Reason.tv: Billionaires vs. Brooklyn’s Best Bar – Eminent Domain Abuse in the Boro of Churches and Gin Mills

Freddy’s in Brooklyn is a happening place that has been named one of the city’s best bars by the Village Voice, Esquire, and The New York Times.

Unfortunately, Freddy’s—and the surrounding neighborhood—is smack-dab in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards project, a multi-million-dollar, 22-acre development that is intended to create “an urban utopia” in the language of developer Bruce Ratner, and a new, publicly subsidized home to Ratner’s Nets, who currently play NBA basketball (if you can call it that) in New Jersey.

But don’t mistake Atlantic Yards as one more instance of the market-driven transformations for which New York is rightly famous. It’s actually the latest case of eminent domain abuse, where private property is seized by the state on dubious grounds and then immediately handed over to private interests for private gain.

In this case, the Empire State Development Corporation has designated the thriving area as blighted to facilitate the taking of privately owned houses and businesses without having to pay full market value. Ratner, whose partners in the venture include rapper Jay Z and the Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, stands to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars on the deal, all thanks to the brute force of the state.

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Tags: Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner, damon root, Dan Hayes, eminent domain
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 at 10:07 am in Justice/Legal, Local Government, State Politics | 8374235 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/03/03/reason-tv-billionaires-vs-brooklyns-best-bar-eminent-domain-abuse-in-the-boro-of-churches-and-gin-mills/Reason.tv%3A+Billionaires+vs.+Brooklyn%27s+Best+Bar+-+Eminent+Domain+Abuse+in+the+Boro+of+Churches+and+Gin+Mills2010-03-03+18%3A07%3A26Nick+Gillespie

Activist Brooklyn Judge Delivers for ACORN, Re-funds Group

File this one under the category of Predicable News of the Year: A Brooklyn federal judge, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, adopted the argument of hometown Congressman and ACORN apologist Jerrold Nadler that Congress’s efforts to “defund” ACORN amounted to a bill of attainder, and thus were unconstitutional.

Judge Nina Gershon imposed an injunction on the Congress to prevent it from cutting off funds, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit in Brooklyn federal court on behalf of ACORN.  That’s curious, given that ACORN is now headquartered in Washington, DC.  Not to mention the Congressional action, of course, occured in Washington, DC.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN funding, ACORN lawsuit, ACORN taxpayer funds, Bertha Lewis
Posted Dec 12th 2009 at 11:53 am in Uncategorized | 45330132 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/12/12/activist-brooklyn-judge-delivers-for-acorn-re-funds-group/Activist+Brooklyn+Judge+Delivers+for+ACORN%2C+Re-funds+Group2009-12-12+19%3A53%3A38Kyle+Olson

How ACORN Profits from New York’s Eminent Domain Abuse

Last month, New York’s highest court heard oral arguments in the case of Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corporation. At issue was the state’s controversial seizure of private property on behalf of a 22-acre development project known as the Atlantic Yards. Situated in central Brooklyn, this taxpayer-subsidized boondoggle was the brainchild of real estate tycoon and New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner, who wants to build an “urban utopia” complete with more than a dozen office and apartment towers, a 180-room hotel, and a fancy new basketball arena for Ratner’s Nets to call home.

Real Estate Tycoon Bruce Ratner and ACORN's Bertha Lewis

To get his way, Ratner turned to his buddies in big government, specifically the Empire State Development Corporation, a controversial state agency with the power to bypass zoning laws and seize private property via eminent domain. In other words, this is a classic case of eminent domain abuse. Ratner isn’t building a bridge or a tunnel or any other legitimate public project that might justify the forceful taking of private property by the state. He wants to build a basketball arena, sell tickets to the games (not to mention broadcast rights, concessions, and luxury boxes), and collect a big fat profit.

So what in the world is ACORN, a self-described champion of “social and economic justice” and “low- and moderate-income people” doing in bed with a shady corporate powerbroker like Bruce Ratner? Let’s follow the money.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN embezzlement, acorn scandal, Anita Moncreif, Atlantic Fields
Posted Nov 18th 2009 at 2:02 pm in ACORN, Economics, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 3319429 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/droot/2009/11/18/how-acorn-profits-from-new-yorks-eminent-domain-abuse/How+ACORN+Profits+from+New+York%E2%80%99s+Eminent+Domain+Abuse2009-11-18+21%3A02%3A24Damon+Root

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: Terror Trials in the Big Apple

It is a Friday and President Obama is abroad.  What better time for the President and the Department of Justice to announce that 9/11 coordinator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and some of his fellow terrorists will be tried in a civilian court in New York City?

Yesterday, I wrote about the curious connection that major Obama and ACORN supporter Bruce Ratner has to the Department of Justice – the very department that refuses to initiate a criminal trial of ACORN. It just so happens that Bruce Ratner’s brother, Michael Ratner, shares the terrorist coddling sympathies of Attorney General Eric Holder.  As Michelle Malkin documents, Holder not only pushed for the pardoning of actual terrorists in his last stint at DOJ, but he was also a senior partner at a law firm representing detainees at Guantanamo. While Michael Ratner has not represented Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he did represent a handful of terrorists and won them the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts under habeas corpus. This is just one of many legal “victories” that have paved the way for folks like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be tried in civilian court on our soil.

This particular example highlights the underlying notion that terrorists should be privy to the same rights as United States citizens. In this instance, President Obama did in fact exercise his discretion (if you can call it that) by allowing the trial to take place in civilian court.  Attorney Brian Levi serves as the Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.  As Levi noted today, “As a legal matter President Obama could very well also have tried these five detainees before military tribunals, as five others are…”

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Tags: 9-11 attacks, ACORN, Bruce Ratner, eminent domain abuse, eric-holder
Posted Nov 13th 2009 at 3:37 pm in Culture, Defense, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, Obama, Politics | 30678193 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/johara/2009/11/13/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-terror-trials-in-the-big-apple/Khalid+Sheikh+Mohammed%3A+Terror+Trials+in+the+Big+Apple2009-11-13+22%3A37%3A03John+M.+O%26%2339%3BHara

Ratner Family Ties: ACORN and Justice Department Plot Thickens

Following the courageous expose by two young investigative journalists released on the pages of this very blog, there were widespread calls for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the criminal enterprise that is ACORN. One would think there would be swift, decisive action from the administration that promised to be the most transparent in history. Despite the urging of some in congress and action on the regional level, and an internal investigation into funding, terrorist sympathizer U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder refuses to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee a criminal investigation of ACORN. There’s no evidence that any internal investigation is ongoing or making any progress since a 2008 request from Indiana’s Secretary of State. Instead, President Obama’s political arm is attempting to dismiss it as a “fear campaign” while ACORN insinuates that it is racist. Yes, they are still playing that card.

What’s Holder’s hold-up?  One major factor of course is that ACORN serves as a taxpayer-funded Democrat army.  As with unions, it behooves Democrats to ignore corruption amongst the ranks of the powerful forces that elect them. What appears on the surface to be mere political payback for a job well done is in fact much more insidious.  One family’s involvement with ACORN and the Obama administration is of particular interest and elucidates the complicated web of connections and cash behind ACORN and this President.

Meet the Ratners.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN video scandal, Atlantic Yards development, Bruce Ratner
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 4:29 pm in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 2995475 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/johara/2009/11/12/ratner-family-ties-acorn-and-justice-department-plot-thickens/Ratner+Family+Ties%3A+ACORN+and+Justice+Department+Plot+Thickens2009-11-12+23%3A29%3A06John+M.+O%26%2339%3BHara

Meet the Ratners: Defending ACORN is Their Family Business

Today the Center for Constitutional Rights sued the federal government on behalf of ACORN.  They are alleging that Congressional efforts to defund ACORN constitute an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder.  This tired argument has been thoroughly rebutted, but the Center for Constitutional Rights is going to make it anyway.  Republican National Lawyers Association Chairman David Norcross has noted that: “The actions of Congress to defund ACORN clearly do not meet the definition of a Bill of Attainder.”

Real Estate Developer Bruce Ratner and Bertha Lewis

The Center for Constitutional Rights is going to stand up for this corrupt organization, and I think I know the reason why.  It’s all about family.

The President of the Center for Constitutional Rights is Michael Ratner.  Michael Ratner is a well known liberal lawyer who has fought against the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay.  He also teaches at Columbia Law School.

If you haven’t heard of Michael, that’s all right, I’m sure you’ve heard of his brother Bruce.  He’s a prominent developer and owner of the New Jersey Nets.  His company is Forest City Enterprises.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN federal funding, ACORN lawsuit, Bruce Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 12:53 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 2982229 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cberg/2009/11/12/meet-the-ratners-defending-acorn-is-their-family-business/Meet+the+Ratners%3A+Defending+ACORN+is+Their+Family+Business2009-11-12+19%3A53%3A52Chris+++Berg

NY Post: ACORN Still Stands to Make Millions

From the New York Post:

Despite a string of scandals that recently led Congress to cut off its federal funding, ACORN still stands to make millions of dollars off its support for Brooklyn’s controversial Atlantic Yards project, The Post has learned.

The left-wing organization — longtime boosters of the $4.9 billion NBA arena and residential- and office-tower project — says it expects to be tapped to market and help decide who gets to live in the coveted, but long-delayed, 2,250 affordable-housing units planned for Atlantic Yards.

This, after Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner helped bail ACORN out of financial trouble last September with a $1 million loan and a $500,000 grant, according to memos.

Although contracts are not yet been signed, Ismene Speliotis, executive director of ACORN’s New York chapter, told The Post her organization “expects to play a role in the marketing and lease-up” of the Prospect Heights project’s affordable housing to be underwritten by the city.

The work would include community outreach and screening people to determine qualified applicants, and then scandal-scarred ACORN would be entrusted with overseeing a lottery system to choose who gets the housing. Ratner’s firm is expected to manage the housing. (more…)

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Tags: acorn scandal, Anita MonCrief, Atlantic Yards, Atlantic Yards project, Bruce Ratner
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 3:25 pm in ACORN | 683058 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/22/ny-post-acorn-still-stands-to-make-millions/NY+Post%3A+ACORN+Still+Stands+to+Make+Millions2009-09-22+22%3A25%3A11Publius