Real Estate & Property Law

Preview of "Battle of Brooklyn" Doc About Atlantic Yards

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

A teaser for The Battle of Brooklyn, produced by the Moving Picture Institute (which "nurtures promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting and sustaining a free society") about the ongoing redevelopment dispute in Brooklyn over the Atlantic Yards project. The summary describes the film:

The Battle of Brooklyn explores the poorly understood phenomenon of eminent domain abuse. A feature-length documentary from filmmakers Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, and David Beilinson, this film investigates how real estate developers, local government, community activists, and the media have clashed over the largest single-source development project ever proposed in New York City. Widely known as the Atlantic Yards project, this undertaking has for the past four years been a major source of contention as local residents resist a billionaire developers attempt to use eminent domain to seize their homes and businesses. Done in the name of "development," schemes such as this one eviscerate private property rights and make a mockery of the Fifth Amendment--and yet they freely exploit lucrative taxpayer subsidies, easements, and tax abatements.

We've discussed some of the legal issues presented by the project in these posts about the Develop Don't Destroy case and the Goldstein v. Pataki decision.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on March 13, 2009 (boomark / email).