From Develop Don't Destroy:Bruce Ratner has lost his fourth court decision in a row. Today NY State's high court, the Court of Appeals, rejected the developer's (and the Empire State State Development Corporation's) request to appeal the lower court's unanimous upholding of the Supreme Court order that Atlantic Yards must undergo a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).
The suit, originally brought by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and other community organizations, has had a long and winding path. At the core the case is about the State's bogus claims (and subsequent impact study) that the project build out would be 10 years, when in actuality it will likely be 25 years at minimum, and thus the attendant impacts will be substantially different then the ones studied.
The ruling today and the previous ones show, thankfully, that NY courts can actually be a check against public agencies running amok on behalf of private interests.
The ruling also means that the bulk of the Atlantic Yards project will undergo an SEIS, which will include a public hearing.
The time is now for ESDC and Governor Cuomo to intervene to ensure that Forest City Ratner doesn't hold a huge chunk of Prospect Heights hostage for the next generation.
2 comments:
RAT BASTID!
Congratulations to the community.
Same thing is happening in Manhattan with NYU and its 2031 Plan, which is an absurd size of the Empire State building on two superblocks that house middle class apartments and will take a conservative 20 years of construction. Of course the real estate heavy NYU Board of Trustees are the only ones who support this plan. If these plans are not stopped we're all going to live in a version of It's a Wonderful Life's Pottersville, only it'll be Ratnerville and Rudinville.
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