Second Atlantic Yards Case Fails Within Week

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Opposition to the Atlantic Yards project was thrown out of court again Wednesday.

After having the lawsuit that challenged the environmental impact statement dismissed on Friday, residents living in the footprint of the massive 22-acre project have failed to move yet another court to consider their appeal. The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division-Second Department denied the plaintiffs’ motion to appeal, after it had dismissed their eminent-domain lawsuit in November.

While Forest City Ratner and city officials celebrate victory after victory in court, the legal battles have yet to end. Community groups and residents have vowed to continue to sue and fight, and have already postponed the construction of the project by several years.

The centerpiece of the project is a basketball arena that is planned to be home to the Brooklyn Nets, which is slated to be moved from New Jersey by owner Bruce Ratner. Original expectations had the Nets already playing basketball in Brooklyn this year. Now 2010 is anticipated to be their first season. For those who are keeping track, there are four lawsuits that either seek to, or will in effect, prevent the Atlantic Yards project from being built in Brooklyn. Three of the lawsuits are in state court, and one is in federal court. All four have been dismissed.

All four dismissals either have been, or will be, appealed. This is the second appeal that has failed. Two appeals are pending. If those appeals are also denied, it is unknown whether opponents to the project will pursue further legal action.

MANHATTAN — Brooklyn special-education providers are suing the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and Chancellor Joel Klein, claiming thousands of Brooklyn’s disabled children will be deprived of essential services.

The plaintiffs are Brooklyn Community Management, Gross Care and Sumner Health Providers. Their lawsuit against the DOE and numerous other city and state agencies was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan last week. They are seeking money damages as well as injunctive relief to renew their funds and restore their roles as special-education providers in Brooklyn.

They are alleging that the DOE is trying to cut costs and is doing so at the expense of providing adequate educational services for thousands of handicapped children, many of whom are autistic. The city agency is choosing “the path of least resistance,� said plaintiffs’ advocate and Touro Law School Professor Aaron Tyk, who assists parents in obtaining educational services for their disabled children in New York City.

According to the civil complaint, “The defendants, led by the DOE, have embarked on a planned and meticulous scheme to save money on these special-education programs at the dear cost to handicapped children.�

However, according to the DOE, which cannot comment on ongoing litigation proceedings, these disabled students, like all children, will receive adequate educational services either from the DOE itself or from another education provider.

It appears that the DOE simply decided to no longer use these particular special-education providers, and as a result, the plaintiffs have now elected to sue.

Further, according to a report from the special commissioner of investigation for the city school district, the lead plaintiff, Brooklyn Community Management, was found to have submitted false billing information regarding one of its students.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A Supreme Court justice was reversed by the Appellate Division, Second Department last week, essentially dismissing the lawsuit filed against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for having taken over control of city bus routes previously managed by private bus lines.

The Command Bus Company, which serviced thousands of residents in Southeast Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as Canarsie, Mill Basin and Bergen Beach, bringing them to and from Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, signed a contract with the MTA in 2005. It was that agreement that was the basis for this lawsuit filed in Queens, when more than 100 former employees of Command Bus Company and the other private bus companies involved in the takeover sued the city and MTA, alleging public bidding was required.

Justice Duane A. Hart of the Queens Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the defendants appealed. After oral arguments were held in October, Justice Hart’s order was reversed by the Appellate Division on Jan. 8.

All but a few of the plaintiffs had previously accepted the same or similar jobs with the MTA after the takeover. As for the actual buses, an MTA sticker was simply slapped onto the front end of them. “The city felt the MTA could provide better bus services [and] improvements in efficiency,� said Jonathan S. Becker, deputy chief of the Commercial and Real Estate Litigation Division of the New York City Law Department, who helped defend the city in the original lawsuit.

CANARSIE — Found sleeping in his car at Canarsie Pier, Kendrick Williams was arrested yesterday and awaits extradition to Florida, where the alleged killing occurred last year.

Williams, 32, is facing second-degree murder charges in connection with the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman, whom Williams said he dropped off at a club on the night of the alleged murder. Investigators in South Florida say that Williams’ car was covered in so much of the victim’s blood that she is presumed dead.

The body of Stepha Henry, a graduate of John Jay College, has never been found. News of the arrest came as a surprise to her family.

“Well I was very happy, very, very happy,� said Sylvia Henry, the victim’s mother. “And I expressed my thanks to God that they found someone in connection with her disappearance.�

Williams refused to waive extradition proceedings, and won’t be back in court until Feb. 15 in Manhattan. Extradition procedures typically aren’t complicated, but typically can take some time, as the governors of both states need to communicate, and the court needs to order the extradition.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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