An appeal for justice
Brooklyn: Your editorial about our court fight against Atlantic Yards was rife with misstatements, exaggerations and fabrications ("Abuse of process," Feb. 5).

From calling an area where two-bedroom condos sell for $1 million "blighted," to implying that creating "a home for the Nets" justifies the taking of private property, it's clear you are willing to ignore the facts to further Forest City Ratner's goals.

For those who oppose this boondoggle, the only opportunity to fight is in the courts. Yet Bruce Ratner (photo) and the Daily News cry foul because the community is exercising its legal rights and appealing lower-court decisions it believes are wrong. Interestingly, you found no fault when Forest City Ratner and the state filed appeals.

The judicial process is there to protect all citizens, not just those with money and power.

Candace Carponter
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Your editorial "Abuse of Process", about the effort of the Brooklyn community opposed to Atlantic Yards to defend itself within our judicial system is rife with misstatements, exaggerations and fabrications. From the point that you call "blighted" an area in which two bedroom condos sell for $1 million, to your insinuation that "a home for the Nets" is a public use justifying the governmental taking of citizens' properties, it is clear that you are completely willing to ignore the facts in order to further Forest City Ratner's "lofty" goal of grabbing, with government assistance, 22 acres of prime Brooklyn real estate.

Because Forest City Ratner and its friends at the Empire State Development Corporation, in City Hall and in Albany chose to bypass all democratic process and legislative oversight of this Project, the only opportunity for those who oppose this major boondoggle to fight this project is in the courts. Clearly, Ratner was aware of the consequences of its choices, and should have calculated into its timetable the time for those inevitable lawsuits to wend their way through the judicial system.

Yet now, Ratner, and you, are crying foul because the community is exercising its very limited legal rights to challenge the complete bastardization of the environmental review process, to support their neighbors whose homes and businesses are being seized, and to appeal from lower court decisions which they believe are legally wrong. (Interestingly, you did not find any fault with Forest City Ratner and the ESDC when they appealed the lower court finding that there was a hopeless conflict of interest in the representation of their shared attorney.) Fortunately for the community, although Ratner has been able to circumvent the legislative process with the help of his friends, the judicial process is there for the protection of all citizens, not just those with money and power.

Sincerely,
Candace Carponter
Legal Director
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn