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Small victory over Ratner

By Dana Rubinstein
for The Brooklyn Paper

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An Atlantic Yards opponent who still owns land in the footprint of the skyscraper-and-arena-project has won a small victory against developer Bruce Ratner — though it may not keep him out of jail.

Lars Williams had been arrested last year for removing a Ratner-installed surveillance camera on a building on Sixth Avenue between Pacific and Dean streets.

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But because the camera was actually on Williams’s own property, he retaliated with a civil suit against the developer.

At a pre-trial hearing last month, Ratner’s lawyer made a startling confession: “We made a mistake — the camera was in Mr. Williams’s building,” Williams said.

Such an admission would strike at the heart of the criminal charge against Williams, namely that he illegally removed a camera from a Ratner-owned building.

“[When the judge heard the lawyer’s comment], he said we should settle this case,” added Williams. “The problem is, they haven’t withdrawn the criminal complaint.”

In other words, while Forest City Ratner has admitted its error in civil court, criminal charges remain against Williams.

“In my old neighborhood [the Lower East Side], they’d call this ‘chutzpah,’” said Williams’s lawyer, David Jaroslawisz. “Ratner should say ‘I’m sorry.’ Not Ratner. He thinks he owns Brooklyn.”

Forest City Ratner spokesman Jeff Lerner refused to comment.

©2007 Community Newspaper Group

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