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Atlantic Yards Opponent Forcibly Evicts Treacherous Tenant
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 16, 2010
Modified Apr 16, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 16, 2010
Modified Apr 16, 2010
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On March 1st, Brooklyn property owner Henry Weinstein lost control of his six-story office building on Pacific Street when the state finally used eminent domain to seize it for the controversial Atlantic Yards project. Like others who've opposed the project, Weinstein is outraged about losing the battle, but adding insult to injury, he says one of his tenants illegally sold his lease to developer Bruce Ratner. So yesterday Weinstein savored a little payback, and with the help of sheriff's deputies, forcibly evicted the tenant, Shaya Boymelgreen, who was also behind on his rent, according to Weinstein.
"I never met such dishonest people in my whole life, and all of it done for Bruce Ratner," Weinstein tells the Daily News. "It's sort of like a hollow victory. Although I was able to right a terrible wrong, it's happening too late to save my property from eminent domain." Last month the state formally condemned the property, and officials say Weinstein had no grounds to evict Boymelgreen, a developer who employed some two dozen people in the office.
"[Weinstein's] an irrational person," said Benjamin Herbst, who ran a security company out of the building. "It's just spite and vindictiveness. ... [The eminent domain battle] is over with. The Supreme Court has spoken, the Court of Appeals has spoken, it's done. Sometimes you've just got to face defeat like an adult, which he's not doing."
Tagged
Atlantic Yards
eminent domain
eviction
Henry Weinstein
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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