Developer Bruce Ratner Escapes Arrest By Homeless People

Despite their best efforts, a coalition of homeless people and community activists failed to arrest Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner. Though the man behind the $4.9 billion plan to move one of the worst teams in NBA history to Brooklyn isn't facing an indictment and there are no warrants out for his arrest, the demonstrators planned to lock him up over allegations of bribery at a widely publicized rally they held in front of his Downtown Brooklyn building.

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, things got interesting when a Ratner representative told the protesters that the developer wouldn't be turning himself in. "He told me that Mr. Ratner is not in the building. I informed him that Mr. Ratner is being a coward," said Steve de Seve, who along with the other protesters is furious about the use of eminent domain to obtain a homeless shelter and other buildings on the site of the proposed basketball arena and high rises. "I'd rather someone face us than duck us."

Meanwhile, the Atlantic Yards Report details a city move that will give Ratner an additional $31 million upfront that he can use for land purchases in the project footprint.

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By Ben Muessig in News on January 28, 2010 2:51 PM

Comments [rss]

wingedearth

He should build another stadium in East New York. Or maybe a luxury golf course. The State can seize all the land by eminent domain and the Mayor can ship them all out of town, Giuliani style.

potsmoker

is gothamist still blocking critiques of Bl00mburg??

his ad money goes along way even after the election.

potsmoker

the homeless should have had a plan B,

marty markowitz.

JenChungsBaby

I'm shocked -- SHOCKED -- that Ratner was able to sidestep this well-publicized attempt to publicly shame him.

bullelephantseal

bruce ratner will ruin brooklyn. he should be stopped.

Polite New Yorker

Please be aware: your tax dollars are being used to force tenants and property owners out of their homes so that land can be handed to a billionaire real estate developer to build luxury condos (the Nets arena is actually a small part of the overall project). That corrupt groups like ACORN support the land grab should give you a clue as to how wrong it is. Make no mistake, the real New Yorkers are the ones against this plan.

potsmoker

how soon will be before the population of angry homeless people, angry poor people and the rest of the downtrodden decide that instead of arresting billionaires they should be stringing them up on trees.

you gotta admit, capitalism is a funny thing. all it takes is one popular uprising by a large group of the poor to end it all. we exist in a nation of fictional laws and brainwashing, all to keep us in check while the rich plunder and exploit and control. and most people go along with it, its a fragile balance.

Snoopy

Just where did all these homeless pieces of shit get the money to do this?

Mr Mel

Now the homeless are making citizen's arrests? The inmates are trying to control the asylum.

books

whats crazy is that the city is enabling a billionaire to make more money by taking ordinary peoples property, including a homeless shelter to build.....wait for it....LUXURY CONDOS.

Thats crazy. Often times the people who are considered by the mainstream to be 'insane' are the only ones who see things as they are. Just saying.

hunter.blatherer

What's crazy is that after all this (completely legalized and sanctioned) looting and destroying, the area will be a blight for years, if not decades.

Families and businesses displaced, lives abruptly interrupted, to be replaced by the mother of all construction sites, run by well-connected bozos who can't come up with a feasible plan.

Wasn't private property supposed to be part of capitalism, somehow? Isn't there something about unreasonable search and seizure in the constitution? Fictional laws indeed.