Eminent Domain Watch: Brooklyn

Today, The New York Post reports, construction begins at the Atlantic Yards. Meanwhile, Develop Don't Destroy, an anti-Atlantic Yards organization funded through private contributions and fund-raisers (as opposed to subsidy-dependent Forest City Ratner), says the chances of a federal lawsuit blocking the project making it to trial appear strong:

An overflowing crowd of Brooklyn residents and reporters (some late arrivals had to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit TV in the courthouse's cafeteria) filled the courtroom of Federal Magistrate Robert Levy on February 7th, as the judge listened to initial oral arguments in the eminent domain lawsuit filed by property owners and tenants whose homes and businesses lie in the footprint of the proposed "Atlantic Yards" development.

The hearing, in the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, was held in response to a motion to dismiss the case, brought by the defendants, who include the Empire State Development Corporation, Forest City Ratner, former Governor George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The defendants are fearful of the case going to trial in Federal court, where the fate of Bruce Ratner's "Atlantic Yards" project would rest solely on the law – and with a politically independent, impartial judge.

If the case proceeds to trial – and many courtroom observers believe that Judge Levy's demeanor and his line of questioning indicate there's a good chance it will – it would derail Ratner's plans to erect an arena and a superblock of high-rise buildings in Prospect Heights. If the plaintiffs win, the project will have to go back to the drawing board, or be scrapped altogether, because the arena cannot be built, nor can streets de-mapped, without the plaintiffs' homes and businesses.

During the nearly four hours of sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-technical courtroom back-and-forth, Judge Levy seemed largely unmoved by the defendants' arguments; at one point, he interrupted ESDC lawyer Douglas Kraus to tell him "you and I have very different ideas about the law."

The Sun has more.