DailyHeights

Tenant.net reports: "While co-op owners are being given substantial buy-out offers from Ratner, tenants are finding themselves left out in the cold. Tenants’ legal rights are less than homeowners’ rights and do not attract the same ‘Abuse of Eminent Domain’ argument. It’s still displacement, but not a property taking for the tenants …"

"…Tenants in the surrounding areas are likely to be as impacted as those on the arena site itself …For every Ratner tower that goes up, there will be pressures from other developers to tear down nearby tenements or brownstones, replacing those tenants with others who have little connection to the community and/or who can afford expensive apartments. Similarly, even in existing tenements, landlords will try to force out existing tenants and jack-up rents to levels never before seen in that area."

"For those who doubt this scenario, all one needs to look at is the secondary displacement now happening in various areas of Manhattan: Clinton, Chelsea, Lower East Side/East Village and Harlem."

"Despite the near unanimous rejection of Ratner’s plans by the people who live and work there … " Continued.

Via Develop Don’t Destroy: Celebrate Brooklyn Communities Block Party and Rally Against the Ratner/Nets Arena and High Rise Development

When: Saturday, June 19th, 2pm
Where: Pacific Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues – Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Cost: FREE!

As developer Bruce Ratner’s plan to build a new arena and high rise
buildings in Brooklyn continues apace, the affected communities are
coming together to draw the public’s attention to exactly what is at
stake. On June 19, 2004 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, a consortium of
activist groups will be hosting the Celebrate Our Communities Block
Party, an event celebrating our Brooklyn communities, while affirming
the right of individuals everywhere to have a say in development
projects that affect them.  READ MORE.

"Ten days ago Bruce Ratner announced he bought the Nets for $300 million
with the idea of rehousing them in a massive complex in downtown
Brooklyn. The development would include an 18,000-seat stadium, 2.1
million square feet of office space and 4.4 million square feet of
residential space—all designed by architect Frank Gehry. The project
will cost an estimated $2.5 billion and span 21 acres…"

"The protesters may be on the losing side of history. Eminent domain,
the right of a government to take private property for public use upon
payment, is routinely invoked for private enterprise, especially sports
stadiums." READ MORE.

Via Tenant.net: "Tenants in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn are trying to get developer Bruce Ratner called for charging."

"The developer wants to take over seven blocks stretching south and east
from Atlantic and Flatbush avenues for ‘Brooklyn Atlantic Yards,’ a
massive project that would include a new arena for the New Jersey Nets
basketball team and 4,500 high-rise apartments, almost all at luxury
rents. Residents in the area are crying foul, saying that Ratner is
elbowing aside community concerns about scale, traffic, and
displacement like a combination of Robert Moses and a renegade power
forward bulling his way to the hoop.
"

"’People will be happy to have the Nets play in Brooklyn, but not on
the crushed homes of my neighbors," says Patti Hagan of the Prospect
Heights Action Coalition. "If he can’t build his toy, his basketball
arena, without destroying peoples’ homes and businesses, he’s building
in the wrong place." Read everything…

Daily News report: "In the escalating war between Bruce Ratner and
Brooklyn activists trying to block his giant Nets arena project, the
first casualty has been the truth."

"The billionaire developer has been quoted as saying only 100 people
would have to pack their bags and vacate the Prospect Heights site
where the arena would rise, while opponents say 864 residents are
threatened."

"As it turns out, the real number is closer to Ratner’s figure – about
383 people live in the footprint of the proposed sports arena and
high-rise complex, the Daily News has learned." Read more…

Hamill writes: "I’m no pollster, but the only people I hear from
in multiple numbers opposing the new Brooklyn Nets sports arena complex
are the people of Prospect Heights."

"I’ve received dozens of E-mails opposing this $2.5 billion construction
project that would bring Brooklyn a 19,000-seat arena, 2 million square
feet of commercial space, 300,000 square feet of retail space, and
4,500 new housing units, creating 15,000 temporary construction jobs
and 10,000 new permanent jobs."

"But 98% of the E-mails are from people from Prospect Heights, where
some 800 people say they will lose their homes to eminent domain." Read the whole editorial.