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January 27, 2006
Ratner paid for state’s lawyer
Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
Take my lawyer, please.
Facing an environmental review by a state agency, developer Bruce Ratner recommended that the agency hire his law firm for the state’s assessment of his Atlantic Yards mega-project.
Ratner suggested the firm of Sive, Paget Riesel in a letter that also guaranteed the Empire State Development Corporation that he would pay all the legal and consulting costs incurred during their environmental review of his $3.5-billion arena, residential and commercial project.
NoLandGrab: To be fair to Ratner and ESDC, according to Matthew Schuerman of The Real Estate Observer, it is standard practice for developers to "pay government for the trouble of reviewing their applications for rezoning." The troubling question is whether Ratner should be allowed to pick the State's professional consultants.
Posted by lumi at January 27, 2006 8:33 AM