[PSN] Atlantic Yards Update

[Emily Brown]

In This Issue:

1) Park Slope Neighbors Joins Lawsuit Challenging "Atlantic Yards" Environmental Review

2) Please Help Support "Atlantic Yards" Legal Challenges - Donate Today

3) UNITY 2007 Community Planning Workshop - Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Dear Park Slope Neighbor,

1) Park Slope Neighbors Joins Lawsuit Challenging "Atlantic Yards" Environmental Review

On Thursday, April 5th, a coalition of 26 community groups, block associations and advocacy organizations -- including Park Slope Neighbors -- filed an Article 78 lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court challenging the validity of the "Atlantic Yards" environmental review.

The suit, which names the Empire State Development Corporation, Public Authorities Control Board, MTA and "Atlantic Yards" developer Forest City Ratner Companies as defendants, seeks to annul the project's badly flawed Final Environmental Impact Statement.  If the suit succeeds, it will force the state and Forest City Ratner to redo the environmental review from scratch, and would eventually necessitate a new vote on the project by the PACB.

PSN joined the lawsuit because we believe that the environmental review was grossly inadequate.  It failed to responsibly probe the project's potential impacts, and it largely ignored the many questions asked, and credible suggestions offered, by the community.  Many Park Slope residents put a tremendous amount of effort into analyzing the EIS, and that effort demands a far more robust response.

The suit also seeks a preliminary injunction preventing FCRC from demolishing buildings until the court rules on the case.  While the judge hearing the suit declined to grant a temporary restraining order on Friday, she may yet grant an injunction following oral arguments.

Those arguments are scheduled for Thursday, May 3rd, at 3:30 p.m., in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.  We'll issue details on the hearing when they become available; in the interim, we urge you to make time to attend the hearing to help demonstrate community support for the lawsuit through our collective presence in the courtroom.

Park Slope Neighbors is proud to stand with organizations like Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, NYPIRG, the Sierra Club and many others in fighting for greater accountability to the people of Brooklyn, New York City and New York State.

To read a summary of the complaint, and for more information regarding the lawsuit, please click here: http://www.dddb.net/FEIS/summary.php.

2) Please Help Support "Atlantic Yards" Legal Challenges - Donate Today

Despite Forest City Ratner's best efforts to make "Atlantic Yards" look like a done deal, the truth is that the future of the project is far from certain.

If successful, Goldstein v. Pataki, the eminent domain lawsuit brought by 13 plaintiffs in federal court, would make it impossible for the arena to be built or for streets to be de-mapped for superblocks -- and could therefore stop the project, no matter how much of the rest of the footprint Bruce Ratner controls.

And the Article 78 lawsuit for which Park Slope Neighbors is a co-plaintiff (see above) has the potential to "stop the action" on Atlantic Yards until a new and credible Environmental Impact Statement is created -- one that actually addresses problems that include:

• the massive and unmitigated snarl of traffic that "Atlantic Yards" would create

• the failure of the EIS to seriously consider and analyze alternate sites for the arena -- like Coney Island

• the creation of huge "interim surface parking lots" that would level whole blocks and promote driving at the expense of mass transit usage.

We're proud to be collaborating with groups like the Sierra Club and NYPIRG; respected neighborhood organizations like The Fort Greene Association, The Society for Clinton Hill and the Boerum Hill Association; and our 40 fellow member organizations in the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods.  We also want to do our part to help our neighbors pay for a lawsuit that represents us all.  Which is where we hope you'll come in!

For almost three years, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's team of more than 30 volunteer lawyers has worked side-by-side with retained counsel, led by Jeff Baker of the environmental law firm Young Sommer, to prepare for this case.  But even with so many volunteers, this is a costly effort, and DDDB can no longer carry the fundraising ball alone.

Can you help?  Your tax-deductible* contribution of any size will help our legal team win a fair assessment of the substantial negative impacts of this project.  So please contribute generously -- and know that your contribution will make a difference.

You can make a secure online contribution right now by clicking here: http://dddb.net/php/donate.php.

If you prefer to donate by mail, please send your check, made payable to "Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn," to:

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

89 Fifth Avenue

PMB #150

Brooklyn, NY 11217

Your contribution will make a difference.  Thank you for supporting this critical community-wide effort!

*DEVELOP DON'T DESTROY BROOKLYN has applied to the IRS for tax exemption.  It is the opinion of our attorney that DDDB is entitled to tax exemption, that tax exempt status will be granted and that our status will be granted retroactively to August, 2004, the date of our incorporation. Your donations are therefore deductible to the extent allowed by law.   However, if for any reason our application is not granted, your contribution will not be tax deductible and you will need to amend your return claiming the deduction.

3) UNITY 2007 Community Planning Workshop - Saturday, April 28, 10 am - 4 pm

Back in 2004, a diverse group of neighborhood residents, community advocates, urban planners and architects gathered under the sponsorship of City Councilmember Letitia James for the purpose of developing a plan for the 8.5-acre Vanderbilt railyards.  From that workshop emerged the UNITY Plan, which became the basis for Extell Development Co.'s rival bid to Bruce Ratner's "Atlantic Yards" project.

Now, as Forest City Ratner prepares to begin demolishing buildings, and as multiple lawsuits that could stop or radically alter the "Atlantic Yards" project hang in the balance, the time is right for the community to gather again, to update the work done in 2004 with an eye toward providing a blueprint for filling the void that would be created if "Atlantic Yards" fails.

Local residents, elected officials, members of neighborhood organizations and churches, architects and planners will come together this Saturday, April 28th, for a one-day community workshop and design charrette to create the UNITY 2007 Community Development Plan.

Participants in the day-long planning meeting will discuss housing, jobs, design issues, open space and transportation.  We will talk about options for the neighborhood if some, all or none of the proposed "Atlantic Yards" project is completed.  The product of the workshop will be an updated set of plans for the future of the Vanderbilt Yards.

The UNITY 2007 effort is sponsored by the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development, and the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods.  We urge you to attend this workshop, and to encourage your friends and neighbors to take part, as well.  No special expertise is necessary.  We also urge you to pre-register for the workshop, which you can do by sending an email to cc...@hunter.cuny.edu or calling 212-650-3328.

UNITY 2007

Saturday, April 28

10 am - 4 pm
Registration opens at 9:30

Hanson Place United Methodist Church

144 Saint Felix Street (at Hanson Place)

Brooklyn, NY

Trains 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, R, Q to Atlantic/Pacific

Free and open to the public.  Please bring your own brown-bag lunch.

Click here for more info: http://www.dddb.net/php/reading/UNITY2007.php.

Sincerely,

Eric McClure

Campaign Coordinator

Park Slope Neighbors