NY board approves big Brooklyn redevelopment plan

NY board approves big Brooklyn redevelopment plan

ALBANY, N.Y. -- To supporters, it stands for jobs, housing and major league sports in Brooklyn for the first time in half a century.

To opponents, it amounts to destroying neighborhoods, creating a traffic nightmare and forcing people unwillingly out of their homes.
From any perspective, the $4 billion Atlantic Yards redevelopment stands to reshape Brooklyn with an NBA basketball arena, office towers and thousands of apartments. The project got state approval Wednesday, though it still faces a federal lawsuit filed by Brooklyn property owners and tenants. They have charged that it's unconstitutional to seize their property for the development under the legal doctrine known as eminent domain.

"The federal eminent domain lawsuit brought by citizens protecting their constitutional rights is rock-solid, and without those plaintiffs properties, Atlantic Yards as we know it cannot be built," said Daniel Goldstein, one of the plaintiffs, told The New York Times.