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Bring on the wrecking ball!

A federal judge ruled on Friday that Bruce Ratner can start knocking down buildings in the Atlantic Yards footprint, even as several court cases aimed at stopping the mega-development percolate through the court system.

At a hearing held Tuesday, Justice Joan Madden had asked Ratner to delay planned demolitions until she could rule on a request for a temporary restraining order that would’ve stopped the construction until a May 3 hearing in one of the cases.

Ratner agreed delay the demolitions, which would have begun on Wednesday.

But on Friday, Madden decided not to issue the restraining order, clearing the way for Ratner to begin clearing land in the footprint.

The developer did not return a call from The Brooklyn Paper. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein said he expected the demolition work to begin on Monday.

Goldstein called the decision to allow the demolitions “deeply troubling.”

“It has yet to be shown that [Ratner’s] Atlantic Yards project passes legal muster,” said Goldstein, whose group is one of 26 plaintiffs in the case.

Goldstein has long argued that Ratner should not be allowed to tear down anything until the larger lawsuits are resolved.

“The demolitions are an affront to the community the developer purports to benefit,” he added in a statement issued after Madden’s ruling.

The request for a restraining order came as part of a lawsuit by DDDB and 25 civic organizations that charges that the state’s environmental review of the project was incomplete, and must be redone.

DDDB and other plaintiffs plan to protest the demolitions on Monday at 8 am at 191 Flatbush Ave., one of the buildings set to be torn down.

©2007 Community Newspaper Group