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December 26, 2005
There's more to rail about
Mike Lupica: Shooting from the Lip
Lupica reminds New Yorkers that the MTA trying to squeeze a deal out of transit workers is the same MTA that spent this past year trying to sell land for a song to politicially connected team owners:
At a time when the three of them, the governor, the mayor and Kalikow of the MTA, wring their hands about the future of New York City, when they make it seem as if that future somehow is tied to the pension fund of the transit workers, please remember that they are the same people who wanted to give away the Hudson Railyards to the New York Jets football team so that the Jets could build a football stadium on the West Side of Manhattan.
When Bruce Ratner, the most caring owner in all of sports, saw an opening to build 17 high-rise buildings around Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson in Brooklyn, all these high-minded politicians who squeezed transit workers this week immediately rolled over for Ratner, too. Another land grab by a rich owner, another time when the biggest politicians in the city and state did everything except put a bow around the property.
NoLandGrab: Lupica missed one previous MTA land giveaway to Ratner. The Toaster (a.k.a. Atlantic Terminal Mall) was built on land given to Ratner by the MTA. The MTA was set to do the same thing with the Vanderbilt Railyards until everyone got real mad about the Jets-Hudson Railyards deal, which forced the MTA to hold two just-for-show bidding processes in one year.
In other words, the same MTA board and political supporters who are squeezing the transit workers over pension plan givebacks have already negotiated real estate giveaways to Ratner.
Posted by lumi at December 26, 2005 8:16 AM