Wednesday, March 30, 2011

More Coverage of Judge Madden

Curbed covers the Crain's story on Judge Madden's decision: "A ray of hope for Willets Point property owners opposed to the city's plans for redevelopment: a judge is wondering whether she should revoke the city's okay to move ahead. The State Supreme Court judge ruled last summer that the project could proceed, but the city never explained why it had decided it could build the project's first phase without the controversial traffic ramps previously deemed necessary. Now the judge would like to know!"

What will be fascinating to watch is the upcoming legal dance the city tries to do in order to keep the courts away from the environmental issues. In court the other day we heard that the city lawyers told Judge Madden that ramp approval was right around the corner. She replied skeptically, "I've heard you say that before."

What we can say for certain is now that the judge has throw a potential monkey wrench into the city's plans, we can anticipate that it will launch a full court press on state and federal regulators. But the regulators need to continue to tread carefully on this issue. There will be no hiding from the courts if a rubber stamp is pulled from out of the regulatory drawer.