Flickr photo by threecee
By now, you’ve read the news about Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s Daniel Goldstein and the $3 million dollar settlement he reached yesterday with Forest City Ratner and New York State to move out of his home and the Atlantic Yards footprint.
Some say he fought the good fight and deserves every penny. One commenter on the Brooklyn Paper website doesn’t see it that way. “Dr. J” says, “He really doesn’t care about the beautiful hole in the ground, after all. The last 7 years have been nothing but a drawn out game of poker. Take the money and run, Danny Boy.”
As for Goldstein he’s posted a manifesto on the DDDB website to state his side of the story:
I’ve not been silenced, and I am not leaving DDDB as it transitions into a new phase of fighting Atlantic Yards, exposing its corruption and false promises, and advocating for changing the State’s abusive eminent domain laws and the way development is done in New York. And should Atlantic Yards falter, and the land return to its contested state, DDDB will be prepared to jump in.
This whole thing gives us a headache. Misuse of Eminent Domain by any state totally sucks and is wrong. But basketball is awesome!
But enough of what we think, what’s your take on this? Should Goldstein take the money and buy a nice home? Should he stick it to the man and use it to fight against the project? Or should he take the “I’m a mensch” route and give it all to charity? Or something else?
Comment away!
He should be a man and give it to a real charity in need — THE NETS!
douchbag. that guy only moved into the hood MONTHS before atlantic yards started…
change is a fact of life. there is no good reason to keep a hood crappy if it can be fixed.
and, yeah, bring on the b-ball.
(his tie dont match his suit either)
Hey Jazzy,
Learn to spell douchebag, Douchebag!
The new word is Ass Hat, which you folks are. Or Ass Hats with no balls.
Get some.
Homer,
This Cobble Hill Blog is a bit more ferocious than the more genteel Brooklyn Heights Blog. Such expletives as douchebag and, dare I repeat , Ass Hat, are so uncalled for. No question, this shithead, GOLDstein, gamed (no pun intended) the system and made off like a bandito.
Now Brooklyn is left with a stadium that is 2 years, at minimum, behind schedule and worst of all, we have lost the opportunity to look at a great piece of art that would have existed had famed architect Gehry been permitted to build his stadium before costly delays forced a cutback in funds.
By the way, if one really follows basketball, you would realize that the Nets are in excellent position to make a real improvement next year. Tons of cap space, a rich owner, some good young talent in Harris, Lopez, Williams, and Lee. Add to this mix a #1 pick, if the balls fall in place, and the future looks very bright indeed. John Wall in Brooklyn would create tremendous excitement. Add players like Gay and we have a lot to look forward to here in Brooklyn.
Go Nets. Go Cobble Hill Blog.
Well glad that this thread has risen to the same level as the AY discourse and just as productive.
Wow, that’s quite an interpretation of events, Karl.
I say good for Goldstein. He should do as he said he would, which is take care of his family and use some of the money for legal expenses. He fought a good fight, and like every citizen who care about Brooklyn, has the right to continue to speak up. That area was not blighted, and was getting much better over the past dozen years thanks to the people who took a chance when they were priced out of other neighborhoods. It was happening organically, which is the way it should be.
I find it utterly bizarre that people accept such a disgusting land grab and the abuse of imminent domain to line the pockets of a developer. If it was your home being snatched away for a basketball arena I don’t think you’d be favoring this.
What I find most pathetic are the people who think this is some sort of validation for Brooklyn as a “major league” city, and that this is somehow a balm for the loss of the Dodgers. Christ on a bike, let it go. That was over 50 years ago and hardly anyone arguing in favor of this project was even alive.
Clampdown,
Why are you shocked by my interpretation of events. There are plenty who agree with me. Though I like being original with my thoughts, in this instance, what i’m saying surely doesn’t deserve a “wow”.
I understand very well your problem with eminent domain and respect your position. In this case, I personally feel the greater good outweighed the plight of individuals that were forced out of their homes. Reasonable people can disagree.
I’m just disgusted that the stadium was delayed 2 years, at minimum, and all of Brooklyn will not get to enjoy the architecture of Gehry. Again, reasonable people can disagree on how great an architect Gehry is.
As far as Goldstein is concerned, I’m sure I am not the only person in blogland that has a bitter taste in his mouth after hearing about the 3MM settlement.
Do I blame him, no. In an ideal world, it would have been nice to see the captain go down with his ship instead of profiting from the whole scenario.
The argument for and against gentrification can be made very easily just as the other side can argue about the old days and how everyone did their best to get out of the city.
Most poor and middle class residents in this area will have an improved neighborhood in which to bring up their children and better schools. Fortunately, rent control and rent stabilization should assist those in the neighborhood who want to stay.
Again. reasonable people can disagree. My comments in no way deserved a “wow’.
Hey Karl,
If it was YOUR house what would YOU have done? Taken the 50K LESS than you paid for your home that the state was so graciously offering?
We lost a “work of art”? I don’t care how talented the architect, that developement was way out of line with the neighboorhood and Brooklyn in general.
BTW, can you name ONE sports arena in who’s shadow you’d like to live, no matter how pretty a facade?
“Shithead” yeah, Mr. Goldstein’s big plan was to buy a home at fair market value, have a family, wait for an obscene eminent domain land grab by a politically connected developer, who it has been proven, lied and mislead the state agencies and public about the plans, impact etc of his developement, and then spend the next EIGHT years of his life fighting in court and protesting in an effort to help himself and hundreds of others keep their homes, so in the end he and his family could end up with a month to move out and an amount of money Rattner should have had to pay ALL the homeowners he had evicted.
Wow it’s almost like you and this blog have an ax to grind in a favor of a certain very powerful developer, but that would be unethical so……
@neighbor hood – we have no ax to grind. do you?
Well, Karl, for me your comments do deserve a “wow”. Because if this awful practice of eminent domain was applied to “Mr. Junkersfeld’s Neighborhood” you’d be pretty pissed off instead of dreaming about the Nets and another Gehry (yawn) building. I know people who lived in the footprint of the project and were forced to leave because of this BS.
You’re living in a dreamworld if you think this project is going to benefit poor and middle class residents. I’m sure everyone will be super-excited to see some more chain stores go up that don’t pay a liveable wage, followed by their eventual bankruptcy, pulling out, etc. (see the Atlantic Center for the pattern) This project benefits Ratner, not the people of Brooklyn.
And why do you have a bitter aftertaste regarding Goldstein’s settlement? Why shouldn’t he take it? Wouldn’t you?
Sorry, one other thing, Karl. You got a lovely new park for your neighborhood. The kind of thing that benefits everyone. Would you trade that for the arena?
Um, just to resolve some confusion — there’s no way Goldstein’s getting $3 million lump sum, it’s probably divvied up in 6 annual heavily taxed payments, so there’s no way he can just donate it to charity.
And does anyone commenting here actually live in Cobble Hill? How the ‘ell you morons think it’s a good idea to try and implant MSG next door to you? you’re gonna have a hard time explaining that one when you’re walking around hookers and hobos to the subway, this project is going to trash: Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, the BAM area, Park Slope are all going to die as we know them. BE REALISTIC!
If I paid $590K and was offered a million I would have sold, especially considering he hadn’t lived in his condo very long.
That is exactly what Goldstein was offered from the outset. Do you dispute that? Where do you get 50K less from?
If I lived in this area I would prefer a stadium to some dormant tracks that have been sitting there for ages with no development.
With the housing that is being developed in this area in the next 5 years, to predict hookers and hobos is too silly to respond to. And you are calling me a moron?
The argument about gentrification is legitimate but saying the neighborhood will go downhill is ludicrous. Property values will soar. Talk to me in five years when properties in the area are sold for huge profits.
Go to any property owner in the neighborhood and see if you can get a discounted price because of the stadium. They will laugh in your face. Stores and amenities are sure to flow in increasing demand for space in the area.
And yes jobs. Want to bet there will tremendous demand for those jobs that you so easily deride. Just watch.
Finally, don’t belittle the impact a Brooklyn basketball team will have on a large part of the community of Brooklyn. Personally, I am psyched to call the Nets the Brooklyn Nets. I love Brooklyn and I love having our own team.
Time will tell who is right.
Respect to Daniel. He fought the good fight, lost, and didn’t lose his shirt. He’s a hero.
The Kelo decision is a national disgrace and he fought it.
Congratulations Daniel.
To take a cynical view of Goldstein’s Quixotic endeavor is not fair. The guy poured massive amounts of time, sweat, and probably money too into fighting an almost unwinnable fight. So to imply that he went through the hellish efforts of the last few years just biding his time for the eventually payoff seems really off the mark if you have ever watched his speeches or followed his fight. I think he was trying to be the Jane Jacobs of Brooklyn, but he failed to acheive what she did. The fact that he owns property that is being seized now entitles him to money. So I say he deserves every penny.
Karl, also for the record, Gehry has been off this project for like a year. It will not be a Gehry building. The new firm doing the arena is SHoP architects. They are a good firm, actually. But I just wanted to correct the record.