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June 20, 2007
MISSING RIDGE HILL/CITY COUNCIL TAPES ON THE INTERNET
Community First Development Coalition in Yonkers alerted us that a the previously missing video tape of the July 11, 2006 Yonkers City Council meeting have been posted on the Internet on a weblog called YonkersTV.
Regular NoLandGrab readers will recall that these tapes had gone missing when Federal investigators issued a subpoena to the Yonkers City Council. Though no one knows the target of the investigation, judging from the scope, it appears to focus on circumstances surrounding Bruce Ratner's highly controversial Ridge Hill development plan.
The Journal News explains (see, Missing Yonkers meeting video sought by feds is now on Internet):
The Ridge Hill development is one of the largest planned in Westchester County and would cover 81 acres between the New York State Thruway and the Sprain Brook Parkway, near the southern end of Grassy Sprain Reservoir. It would include 1,000 housing units, 1.3 million square feet of retail space, restaurants, a hotel and movie theaters. The developer is Forest City Ratner, whose Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn includes a basketball arena for the Nets, 6,400 housing units, retail and office space in 17 buildings.
Ridge Hill was opposed by some residents and surrounding municipalities, who said the development would spawn massive traffic congestion. The municipalities dropped their court opposition last year after an agreement to form a task force to ease traffic.
The City Council's approval of the zone change by a 5-2 vote last July required a "supermajority vote" - a majority plus one - because the proposal was opposed by the Westchester County Planning Board. The council had previously voted 4-3 in December 2005 for the zoning change after adopting a local law that eliminated the "supermajority" requirement. But that local law was overturned by the state Supreme Court, nullifying the change.
In the July vote, Lesnick, who came into office in January 2005, and Council member Sandy Annabi voted for the measure, although both had been plaintiffs in the lawsuit that blocked the earlier zone change.
Posted by lumi at June 20, 2007 9:47 AM