On Wednesday, April 21, one of the last remaining property owners opposing the proposed Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, Daniel Goldstein, reached a negotiated settlement with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and project’s developer, Forest City Ratner, to leave his home.

A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to take place this afternoon for Developer Forest City Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. News sources have indicted that local and state officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Patterson, are expected to attend.

In a decision released today, New York’s highest court upholds 6-1 the use of eminent domain by the New York State urban Development Corporation d/b/a Empire State Development Corporation (“ESDC”) for the multi-use Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

The New York Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Goldstein, et al. v. New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a/ Empire State Development Corporation on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 beginning at 2:00 pm (EST). It is expected that arguments will be available by webcast.

Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse (Willets Point United) filed an amicus brief this week in support of a group of fellow NYC property owners, businesses and tenants who are fighting the use of condemnation and the taking of their properties for the proposed Atlantic Yards Arena and Redevelopment Project in Brooklyn. (For more detailed reporting of the proposed Atlantic Yards project, see Norman Oder’s Atlantic Yards Report.) The case, Goldstein v. New York State Urban Dev. Corp., is pending in the New York State Court of Appeals.

Today’s oral arguments before the New York Court of Appeals in Goldstein, et al. v. New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a/ Empire State Development Corporation begin at 2:00 PM (EST) and are available via webcast.

“Battle for Brooklyn,” the documentary film about the Atlantic Yards Project (our previous AY posts are available here) in Brooklyn, NY, will make its world premier at the prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in the World Showcase program on April 30, 2011 at 7:00 PM in Toronto.

Americans became more familiar with the government’s power and use of eminent domain following the 2005 Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London, however, for New Yorkers eminent domain has become personal. The use of eminent domain in New York State, and particularly in metro New York, has been heavily discussed, analyzed and criticized in recent news, specifically with the debate surrounding the planned Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn and the December 3, 2009 appellate court decision barring the use of eminent domain for a proposed Columbia University expansion project in the West Harlem.

In a post Friday at Atlantic Yards Report, Norman Oder quotes Senator Bill Perkins at the NY Senate hearing on eminent domain reform, “This [eminent domain reform] is not like instant rice… it’s going to be an uphill battle, we’re going to win, without a doubt, but I don’t want us to think this is going to happen overnight… This is a struggle that is going to require our continued participation and continued vigilance.” Speaking on momentum for reform in the legislature, Sen. Perkins said that members of both the Assembly and Senate have reached out to him indicating that they are interested in looking more closely at the need for eminent domain reform.

The Senate Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, chaired by Senator Bill Perkins, conducted a public hearing yesterday (Tuesday, January 5, 2010) on eminent domain abuse in New York. The hearing entitled “Unconstitutional: What the Appellate Division’s Eminent Domain Ruling Means for the Columbia Expansion,” focused upon the recent Appellate Division ruling against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in the proposed condemnation for expansion of Columbia University, Kaur v. New York State Urban Development Corporation, decided December 3, 2009. (See the following blog commentaries on this decision – Atlantic Yards Report, Inverse Condemnation and Charles Bagli on the New York Times blog here.)