Contact: Jo Anne Simon – 917.685.3747; Gib Veconi – 917.881.0401

BROOKLYN, NY, November 9, 2010: Today, New York State Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman found that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) unreasonably failed to properly assess the impacts of twenty-five years of extended construction at the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn. Judge Friedman’s ruling was entered following a motion by BrooklynSpeaks petitioners to reargue an earlier decision by the Court in favor of ESDC and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC). The BrooklynSpeaks petitioners asked Judge Friedman to review the Development Agreements executed subsequent to the ESDC’s approval of the Modified General Project Plan but which were withheld from public disclosure until after oral argument on the petitioners' original motion.

Yesterday, Forest City Ratner Companies CEO Bruce Ratner acknowledged that Atlantic Yards won’t be built in ten years. Speaking to reporters at a presentation of the design for the “interim” plaza replacing the planned “Urban Room” in the project, Mr. Ratner said of the ten-year construction schedule promised and consistently confirmed by his company since the original unveiling of Atlantic Yards in 2003, “It was never supposed to be the time we were supposed to build them in.” Instead, he said, “It's really market-dependent as to when it will really be completed.”

BrooklynSpeaks, a coalition of civic associations, advocacy groups, and affordable housing organizations concerned about development at the Atlantic Yards site, today announced that over 1,000 New Yorkers have signed a petition calling for legislation mandating public oversight of the project.