Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn held its Fifth (and we hope last) annual Walkathon today, a rather forbidding and gray fall day in our borough. The weather kept the crowds at bay; about 200 people gathered at Borough Hall to hear John “Nobody Fucks with the Jesus” Turturro (lifelong Brooklynite but a more recent convert to the anti-Ratner cause), city councilwoman Tish James (who led the troops on our protest like Delacroix’s Liberty leading the people, albeit fully clothed) and DDDB president Daniel Goldstein, all telling people not to give up.

Rather we need them to give it up; the money the organization raises all goes to the legal costs of fighting developer Bruce Ratner and his hated Atlantic Yards project. This week attorneys representing Goldstein and other property owners presented their case to the New York Court of Appeals, with mixed results. The justices seemed less than eager to redefine the meaning of eminent domain, or define public use — but they also had some tough questions for the other side.

Such as why was the residential area, where lots of working class folks live, declared blighted after the fact. “Have you gerrymandered this area to fit what the developer wanted?” asked one of the justices. (“Heck no, your honor — but with the governor, mayor and borough president all ready to lie down for us we figured we could just take what we wanted.” Okay, he didn’t say that.)

It could be weeks, or months, before the court hands down a decision but events such as this one are designed to keep hope alive. The marchers stopped about midway in front of Bloomberg’s reelection office on Atlantic Avenue. There was some general booing and chanting (“Eight years is enough!” “Brooklyn’s not for sale!”), followed by an impromptu sermon by the Reverend Billy of the Church of Life After Shopping. It was he who invoked Jane Jacobs, the patron saint of urban development opponents everywhere, and reminded us that the opposition may have more clout and money (rubles, even) than us — but they ain’t got soul.