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December 5, 2006
BALL IN ELIOT'S COURT: POL'S LETTER URGES WAITING FOR NEW GOV ON YARDS
NY Daily News
By Elizabeth Hays
November 30, 2006
BROOKLYN LEADERS who oppose the controversial Atlantic Yards project want to nix a key vote until Gov.-elect Spitzer takes office. City Councilwoman Letitia James fired off a letter yesterday with state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and Councilman David Yassky urging Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and other members of the Public Authorities Control Board to postpone approval of the project until after Jan. 1.
"Approving the project now, at the very end of the Pataki administration, would be a grave abuse of the PACB's authority," the officials wrote, charging the project is too big and will create a traffic nightmare near the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Aves. Three other state officials - Assembly members James Brennan, Joan Millman and Annette Robinson - recently wrote their own letter urging Silver to wait.
A delay will "allow the Spitzer administration to address the gross defects in the Environmental Impact Statement or conduct other reviews," they wrote in a Nov. 22 letter.
The memos express a growing concern among critics that Gov. Pataki may ram the $4.2 billion Nets arena project through during his final days in office.
The Pataki-controlled Empire State Development Corp. held another key vote on the project Monday, and approval by the agency is expected as early as late next week.
By the end of December, the project could then go before the three-member PACB for final approval. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20, though an agenda has yet to be released.
Silver is the only Democrat on the PACB. He derailed the controversial West Side stadium plan last year and the Moynihan train station project last month.
The other members are appointees of Pataki and fellow-Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.
A Silver spokesman said yesterday it is too soon to comment on the project.
"We have not been briefed yet on this project and there's no board meeting that has been scheduled," spokesman Skip Carrier said.
Posted by lumi at December 5, 2006 7:27 PM