« Are Brooklyn's Vanderbilt Rail Yards Chopped Liver? | Main | Nothing is uncontested with development project in Brooklyn »
September 3, 2006
The Empire State Development Corporation: Who are they?
Daily Gotham
Mole333, momentarily stumped by a reader's question about the Empire State Development Corporation, does some research into the history and structure of the semi-governmental state agency, which can issue bonds and seize private property without the blessing of the voters.
Mario Cuomo was the first to begin ambitious use of it to get around official scrutiny for public projects. In 1981 voters voted against a $500 million bond issue for expansion of the state prison system to handle increased prison populations arising from the Rockefeller drug laws. At the time New York had 32 adult prisons. Cuomo was to use the bonds to build another 38 prisons -- most upstate.[6]
Posted by lumi at September 3, 2006 6:27 PM