Civil liberties attorney Norman Siegel will represent a group of residents opposed to the new New York Islander’s arena set to be built at Belmont Park.
Siegel, the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, is used to representing communities against large expansion groups – which is one reason the Belmont Park Community Coalition reached out to him, according to a release.
“Norman Siegel can sniff out a rotten back-room deal better than anyone,” Tammie Williams, board member and community organizer, said in a statement.
“The residents of Elmont, Floral Park, and surrounding communities need top-notch representation to go up against the big corporate interests and their partners at Empire State Development Corporation that are trying to shove an unwanted, unnecessary monstrosity of a hockey arena right into our quiet, suburban neighborhoods,” Williams said.
In December, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the New York Islanders would return to Nassau County with the Belmont development.
New York Arena Partners, a joint venture between Sterling Development and Oak View Group, plans to create an 18,000-seat arena, a multipurpose event center, a retail center and a hotel on 43 acres of state-owned land currently used for parking spaces at Belmont Park.
The Belmont Park Community Coalition have raised concerns about the development as well as the transparency the process in the past few months.
The coalition first met with Siegel on Jan. 15, according to a release.
“During our first coalition meeting with Norman he made everyone in the room more informed about the process, explained how the process is designed to work in favor of the people, and emphasized that those who abuse the process must be held to account,” Williams said. “Over the course of our meeting, Norman became passionate about our cause and we felt we had the right advocate.”
Siegel is currently a partner at Siegel, Teitelbaum & Evans.
He attended the Empire State Development Corp.’s public scoping session on March 22.
During his testimony at the meeting Siegel said the draft scope of the project is “devoid of details as to how, when and to what extent community input will be sought and taken into account.”
