In anticipation of the upcoming seige of Freddy's Bar in Prospect Heights, activists are declaring revolt and collecting money for armor plating to protect homeowners an and renters from eviction.
Billionaires Bruce Ratner and Mikhail Prokhorov are on the verge of using the State of New York to seize the neighborhood for a stadium using New York State’s
outdated Eminent Domain laws. They hope to build a stadium named for
Barclay's Bank, for the soon-to-be Russian owned N.J. Nets, and some
housing to be operated by ACORN. We say the banks and foreigners have
taken enough from America, and that ACORN needs to reform its ways and
keep their paws off our bar and neighborhood.
As evictions loom ever larger following the Atlantic Yards
Master Closing which authorizes the state to wrongfully take over the
embattled neighborhood, locals are standing their ground and escalating
the battle to stay in their homes. The threat to the
neighborhood has galvanized us – and to prove it, we are raising funds
for galvanized steel plates to put on neighbors doors to resist
eviction.
Domain Revolt is being declared in our neighborhood. We are
overthrowing the rule of the Real Estate Royalty who keep outdated laws
on the books and use the government to do their bidding. We
are up against a real estate company that is the second biggest
political donor and lobbyist spending force in the state. The law must
be changed. Period.
Senator Bill Perkins, Chairman of the New York State Senate
Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee has begun a crusade
to rid New York State of Eminent Domain Abuse. He has asked Governor
Patterson for a moratorium on Eminent Domain takings until the Columbia
decision against the Empire State Development Authority’s pattern of operating in bad faith, and abusing Eminent domain has been reconciled with the Atlantic Yards decision in the Court of Appeals. And we are behind him 100%.
They will try to take the neighborhood and the bar with Eminent Domain, and we are going to stop them.
Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights,
where Freddy's Bar is located, faces a unique twist: The State of New
York is moving to take properties from families and businesses and,
instead of building a road or a school, the State will hand the land
over for private use by Russia’s richest man, who, in partnership with
billionaire Bruce Ratner is building a stadium to house the NBA’s worst
team. 8 acres of the 22 total acres the State is taking will be for the
stadium. The rest, it has recently been revealed, will be leveled, with nothing required to be built on it for decades.
In addition to telling the New York Times
Eminent Domain Abuse corrupts our democracy, Senator Perkins is also
charging that the half billion dollars worth of bonds, issued for the
building of the stadium were issued fraudulently, in a failed backroom
deal aimed at getting around New York State’s new Public Authorities
Control Act.