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June 30, 2007

Odds And Ends

The Daily Politics

A coalition of city residents who oppose the use of eminent domain in development (ie: Atlantic Yards, Columbis University expansion etc.) braved the heat yesterday to demonstrate on the City Hall steps and mark the second anniversary of the US Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London decision, but were largely overlooked in the post-blackout pandemonium. (Photo credit: Jonathan Barkey).

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NoLandGrab: That's ABUSE not USE of eminent domain, but who's counting. And there ain't no blackout like a media blackout.

Posted by amy at 11:51 AM

WBAI Radio on 421-A

WBAI

State Senator Liz Kreuger talks about the 421-A bill and its problems, including the Atlantic Yards exception. It comes about 15 minutes into the 6:00 news right after they have Michael Ratner talking about the new Gitmo decision. Which some might find ironical.

Listen

Posted by amy at 11:46 AM

AY: Government Backed Financing & the Cost to the Taxpayer

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Since government has been unwilling to tally the full cost to the taxpayers of the Atlantic Yards project, and with the latest 421-a Ratner Clause added, we've updated our ongoing tally and best estimate.

Click here to download the pdf: Atlantic Yards: Government Backed Financing and the Cost to the Taxpayer (as of June 30, 2007).

The known government backed financing and public cost for the taxpayer that we've calculated is $2.119 billion. The unknown public cost and government backed financing could amount to more than that.

Remember, the project, according to Forest City Ratner, costs $4 billion.

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Posted by amy at 11:41 AM

GL Analysis: Fun with the 421-a Developer Tax Break

Gowanus Lounge

Not all the changes made in Albany by the special interests and others that attacked the 421-a developer tax break legislation are bad ones. We have always believed that the huge tax abatements that developers receive are a holdover from a 1970s/80s mentality of desperation that fail to reflect in any way, shape or form the reality of New York City--and, especially, Brooklyn, in the 2000s. The tax break both provides an unnecessary giveaway of taxpayer money to developers and affluent buyers, it can serve as a taxpayer-financed tool to promote displacement. Residents in some neighborhoods are, in effect, contributing their taxes to the buildings that will force them out and the affluent buyers who won't have to pay property taxes for years to come.

One way to turn some of these lemons into lemonade, however, is to extend the exclusion zones that require developers to produce affordable housing in return for getting the tax breaks as widely as possible. For the Bloomberg Administration to object to the expansion of the exclusion zones pushes the limits of credulity. There are things in the bill to object to (keep reading), but the bigger exclusion zones are to be applauded. If you're not going to kill the developer welfare turkey known as 421-a, affordable housing should be a minimum requirement in every building anywhere in the city that gets one of these generous tax breaks. Failing that, the exclusion zones should be as big as possible. If anything, the bill in Albany still doesn't go far enough in adding gentrifying neighborhoods to the exclusion list. If the Bloomberg Administration succeeds in killing the added exclusion zones, it will be just as scandalous as the special tax breaks that Atlantic Yards supporters got written into the law.

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Posted by amy at 11:37 AM

Bloomy slams “Ratner carve-out”

The Brooklyn Paper
By Ariella Cohen

Bruce Ratner “doesn’t need” the massive public subsidy handed to him by the state Assembly last week, Mayor Bloomberg said on Friday — and called for Gov. Spitzer to block the legislation.

In slamming the Assembly handout — which the mayor estimated would cost taxpayers $300 million, not the $175 million originally estimated by government watchdogs — Bloomberg has joined the chorus of advocates, legislators and Atlantic Yards opponents condemning the amendment that would give special treatment to the mega-developer.

“[The bill is] going to hurt the very people that everybody talks about helping and gives some tax breaks to a developer that doesn’t need them and which we didn’t have to do,” Bloomberg said on his weekly WABC radio show on Friday morning.
...
Bloomberg has been an outspoken supporter of the $4-billion residential, arena, office and retail complex. His criticism of the subsidy handout is the first time he has publicly opposed a proposed tax break for the powerful developer, a former city bureaucrat and a college buddy of former Gov. George Pataki.

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More coverage from Atlantic Yards Report: Bloomberg calls for 421-a veto, says Ratner "doesn't need" tax break

Posted by amy at 11:31 AM

358 Grove, Bushwick gentrification battles, and the 421-a map

Atlantic Yards Report

If you want an example of a development that probably pushed Assemblyman Vito Lopez to add all of Bushwick to the "exclusion zone" where affordable housing would be required in exchange for the 421-a tax break, look no farther than 358 Grove, a much-hyped 14-story condo tower. The building also serves as the jumping off point for a Village Voice investigation this week into landlords unscrupulously pushing gentrification in Bushwick.

In promoting 358 Grove, the developer generally plays down its location. The image at right, for example, comes from the Halstead web listing, which states "358 Grove is located in one of Brooklyn's fastest growing neighborhoods; just one block from the L train and 15 minutes into Union Square Station."
...
The Prospect Heights/Crown Heights area, as Brooklyn College sociologist Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida pointed out, is ripe for displacement. Maybe that's why Lopez's bill, however flawed, extended the 421-a exclusion zone to Crown Heights. His argument was the public should not, as with 358 Grove, subsidize luxury development without getting something in return.

The new 421-a map certainly does not, as the Observer suggests, represent the best balance to nudge the housing market along. Then again, the City Council reform, with a more modest "exclusion zone," isn't necessarily the solution.

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Posted by amy at 11:21 AM

June 29, 2007

PRESS RELEASE:
Former Congressman Calls For Resignation of Brooklyn Democratic Party Leader

"The unholy alliance of money and political power can no longer be supported."

Brooklyn, NY – Former Congressman Major R. Owens today called for New York State Assemblymember Vito Lopez to resign as Chairman of the Kings County Democratic Committee, Brooklyn's Democratic Party organization, or resign from the Assembly – where Lopez has seniority and a significant chairmanship.

Owens, in conjunction with his, son, Chris Owens, President of New Brooklyn Leadership, issued a statement, entitled "Veto Vito," attacking recent actions by Lopez regarding state housing legislation and a judicial campaign in Brooklyn. The younger Owens joined with approximately 30 people in a demonstration outside of the Kings County Democratic Party's annual dinner on Thursday, June 28 to call attention to Assemblymember Lopez's actions and their implications.

In addition to demanding Lopez' resignation, the Owens statement specifically calls upon Governor Spitzer to veto the housing legislation, for Civil Court Judge Shawndya Simpson to voluntarily terminate her candidacy for the Surrogate Court position, and for legislation that bars public elected officials from holding significant party positions.

Last week, Lopez, who chairs the State Assembly's Housing Committee, orchestrated last-minute passage of a modified version of an affordable housing bill that included a windfall provision for developer Forest City Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project.

Lopez is also suddenly supporting a candidate for Surrogate Court judge who has little experience on the bench and has little support from local leaders, but has a large campaign warchest. Judge Simpson is now challenging Judge Diana Johnson, who has eight times as much experience as Simpson – but less money -- for the Surrogate Court seat left vacant by the resignation of the ethically-challenged Frank Seddio earlier this year.

Judge Johnson, who narrowly lost a Surrogate Court primary election in 2005, has the support of Major Owens, Chris Owens, approximately 90 percent of Brooklyn's Black elected officials, and the "reform" Democratic organizations -- Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND), and the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID), amongst others. In addition, endorsements of Johnson have been received from many other Brooklyn political organizations.

The Owens statement links Lopez's actions as "cynical," "oppressive" and examples of the "unholy alliance of money and political power" that can no longer be supported. "If we change the institutional dynamics, we can change the politics of our county and City – and it needs to happen."

The full Owens statement is available at http://campaignwindow.com/stopvitohttp://campaignwindow.com/stopvito.

Posted by lumi at 2:17 PM

"Blonde" Jovi speaks

In Brooklyn!!, Borough President Mary Markowitz's newspaper about himself mostly, former has-been-'80s-rocker-turned-actor-turned-comeback artist Jon Bon Jovi looks forward to the arena getting built.

NoLandGrab: Shucks, now we gotta get rid of our "Slippery When Wet" cassette tapes?

Posted by lumi at 1:26 PM

Yassky and James protest "egregious" Atlantic Yards carve-out

From City Councilman David Yassky latest e-newsletter:

Last December I was delighted when the City Council passed a version of my bill to limit unjustified subsidies for developers (the 421a program). This week, unfortunately, Albany passed their own version of this legislation which included an earmark provision with special tax breaks for the Atlantic Yards project. This is estimated to cost taxpayers $100-$170 million. In response to this egregious exception, Council Member James and I sent a letter to the Mayor and Governor asking them to withhold $200 million in land-acquisition aid that was promised by the City and State. Click here to view that letter.

Posted by lumi at 1:11 PM

Who dunnit?

There are three theories about who is responsible for the Ratner clause, which created a special loophole for the sole benefit of Forest City and its Atlantic Yards development plan in the State's 421-a reform bill.

VITO?
The prevailing wisdom during the past week was that it was State Assemblyman Vito Lopez's fault. Lopez is the Chairman of the Assembly's Housing Committee, which drafted the bill, is a project supporter, and has received campaign contributions from Bruce Ratner's brother and sister-in-law.

The NY Observer reports:

What the apparent contradictions in the bill represent are a series of horse trades that Mr. Lopez, a loping giant of a man who carries power like a running back headed to the end zone, brokered with fellow legislators.

SPINOLA & THE SENATORS?
Todays' NY Times advances a separate theory, which fingers the State Senate and the head of the Real Estate Board of NY (REBNY):

But many advocates, city officials and even some Senate Republicans are saying that Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, betrayed the city’s effort. By all accounts, Mr. Spinola, the leading industry lobbyist, played a major role in negotiating the compromises and the tax deals for Atlantic Yards and other developments that led to Senate approval.

"SHILLY" SILVER?
There's a third theory that starts with Lopez and leads to Sheldon Silver's office. This week's Brooklyn Paper explains:

Lopez’s motivations for slipping in the Ratner-favoring clause are unclear. One source said that the Brooklyn Democratic Party boss might have done it as a favor to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver. “Silver and [Forest City Ratner lobbyist] Bruce Bender are old friends,” said the source.

The exception is so outrageous that no one seems to have the guts to stand up and take credit.

Taxpayers are sadly used to Albany backroom dealing, only the difference here is that no one seems to know in which backroom the deal was struck.

Posted by lumi at 12:43 PM

Bruce boost: Assemblyman gives Ratner a clause for celebration

The Brooklyn Paper
By Ariella Cohen

Bruce Ratner’s sweetheart deal got a cherry on top last week after a state lawmaker slipped in a last-minute amendment to a housing reform bill that will shave $175 million off the developer’s costs.

The so-called “Ratner carve-out” was slipped into a tax-break bill passed by the Assembly last Friday, in the rush to close the legislative session. The amendment didn’t mention Ratner’s development by name, but referred to it as a “multi-phase project that includes at least 2,500 dwelling units and is being implemented pursuant to a General Project Plan” — a description that fits only one development in the state: Atlantic Yards.

The full article has quotes from politicians who are stunned, and affordable housing advocates who are speaking out. As for Marty, Vito, and Bruce, they had no comment.

City Councilman David Yassky wants NY City to rescind its direct cash contribution. State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is asking the Governor to veto the bill.

You can guess what Ratner thinks about the bill:

Ratner has been lobbying the legislature for several years, state records show, and has, in fact, been banking on the exemption.

A consultant report commissioned by the developer last year showed that Ratner’s cash flow projections assumed the state would grant him the 25-year tax break on all 16 Yards towers.

The “carve out” will also allow Ratner’s project to charge more for his “affordable” units than other developers who receive the tax credit.

Posted by lumi at 12:24 PM

The Ratner Clause

The Brooklyn Paper, publishes the first editorial that dares to mention the Atlantic Yards exception to the 421-a reform bill:

So how bad is the latest handout to Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner?

The punch line to this joke is as long as your arm:

It is a handout to only one developer.

It allows Ratner to charge more for units that he designates as affordable.... So now Ratner is not only picking taxpayers’ pockets, he’s making the lower middle class pay more — while the most needy are locked out altogether.

It reveals the worst excesses of our insider-run, morally corrupt legislature in Albany.

It comes on the heels of hundreds of millions of dollars in handouts that line Ratner’s pocket.

Brooklyn Papers asks:

Will the government’s bailout of Ratner ever end?

That might be a joke too, only it's not funny.

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Posted by lumi at 12:18 PM

Grinding Sausage Late at Night: Albany Reforms 421a Program

The NY Observer

Real estate reporter Matthew Schuerman tries to sort through the mess that resulted in a 421-a reform bill that managed to piss off nearly everyone, except Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner:

Finally, four days before the Assembly adjourned on June 22, [Vito Lopez, the head of the State Assembly’s Housing Committee] submitted a compromise bill. It had grown from two pages to 19, and outlined a dizzying array of mind-twisters.

Real-estate developers of the future will find it cheaper to build market-rate housing in Riverdale, for example, than in East New York. A middle-class village that the Mayor envisioned for Queens West will get no help from the taxman, while full-amenity condominiums in Tribeca will, as long as they get into the ground in the next 12 months.

...

One provision permits Atlantic Yards, a 22-acre development in central Brooklyn, to receive tax abatements on all of its residential buildings so long as the overall percentage of low-income apartments in the proposed 6,400-unit complex reaches 20 percent. Steve Spinola, the president of REBNY, said that he advocated in favor of the clause because it was similar to a recent rezoning in Greenpoint-Williamsburg which allowed developers to put the low-income units in a separate but adjacent building and still receive the tax break.

Vito Lopez, who has been ducking the press for days, finally speaks:

Mr. Lopez defended the carve-out because the Atlantic Yards complex devotes an unusually large proportion of its units—about 35 percent—to low- and middle-income apartments. But the City Council legislation would have forced the developer, Forest City Ratner, to pay full taxes on the condominium buildings that were entirely market-rate.

Brad Lander, the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, calculates, based on conservative estimates, that Forest City will save more than $100 million as a result of the State Legislature’s actions.

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Posted by lumi at 11:34 AM

City’s Plans for Housing Flop in Albany

The NY Times
By Charles Bagli

The real estate reporter for The Times explains how the Ratner clause contributed to sidetracking a carefully negotiated reform bill:

The bill looked like a shoo-in to pass.

After nearly a year of painstaking analysis and tough negotiations, the Bloomberg administration, the City Council, housing advocates, lenders and real estate developers had hashed out a measure intended to revamp a popular tax-break program so it would generate more relatively affordable housing while restricting subsidies to luxury high-rises like Trump World Tower. It was all done with a minimum of grousing.

Then the bill governing what is known as the 421-a program went to Albany. And suddenly, on the Legislature’s last day in session last week, an amended version passed both houses, extending special tax breaks to the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn and scuttling the city’s efforts to build middle-class housing at Queens West on the East River and other areas. Critics say it could also undermine efforts to build apartments for residents of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

Most are blaming things on State Assemblyman Vito Lopez, but now some fingers are pointing at the Senate version:

But many advocates, city officials and even some Senate Republicans are saying that Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, betrayed the city’s effort. By all accounts, Mr. Spinola, the leading industry lobbyist, played a major role in negotiating the compromises and the tax deals for Atlantic Yards and other developments that led to Senate approval.

...

But the bill would also provide what the city estimates are an additional $300 million in tax breaks for the vast Atlantic Yards complex being developed by Forest City Ratner Companies, the development partner with The New York Times Company in the Times’ new Midtown headquarters, without getting any additional affordable units in return. Mr. Lopez said it was a concession sought during negotiations with Mr. Spinola and the Senate over his bill.

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Atlantic Yards Report, City says "Atlantic Yards carve-out" worth $300 million; will Spitzer veto?
Norman Oder highlights Bagli's reporting that the city claims that the special Atlantic Yards exception will cost the city around $300 million, a figure that's higher than the estimated $100-to-$170 million-dollar figure provided by Brad Lander of the Pratt Center and quoted in last week's Daily News column by Juan Gonzalez.

Posted by lumi at 11:19 AM

Photos from Anti-Eminent Domain Rally

Brit in Brooklyn

Covered the event and posted these photos on his blog...

...and other photos here.

Posted by lumi at 11:01 AM

REDRAWING THE 421-A FORMULA FOR TAX BREAKS AND HOUSING

City Limits breaks down the 421-a reform legislation just passed by the State Assembly, and offers this brief explanation of the Ratner clause:

One attention-getting feature of the legislation gives the already controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn additional tax breaks. It also allows potential tenants who earn up to 70 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) of $70,900 to apply for "affordable" units there (up from a proposed 60 percent); setting that rate also raises the rent amount that qualifies as “affordable." But Lopez said Monday that the Senate has yet to vote on this aspect.

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Posted by lumi at 10:56 AM

Anti-Ratner Forces Join With Queens, Harlem Groups

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Raanan Geberer

What brought the various groups together was opposition to what they term abuse of eminent domain, or the seizure of private land for the benefit of private developers rather than strictly public projects. In the case of Forest City Ratner’s planned Atlantic Yards arena-office-housing project in Downtown Brooklyn, the possible use of eminent domain against the relatively small number of “holdouts” on the site has been justified on the grounds that Atlantic Yards will serve the greater good of economic development.

Readers are undoubtedly familiar with Atlantic Yards, but not necessarily with the other cases. However, there are similarities. In Willets Point, Queens, near Flushing, developers are coveting a somewhat rundown area of small businesses, garages and private homes to build a mall and hotel. In West Harlem, Columbia University seeks to obtain 17 acres in the 120s and 130s west of Broadway, an area characterized by warehouses, garages and some residential buildings, to build a biotech lab complex that would be augmented with shopping and restaurants.

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NoLandGrab: What Geberer fails to understand is that every eminent domain-abuse fight has only a handful of "holdouts" — that is, property owners who have the guts to tough it out for a long fight with local or state government.

Anyway, since when did the US Constitution only go into effect when more than a "relatively small number" of people are affected?

Posted by lumi at 10:43 AM

New Yorkers Unite Against NY's Eminent Domain Abuse

OnNYTurf

On Wednesday this week a new coalition of neighborhood groups gathered on city hall steps to highlight the abuse of eminent domain in property development plans throughout NYC. Unfortunately this event, which was pretty remarkable as it pulled groups from across the city, was mostly overshadowed by a minor power outage. The report below was circulated by DDDB who was one of the organizers of the event. Some emphasis has been added in places and some minor text changes were made for clarity.

Bringing folks together from around the city on one issue is a rare event in the city (overshadowed perhaps by the heat meltdown), and the mainstream media missed it. In the context of the development wars, the national backlash against the Supreme Court's Kelo decision of 2 years ago and the Mayor's footsie with the Presidential race, it's an important story.

Read on for quotes from politicians, to find out more about Mayor Bloomberg's official policy (yes, he has one), who's next to be abused.

Posted by lumi at 10:38 AM

Willets Pt & Atlantic Yds team up for rally

Queens Crap ran the press release from New Yorkers Against Eminent Domain Abuse alongside some of Jonathan Barkey's photos.

Here're some excerpts from the comments:

"BLIGHTED" is a long used term.....even before eminent domain abuse became the major issue that it is today !

Now this is the stuff!! Why can't the community preservation movement start in this direction?

NoLandGrab: Several participating organizations were from the preservation movement.

I can't believe that in this day and age, in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, government can come in and take a person's land.

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Posted by lumi at 9:55 AM

Well Over a Hundred on City Hall Steps (protest Eminent Domain Abuse)

Historic Districts Council Newsstand

A broad-based coalition of property owners, tenants, advocates, elected officials and citizens gathered yesterday on the oven-like steps of New York's City Hall to voice opposition to epidemic abuse of eminent domain in New York City and New York State.

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NoLandGrab: What HDC's account fails to report is that their own Simeon Bankoff (picture right) scored the best soundbite of the day, explaining that "eminent domain is the thermo-nuclear warhead of city planning."

Posted by lumi at 9:08 AM

Supreme Court Rules on Eminent Domain

WNYC News Radio
By Elaine Rivera

It's been 2 years since the Supreme Court made it easier for governments to take private property, using what's called eminent domain. Yesterday, on the anniversary of the ruling, a broad coalition of opponents said the law is being abused. WNYC's Elaine Rivera reports.

REPORTER: The protestors came from communities across the city that are facing massive development projects from large retail centers to new stadiums. They say the state and city are unfairly giving the green light to seize property for private developments. Queens Councilman Tony Avella, whose district includes Willets Point, says so-called eminent domain is being used for profit, not for the public good.

AVELLA: Now we're taking people's private properties, their homes and turning it over to rich developers so they can make hundreds of millions of dollars - that is so un-American

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Posted by lumi at 8:47 AM

To get Coney job done, Sitt looks to Ratner’s playbook

The Brooklyn Paper

More pages from the "Ratner Playbook:"

Coney Island developer Joe Sitt is now hawking a “binding agreement” with local leaders to make his $1.5-billion amusement and hotel fantasyland become reality — hinting this week at an Atlantic-Yards-style solution to his ongoing problem of gaining support for the glitzy proposal.

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NoLandGrab: First developer Sitt tried the deceptive-brochure page from the playbook. When that didn't work, he geared up to try the CBA strategy.

What developers like Sitt fail to realize is that Bruce Ratner's playbook is a CONCERTED strategy that works as a SCREEN for the support he had already lined up.

In reality, participants in negotiations for a Coney Island CBA may have the opportunity to follow the example of the Staples Center CBA in LA, which was the template for such community negotiated agreements before Ratner co-opted the strategy. In the Staples agreement, the pact was negotiated as a whole by community groups who agreed to stand together to represent the interests of individual groups.

Another agreement that may interest community leaders in Coney Island is the Milwaukee agreement, which used the Staples-agreement coalition as a working model and became truly legally enforceable when the City included many of the agreed-upon items in their rezoning of the project area. By not implementing the Ratner affordable-housing agreement in a rezoning of the Atlantic Yards project footprint (the zoning is being superceded by a State takeover), local and state governments have ensured that the only way to enforce the Ratner agreement is for the signatory, ACORN, to sue.

Posted by lumi at 8:26 AM

Two Trees tries tower — again — on Water St.

The Brooklyn Paper
By Harry Cheadle

Dave Walentas is learning from Bruce.

For his second at-bat on Water St., he's added affordable housing, room for a school and a four-color glossy brochure with a pre-paid postcard for supporters!

Anticipating controversy, Two Trees has already begun a mass-mailing campaign in DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, sending out a glossy, full-color pamphlet asking for support — much in the style of developer Bruce Ratner, who courted support for Atlantic Yards by sending out hundreds of thousands of such pamphlets.

The Two Trees mailer includes a pre-paid postcard petition in support of the project.

The petition is addressed to Councilman David Yassky. The Brooklyn Heights Democrat, who was criticized by some groups for not opposing the 2004 project fast enough, said this week that DUMBO does need a middle school, but not another gigantic development.

He called the mailings “a page from the Forest City Ratner playbook.”

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NoLandGrab: It's amazing how developers think they are using the "Ratner playbook," when they are in fact only cribbing from a couple of pages. Unlike Walentas, Bruce Ratner would never overtly target a politician in a four-color brochure. Thor Equities chief Joseph Sitt similarly went after the NYC Planning Commish in the press, only to have to come up with another plan.

WWBD? Bruce would gets his political ducks in a row FIRST, send out brochures showing he has support (never "asking for support"), create a few astroturf groups to support the plan, sign up a powerful housing group, lop off one floor and "say he's been merciful."

Posted by lumi at 8:25 AM

The Kitchen Sink

The Brooklyn Paper
By Nica Lalli

There are two short "Atlantic Yardsiana" items in Lalli's local column this week:

The memorial fund created in the name of Evelyn Ortner, an early leader in the Brownstone Brooklyn preservation effort who died last year, will benefit Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. The fund has already had many big-name donors helping out, including novelists Jhumpa Lahiri (“The Namesake”) and Jennifer Egan (“The Keep”). It’s raised $22,000 already. …

Kudos to Norman Oder, who just won a community service award from the Park Slope Civic Council. Oder’s Web site, the Atlantic Yards Report, has scooped us a few times and we’re big enough to offer the guy best wishes. He’s also a great tour guide, by the way. Kim Maier of the Old Stone House got the other award.

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Posted by lumi at 8:19 AM

June 28, 2007

A rally against eminent domain abuse, four City Council members and the "Willets Point effect"

Atlantic Yards Report

As the fight against eminent domain abuse heats up, maybe it's time to start talking about "the Willets Point effect." The coalition fighting the Atlantic Yards project has gathered savvy from a high-profile battle lasting more than three years. Those challenging Columbia University's West Harlem expansion have a clear David vs. Goliath fight. And the two homeowners on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn have strong suggestions of a link to the Underground Railroad in the face of denial by the city agency that wants their land.

But the 225 businesses operating in the “Iron Triangle” of Willets Point, Queens, employing some 1800 workers, have the manpower and muscle to mount a very public fight against the city’s plans for an upscale development that would include some 5500 housing units, a hotel and convention center, a million square feet of retail and 500,000 square feet of office space.

So, as the four disparate groups gathered yesterday on the steps of City Hall to join in a rally as New Yorkers Against Eminent Domain Abuse, the Willets Point contingent was the largest and the loudest, wearing hats and t-shirts indicating their protest, arriving by bus with signs in tow.

And given that a good number were white guys who do physical labor, the group in some ways echoed the contingent of construction workers who flooded Atlantic Yards public hearings last summer to argue for, rather than against, condemnation.

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Posted by lumi at 7:53 AM

Bloomberg on subways ("not that crowded"), Doctoroff, and 421-a

Atlantic Yards Report

The Mayor casts aside criticism about crowded subways and congestion pricing during an interview at a breakfast presented by Crain's New York Business. According to Mayor Bloomberg, the subways are crowded if you mind standing or are too lazy to get up earlier.

Norman Oder asked the Mayor what he thought about the 421-a reform bill passed last week by the State Assembly:

After his speech and the public interview conducted by David and Lehrer, Bloomberg took some questions from the press. I asked his views on the reform of the 421-a tax break passed by the State Legislature, specifically the expansion of the "exclusion zone" and the special break for the Atlantic Yards project.

In his answer, he ignored the Atlantic Yards question but simply said that the reform passed last December by the City Council struck the right balance.

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Posted by lumi at 7:47 AM

Historically Speaking: June 28, Marty, Ambassador extraordinaire

Brooklyn Eagle
By John Manbeck

Marty, our fearless borough president, took a risk but one that I think he should have taken long ago.

'Nuff said — in a glowing article about Marty's adventure on the high seas as a celebrity guest lecturer, our peerless borough president declares that Brooklyn's extraordinary diversity will be surpassed by Atlantic Yards (really).

I asked what he told his audience was Brooklyn’s glory. He said, “its diversity.”

And what will it be when you leave office? “Atlantic Yards."

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NoLandGrab: As long as we're "historically speaking," Atlantic Yards won't be ready in 2009 when Marty leaves office.

Posted by lumi at 7:39 AM

New York City Noise Regulations Going Into Effect

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran the AP story we originally posted via amNewYork.

What's so special about this article? It promotes Atlantic Yards as the poster project for a quieter New York (really).

Loren Riegelhaupt, spokesman for Forest City Ratner Companies, the company behind the massive Atlantic Yards project that includes a new Brooklyn arena for the NBA’s Nets, said keeping the sound down is good business.

“As part of construction you have to mitigate noise measures, and we’ll do everything we’re asked to do,” he said. As part of the plan to stifle construction noise around the Atlantic Yards project, the company is buying double-paned windows and quiet air conditioners for about 700 nearby neighbors to help offset sound.

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NoLandGrab: As was mentioned before, Forest City is giving themselves credit for a mitigation that was recommended by the state, akin to those who dispose of their garbage properly, giving themselves a pat on the back.

Posted by lumi at 7:09 AM

June 27, 2007

PRESS RELEASE:
New Yorkers Against Eminent Domain Abuse

Property Owners, Tenants, Advocates, Elected Officials Unite To Oppose Eminent Domain Abuse In New York

New York, NY — A broad-based coalition of property owners, tenants, advocates, elected officials and citizens gathered today on the steps of New York’s City Hall to voice opposition to epidemic abuse of eminent domain in New York City and New York State.

The group, united under the banner New Yorkers Against Eminent Domain Abuse, gathered to mark the two-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s much reviled decision, Kelo v. City of New London. Since that decision was rendered, 38 states have enacted eminent domain reform legislation, but New York, widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading abusers of eminent domain, has yet to lift a finger to defend the rights of homeowners, business owners, and tenants.

“We haven’t seen this level of eminent domain abuse in New York City since the days of Robert Moses,” explained Lumi Michelle Rolley, contributor to NoLandGrab.org. “Mayor Bloomberg’s policy has been to threaten the use of eminent domain to force property owners to sell and to thwart every effort towards legislative reform both in Washington and Albany.”

“The abuse of eminent domain is an abuse of our fundamental constitutional rights and must be opposed like all other attempts to violate constitutional rights. Our government has no business forcing us to sell our properties to benefit their developer friends,” said Daniel Goldstein, a Brooklyn homeowner fighting to protect his home from abusive government seizure. “Everywhere developers want to build, government officials are paving the way with phony blight studies to accommodate them. We are sick and tired of the Bloomberg Administration’s policy of eminent domain abuse, and it has got to stop.

Many of the participating groups intend to coalesce formally to raise awareness of New York’s politicians’ addiction to eminent domain abuse. Participating groups cite these ten reasons the current situation must be reformed:

• According to a comprehensive study performed by the Institute for Justice, New York State remains one of the leading abusers of eminent domain in the nation.
• Eminent domain abuse in New York has increased dramatically in the past three years.
• In the two years since the US Supreme Court Kelo decision, 38 states have passed eminent domain reform legislation, while New York State’s politicians have refused to act.
• If the City and State can seize people’s homes and businesses for private development, then no one in New York is safe from eminent domain abuse.
• Government should not collude with private developers at the expense of its citizens.
• Wherever developers see an attractive piece of real estate, the City or State accommodates them by issuing trumped-up declarations that the neighborhood is "blighted."
• Our homes, our stores, our apartments and businesses are not for sale to politically connected developers.
• Mayor Bloomberg's policy has been to recklessly misuse eminent domain and thwart legislative attempts to curb its abuse.
• Any neighborhood undergoing rezoning is ripe for eminent domain abuse.
• Property rights are fundamental constitutional rights.

Participating organizations include:

• Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
• NoLandGrab.org
• Historic Districts Council
• Fifth Avenue Committee
• New York Community Council
• Society for the Architecture of the City
• NY Solidarity Coalition with Katrina and Rita Survivors
• Willets Point Business Association
• Harlem Tenants Council
• Coalition to Preserve Community
• West Harlem Coalition
• 550 Riverside, 55/69 Tiemann Pl. Tenants Alliance
• Coalition To Save The East Village
• Coalition for a Livable West Side
• Lower East Side Residents for Responsible Development
• Duffield Street Block Association
• Green Party of Brooklyn
• Park Slope Greens
• United Neighbors for Brooklyn
• Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association
• Brownstone Revival Coalition
• Fans for Fair Play

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn leads a broad-based community coalition advocating for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them. DDDB opposes Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards' abuse of eminent domain. DDDB has organized owner and tenant plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit charging that eminent domain for Atlantic Yards violates the US. Constitution. Like the other neighborhoods, phony "blight" findings were used to justify the eminent domain abuse.

Joy Chatel and Lew Greenstein are fighting to save their historic homes on Duffield St. in Brooklyn. Their homes were part of the Underground Railroad network and are under threat of demolition to make way for a hotel parking garage. A lawsuit has been filed contesting the accuracy of the City's study, which determined that the historical significance of the homes could not be proven.

Property owners and tenants in West Harlem are battling to keep their homes and businesses from Columbia University's expansion of its uptown campus. Since the project was unveiled the university has refused to take eminent domain off the table. The application for review under the city's land-use procedure was just approved by the City Planning Commission.

Once again, Willets Point Queens businesses and a longtime resident are under threat of eminent domain. For decades the City has failed to provide basic services to this neighborhood. Despite the municipal neglect, the area is the location of hundreds of successful businesses that the City is seeking to displace.

NoLandGrab is an information portal run by several private citizens to increase awareness of the Atlantic Yards fight and eminent domain battles citywide.

Posted by lumi at 12:17 PM

TODAY: New Yorkers Against Eminent Domain Abuse to Assemble at City Hall

CITY HALL STEPS, 1PM

PARTICIPANTS:
Home and business owners, and tenants from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; Duffield St., Brooklyn; West Harlem, Manhattan; Willets Point, Queens;
Councilmembers Tony Avella and Letitia James;
and activists from:
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn • NoLandGrab.org • Historic Districts Council • Fifth Avenue Committee • New York Community Council • Society for the Architecture of the City • NY Solidarity Coalition with Katrina and Rita Survivors • Willets Point Business Association • Harlem Tenants Council • Coalition to Preserve Community • West Harlem Coalition • 550 Riverside, 55/69 Tiemann Pl. Tenants Alliance • Coalition To Save The East Village • Coalition for a Livable West Side • Lower East Side Residents for Responsible Development • Duffield Street Block Association • Green Party of Brooklyn • Park Slope Greens • United Neighbors for Brooklyn • Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association • Brownstone Revival Coalition • Fans for Fair Play and more...

Posted by lumi at 9:17 AM

421-a reform map

Though we generally focus on Atlantic Yards-related stuff, readers who have been closely following the 421-a reform bill, which contains the "Atlantic Yards exception" (aka Ratner clause), may want to follow up on today's news of Pratt Center's map, which illustrates the areas affected by the legislation passed by the State Assembly.

The Real Estate Observer, Introducing the Full-Color, Five-Borough Tax Break

The areas in maroon, rust and mustard (what a palette, lads!) will force residential developers to incorporate low-income housing into new buildings if they want to qualify for the popular tax-abatement program. (It can cut up to $200,000 off your tax bill.) The gray areas are places where developers can get 15 years or more of property-tax discounts even if they put up market-rate condos.

Atlantic Yards Report, The 421-a map emerges--shocker?

Several members of City Council wanted the so-called "exclusion zone" expanded citywide, and Assembly Housing Chairman Vito Lopez, who also chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party, also wanted the zone expanded.

It's notable that Lopez did not expand the zone to middle-class neighborhoods in central Queens, southern Brooklyn, and Riverdale, where 421-a probably distorts the market. Clearly he was particularly concerned about the areas around his Bushwick/Williamsburg base.

As I wrote, I think it's a victory to have continued to expand the zone. Still, critics who point to the absence of transparency--on both the boundaries and the "Atlantic Yards carve-out"--deserve attention from Gov. Eliot Spitzer before he signs the bill. It's not too late to order a revamp.

Posted by lumi at 8:47 AM

The Atlantic Yards Fight—A Party Or a Wake With Pound Cake?

NY Observer
By Mark Wellborn

A dispatch from the front parlor of this weekend's house party fundraiser for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:

Approximately 80 people, largely aging baby boomers decked out in khakis and short-sleeved polo shirts, had paid $60 each to enter Mr. Labine’s house to raise money for the lawsuits that activist group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn has filed against developer Forest City Ratner and others.

As the gin flowed and attendees admired Mr. Labine’s many works of art, a growing feeling of fear was beginning to replace the years of hope.

...

Halfway through the party, Mr. Labine and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein stood on a few living-room chairs and did their best to pump up the somber mood.

“Atlantic Yards is not a done deal!” Mr. Labine said to rousing applause. “What is unfortunate is that not enough people are aware of the problems that will come with this project.”

Mr. Labine’s statement resonated a few minutes later when Matthew Brinckerhoff, the group’s attorney in its environmental lawsuit, began to field questions.

“Do we have any allies left in elected officials?” a member of the audience inquired.

“We have a few,” Mr. Brinckerhoff responded. “[City Councilman] David Yassky, depending on what day you talk to him.”

article

NoLandGrab: Brinckerhoff is Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's lead attorney for the EMINENT DOMAIN lawsuit, not ENVIRONMENTAL suit.

Posted by lumi at 8:05 AM

They’re the brightest brains in the business - Region 8 holds 2007 Math Festival

Courier-Life Publications

More Forest City Ratner local PR:

The “battle of the Brooklyn brains” – held on June 11 – put fourth- and fifth-graders from 40 schools in Park Slope, Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Greenpoint and other neighborhoods in a competition involving a series of math games under the supervision of teachers.
...
“We know that kids get excited about a lot different things — specifically math. We want to help promote their enthusiasm when it comes to mathematics and other academic subjects,” said Thomas Tuffery, a representative for Forest City Ratner Companies, which sponsored the event.

article

NoLandGrab: Puffery + Tom Tuffey = Tom "Tuffery"?

Posted by lumi at 7:54 AM

It came from the Blogosphere...

Velvet Sea, Another Perspective on Atlantic Yards
Photographic evidence that Prospect Heights is NOT in Downtown Brooklyn.

Photos of the Brooklyn skyline taken from Williamsburgh provides additional perspective on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan.

As you can see below, the [Williamsburgh Savings Bank] tower is a bit of a distance away from the downtown Brooklyn business core of highrises, seen just beyond the Williamsburg Bridge on the right hand side in this shot.

The Knickerblogger, ESDC Math= Adding 16000 residents and an arena won't affect subway capacity

...of course, as with everything else in Bruce Ratner's corrupt fantasy world, the reality is another story (four of the over crowded lines mentioned stop at Atlantic Avenue:

ANTI-EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE ACTION
News of this afternoon's anti-eminent domain abuse demonstration and press conference at City Hall is spreading over the internet:

LOHO 10002, Important Events This Week

Wednesday, June 27, 1 pm
Steps of City Hall
Anti-displacement groups throughout the city join to protest eminent domain abuse, marking the second-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision which allowed cities to use eminent domain to evict residents and destroy their homes to benefit a private development. Demonstration organized by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the neighborhood group opposing Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development plan.

Brit in Brooklyn, Big Eminent Domain Rally at City Hall, Wednesday.

Historic Districts Council Newsstand, A Rally, a Letter and a Lecture - all to help save Brooklyn

News of the anti-eminent domain rally, a letter-writing campaign to Governor Spitzer and a lecture on PlaNYC in Brooklyn.

Posted by lumi at 6:35 AM

Double Dutch champs jumping for joy!

2 Bed-Stuy teams did well at world championship

NY Daily News
By Denise Romano

Though Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is poised to receive special legislative treatment that will allow him to charge higher rents to low-income tenants as a part of the controversial 421-a reform bill, he's still getting props for supporting local sports.

Two Double Dutch teams from Bedford-Stuyvesant - the Jammin' Jumpers and the Hot Steppers - had a successful run at the recent world championships in Sumter, S.C., once again asserting Brooklyn's credentials as a mecca of the fleet-footed.
...
Payne thanked her generous fellow New Yorkers who made donations big and small to help the girls travel to Sumter after the Daily News published an article about their financial straits.

Developer Forest City Ratner chipped in $16,000 toward the $21,000 tab to send three New York City teams to the world championships.

article

Posted by lumi at 5:54 AM

June 26, 2007

Media/Public Advisory: New Yorkers Against Eminent Domain Abuse

EVENT:
New York City Property Owners, Tenants and Advocates Unite to Fight Eminent Domain Abuse After Second Anniversary of Infamous U.S. Supreme Court Kelo Decision

TIME/DATE: 1PM, Wednesday, June 27

PLACE: City Hall Steps

PARTICIPANTS:
Home and business owners, and tenants from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; Duffield St., Brooklyn; West Harlem, Manhattan; Willets Point, Queens;
Councilmembers Tony Avella and Letitia James;
and activists from:
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn • NoLandGrab.org • Historic Districts Council • Fifth Avenue Committee • New York Community Council • Society for the Architecture of the City • NY Solidarity Coalition with Katrina and Rita Survivors • Willets Point Business Association • Harlem Tenants Council • Coalition to Preserve Community • West Harlem Coalition • 550 Riverside, 55/69 Tiemann Pl. Tenants Alliance • Coalition To Save The East Village • Coalition for a Livable West Side • Lower East Side Residents for Responsible Development • Duffield Street Block Association • Green Party of Brooklyn • Park Slope Greens • United Neighbors for Brooklyn • Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association • Brownstone Revival Coalition • Fans for Fair Play and more...

New York, NY -- Marking the second-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous decision in Kelo v. New London, which gave the nod to the City of New London to use eminent domain to take homes for a private development, home and business owners, and tenants in New York City are banding together to raise public awareness that New York City has become one of the worst abusers of eminent domain and that no one's home or business is safe when the City or a developer is interested in "assembling land" for private development.

"Eminent domain abuse is an abuse of our fundamental constitutional rights. In New York City it's reaching epidemic proportions," said Lumi Michelle Rolley of NolandGrab.org. "Given its policy of eminent domain abuse, it is no surprise that New York hasn't even attempted to reform its eminent domain laws since the infamous Kelo Supreme Court decision."

"Mayor Bloomberg and the State of New York consistently favor the interest of big developers over that of regular citizens," said Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Daniel Goldstein. "The Bloomberg Administration's policy has been to misuse and abuse eminent domain, with the support New York state and this policy has gone too far. We're taking a stand, not just for ourselves, but for all New Yorkers who believe in the American dream and the importance of homes and businesses.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn leads a broad-based community coalition advocating for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them. DDDB opposes Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards' abuse of eminent domain. DDDB has organized owner and tenant plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit charging that eminent domain for Atlantic Yards violates the US. Constitution. Like the other neighborhoods, phony "blight" findings were used to justify the eminent domain abuse.

Joy Chatel and Lew Greenstein are fighting to save their historic homes on Duffield St. in Brooklyn. Their homes were part of the Underground Railroad network and are under threat of demolition to make way for a hotel parking garage. A lawsuit has been filed contesting the accuracy of the City's study, which determined that the historical significance of the homes could not be proven.

Property owners and tenants in West Harlem are battling to keep their homes and businesses from Columbia University's expansion of their uptown campus. Since the project was unveiled the university has refused to take eminent domain off the table. The application for review under the city's land-use procedure was just approved by the City Planning Commission.

Once again, Willets Point Queens businesses and a longtime resident are under threat of eminent domain. For decades the City has failed to provide basic services to this neighborhood. Despite the municipal neglect, the area is the location of hundreds of successful businesses that the City is seeking to displace.

NoLandGrab is an information portal run by several private citizens to increase awareness of the Atlantic Yards fight and eminent domain battles citywide.

Posted by lumi at 9:40 AM

Dear Governor Spitzer

Jo Anne Simon, 52nd Assembly District leader, penned a letter to Governor Eliot Spitzer, explaining why a reform-minded leader would hesitate to support Atlantic Yards, especially in light of the amendment to the 421-a reform bill.

From her letter (full text after the jump):

The last minute amendment to this bill (A. 9293) providing yet more sweetener for Atlantic Yards is totally beyond reason. You may recall meeting with me and my co-leader Alan Fleishman following a campaign appearance with former Governor Carey last summer. You were very gracious and listened closely to our concerns about the Atlantic Yards, many of which were rooted in what we viewed as bad public policy and the desperate need for public authority reform. Even ACORN, one of the biggest supporters of the Atlantic Yards project, has called this recent amendment bad public policy.

What’s wrong with the above amendment? It:

• reduces the affordable housing by raising the percentage of the poverty line amount to be used in considering low income beyond that provided for in any other development in New York City;

• all but ensures, as the developer has indicated, that as much as 10% of the affordable housing would be built off-site, further reducing the promised affordable housing benefits;

• provides hundreds of millions of tax dollars for luxury housing beyond the $205 million that New York City Council recently approved ($100 million of which the developer testified would go to unspecified land acquisition costs, in addition to its anticipated costs if it successfully utilizes eminent domain to acquire other properties), and the hundreds of millions of dollars from state coffers;

• will use $1.4 billion of low interest tax free bonds–sapping the market and foreclosing other, arguably more worthy, projects to create a density twice that of Battery Park City; and

• it is the only project to which ESDC did not require changes when your administration took office.

Enough is enough. The legacy of Atlantic Yards will be one of fiscal and social irresponsibility.

Governor Spitzer can be reached by:
PHONE: 518-474-8390
EMAIL: http://161.11.121.121/govemail
SNAIL MAIL: Governor Eliot Spitzer, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224

June 25, 2007

Governor Eliot Spitzer
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Spitzer:

I support the expansion of the 421- a exclusionary zone beyond that agreed to by the New York City Council earlier this legislative year. Indeed, I testified to that effect at a hearing held by Assemblyman Vito Lopez in March of this year. I enclose a copy of my written statement for your review.

Nevertheless, the last minute amendment to this bill (A. 9293) providing yet more sweetener for Atlantic Yards is totally beyond reason. You may recall meeting with me and my co-leader Alan Fleishman following a campaign appearance with former Governor Carey last summer. You were very gracious and listened closely to our concerns about the Atlantic Yards, many of which were rooted in what we viewed as bad public policy and the desperate need for public authority reform. Even ACORN, one of the biggest supporters of the Atlantic Yards project, has called this recent amendment bad public policy.

What’s wrong with the above amendment? It:

• reduces the affordable housing by raising the percentage of the poverty line amount to be used in considering low income beyond that provided for in any other development in New York City;

• all but ensures, as the developer has indicated, that as much as 10% of the affordable housing would be built off-site, further reducing the promised affordable housing benefits;

• provides hundreds of millions of tax dollars for luxury housing beyond the $205 million that New York City Council recently approved ($100 million of which the developer testified would go to unspecified land acquisition costs, in addition to its anticipated costs if it successfully utilizes eminent domain to acquire other properties), and the hundreds of millions of dollars from state coffers;

• will use $1.4 billion of low interest tax free bonds–sapping the market and foreclosing other, arguably more worthy, projects to create a density twice that of Battery Park City; and

• it is the only project to which ESDC did not require changes when your administration took office.

Enough is enough. The legacy of Atlantic Yards will be one of fiscal and social irresponsibility. The current public financing picture is so extreme that the State and City could pay for an arena, give it to the developer, and still save untold millions of dollars.

I strongly urge you to veto this bill. When the legislature returns, it can and should pass it the expansion of the 421-a program’s exclusionary zone without this boondoggle. The time for change in Albany is now. We need transparency and accountability, not back door deals at the public’s expense.

Very truly yours,

Jo Anne Simon

Posted by lumi at 9:28 AM

Duffield St. Underground Linkage

Abolitionist Museum Augments the Stated Bloomberg Vision

A peek at the NYC Department of City Planning's stated goals for the Downtown Brooklyn plan reveals that the idea of a museum decidated to the history of the abolitionist movement in Brooklyn would be more in keeping with the plan than the current scheme to sieze homes using eminent domain in order to raze them to build a parking garage.

But who's listening?
Links and excerpts from the May 22nd Duffield St. eminent domain hearing from Our Time Press.

Daily News Calls Grassy Knoll Key to Brooklyn Economy
A Daily News editorial strongly attacked the Duffield St. homeowners by impuning their motives and accusing them of standing "in the way by cynically playing on the charged issue of the city's slave past."

Duffield St. Underground comes up for air to dispute the scathing claims.

The Daily News says that promoters of Abolitionist history are "cynically playing on the charged issue of the city's slave past." If the Daily News has to resort to this sort name-calling, then it looks like the argument in favor of the parking lot is weak. If the EDC is going to confiscate possibly historic private property, the burden of proof of the benefit must be high.

Posted by lumi at 9:10 AM

Two years later, flashback to Times Magazine interview with Bruce Ratner

Atlantic Yards Report

With the benefit of hindsight, Norman Oder posts a two-year-old NY Times interview with Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner with running commentary.

Bruce Ratner doesn't talk much to the press--and when he does, he's protected--so it's worth another look at excerpts from his 6/26/05 New York Times Magazine interview conducted by Deborah Solomon, headlined Stadium, Anyone?.

Note that then-Public Editor Byron Calame criticized the Times for failing to disclose the parent company's business relationship with Ratner, but the Times never printed a note or a letter about the issue. Also note that the headline refers to a stadium, not an arena. They're not interchangeable.

Q: How do you explain the sudden vogue for stadiums and arenas? So many teams want a new home -- the Mets in Queens, the Yankees in the Bronx, the Jets with their doomed project in Manhattan. And you're building a new arena for the Nets in Brooklyn.

A: It has to do with the economics of sports. The high salaries of athletes drive the whole thing, because it creates a need for revenue. In the case of the Nets, we need an arena that has suites and luxury seating, and where you can put up advertisements all over the place.

Ratner was being reasonably candid here, warning that the issue was maximizing revenue. He also could have said that the price of the team--the tail wagging the much larger Atlantic Yards dog--was a component. And he also could have explained that naming rights to the arena might pay much of its costs.

Click here for more of the wisdom according to Ratner, including this warning, "Like so many things in life, it was just a matter of money."

Posted by lumi at 8:50 AM

City Limits explains the 421-a changes

Atlantic Yards Report considers City Limit's examination of the 421-a reform bill that contained the exception for Atlantic Yards, dubbed "the Atlantic Yards carve-out."

There's no map (yet) of the exclusionary zones added to the 421-a reform legislation passed by the State Legislature last Thursday (but not yet signed by Governor Eliot Spitzer), but City Limits has a good article, headlined REDRAWING THE 421-A FORMULA FOR TAX BREAKS AND HOUSING, summarizing the law's multiple factors.

Along with the expansion of the zones where developers would be required to build affordable housing in exchange for a tax break, the bill features the notorious "Atlantic Yards carve-out" and, crucially for the real estate industry, an extension of the current law for six months--which should spark a frenzy of building, especially in Manhattan north of 96th Street and south of 14th Street, boundaries of the current exclusionary zone.

article

Posted by lumi at 8:45 AM

NYC Transit Authority releases sobering data, contradicting figures used to justify Atlantic Yards

The big news today is that subways are overcrowded — as if New Yorkers couldn't tell — and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The articles in the daily papers didn't mention the possible implications of the massive new developments all around Brooklyn, including the Atlantic Yards, but Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report had something to say.

The NY Times, Some Subways Found Packed Past Capacity

In an unusually candid effort at self-examination for a habitually insular agency, New York City Transit yesterday presented what could be called an index of straphanger frustration. It made an analysis of each subway line that shows at a glance how often trains run late, how crowded they are and whether more trains could be added to ease the problems.

What is revealed is both predictable and eye-opening. Many subway lines are simply maxed out, meaning there is no room on the tracks they use to add trains that could carry the swelling numbers of riders. And that has implications that range from day-to-day decisions about how trains travel through the system to long-term planning on how to best move people around a growing city.

MetroNY, Subway crush

Adding more cars to trains and extending station platforms could alleviate pressure. But that takes money the MTA doesn’t have, said Roberts, and one potential funding solution — congestion pricing — could exacerbate the problem in the short run, especially if diverted drivers choose to take trains on already overcrowded lines.

“There’s no room in the inn,” Roberts explained, before pointing out that other busy lines, such as the C and the 7, can still accommodate new riders. But that does mean the MTA would have to rely on buses to meet the increased demands caused by congestion pricing. “If all those cars don’t come in, there will be more room for the buses,” Roberts said.

amNewYork, Transit head: No quick fix for overcrowding

The [transit] authority has gathered engineers to brainstorm ways to ease overcrowding on the No. 2 and 3 lines, as well as the notorious Lexington Line, which is served by the No. 4, 5 and 6 trains.

TA officials realized that the lines are too overwhelmed after a study completed in April.

The overcrowded lines cannot fit any more trains on the tracks to help with packed cars during the busiest hour of the day, according to April statistics the TA released Monday. And the No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines had the most delays systemwide in April.

ATLANTIC YARDS???
Atlantic Yards Report, NYCT contradicts ESDC, saying subways are too crowded
Norman Oder ties in the latest news to the little we do know about Atlantic Yards, which, after yesterday's revelations, isn't much:

Contrast [the NY City Transit Authority's conclusions] with the sunny predictions of the Empire State Development Corporation in its Atlantic Yards environmental review, predictions that were criticized again and again by transportation analysts Brian Ketcham and Carolyn Konheim.

From the Atlantic Yards Final Environmental Impact Statement (Response 13-2):

The DEIS includes a detailed subway line haul analysis based on 2005 NYCT passenger counts that show that all subway routes serving the project site would continue to operate below capacity in the peak direction in the AM and PM peak hours at their maximum load points in both the 2010 and the 2016 future with the proposed project.

Apparently the statistics were a little bit out of date.

Posted by lumi at 7:50 AM

Downtown Brooklyn Building Boom

There's a lot of buzz these days about the building boom in Downtown Brooklyn, which as these two articles make clear, is in addition to Bruce Ratner's mammoth Atlantic Yards project.

NY Post, BOOM ON FLATBUSH

The north end of Flatbush Avenue is slated to see more real-estate development over the next five years than nearly any other slice of the Big Apple - even without Atlantic Yards.

More than $3.1 billion worth of construction projects is in the works for the nearly one-mile stretch running south from the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO to the Williamsburg Bank tower in Fort Greene, according to data provided by the city's Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

WNYC Newsroom, $3 Billion Building Boom on Brooklyn's Flatbush Ave.

From the Manhattan Bridge to the just south of 3rd Avenue - Flatbush Avenue is expected to get 4400 new residential units, 645,000 square feet of new shopping and 190,000 square feet of office space. The biggest project is a $750 million plan to renovate the Albee Square Mall into 900 apartments and 600,000 square feet of stores and offices.

The list of construction does not include the $4 billion Atlantic Yards development - that includes a new basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets.

NoLandGrab: That's $7.1 billion being poured into our little neck of the woods, folks.

Posted by lumi at 7:09 AM

New BID gets stamp of approval

Courier-Life Publications
By Stephen Witt

Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner has property interest that is about to be added to the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership's program:

The quasi-public Downtown Brooklyn Partnership... is expected to swallow yet another entity under its umbrella.

That entity is the newly established Court Livingston Schermerhorn Business Improvement District (CLS BID)....

Among the corporate names that have properties within this proposed BID are Forest City Ratner, Two Tress Management and Con Edison.

article

Posted by lumi at 7:04 AM

Downtown Change Continues, From 16 Court St. to Albee Square

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

In an editorial about real estate activity in Downtown Brooklyn, Dennis Holt contends:

The Atlantic Yards development is really several different projects, will be built like several projects, and should be known as several projects.

link

NoLandGrab: Holt's assertion is creative, but runs counter to the justification for the extraordinary exception for Atlantic Yards in the 421-a reform bill, passed by the State Assembly late last week.

This controversial exception, added to the bill by State Assemblyman and Chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party Vito Lopez in the last few days of the legislative session, allows for affordable housing to be calculated for the ENTIRE Atlantic Yards project in order to satisfy the 20% eligibility requirements for tax exemptions.

For any other development project in the State of NY, the percentage of affordable housing must be met for EACH building in order to qualify. Buildings such as those to be built in the first phase of Atlantic Yards, which will have little in the way of "affordable" units, would not qualify were it not for the special exception.

If, as Holt argues, the separate phases of Atlantic Yards should be considered as different projects, then shouldn't, at least, each phase be required to qualify individually for subsidies, instead of in aggregate, as the developer Forest City Ratner would prefer?

Holt is an ardent champion of Atlantic Yards, but on this point, developer Bruce Ratner probably would prefer that the chatty editorialist keep quiet.

Posted by lumi at 6:29 AM

Gentile Accused of ‘Politics’ In Board 10 Removals

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Phoebe Neidl

Has Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's removal of Atlantic Yards critics from Community Board 6 set a precedent for other politicians to purge their boards of dissenters?

In the wake of recent wrangling over Borough President Marty Markowitz’s removal of Community Board 6 members for their voiced opposition to Atlantic Yards, the question on everybody’s mind in Bay Ridge is if five members of Community Board 10 were removed as part of a political vendetta by city Councilmember Vincent Gentile.

article

Posted by lumi at 6:20 AM

June 25, 2007

DDDB PRESS RELEASE:
Memorial Fund Established in Memory of Preservation Giant Evelyn Ortner

Over $22,000 Raised for Fund at Sunday House Party

BROOKLYN, NY— An Evelyn Ortner Memorial Fund has been established for the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) legal efforts and has been seeded with over $22,000 from initial donors. The establishment of the fund was announced on June 24th at a fundraising house party in the Park Slope Victorian home of Clem Labine. The party was also hosted by Evelyn Ortner’s surviving husband and fellow preservationist Everett Ortner, as well as Park Slope activist Burnley Duke Dame of the Brownstone Revival Coalition.

Evelyn Ortner is best known for being a leader in the effort to first save Park Slope from destruction through an anti-redlining campaign and then achieving landmark status for the Park Slope Historic District.

Additionally, a Fort Greene fundraising house party for the DDDB Legal Fund held last Saturday, June 16th, raised over $24,000. That party included readings by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) and best selling author Jennifer Egan (The Keep).

“We are moved and honored to have the community’s financial support for our legal efforts in memory of Evelyn Ortner, an unequaled giant in the preservation movement who showed her faith in our work by joining the DDDB Advisory Board before her passing," said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein. "If donors would like to contribute to the Evelyn Ortner Memorial Fund they can contact us through our website. Our fundraising efforts continue to achieve strong results, and our efforts will continue as we see our lawsuits through to ultimate victory. We deeply appreciate the community's continued support.”

The DDDB Legal Fund is utilized entirely for the legal fees for the federal eminent domain lawsuit alleging that the Atlantic Yards project violates the US Constitution, and the state Supreme Court lawsuit challenging the state’s environmental review and approval of the project.

Photo from the party available here: http://dddb.net/houseparty.jpg

Posted by lumi at 12:08 PM

Development Tax Break Bill Faces Calls for Veto

NY Sun
By Eliot Brown

Atlantic Yards critics are not the only ones who are calling for Governor Spitzer to veto the 421-a reform bill, which included the Ratner clause, a unique exception to many of the reform proposals intended to benefit Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards development plan by carving out the project area from the exclusion zone, providing tax exemptions for buildings that do not include affordable housing, and hitting low-income tenants with higher rents.

Much of the flurry of criticism has been directed at the bill’s primary architect, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a Williamsburg Democrat who chairs the Assembly’s housing committee.
...
But in ceding ground to the real estate industry, Mr. Lopez said he created an exception for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, a move that has infuriated a base of affordable housing advocates who would likely have come out supporting the bill.

Instead, they have attacked the exception, which extends the tax break to the entire 6,000-unit complex — only part of it would have qualified under the council’s bill — though the overall income requirements for the complex were reduced.

Others who are criticizing the bill include supporters of New York City's version of 421-a reform.

article

NoLandGrab: Caveat.

Overall, income requirements were "reduced" in the bill at large, but the reduction does not apply to Atlantic Yards.

According to the Ratner clause, the income requirements are capped above those in the overall bill, and match the requirements the developer and ACORN already proposed. Ratner gets to average 70% AMI while all other developers are capped at 60% AMI.

It wouldn't be a surprise if, behind the scenes, other developers were quietly working to encourage Spitzer to eliminate the special exception for Atlantic Yards.

Posted by lumi at 11:23 AM

The 'Blight' Excuse for eminent domain

Atlantic Yards Report

From the weekend edition (June 23/24) of the Wall Street Journal, in an op-ed headlined The 'Blight' Excuse (subscribers only), Carla Main observes that, two years after the controversial Kelo v. New London decision, which affirmed the use of eminent domain for economic development, states and courts have responded by curbing that option--but another remains:

Armed with a blight exception, private property in nearly all of the loophole states may still be condemned and ultimately used for economic development...

But what is blight? A half-century of experience has demonstrated only that it is in the eye of the beholder, or perhaps more to the point, in the eye of the power holder.

Now New York's blight law may not be as bad as, for example, that in New Jersey, where courts have begun to reform it. But it's still arbitrary.

link

Posted by lumi at 11:14 AM

Albany Post Mortems

The Wonkster

As the state legislature goes home, at least for a few weeks, Newsday looks at the last six months in the state capital and deems it “disappointing.” And the paper blames Governor Eliot Spitzer, saying his administration “proven to be more self-righteous than effective and too arrogant by half.”

And the News aims its ire at a bill passed in the closing hours of the session that puts limits on the tax abatement for developers who build housing in the city. While most coverage of this has focused on the gift the bill bestows on Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards developments (see our earlier posting), it’s the rest of the measure that the News doesn’t like.

link

NoLandGrab: Spitzer is trying to pin the blame on the legislature and vice-versa.

Spitzer will have the chance to reëstablish his reformer credentials by vetoing this bill. The question remains, will he?

Posted by lumi at 11:04 AM

MIKE VS. RUDY IN 'BEST BOSS' BOUT

CITY HALL AIDES SPLIT OVER 'ELITIST' OR 'EGOTIST'

NY Post
By GINGER ADAMS OTIS and CARL CAMPANILE

In the battle of the autocratic vs. the despotic, it's so hard to choose who should lead our country. However, Bloomie has the spectre of Atlantic Yards following him around:

Bloomberg's close ties to the private sector raised the hackles of a few municipal agency heads, however.

"He takes care of his business-world friends, that's certainly clear," one sneered, referring to Bloomberg's relationship with Bruce Ratner, who received millions of dollars in city tax breaks for his Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

article

NoLandGrab: Favoritism for Ratner is unlikely to be an issue on Middle-America's radar.

However, since nearly 90% of Americans feel that EMINENT DOMAIN should not be used for private development, any candidate willing to make protection from eminent domain abuse an issue will have an instant populist advantage over the corporate candidate, Bloomberg, who is currently supporting the use of eminent domain in at least five neighborhoods in NYC.

Posted by lumi at 10:50 AM

Esteemed scholars discuss need to re-think development in Brooklyn

Courier Life Publications
By Joe Maniscalco

At a panel discussion on development in Brooklyn last week, "Atlantic Yards" was mentioned as an appropriate site for real affordable housing, and one panelist warned that more Brooklynites could be affected by eminent domain.

[Mark Naison, professor of American Studies & History and director of the Urban Studies Department at Fordham University] said he’d like to see nothing but affordable housing at Atlantic Yards and the new buildings going up on 4th Avenue.

Even those who own their own homes aren’t safe from the current course of development.

“Economic development is now viewed as a public good,” said [Lance Freeman, associate professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation]. “So what’s to stop the government from taking your property and giving it to someone else for what’s viewed as a higher or better use?”

article

Posted by lumi at 10:41 AM

Ratner to sign Carter

Reportedly, Nets owner and Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is set to re-sign star shooting guard Vince Carter to a contract extension.

These developments are in the wake of news that Ratner might receive a windfall tax exemption by way of a special clause in the 421-a reform bill, which would also raise rates on low-income tenants. [Read: Ratner has to make his money somewhere because subsidizing a money-losing basketball franchise can make a businessman grumpy.]

Here are some of the Carter headlines:
NY Daily News, Signs point to Carter staying
The Bergen Record, Carter, Nets near new deal
Hartford Courant, Nets, Carter Close To New Contract

Posted by lumi at 9:40 AM

The Olympic Hustle

Chicagoans are already beginning to fear what hosting the 2016 Summer Games might do to their city

In These Times
By Mischa Gaus

In the public discourse about the impacts and benefits of (potentially) hosting the 2016 Olympics, the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement gets a dishonorable mention:

A test case of how CBAs can go wrong is New York City’s Atlantic Yards development. The developer of the massive basketball arena-cum-highrise project in Brooklyn went behind closed doors with the anti-poverty group ACORN to sign a “historic” deal. Two years later, its terms keep getting worse. (Since signatories to CBAs are obligated to support them, ACORN still approves of the agreement even though the percentage and definition of affordable housing continues to shrink.)

Forest City Ratner, the Atlantic Yards’ development firm, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to other signatories, many of which were created just in time to approve the deal. Ratner’s pet groups had black leaders, while existing community groups—many with white leadership—were shut out. Consequently, many neighborhood groups now view CBAs as a slick divide-and-conquer tool of real-estate interests.

“What’s truly astonishing is that people don’t even realize this particular script has been played again and again,” says Patti Hagan of Prospect Heights Action Coalition, which agitates against the Atlantic Yards project. “They’re being led around by the promise of a little bit of money.”

article

NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards is now the poster project of government-gone-wild, eminent domain abuse, incredible shrinking benefits, extreme density, public authorities reform, reversal of urban planning orthodoxy, etc, etc...

Posted by lumi at 9:25 AM

Dem Boss swallows tongue

According to NY1, Brooklyn Democratic party boss Vito Lopez agreed to speak on camera about his addition of a special tax exemption for the already subsidy-laden Atlantic Yards plan in the State Assembly's 421-a reform bill. By the end of the day, Lopez had taken a vow of omerta when it comes to Bruce Ratner and his controversial development plan.

NoLandGrab: If the bill is so "great," then why so shy?

If you are outraged by the extraordinary giveaway to Ratner and Lopez's refusal to face the music, take a moment to call or email Governor Spitzer's office to let him know that a reform-minded leader would veto this bill:

PHONE: 518-474-8390
EMAIL: http://161.11.121.121/govemail

Posted by lumi at 8:54 AM

Forest City Announces Proposed Secondary Offering

Press Release, via Business Wire

Prinicipals of Forest City are selling off a small chunk of the company but will still retain control, especially of the Class B shares:

June 22, 2007
CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:FCEB) today announced that it has filed an immediately effective automatic shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate resales of up to 1.25 million shares of Class A common stock by certain shareholders.

The selling shareholders will be members of RMS, Limited Partnership (controlled by the Ratner, Miller and Shafran families), which owns a controlling interest in Forest City. The maximum number of shares that may be offered for sale represents approximately 3.9 percent of RMS, LP’s aggregate holdings of Forest City stock and approximately 1 percent of the issued and outstanding common stock of the Company. All proceeds from the sale of these shares will go to the holders, not to the Company. The proposed transactions are being considered for charitable, tax, estate planning and personal liquidity reasons.

Following the sale, the families will retain a controlling interest in Forest City by having beneficial ownership of 11,735,737 shares of Class A stock (15.1 percent of the total outstanding) and 19,170,787 shares of Class B stock (76.5 percent of the total outstanding), the latter of which have 10 votes for each share. The combined Class A and Class B holdings will represent 30.1 percent of the shares outstanding.

Sales under a shelf registration statement may be made from time to time. There is no assurance that any shares will be sold.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

Posted by lumi at 8:16 AM

West Harlem (Atlantic Yards redux)

An account of last week's press conference held by the Coalition to Preserve Community gave us a serious case of déjà vu.

Apparently, Columbia University and its lobbyist Bill Lynch have learned from Atlantic Yards that packing hearings with supporters to keep community members out and saddling the community with a massive Environmental Impact Statement in the middle of the summer, when Communtiy Boards are not in session, is definitely the best way to go:

The Coalition to Preserve Community held a spirited press conference and protest outside of the City Planning Commission offices this past Monday calling for a rescheduling of the certification ULURP process until the end of summer.

Once inside, it was a different story. Columbia stacked the hearing room with its employees so few community members could attend the hearing. There were probably as many people from Bill Lynch's lobby organization than community residents. Some protest attendees were discouraged and left, but many waited outside, filling up a holding room and listening to the hearing on loudspeaker.

They were of course unable to view the presentation. This was typical of the "railroad approach" being used by Columbia and city planning as articulated by a contingent of clergy including Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, of St. Mary's Church, and Rev. Dean Parks Morton, formally of St. John the Divine, who spoke at the press conference.

Despite the Coalition's outreach attempt to reach out by letter to the Mayor and all elected officials inviting them to join, not one attended the press conference to call for a rescheduling. State Senator Bill Perkins was the only one to write a letter requesting a Fall ULURP process. Community Board 9 and the West Harlem Local Development Corporation also sent letters to City Planning and Columbia asking for there not to be a disenfranchising summer review process.

The Columbia strategists have determined that the trade off between the terrible publicity they will get by this railroad job (they have been asked NOT to have a summer ULURP process for 3 years), was something they could live with since the momentum in the community against them is growing by leaps and bounds as the eviction policy which is at the groundwork of their plan becomes more and more evident.

If the the elected officials had joined the community and made a strong demand, we would not have had to deal with answering a 2700 page Environmental Impact Statement in July and August. Bill Lynch is doing his job, but we shall not be moved.

Coverage: The Indypendent, West Harlem Takes on Corporate U.
NY1, Columbia University's Proposed Expansion Comes Under Fire From Activists

Posted by lumi at 7:53 AM

June 24, 2007

TODAY: Victorian House Party

Clem Labine, Everett Ortner, Burnley Duke Dame, Kathy Evers, and Deirdre Lawrence invite you to a fund-raiser for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and the legal expenses to send the Atlantic Yards mega-project back to the drawing board.

Sunday, June 24, 2007. 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
199 Berkeley Place. (Between 7th & 8th Avenues)
Park Slope

Tickets $75

More info.

Posted by lumi at 9:00 AM

Sunday Comix

Posted by steve at 8:27 AM

Will the Times advise Spitzer to veto 421-a?

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder sees that Governor Spitzer should, for now, veto the 421-a revision just passed by the New York Legislature.

A veto shouldn't kill the measure for good. If there's to be a summer session to deal with outstanding legislation, there's no reason the legislature couldn't revisit 421-a.

Will The New York Times encourage Governor Spitzer to take a stand against the 421-a Ratner clause?

The New York Times has taken some strong stands against pork-barrel legislation--but not regarding legislation that would help its parent company's business partner, Forest City Ratner, even though the "Atlantic Yards carve-out" that is so egregious that Ratner and Assemblyman Vito Lopez are unwilling to defend it.

link

Posted by steve at 8:25 AM

Critics Say Affordable Housing Bill Amounts To Sweetheart Deal For Ratner

NY1

The 421-a Ratner clause passed by the New York Legislature turns potentially good reform into something bad.

On paper, it seems like it has good intentions: a measure to greatly expand a law giving tax breaks to developers who build housing for low income and working class New Yorker City residents, but critics say beware the fine print.

"In addition to broadly creating more affordable housing around the city, the bill contains sub paragraph 13, which says for the Atlantic Yards project that Forest City Ratner is developing, even the market rate buildings can get a tax break, and our estimates are that could be a tax giveaway of as much as $100 million,” says Brad Lander of the Pratt Center for Community Development.

That’s $100 million dollars on top of $300 million in direct city and state subsidies, plus another $1.4 billion in tax exempt bonds Ratner is expected to seek to finance his mega project, which calls for 16 high-rise residential and office towers, plus a new arena for the Nets Basketball team in Prospect Heights.

link/audio (dialup/broadband)

NoLandGrab: You don't really need to be a critic of Atlantic Yards to see what's wrong here. The Sweetheart Deal (can't you just smell the pork?) is simply a matter of fact.

Posted by steve at 7:32 AM

Jeffries Turns on Atlantic Yards

The New York Observer

Matthew Schuerman gives his take on Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries' position on the 421-a Ratner clause.

Hakeem Jeffries, the freshman Assembly Member, was once accused of being a toady for the developer of Atlantic Yards, Forest City Ratner. But he had gradually become more critical, and the last minute carve-out in the 421a housing incentive bill that The Observer reported on Wednesday made him fairly seethe at the project's cost to taxpayers.

link

Posted by steve at 7:21 AM

Hakeem Jeffries explains his 421-a vote

Atlantic Yards Report

Here's some clarification on Hakeem Jeffries' position on the 421-a Ratner clause. He was in favor of the 421-a reform, but voted against a chapter amendment in order to reject the exemptions for Atlantic Yards.

Assemblyman Jeffries did not get the opportunity to vote on 4408-A since he was in the district that morning attending graduations for P.S. 11 and P.S. 20, and serving as the keynote graduation speaker for P.S. 9 and M.S. 353. He returned to Albany that afternoon, but the vote had already taken place. Assemblyman Jeffries supports the bill since it dramatically expands the 421-A affordability requirements to low and middle-income neighborhoods throughout New York City.

On Friday, June 22, a chapter amendment, A.9293, that clarifies the Atlantic Yards 421-A carve-out provisions, came to the floor. Assemblyman Jeffries voted against this bill, and was joined by at least two colleagues from Brooklyn, Joan Millman and Rhoda Jacobs. He could not support a bill that related solely to treating the Atlantic Yards project in a more favorable way than any other development in New York City, without justification.

link

Posted by steve at 7:07 AM

Spitzer and Legislature Sprint to Finish Line

The New York Times

The Times includes Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez's 421-a Ratner clause in its coverage of the end of the legislative session.

Under current plans, the 16 Atlantic Yards buildings are to include 2,250 subsidized rental apartments among more than 6,000 condominium and rental units. Several of the buildings contain no subsidized housing at all, but Mr. Lopez’s bill would allow those buildings to qualify for the tax break so long as the overall complex contains 20 percent subsidized housing. It also would allow Forest City to offer some subsidized apartments to families with higher incomes than would otherwise qualify under the new law. Together, the changes have drawn concern from some housing advocates and city officials. But the Senate approved the measure on Thursday night.

“The city contemplated whether it needed to do this and concluded that it did not, that Atlantic Yards should get a tax break for a building that has 20 percent affordable, but that the condo buildings should pay property taxes,” said Brad Lander, director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. “It achieves no additional affordability at Atlantic Yards but costs the taxpayers $100 million.”

link

Posted by steve at 6:48 AM

June 23, 2007

Tell the Governor - Veto 421a

Tell Governor Spitzer that the 421-a property tax exemption reform bill is unacceptable in its present form:

A special provision would grant Forest City Ratner a property tax exemption for all of the market rate condominiums in Atlantic Yards—a break that could total up to $170 million in lost tax revenue for the city. No other developer or project is allowed to receive this lucrative tax break unless they include 20% affordable housing in each building constructed. Furthermore, the special provision allows Forest City Ratner to charge higher rents for its “affordable” units. This exclusive benefit is in addition to the developer’s request for an extraordinary $1.4 billion in tax-free housing subsidies.

Contact Governor Spitzer.

Call: 518-474-8390

or

Email: http://161.11.121.121/govemail

Posted by steve at 10:23 AM

"Horrendous" Pork in Albany!

Gothamist

The Gothamist includes reaction to the 421-a Ratner clause as part of a post-legistlative session round-up:

One bill that did pass was a revision of the 421-a tax break. The bill expanded the areas where builders must offer 20% of its apartments as affordable housing in order to get a tax break, but it turns out that the Atlantic Yards project is getting a deal and we think it goes something like this: The entire complex's housing stock will be taken into consideration, versus looking at it on a building by building basis, so some buildings won't have affordable housing in them, and the average affordable income number will be raised, offering the units to "higher-income" families who need affordable housing. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez has a withering column about it.

link

Posted by steve at 10:05 AM

A p.r. man's fate: fighting the West Side Stadium, flacking for the Brooklyn Arena

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder provides some history for us about Forest City Ratner spokesman Loren Riegelhaupt. While he did p.r. work for Madison Square Garden, he seemed to know a waste of taxpayer money when he saw it:

"Whether it is the most expensive football stadium ever or the most expensive protest area ever, the West Side Stadium is a colossal waste of $600 million in taxpayer resources and that's what the vast majority of New Yorkers are really protesting against."

With a different employer, perhaps he's now in favor of colossal wastes of taxpayer resources.

link

Posted by steve at 10:00 AM

Who is Loren Riegelhaupt, and why Is he quoted in this article?

AP via AM New York

An article appearing on AM New York "Keep it down: New York City noise regulations going into effect" manages to mix up New York City noise rules with rules for the proposed STATE project Atlantic Yards.

Loren Riegelhaupt, spokesman for Forest City Ratner Companies, the company behind the massive Atlantic Yards project that includes a new Brooklyn arena for the NBA's Nets, said keeping the sound down is good business.

"As part of construction you have to mitigate noise measures, and we'll do everything we're asked to do," he said. As part of the plan to stifle construction noise around the Atlantic Yards project, the company is buying double-pained windows and quiet air conditioners for about 700 nearby neighbors to help offset sound.

NLG: The air conditioners and new windows have nothing to do with any New York City rules. These are supposed to be part of the mitigations mentioned in the State Environrnental Impact Statement. These mitigations are somehow supposed to make up for making the Prospect Heights neighborhood unlivable during construction of the Atlantic Yards development.

link

Posted by steve at 9:28 AM

Assemblyman Jeffries Votes “No” Against Atlantic Yards

Press Statement from Assemblyman Jeffries

Assemblyman Jeffries Votes “No” Against Atlantic Yards 421-a Carve-out Provisions

Assemblyman Jeffries today voted “No” on A.9293, legislation introduced by Vito Lopez that would treat the controversial Atlantic Yards project more favorably than other developments as it relates to the 421-a tax abatement program.

“The Atlantic Yards project has feasted on government funds for far too long. Enough is enough. There is absolutely no justification for treating Atlantic Yards better than any other development project in New York, when Forest City Ratner has already received $300 million in government subsidies.”

Joining Assemblyman Jeffries in voting against the bill is Assemblywoman Joan M