"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…

Jesse Serwer writes in the Brooklyn Skyline: "The Coney Island Nets? Councilwoman Letitia James thinks Coney Island is a better
place for developer Bruce Ratner’s proposed 19,000-seat Nets arena rather
than the Prospect Heights neighborhood he’s looking to take over by
eminent domain.

"’Coney Island has plenty of public
transportation,’ said James, whose Fort Greene-based 35th Council
District includes the swath of Prospect Heights where nearly 1,000 residents
and workers could be displaced if Ratner gets the approval needed to build Brooklyn
Atlantic Yards, a commercial/residential development that would include the
arena."

Read more…