We Almost Lost Our Case!

Published by warrior on

While the Cat Was Away the Mice Were Playing
The City and Developers Planned to Violate
Our Temporary Restraining Order
Alicia Boyd our main organizer, was away for five weeks out of the country and during that time the Community was advised of a Voluntary Environmental Cleanup Program (VCP) sponsored and paid for by the City, (our tax dollars), that CP VI, the new owner of one of the development sites being challenged in our lawsuit.
 
The developers had made the argument that they needed to excavate the soil and to lay down a concrete foundation, as part of a voluntary environmental cleanup, in order to prevent toxins from contaminating the air. The developers and the City were aware of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), which prevented all concrete pouring from being laid, but which did not specifically state that the soil could not be disturbed.

Images of the Concrete Slabs Being Poured
The above picture is exact image of the concrete that was suppose to be poured as a part of the environmental cleanup proposal.  It covered almost 90% of the land mass and is clearly the foundation for development.
This is image is of the two buildings that were to be built on the concrete slabs. This image was taken from CP VI’s application. 
It was the intention of the City and CP VI to begin the excavation of the soil, expose the toxic chemicals in the air, and then to lay the concrete to protect the public,  in violation of the TRO.  Once the foundation was laid, the buildings would be built despite our challenge in the court!

The TRO prevented the Department of Buildings (DOB) from issuing a building permit, but it did not prevent DOB from issuing an environmental cleanup permit as a result of a Notice to Proceed, issued from the Office of Environmental Remediation.
Notification Given To the Community!
Not only was the notification not done on time, the information about the concrete pouring of cement, was hidden by the stamp at the Community Board 9 level.

If it was not for LaShaun Ellis, a petitioner on our lawsuit and one of our environmental activists, we would never have known what the City and Developers were truly up to.
Our Immediate Actions To Protect Our Lawsuit
Once Alicia Boyd got back, we scrambled to write a whole new lawsuit to prevent this from happening, as the City was just a few days away from approving this plan.  Ms. Boyd also set up a phone conference with Judge Boddie (the Judge who is reviewing our current lawsuit) and the City to intervene in protecting the TRO.

Judge Boddie, immediately saw through the scam, and the City’s attempt to violate the TRO and extended our TRO to include the City from disturbing the soil along with no pouring of cement!

We Almost Lost This Fight!
This is why your help and support is essential.  We used up a lot of resources, time and energy to fight this newest danger and we still have months ahead of further litigation!

The City is using their unlimited resources, (our tax payers dollars) along with a wealthy developer to try to undermine and stop us from protecting our community and its green spaces.

This Voluntary Environmental Cleanup program is paid for with our tax dollars!  Not only did the developer not have to pay for this scam, but it was done simply to undermine and violate a TRO, put in place to protect the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and community until a final determination has been made.

Please mark our next Court Date on your Calendar and Spread the Word.
We need to fill that Courtroom and let the City and the Developers know, that we are looking, watching and defending our public spaces!  And these scams just show, low and down dirty they can get and how powerful our opposition is!!!

Court Date Information
Monday, December 16, 2019 at 9:30 am
Location: Brooklyn Supreme Court – 360 Adams St. Rm 456
Part 7 Judge Boddie
Directions: All Trains and Buses to Court St, and Borough Hall
Categories: Community Updates

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