Thursday, January 31, 2008

Which Is It Forest City?

One day, Forest City submits an affidavit to the courts, claiming that the lawsuits need to be thrown out ASAP, or else "Atlantic Yards" is in danger of losing its financing (boo hoo) Next day Forest City issues this (via nolandgrab):

FCRC: "We remain completely committed"

Forest City Ratner spokesperson Bruce Bender apparently released the following statement in response to the rash of news reports about the company's claim in court that lawsuits by opponents were having a "chilling effect" on the project's financing.


"The opponents have lost over a dozen court decisions on the merits and have now decided to try to further delay this important project through appeals. While that's their right, we're confident that we will once again prevail in court.

"But let's be realistic here. Their goal is to delay project [sic] in the hope that they can damage it, eliminating along the way the benefits to the surrounding communities, including the much needed jobs and affordable housing. This scorched earth policy of anything goes to delay a development that has been reviewed, supported and approved by the state legislative leaders and an overwhelming majority of people in Brooklyn, is disappointing but not unexpected.

"FCRC has been part of Brooklyn's economic growth for over 20 years and we have successfully developed throughout many different market cycles. We remain completely committed to making Atlantic Yards and its numerous benefits a reality for everyone. Regardless of the opponents' delay tactics, we will continue to move forward as quickly as possible."



So which is it? Is it in jeopardy and thus this statement is a lie...or is the affidavit a lie? We know that Forest City lies. They just have lawyers who make sure its legal. This sort of brazen contradiction is reflection of just how corrupt our system has become -a major company, set to receive billions from the state can blatantly issue grossly contradictory statements and not one main stream media publication or politician outside local ones affected by it says anything.

Oh, and Bender, we're not trying to delay, it we're trying to stop it and replace it with a sensible one.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thats odd. i thought Ratner said that there wasn't any opposition to his project.