BROOKLYN, September 13, 2011: Today, BrooklynSpeaks announced that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) have served notice that the two plan to fight a July court decision ordering further environmental review of the Atlantic Yards project.

Today, New York State Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman ruled that the New York State Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) acted illegally in 2009 when it approved changes to the Atlantic Yards project that increased from ten years to twenty-five years the amount of time allowed to developer Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) to complete the project without first studying the impacts of prolonged construction to the surrounding communities.

As Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries bill to reform oversight of the Atlantic Yards project was on its way to the floor of the New York State Assembly, developer Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) lobbied legislators to vote against the bill by, among other things, circulating a “Memorandum in Opposition.”