http://www.nypost.com/p/state_cages_...T8EDmZo36phInI
State 'cages' key Atlantic Yards holdout
5:42 PM, March 9, 2010 ι By RICH CALDER
Daniel Goldstein feels he’s being treated like an Enemy of the State.
Goldstein – the public face of an opposition group that nearly killed Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project through mounting litigation – isn’t a convict behind bars or under house arrest. But he says he’s now being forced to check with the state whenever he has visitors to his Prospect Heights condo.
Goldstein and his family are the last holdouts on a Pacific Street block between Fifth and Sixth avenues that was fenced off from the rest of the real world yesterday to pave way for Atlantic Yards.
It is now impossible to enter the Fifth Avenue side, which is closed off with cement barricades. The Sixth Avenue side has temporary barricades being guarded by security officers, who are blocking all vehicles entering the block except Goldstein’s.
The guards, Goldstein said, are even stopping friends and family walking to his home to visit him, his wife and 16-month-old daughter.
“I’ve been told I can’t have visitors unless I give advanced notice,” said Goldstein, adding he had friends already stopped by guards.
“I live in New York City and pay taxes, so there’s no way that I should be treated differently. I actually don’t feel like I live in New York City or a free country anymore.”
While his mail is getting delivered, something as routine as having pizza delivered is now problematic, he added.
Elizabeth Mitchell, an Empire State Development Corp. spokeswoman, said “we are aware of Mr. Goldstein's concerns. The goal is to disrupt Mr. Goldstein and the other occupants' lives as little as possible while addressing the safety and security issues related to the development of the project, and we will continue to work with Forest City Ratner Co. to achieve this goal.”
Goldstein’s block and others in the area were permanently closed from traffic to prepare for the NBA arena developer Bruce Ratner plans to break ground on Thursday.
The state’s decision to close the streets came after a judge last week ruled the state can seize property from 12 private landowners – including Goldstein -- who refused to sell to Ratner, so the developer can move forward with the first part of the project.
Goldstein is the only homeowner holdout being fenced off because the others live on streets that still allow vehicles.
He and the others received letters last week from state lawyers saying they must leave by April 3. But Goldstein said the letters “have no legal bearing” and that he plans to stay at least through the summer because the state can’t begin eviction proceedings until it pays him for his condo, which has yet to take place.
The state has determined Goldstein’s condo is worth $510,000 – or $395 per square foot. He said when the other 29 condo owners in his building were bought out six years ago, Ratner shelled out about $850 a square foot – which would translate into $1.1 million for Goldstein’s 1,290-square-foot apartment.
Goldstein obviously plans to contest the state’s offer and is still holding out hope that the project could be stopped by two pending lawsuits.
Ratner, who received state approval for Atlantic Yards in Dec. 2006, is now finally planning a ceremonial arena groundbreaking so his New Jersey Nets can move to the new arena by 2012. However, the timetable for the project’s 16 skyscrapers of residential and commercial space remains unclear because of the national credit crunch.
Goldstein’s group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn is not planning to sit by quietly during Thursday’s groundbreaking.
The group sent out a press release today saying it will have its own rival “boondoggle celebration” an hour earlier featuring three-foot-tall bobble heads of Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Gov. Paterson, Ex-Gov. George Pataki, Ratner and other key Atlantic Yards boosters.
The fake beep will even offer a Proclamation marking the groundbreaking to “Bury the Soul of Brooklyn,” according to the release.