
About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and
there are 51 community organizations formally
aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.
DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000
subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition
signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB
to form our various teams, task-forces and committees
and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person
volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our
retained attorneys.
We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large
and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.
We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual
donors.
More about
DDDB...
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For Immediate Release: April 20, 2007
Ratner to Go Ahead With Initial Demolitions
in Atlantic Yards Project Site
Court Ruling on TRO Allows 9 Demolitions to Commence
Before Lawsuit Against State and Developer is Heard on May 3rd
Project Cannot Be Built As Planned
Pending the Outcome of Federal and State Lawsuits
Protest Called for Monday Morning.
NEW YORK, NY— Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden today declined
to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would have blocked developer
Forest City Ratner from commencing demolitions within the footprint of the “Atlantic
Yards” project before the legal challenge to the
state’s environmental review and approval of the project, as well as a motion
for a preliminary injunction, can be heard in court on May 3rd.
The court expressly stated that in making today's TRO decision it was not pre-judging
the merits of petitioners' claims filed on April
5th.
Forest City Ratner plans to commence demolition on nine buildings during the 13 days between today’s decision and the May 3rd hearing.
The 26 plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA, and the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) applied for the TRO to halt the irreparable harm the demolitions would inflict on the community in the window open until their claims are heard in court.
“We are confident in the merits of our challenge to the state’s approval of the
project and that once our claims are heard we will prevail–sending the project
back to the drawing board,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) legal team
chair Candace Carponter. “It is also clear that as long as owners and
renters challenging the state’s right to seize private property by eminent domain
succeed in federal court, the
project cannot be built. Because of the irreparable harm these demolitions
will bring, we call on Governor Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg and other elected officials
to use the ESDC’s funding leverage to halt the demolitions unless the project
is proven to be feasible.”
“It is deeply troubling that Ratner will move ahead with these mass demolitions, irrevocably harming the community, while it has yet to be shown that his ‘Atlantic Yards’ project passes legal muster and is financially viable. The demolitions are an affront to the community the developer purports to benefit,” said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein.
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn has renewed its call to protest the demolition
of four buildings, presumably scheduled to commence Monday morning, April 23rd.
The protest will be at 8am in front of 191 Flatbush Avenue between 5th Avenue
and Dean Street in Brooklyn.
All legal papers, a summary of the lawsuit, and the list of co-plaintiffs can be found here:
http://www.dddb.net/FEIS
Posted: 4.20.07
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