A Brooklyn Activist Fights Eminent Domain Abuse

You’d think New Yorkers would appreciate the American Dream.  It’s a town built on hard work and innovation, a population from countries far and near, cities large and small—an economy built on small business.

So it should come as a surprise that billionaire developer Bruce Ratner and one of his companies, Forest City Ratner, has teamed up with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki and Senator Charles Schumer, to seize and bulldoze homes and small businesses belonging to hundreds of families in Brooklyn.  The plan, officially unveiled in December 2003, calls for “Atlantic Yards,” a multi-billion dollar residential, commercial and arena development on 22 acres of prime real estate just across from Manhattan.  The project, the City said, would put Brooklyn on the map by bringing a state-of-the-art sports stadium, retail and high-end condominiums.[1]

“When hasn’t Brooklyn been on the map,” said longtime homeowner Patti Hagan, who founded the Prospect Heights Action Coalition to oppose the government’s abusive redevelopment.  “Our neighborhood has one of the largest collections of brownstone houses.  Our neighborhood has character, a sense of history and beauty on everyday, ordinary streets, and Ratner is trying to destroy it all.”[2]

‘Simple Math’:  An Activist Spotted Eminent Domain Abuse Early On

The City’s preliminary discussions of “Atlantic Yards” hinged on a false promise:  the pledge that the 22-acre development would be built on an 8.3-acre rail yard.  In fact, Forest City Ratner’s offices refused to provide residents of Brooklyn with a map for the development project and attempted to appease citizens by telling them the project was in its early stages and they need not worry about anything—a common refrain among eminent domain abusers.

“When I came to this neighborhood in 1979, people were abandoning buildings, houses were boarded up, and there were drugs and crime,” Hagan said.  “But people began to buy buildings and fix them up with their own sweat, and one by one, the buildings and the mom-and-pop storefronts began to strengthen.  We built a solid neighborhood, one that is a true success story.  We don’t need this supposed engine of economic development.  This is a thriving, successful neighborhood.”

“It didn’t take long to figure out the rail yards were only 8.3 acres—meaning the rest of it would be condemned.  It was simple math,” Hagan said.

The Prospect Heights Action Coalition, which had formed one year earlier in response to a different developer preying on two properties, immediately held meetings to discuss the possibility of eminent domain abuse.

“We started organizing.  Almost immediately, we had a street demonstration and wonderful signs publicizing the government’s abuse,” she said.

Indeed, with the threat of eminent domain in its arsenal, Forest City Ratner began to approach residents living in the redevelopment area urging them to sell their beloved homes.  The City, refusing to take condemnation off the table and publicly favoring the project, responded to early grassroots activism by reassuring residents once again that they had nothing to fear.  But soon thereafter, New York Magazine published a map of the redevelopment area, detailing the homes and businesses slated for demolition.

Rhetoric flooding local newspapers and the airwaves of local media emphasized Brooklyn’s alleged need for redevelopment—all part of a calculated public relations effort by a land-hungry developer and tax-hungry local officials. 

Hagan has a different outlook, rooted in 27 years in the neighborhood and personal experience.

“When I came to this neighborhood in 1979, people were abandoning buildings, houses were boarded up, and there were drugs and crime,” she said.  “But people began to buy buildings and fix them up with their own sweat, and one by one, the buildings and the mom-and-pop storefronts began to strengthen.  We built a solid neighborhood, one that is a true success story.  We don’t need this supposed engine of economic development.  This is a thriving, successful neighborhood.”

Grassroots Warfare

The Prospect Heights Action Coalition transitioned into full force.  After contacting the Institute for Justice and Castle Coalition, its 12-member leadership core spread posters and stickers throughout the neighborhood and focused on spreading awareness—a strategy emphasized in the Castle Coalition’s Survival Guide.

“We started a petition and we got thousands of signatures.  We had a couple hundred people coming to our meetings,” Hagan said, emphasizing that residents early on struggled to accept that they were in the crosshairs of the project.  “We posted a flyer all over the neighborhood that read ‘Do they want to demolish your home?’”

The Coalition also spoke at City Hall repeatedly, staged rallies and protests, and marched through town raising awareness.  After eight months of grassroots advocacy, they joined together with other citizen groups fighting to save their homes and businesses from the government’s wrecking ball—forming an umbrella advocacy group called Develop—Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.

While spreading awareness and fighting against the government’s proposed use of condemnation for Ratner’s private profit, the Coalition focused on fundraising.

“We held bake sales, rummage sales, sold t-shirts.  We even had a walk-a-thon,” Hagan said.

How About an Alternative Plan?

In January 2005, Prospect Heights residents and business owners proposed their “unity plan,” calling for development on the rail yards and the removal of a sports arena from the equation.  The plan emphasized that it would not include eminent domain for private use, that it would divide the land into multiple plots so many developers and community groups could develop it over time and that it would respect the rights of residents to keep their beloved properties while still sparking economic development in the neighborhood.

But City officials dismissed the proposal—instead agreeing to give Ratner financial incentives and reaffirming its unambiguous intention to seize and bulldoze people’s property by eminent domain if so-called “voluntary” negotiations failed.

Ratner also began publishing his own newspaper, the Brooklyn Standard, which raved about the project’s purported benefits and featured letters and op-eds from politicians pushing the project.

Meanwhile, Hagan and other Brooklyn activists worked with the media to publicize the truth behind the project, but they hit obstacles, she said.  At the outset, the New York Times buried its coverage of the development in the sports section.  (An interesting note: Ratner developed the newspaper’s new downtown headquarters, a project also involving eminent domain.) 

Recent Developments

	While the development company claims that residents sold their homes and businesses voluntarily, many citizens say they only sold under the threat of eminent domain

In March 2006, Forest City Ratner announced it owned or controlled nearly 90 percent of the land slated for redevelopment.  While the development company claims that residents sold their homes and businesses voluntarily, many citizens say they only sold under the threat of eminent domain.

“I’ve been opposed to this development from the beginning,” said 25-year old Mark Drury, a tenant of a building slated for demolition.  “What’s so insidious about the process, and the way it breaks apart the neighborhood, is that by then I was battling with my landlord, against whom I had nothing.”[3]

Mark Wancer echoed similar sentiments.  He said, “I felt my choice was, ‘Don’t accept the buyout and live next to a construction site for the next 10 years’ or ‘Accept the money and move on…. The whole process was unpleasant.”[4]

Meanwhile, Ratner also announced a supposed decrease in the overall redevelopment area, reducing it by 5 percent.

But Hagan says that is misleading at best.

“The so-called reduction size of it is still 1-million square feet larger than the original proposal.  That’s more eminent domain abuse,” she said.

A Regional Battle Becomes a National Fight

Concerned citizens and grassroots activists in Brooklyn have pledged to continue fighting for their fundamental right to keep what they rightfully own. 

“There’s always going to be somebody bigger and richer who is able to do something more taxable with your little piece of the Earth,” Hagan said.  “That’s why you have to fight for it.”

She encouraged home and business owners across the nation facing eminent domain abuse to join a nationwide battle gaining momentum by the day.  For those who choose to stage grassroots battles, Hagan has some gems of advice stemming from personal experience.

“Wake up and shout.  Take to the streets.  Put up signs in your windows.  Start educating your fellow citizens as much as possible.  Get your local press to start investigating.  Advocate reform from government at every level.  In our case, we discovered Ratner has a terrible track record of actually living up to his word.  Do research on the project’s finances and any subsidy plans.  And don’t let them destroy your community.”

The Castle Coalition could not agree more.

Find out more about how you can help fight eminent domain abuse.