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Eminent domain lawsuit coming today; another suit also in the works

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) will announce its expected eminent domain lawsuit, involving property owners and tenants, at a 1 pm press conference today at City Hall.

How much will the suit rely on the contested Kelo decision?

A second suit

Not part of this lawsuit, but expected to be part of another, are 15 rent-stabilized tenants in two buildings in the proposed project footprint, represented by attorney George Locker. He told me, "I will be raising exclusively state claims, in a separate plenary lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court after issuance of the Final Environmental Impact Statement." That could be in November.

Locker added, "I fully support the DDDB litigation and believe that they will prevail on their Federal claims, which will be applicable to my clients, as my claims will be applicable to theirs." Locker believes that the state and developer are using eminent domain to circumvent state law, which otherwise would require a series of hearings before demolishing buildings containing rent-regulated tenants.

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