Property Owner's Brief In Atlantic Yards Appeal

A press release from Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn links to the opening brief filed recently by the property owners who object to the taking of their property for the Atlantic Yards "redevelopment" project in Brooklyn in Goldstein v. New York State Urban Dev. Corp.

Here's the summary of the issues presented in the brief:

1. Whether the public use requirement of the NY Constitution imposes a more stringent standard for takings than does the Fifth Amendment—a question expressly preserved by the Court of Appeals in Aspen Creek Estates, Ltd. v. Brookhaven (2009), and never before considered by any court in New York;

2. Whether the public use requirement of the NY Constitution "is satisfied when a condemning authority determines that he public benefit to be gained by forcibly appropriating citizens' homes and businesses is 'not incidental or pretextual in comparison with benefits to particular, favored private entities,"' without ever examining the nature and magnitude of the private benefit and thus failing to create any record that would allow a reviewing court to make such a determination—a question never before considered by any court in this State (and ignored by the Appellate Division in this action)";

3. Whether, according to Article XVIII, Section 6 of the Constitution, subsidized "blight clearance" projects must be restricted to "persons of low income."

The New York Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in the appeal on October 14, 2009 at 2 pm in Albany.