Big News: State Supreme Court Justice Marcy S. Friedman issued a ruling today in favor of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) and other neighborhood groups, criticizing the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) for “what appears to be yet another failure of transparency” in its approval of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project.

Justice Friedman granted the motion by DDDB and the other petitioners for reargument of her March 10, 2010 position. She held that the December 2009 Master Development Agreement should have been provided to the Court and having now reviewed that agreement, Justice Friedman found that the ESDC did not properly consider the full 25-year schedule.

HERE’S THE GIST: Justice Friedman has sent the case back to the Empire State Develope Corp (ESDC) for reconsideration, requiring the ESDC to provide a “detailed, reasoned basis for [its] findings.”

Needless to say the folks at Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn are thrilled. Says Candace Carponter, Esq, chair of DDDB’s Legal Committee:

“We are thrilled with the Court’s decision. It has laid bare the pattern of lies and deception by ESDC and Forest City Ratner that underlie this project.  We have always contended that the project will take decades to complete, if ever and the supposed public benefits of affordable housing and open space would never happen.  Instead we are faced with decades of developer created blight in an area that may never be redeveloped due to ESDC’s and FCRC’s malfeasance.”