No Land Grab

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July 31, 2007

Atlantic Yards Still Largest Project on the Table

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Dennis Holt

No sense in ripping into an opinion piece that locates Bruce Ratner's controversial 22-acre Atlantic Yards plan in Downtown Brooklyn — it's in Prospect Heights folks, despite what Bruce Ratner, the City and Mr. Holt claim (link).

And yes, Atlantic Yards is larger than any project that's actually slated for the Downtown Brooklyn plan, where there's plenty of "economic benefits" to go around, without having to take private historic homes on Duffield St. (see, Duffield St. Underground, More proof that eminent domain is not needed on Duffield), for hoteliers like Sam Chang, who contribute to Borough President Marty Markowtiz's campaign war chest (see, The Brooklyn Paper, Marty Money Misses Mark).

Posted by lumi at 8:11 PM

Talk of the Town

frieze.com
By Eugenia Bell

An essay on the trio of exhibits re-examining the legacy of Robert Moses notes that the controversy has triggered debate on contemporary planning issues:

For many New Yorkers the trio of shows (at the Museum of the City of New York, the Queens Museum of Art and Columbia University’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery) has also prompted discussion about some of the lengthy planning deliberations the city is currently experiencing. (Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, Hudson Yards in west midtown Manhattan and the veritable impasse at Ground Zero are only the most obvious.) Thanks in no small part to the efforts of urban theorist Jane Jacobs in the 1960s, New York’s historical experience of Robert Moses’ work has led to greater community input and activism when it comes to major redevelopment projects, many of which raise the ugly spectre of one of the most reviled of Moses’ crusades – eminent domain.

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Posted by lumi at 7:45 PM

It came from the Blogosphere...

Streets Blog, Bike Parking on Steroids

Over half of the people who attend Giants games do not travel by car, a somewhat remarkable fact in car-crazy California. (Note to Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards bosses: Look at what San Fran is doing to encourage people not to bring their automobile to the stadium).

The Knickerblogger, Going To the Horse's Mouth
"Knickerblogger" gets his knickers all in a twist after reading last week's article in the Daily News about negotiations between the Bloomberg administration and Ratner over the special exception in the State's 421-a reform bill:

Note the last line:

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to discuss details of the negotiations but said Forest City Ratner and city officials had hammered out an agreement this week.

Since when is Forest City deciding what a tax break should be? Why negations with Forest City and not the state - the Daily News, perhaps unwhittingly has pointed out the massive corruption & influence of Forest City, perhaps the city, wishing to save time, went to the horse's mouth.

Brooklynian, Another white discharge in the Atlantic Yards footprint

Okay, this is weird. A few months ago, there was a discharge of the emergency fire retardant at the gas station on Flatbush & Dean. I was there and photographed it. ...
Well, it happened again.

Photos and video posted.

Gumby Fresh, Clean Government
A local cleaner gives Gumby Freshy the heebee geebees after hanging an 8x12 photo of Brooklyn's Cheerleader in Chief Marty Markowitz workin' the camera at a gathering of local businessmen. Now the photo is gone and Freshy wonders if the Arena Bagel Brigade had something to do with it.

Posted by lumi at 6:04 PM

Would FCR's development fee match its investment? A few clues

Atlantic Yards Report

Once again, Norman Oder goes where no other reporter has gone before. Today he connects the dots to address the question of how much of its own money Forest City plans on investing in its controversial Atlantic Yards megaproject. This is important because the development company stands to make a substantial return, whether or not they are investing skads of their own money.

How much money would developer Forest City Ratner put up to build Atlantic Yards? We don't know, but there are hints, not previously reported, that suggest that a good portion of the developer's investment might be covered by its developer fee alone.

NoLandGrab: Simply put, Forest City might have to put up very little, if any, of its own money, since the developer's fee itself might cover the company's "investment."

By compiling information from an Empire State Development Corporation memo made public in the lawsuit questioning the Atlantic Yards environmental review, a recently released page from Ratner's bid for the MTA railyard, and a cash-flow analysis prepared by Ratner and KPMG, Norman Oder notes that:

It's quite possible that Forest City will invest only a fraction of the now $926.2 million [private equity investment.] Add outside investors. Add cash flow from the Barclays sponsorship--say $20 million a year. Add profits from condos. Of course there are many question marks, but it could be a very sweet deal.
...
Forest City Ratner's payday, which would include not just the development fee but a segment of other revenues, could be much, much larger. So it's not implausible that the development fee could, in itself, cover a significant portion of the FCR's investment.

True, developers typically get rewarded for putting together a complicated deal. The question is how much. And Forest City sure hasn't come clean.

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NLG: Why should it matter how much Ratner plans to invest and stands to make? If it does matter, given there is an exceptional amount of public investment and subsidy involved, Ratner and the State should make these figures public. If it doesn't, then why haven't they?

Posted by lumi at 9:53 AM

Forest City Acquires Interest in 12.7-Acre Site for Commercial Development in Las Vegas

Press release via dBusinessNews Cleveland:

CLEVELAND -- Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:FCEB) today announced that it has acquired a 60 percent interest in a 12.7-acre site in downtown Las Vegas.

Forest City acquired its 60 percent interest in the site from entrepreneurial real estate developer Livework LLC, which will hold the remaining 40 percent interest in the property. The total cost of the site is approximately $136 million. KeyBank National Association was the lead lender on the transaction.

Forest City and Livework intend to work with city officials to develop a major regional transportation terminal, city office buildings and other commercial buildings on the five-city-block site, strategically located in the downtown business and city government district, which includes City Hall. The site is also located near hundreds of new condominiums currently under construction, and the 12-million-square-foot World Market Center, a mixed-use home and lifestyle design campus that consists of more than 500 furniture showrooms, and is being further expanded to include office space, a convention center and residences.

Charles A. Ratner, president and chief executive officer of Forest City Enterprises, said, “Forest City is looking forward to working very closely with Livework and the Las Vegas community to develop this site in one of America’s strongest and fastest-growing real estate markets. We have been developing major land projects and retail properties in Las Vegas for more than 20 years. We believe in this market and our new partners, and look forward to creating significant value for our shareholders.”

press release

NoLandGrab: Though this sounds more like a traditional mixed-use Forest City project that just happens to be in the gambling capital of the world, remember that the company has been desperately trying to break into the casino business for years:

• Just last year they lost a bid to develop a giant mixed-use slot-machine parlor in Pittsburgh.
• In the 2006 election in Ohio, Forest City was hoping voters would approve a gambling referendum, which would have allowed the development company to "open a slots parlor with up to 3,500 machines at its Tower City property, on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River." The referendum did NOT pass.
• In November 2005, Forest City execs were spotted hob-nobbing with Steve Wynn in Pennsylvania.
• Here in NY, according to lobbying reports, Forest City has devoted time and money to promoting casino gambling opportunities.

Posted by lumi at 9:12 AM

Stated Meeting: Cell Phones, Yes, Markers, No

From Gotham Gazette's overview of City Council actions by Courtney Gross:

In a counter move for the special State zoning override for Atlantic Yards, residents and business owners around Bruce Ratner's controversial project are seeking changes in zoning to protect their neighborhoods from further encroachment:

In response to the mega-development Atlantic Yards, part of the rezoning addresses preserving the commercial corridors of Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street, but also keeps nearby areas of low-rise and historic residential rowhouses intact. The rezoning, according to Councilmember Letitia James, will ensure historic residential properties do not immediately abut gargantuan developments.

link

Posted by lumi at 9:05 AM

The not-so-natural process of Williamsburg gentrification

Atlantic Yards Report

Local ACORN Dir. Bertha Lewis has tried to sell Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan as a hedge against the rising tide of gentrification, explaining "If I could stop one iota of gentrification, I’ll do it."

Norman Oder looks at an analysis of gentrification and affordable housing in Greenpoint-Williamsburg, where inclusionary zoning and market forces may give Atlantic Yards watchdogs some clues to whether or not Bertha Lewis has a clue.

So, how well did the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning work in terms of providing affordable housing? How far along is gentrification? Some sobering observations, if not a full statistical analysis, emerge from an analysis by graduate students at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. The report, Gentrification and Rezoning, Williamsburg-Greenpoint, was produced in conjunction with The New York City Community Council.

For example, the study concludes that inclusionary zoning—which provides increased development rights in exchange for including affordable housing—has worked well on waterfront parcels, where there is both public land to be used and sufficient space to build back.

However, on smaller upland parcels where there’s less room to build bigger overall, “the inclusionary program does not appear to be enough of an incentive to encourage the development of affordable housing.” Instead, developers have taken advantage of the existing 421-a tax exemption, which, until reforms go into effect next year, does not require affordable units in exchange.

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Posted by lumi at 9:03 AM

On Federalism: Eminent Domain

I'm With Fred

Will any of the presidential candidates seek the upper hand with voters by embracing one of the most populist no-brainer issues?

If you can believe it, this week, the non-candidate and high-powered Capitol Hill lobbyist cum actor, Fred Thompson, blogged on the Kelo decision and his support for eminent domain reform legislation.

Not surprisingly, the public responded to Kelo with outrage. Since then, numerous states passed legislation aimed at curbing an abuse of eminent domain powers. In the 2006 election cycle, 12 states held referendums proposing to limit state governments’ abilities to confiscate property a la Kelo. Ten states approved the proposals, each with strong majorities.

Now, nearly two weeks ago, members of both parties in Congress introduced legislation in the House that would deny federal economic funding to state and local governments upon a finding that those governments had abused their power of eminent domain by seizing private property that would be used for private economic development. This is an important issue, and Members of Congress need to act to make sure that federal funds are not used to enable these sorts of takings of private property. Another option would be the reissuance of President Ronald Reagan’s Executive Order 12630, which directs federal agencies to “first do no harm” to property rights when issuing new regulations.

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Posted by lumi at 8:42 AM

July 30, 2007

Real Estate Round-Up

Brooklyn Daily Eagle rehashes last week's coverage in the Daily News that the Bloomberg administration has reached a deal with Bruce Ratner on the special carveout clause in the 421-a reform legislation. The Eagle included the claim that the new deal "could save the city $100 million."

The News reports that officials agreed yesterday to reduce the length of time Forest City Ratner is exempt from paying property taxes by 10 years, to 15 years, on the 1,900 market rate condos in the arena and high rise development.

“The tweak” could save the city $100 million.

Ratner spokesman Loren Riegelhaupt tells the News, “As far as we’re concerned, the issue has been resolved.”

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NoLandGrab: While Ratner may still stand to gain $200 million from the special treatment awarded by the tweak to the legislation, it is billed as a $100 million savings for New Yorkers — brilliant!.

Posted by lumi at 10:33 AM

Some AY echoes in Williamsburg's New Domino plan (& hype)

Atlantic Yards Report

Whether local activists win, lose or draw in their fight against Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards scheme, they've made it difficult for NYC to propose any large-scale redevelopment plan that doesn't draw parallels or react against the poster-project for bad urban planning.

Today Norman Oder analyzes the New Domino plan.

I can’t evaluate whether the New Domino plan is worthwhile or not—more details need to emerge, and some significant local players, among them Community Board 1 and Phil DePaolo's New York Community Council, have yet to weigh in. A public hearing on the Draft Scope, the first step to a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and potential approval of the project next year, will be held from 2 to 5 pm and 6 to 8:45 pm tomorrow at the Department of City Planning (DCP) in Lower Manhattan. (Will the room be big enough?)

But it's clear the plan deserves more scrutiny beyond the hype, especially given some parallels with the AY promotion effort.

The Mad O considers the similarities...

The New Domino would offer, like AY:

• significant density
• a starchitect (in this case Rafael Viñoly)
• an emphasis on affordable housing (30 percent), requiring significant (but unstated) public subsidies
• plans for “park space,” in the developer’s words, that’s actually “public open space,” according to DCP (4 acres)
• a questionable solution for transit (shuttles to the distant subway, plus a water taxi)
• endorsement by grassroots neighborhood advocates (El Puente, Churches United)
• a fast-track plan in the summer (hearing July 31)
• a considerable amount of parking (1450 spaces)
• a partner-developer with a not so beloved track record (The Katan Group)

...and differences:

...besides the city review and no request for direct subsidy. AY would include no historic preservation, despite calls to save the Ward Bakery. Perhaps most notably, Refinery LLC is run by managing partner CPC Resources (CPCR), the for-profit subsidiary of Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), which has a 30-year history of financing affordable housing throughout New York.

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Posted by lumi at 10:09 AM

News for Forest City Lovers and Love-to-Haters

[Regarding the concert poster, go figure.]

BusinessWire, Forest City Signs Office Tenant for New York Times Building

The Real Estate Observer ran news on this deal a week and a half ago, but the official press release is interesting because, as far as we can tell, this is the first time that Forest City CEO Chuck Ratner is the only quote in a company press release for a New York project. Typically the job would have fallen to cousin Bruce Ratner.

Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:FCEB) today announced that it has signed a new office tenant for the 1.5-million-square-foot New York Times Building, which brings signed office lease agreements to approximately 90 percent.

JAMS, The Resolution Experts, a national mediation and arbitration firm, has agreed to lease more than 31,000 square feet of office space.
...
Charles A. Ratner, president and chief executive officer of Forest City Enterprises, said, “The New York Times Building is quickly becoming the signature building in our office portfolio and on the New York City skyline. The interest and reaction from tenants have been wonderful. We look forward to this fall when our tenants can begin welcoming their clients and doing business in their new offices.”

NoLandGrab: Reading the tea leaves, this is a sign that the press and marketing effort is in full swing to merge the two brands, Forest City Enterprises and Forest City Ratner, after last year's merger of the New York subsidiary into the Cleveland mothership. No longer can the Cleveland-based company hold Cousin Bruce's operations at arm's length, feigning ignorance of the local tactics, the abuse of eminent domain or the size and shape of the company's projects.

inRich.com, Office buildings sold

Forest City Enterprises Inc. is expanding its presence in the Richmond area.

The co-developer of Short Pump Town Center and The Shops at White Oak Village shopping centers bought 11 office buildings in Henrico.

"We love Richmond," said James A. Ratner, chairman and CEO of Forest City's commercial development division. "We think it is a fabulous market."

Forest City bought the buildings from several Pruitt family companies, said Thomas E. Pruitt. His Pruitt Associates also are developers of the two shopping centers with Forest City.

The deal was completed Friday. Terms were not disclosed.

Nine of the 11 buildings are in the Glen Forest office park off Forest Avenue near Glenside Drive. The two other buildings are in the Commerce Center off West Broad Street.

The 11 buildings have a total of 600,000 square feet of space.

Pruitt said he has been approached by real estate companies in the past, but there was never real interest in selling.

But he said he and the family decided to sell because of the relationship with Forest City. "To be able to sell our portfolio to a friend who would take great care of our employees and tenants; to obtain a fair price and to provide an exit strategy for my family makes the closing a little easier for me," he said.

Posted by lumi at 9:18 AM

EMINENT DOMAINIA

Duffield St. Underground, NY Times writes major Eminent Domain article, fails to mention Brooklyn
The NY Times ran a lengthy article about eminent domain in the Tri-State region, and forgot to mention Atlantic Yards, currently the largest and most ham-fisted of all the region's projects, and one being developed by their business partner, Bruce Ratner. They also neglected to mention Brooklyn altogether, where Atlantic Yards isn't the only taking in town.

The article fails to mention Brooklyn anywhere in the article, even though the Duffield Street homes are threatened with eminent domain for the purposed of economic development. Duffield Street is remarkable because the City wants to destroy a potentially important historic destination for ill-defined economic benefits.

NY Post, TASTY APPLE DANISH EYED FOR CONEY IS.
The NYC Economic Development Corporation flew in a couple of Danish bigwigs from a company specializing in running one of Europe's historic amusement parks to discuss the redevelopment of Coney Island, since Joseph Sitt's plans have failed to impress everyone.

With Sitt controlling 10 acres of prime boardwalk real estate, both he and City Hall will have to reach a compromise or risk Coney Island remaining stagnant.

The city could theoretically try taking Sitt's land through eminent domain, but Lieber said he's "not ready to go there" when asked about condemnation.

The [Wilmington] News Journal, Letters to the Editor
One reader explains why using eminent domain for a private project is un-American:

When the government takes somebody's property and turns into a library, that is a public use. But when the government takes somebody's property and turns to a richer buyer at a multiple of the price, that is not fair and not American.

I grew up in a Communist country and I came to the United States exactly because this sort of thing was not supposed to happen here.

Another reader points out the downside of some state eminent domain "reform" bills:

Delaware trumpeted the laws it passed last year as a local cure for the problem but all they actually did was make it easier for the state and municipalities to take property by laying out exactly what they needed to do.

U-T Opinion Online, Costco the bully -- of both rivals and churches

It is no coincidence that the states where [eminent domain] takings are most rampant--such as New York, New Jersey, and California--tend to be littered with densely packed population clusters. Between zoning parameters and the stubborn space crunch, it can be tricky to plunk down a new megastore in such areas. Building a new Home Depot or Target outlet in, say, the North Jersey suburbs often means razing existing homes and businesses. Most retail powerhouses have relied on municipal condemnation powers as a last resort, when negotiations with property owners have failed. Yet few have done so as frequently as Costco.

When city leaders genuflect to big-box retailers, nothing is sacred, not even church property...

World Net Daily, City ousts congregation
If you thought that condemning land for Costco was an anomaly, taking church land happens in NY State too, only when this congregation bought a building as a permanent home in which to hold services, no one told them that the town of North Hempstead was already planning to use eminent domain.

Property purchased by a small congregation in the state of New York is being seized through eminent domain by local government, which claims the property is "blighted" and zoned for business.

St. Luke's Pentecostal Church bought the property -- including a moderately-sized, run-down building -- in 1997 as a permanent home for its congregation of just over 100 members. The church has been meeting in rented facilities for more than 20 years.

But the town of North Hempstead stepped-in last year to purchase the property as part of its redevelopment project.

La Tribuna Hispanica USA, Hempstead: Gran proyecto y grandes exigencias

Not to be confused with N. Hempstead, the Town of Hempstead has its own plans to "confiscar 58 propiedades privadas (bajo la ley del "eminent domain")."

Leyó mas en español o inglés.

Posted by lumi at 8:28 AM

July 29, 2007

Before you try to reinvent a place, you should be able to equal it.

Veritas et Venustas

IT'S the Sixties all over again: architects, politicians and machers are promoting urban-removal mega-projects — and the people are fighting back. In the early Sixties, Jane Jacobs fought Robert Moses and helped stop a highway through the middle of Washington Square and Greenwich Village. A year or so later, Jane Jacobs, Philip Johnson and Jackie Onassis fought against the demolition of McKim, Mead & White's Pennsylvania Station, but lost, and the city suffered.

”You used to enter the city like a god, now you creep in like a rat,” Vincent Scully famously said about the new and old stations. It's funny that the buildings architects propose today even look like those 1960s buildings (before the Beatles and the Summer of Love). All Power to the People, baby.

The "villages" proposed by New York City's Deputy Mayor in their Olympic proposal are obvious examples of what I'm talking about. The Deputy Mayor even considers himself a new Robert Moses (and says Jane Jacobs was wrong). Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards is another, although Frank Gehry's architecture doesn't look neo-Sixties.

link

Posted by amy at 11:48 AM

Friday Reflections: Whaddaya Mean, Brooklyn?

The Written Nerd contemplates where in Brooklyn to put a new bookstore - and in the process considers what "Brooklyn" means...

Brooklynites, both natives and those who moved here from elsewhere, are often incredibly passionate about where they live. It shows up in their willingness to engage with local issues like the Atlantic Yards project. It shows up in fierce, joyfully irrational neighborhood loyalties – how do you think Neighborhoodies got so successful? But it shows up sometimes in a sort of shamed defensiveness about the changes happening in the borough – about the fact that Brooklyn's cultural vitality can sometimes mean development that pushes out those without money to spend. Just look at the Brooklynian boards sometime for a sampling of the names those tech-savvy Brooklynites are calling each other: yuppie, gentrifier, scared white liberal. In a place with so much diversity, where the breath of fresh creative juices often means the potential for commercial exploitation, tensions are bound to exist, along with some jockeying for authenticity. It can be a challenge to navigate that. Call me naïve, but I think generally not being jerks to each other is a good place to start.

link

Posted by amy at 11:41 AM

The Times’s continued blind spots in its eminent domain coverage

Atlantic Yards Report looks at the missing stories in today's New York Times eminent domain article, and explains why the article only appears in regional sections (Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut):

Maybe the placement of the article made it easier for the Times to fail to acknowledge that its parent company is a beneficiary of eminent domain, for the new Times Tower in Manhattan. Or to mention the eminent domain donnybrook concerning Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and developer Forest City Ratner, the same developer that has partnered with the Times Company in building the Times Tower.

Sure, reporters have to pick and choose, but the Times does point out how, in the wake of legislative inaction in all three states, in New Jersey, the courts have stepped in, assisted by the state’s Public Advocate, overruling the designation that “unproductive” properties—as in, not built out to full zoning rights—are blighted. That’s further stopped a major development plan in Newark. As I’ve written, were Atlantic Yards in New Jersey, the new rules might stymie the project.

And the Times, of course, never covered the May 3 court hearing in the suit challenging the Atlantic Yards environmental review, during which Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden expressed skepticism about the designation of blight.

The pattern is dismaying. In a front-page round-up article on eminent domain in February 2006, the Times similarly failed to mention Atlantic Yards or the Times Tower. However, three months later, when Mayor Mike Bloomberg defended eminent domain as a priority, the Times in its coverage acknowledged the newspaper company's own history.

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Posted by amy at 10:59 AM

A window on the Times-Ratner relationship, from the top? Not til 2050

Atlantic Yards Report

The New York Times Company announced last week that it will donate its vast archives, which date back to 1851, to The New York Public Library, but the key elements for Atlantic Yards watchers probably won't be available until 2050.
...
The Times and AY

Has Sulzberger, concerned about the parent company's relationship with Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, the newspaper company's partner on the new Times Tower, influenced the Times's editorial policy on Atlantic Yards? I suspect so, as in the newspaper's conflicted silence prior to the Atlantic Yards approval last December by the Public Authorities Control Board.

After all, the Times was willing to guarantee a loan to the developer. As I've written before, I don't think the business relationship means Times reporters are in the tank, though I believe the newspaper has an obligation to be exacting in its coverage, and has not fulfilled that obligation.

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Posted by amy at 10:55 AM

Now You Own It, Soon You Don’t?

New York Times
RUSS BUETTNER

Woohoo! The New York Times has an article about eminent domain abuse! But...wait...are there two missing stories, both involving Bruce Ratner, one involving the New York Times itself?

“New Jersey and New York are among the worst states in the country for eminent domain abuses — New Jersey is really awful,” said Dana Berliner, a senior lawyer at the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va., which represents residential and business owners facing condemnation. “What’s interesting is that New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are some of the few states that have not managed to pass any decent legislation.”
...
New York, which already allowed the taking of property for private use, saw its lawmakers introduce 17 related bills in 2006. But the Legislature passed only those laws seeking to ban two specific projects.
...
Mr. Brodsky introduced a bill last year calling for the appointment of an eminent domain ombudsman, compensating displaced homeowners at 150 percent of fair market value, and requiring that all condemnations for economic development be part of a comprehensive plan.

THE bill gained no traction in the State Assembly. “This is an area where there’s a lot of comfort with a bad law, and that’s unfortunate,” Mr. Brodsky said.

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Posted by amy at 10:36 AM

That's Quite a Rock

Wall Street Journal

Retail prices for rough-diamond jewelry vary considerably, from $600 for a small uncut diamond set in a stainless steel ring at De Beers to $750,000 one-of-a-kind necklace of pearls and rough diamonds by Frank Gehry at Tiffany.

But because some of the usual key standards for assessing a diamond's value, such as cut and clarity, don't apply to uncut stones, it can be tough for consumers to evaluate pricing. "It's pretty much a blind purchase for consumers," says Tom Moses, a senior vice president at Gemological Institute of America, which set the widely used "4C" standards (cut, color, carat and clarity) for cut diamonds. The institute doesn't have a system for evaluating uncut diamonds.

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NoLandGrab: The "4C" standard can also be applied to the Atlantic Yards proposal: tax Cuts, division on Color lines, Clarity of the public process, and the dangling Carat. (ok, wrong carrot, but try finding a pun on carat!)

Posted by amy at 10:12 AM

July 28, 2007

On complex land-use choices and "land monopoly"

Atlantic Yards Report delves into Robert Fitch's 1993 book The Assassination of New York.

Fitch's single-focus analysis meant critics in even the left-wing Nation and Monthly Review found the book's explanations--for example, of the decline in manufacturing or the city's struggles--incomplete. But they also found the book valuable, and there are some passages of particular resonance today.

Beyond Jane Jacobs

Hence this pointed observation, which substitutes a Rockefeller for the usual culprit, Moses, and raises a larger point about current land-use battles in Brooklyn and beyond:
When David Rockefeller tried to run the Lower Manhattan Expressway through Washington Square Park, you didn't have to have a degree in planning from MIT to know it was destructive. Jane Jacobs led the charge and miraculously sent the establishmentarians back to their Westchester redoubts. But land-use choices involving housing vs. jobs; the mix of income in a housing project; the question of which jobs are really viable in an urban setting; what's the best location for manufacturing--these issues don't lend themselves to such clear-cut resistance. Everyone grasps that it is people who decide where highways go. But the notion that strictly objective force, like technology and markets, the "logic of capital," determine factory and office locations is disarming. Ideas count. (Emphasis added)

Indeed. And the issue is also the way incentives shape markets; why, for example, has Downtown Brooklyn become a home for housing, when that was not anticipated in the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning? Because tax breaks make the projects that much more attractive.

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Posted by amy at 11:51 AM

Many rail against Brooklyn building blitz - Course of the borough leaves many residents cold

Courier-Life
Joe Maniscalco

De Blasio is embroiled in a pitched battle with infamous New York City architect Robert Scarano, who is currently the subject of a number of special investigations.

Scarano is now designing a controversial multi-story building at 360 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. The councilman wants to revoke Scarano’s architectural license in hopes of stopping construction.

But members of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association have criticized de Blasio himself for not vigorously supporting their plan to rezone the community against further overdevelopment.

Others are angry with de Blasio’s stance on the Atlantic Yards project.

link

Posted by amy at 11:45 AM

July 27, 2007

IBO official confirms (sort of) that the city would lose $ on arena

Atlantic Yards Report

The Brooklyn Paper picked up on Norman Oder's analysis, which revised Independent Budget Office calculations that conclude the arena will be a money loser for the City:

The Paper got an IBO official to agree, sort of:

The amount of direct subsidy that the city will give Ratner to build the arena has more than doubled — jumping from $100 million to $205 million — in the two years since the city’s Independent Budget Office said the arena create “a modest” net gain of $107 million in tax revenue.

IBO Deputy Director George Sweeting said the new numbers came as a little surprise to him.

“Because the size of the city contribution has grown, the gain from the arena is certainly less than $30 million and it could be a loss,” said Sweeting, adding that the organization had no plans to do the math again.

Actually, the additional $105 million wouldn't all go to the arena block, but even if a minimum of $28.5 million were directed to the arena block--and that's likely--the city tab turns into a loss. Too bad IBO won't take another look.

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NoLandGrab: The people are going to lose money on an arena that will, according to Ratner's own figures, be making the Brucester $60 million a year.

Posted by lumi at 8:06 AM

Bloomy slightly sours Bruce’s sweet deal from the state

The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman with additional reporting by Ariella Cohen

According to the Daily News, city officials reduced the length of the tax break from 25 years to 15 years, saving an estimated $100 million.

The remaining tax break would still save Ratner $200 million, the Bloomberg administration has estimated.

Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher declined to comment on the Daily News story, saying only that negotiations were “continuing” between Forest City Ratner executives, city officials and state leaders.

But a source in the administration told the New York Post earlier this week that the Bloomberg administration objects to the “Ratner carve-out” because “pure and simple, it’s a giveaway.”

It’s the first time city officials have publicly objected to any of the billions of dollars in taxpayer-backed subsidies Ratner will receive on the Atlantic Yards project.

Forest City Ratner officials did not return repeated calls and e-mails from The Brooklyn Paper.

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Posted by lumi at 7:59 AM

Marty’s blind spot

The Brooklyn Paper

While the Brooklyn Borough President rails against a transit fare hike, he can't say enough nice things about the sweetheart deal between Bruce Ratner and the MTA (isn't that's OUR MONEY TOO?):

The Beep, a strong supporter of the Atlantic Yards project, put out an angry press release on Wednesday railing against a Metropolitan Transportation Authority plan to cover an expected $300-million deficit next year by hiking subway fares by 10 percent.

Here’s where the fancy footwork comes in.

Markowitz’s beloved Atlantic Yards project is largely being built over land that the MTA sold to Ratner in 2005 for a mere $100 million — $114 million less than the MTA’s own appraisal said the development rights were worth. In a truly open market, those rights might have even gone for more.

Not only did Markowitz not object to the MTA’s fare-busting giveaway, he loudly supported it, calling it “good for Brooklyn.”

article

Posted by lumi at 7:38 AM

Real Deal on Prospect Heights: new condos, fluctuating prices

Atlantic Yards Report

An article in the July issue of The Real Deal, headlined Mixed prospects for Prospect Heights' new developments: Atlantic Yards plan attracted new condos, but sales at some falter, offers a mixed report on the "Atlantic Yards effect."

Will there be a glut of new condos on the market in Prospect Heights?

What about the premium price tag for the privilege of living in a starchitect design condo? Or, will living over an arena make buyers think twice?

link

Posted by lumi at 7:29 AM

Letters to the Editor

The Brooklyn Paper ran a few letters this week (link) that reference Atlantic Yards and the guy who really seems to run things in this town, Bruce Ratner:

Markowitz for mayor? Our readers respond

It is no surprise to me that Borough President Markowitz is raising money from large developers and other big-time political donors, yet precious little from the grassroots (“Marty money misses mark,” July 21). After all, this is a borough president who has spent the last six years doing the bidding of developers like Bruce Ratner, whose vision for Brooklyn is counter to many of Markowitz’s own constituents.

— Tom Sutton, Sunset Park

A.R.E.A.–nation

When I read your original story about Arena Bagels, I was angered that a bunch of bullies forced the store owner to change his name because they objected to anyone using a noun that brought to mind Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project.

But your articles showed me that the bagel store owner, Ravi Aggarwaal, was not angry about the neighbors who demanded that he re-name the store.

He taught us all a lesson in turning the other cheek.

— Nancy Melnick, Prospect Heights

Kick pols in career

We should honor Lady Bird Johnson by turning Atlantic Yards into meadows of native planted trees.

Our parks are becoming overcrowded. Maybe Bruce Ratner wants to declare the parks blighted so his cronies in elected office can condemn them and hand them over so he can build on them.

— Rhudi Eagle, Park Slope

Posted by lumi at 7:23 AM

Plenty of traffic in race for Boro Prez

The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman

City Councilman Charles Barron has announced his candidacy for Brooklyn Borough President:

The kickoff announcement wasn’t all about race, of course. Barron, a staunch opponent of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development, also used Sunday’s press conference to attack the current officeholder, Borough President Markowitz, who strongly supports the project.

“We need to make to make sure that Brooklyn is not a borough for developers to come get rich and for working people to struggle every day,” he said. “We need a visionary leader in this office, not just a cheerleader.”

article

Posted by lumi at 7:20 AM

It came from the Blogosphere...

The Albany Project, Ratner Gets $200 Million Tax Break, City "Saves" $100 Million

Remember that really sweet deal that Ratnerville was able to slip into the 421-A reform bill? The one that was exclusive the Atlantic Yards Project?
...
Now we have a "compromise" that would shave this sweet deal by a third and those who worked it out are telling folks that now the city is "saving" $100 million bucks. It's disgusting.
...
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Everything wrong with New York state politics is represented in the Ratnerville project. Corruption writ large.

And yes, Vito Lopez (D-Sleazeville), I'm looking right at you.

Brit in Brooklyn, Ratner Keeps His Tax Break

We like the Daily News' definition of "slash tax break" in their Atlantic Yards story today: Bruce Ratner gets out of paying property taxes for a mere 15 years, rather than 25 years as originally planned.

Brownstoner, Ratner Compromise Still Special Treatment

After the Mayor threatened on Monday to pull $100 million of city financing for the Atlantic Yards project if the sweetheart deal that Vito Lopez inserted into the 421-a legislation was not revised, a compromise is reportedly in the works. According to The Daily News, the city will get its $100 million back by reducing the tax-free period on 1,900 market-rate condos from 25 years to 15 years. Of course, that comes at the expense of the condo owners not Ratner himself. As the Atlantic Yards Report points out, though, the compromise doesn't change the fact that Ratner is getting special treatment by not having to play by the same affordable housing rules as every other developer.

Gothamist, Extra, Extra

Developer Bruce Ratner is closer to getting his tax-break subsidies, after negotiating with Mayor Bloomberg and the state legislature.

Nets Daily, Nets Hopeful on Luxury Box Sales
News that really bores the average Nets fan from the blog that's not an official Nets site:

In an article about a possible glut of luxury boxes at new sports facilities around New York, Crains New York Business quotes Nets president Brett Yormark as saying the team hopes to sell out all the Barclays Center’s 118 luxury suites. The team will begin selling the suites in earnest this fall with the opening of a model box at the New York Times building, which is part owned by Bruce Ratner.

The luxury suites will be part of a larger group of suites that include party suites capable of entertaining up to 60 people. All told, Barclays Center will have 170 suites, compared to 29 at the Continental Airlines Arena.
...
[Forest City Ratner] assumes that approximately 162 of 170 suites will be sold annually through a combination of first ring suites, second ring suites, courtside suites, and loge boxes. The suite price includes the price of tickets to NBA games and approximately 25 percent of other events held at the arena. In addition, it is assumed that three of the four party suites, each with sixty suites, will be sold for all NBA games on an annual basis.”

However, the same analysis warned: “Given the competitiveness of the market, both the total number of suites and the average price per suite assumed by FCRC appear to be on the high end relative to other similar arenas. NBA arenas average approximately ninety suites. Facilities in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, and Philadelphia are the only ones that offer more than 125 suites. Other than the Palace at Auburn Hills in Detroit, all of these facilities host both NBA and NHL teams.”

Posted by lumi at 7:01 AM

EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites

WEST HARLEM
The NY Times, Bracing for the Lion
Columbia is marching ahead with expansion plans that will destroy the Manhattanville neighborhood that stands in the way.

NoLandGrab: Curiously, while the Times quotes Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner's figures of 15,000 construction jobs (that's 1,500 jobs over 10 years), they use the less deceptive "1,200 construction jobs a year for two decades" in this article. Now that we know they know the difference, it will be interesting to see if the Gray Lady does in the future.

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN
Duffield St. Underground, Newly Released Evidence of Buildings Communicating

Despite AKRF's denials, it certainly looks to me that the basement of 227 Duffield used to have a passageway connecting it to 225 Duffield. I have posted images and a video that show that most of the basement was constructed with stone, except for a small portion on the front part of the northern wall.

Check out the video.

Posted by lumi at 6:49 AM

Forest City in $607 mln sale of retirement homes

Reuters
By Jonathan Stempel

Forest City Enterprises Inc (FCEa.N: Quote, Profile , Research) (FCEb.N: Quote, Profile , Research), a real estate owner and developer, said on Thursday it has reached an agreement with Atria Senior Living Group for the sale of 12 assisted-living properties in a transaction valued at $607 million.

Eleven properties use the Sterling Glen brand name and are located mainly in the New York City area. One property is in Florida. The transaction is expected to close within 30 days, and generate about $240 million of net cash proceeds over three years to be used in other businesses.

"Current valuations for this business have increased significantly, and we have chosen to take advantage of this extraordinary market to dispose of these properties at full stabilized value," Charles Ratner, Forest City's chief executive, said in a statement.

article

Posted by lumi at 6:42 AM

July 26, 2007

PRESS RELEASE, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:
Behind Closed Doors, a Ratner Conpromise

After "Negotiations," Developer Bruce Ratner Still Set to Reap $200 Million Tax Break from 421-a "Reform" Bill's Exclusive "Atlantic Yards" Clause

NEW YORK, NY -- If a report in today's Daily News is accurate, developer Bruce Ratner and city officials are trying to spin a 33% reduction in a special tax break legislated exclusively for the Atlantic Yards developer as a meaningful "scale back." But it's a "scale back" to a special property tax break for Ratner that should never have existed in the first place. As of three days ago, the Bloomberg administration wanted the exclusive tax provision removed entirely.

The News reports that the city and Forest City Ratner held "negotiations" over the 421-a reform bill's original special provision, reducing the exclusive tax break from $300 million to $200 million. The project's 1,930 condominium units would receive tax exemptions for 15 years rather than the 25 years originally outlined.

"Negotiated behind closed doors, this so-called 'compromise' of the 421-a special tax break exclusively for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards—a tax break unavailable to any other developer in the city, and one that should never have existed in the first place—is an offensive sham. Unless this indefensible, blatant giveaway to Bruce Ratner, which will cost taxpayers at least $200 million, is removed from the bill, reform-minded Governor Eliot Spitzer must veto it," said Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Daniel Goldstein. "Earlier this week, the Bloomberg Administration was all snarl and bluster, threatening to pull $105 million in promised Atlantic Yards cash subsidies, but today, it's apparent that the city was all bark and no bite. There is no fundamental difference between the original sweetheart deal and this negotiated sweetheart deal; the negotiated agreement is a toothless joke."

It is unclear how legislators critical of the special Ratner clause will react to reports of a non-compromise compromise, which does not fundamentally change the original special provision at all or respond to widespread criticism of the Atlantic Yards carve-out.

At a town hall meeting just two days ago, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (57th District, which encompasses the Atlantic Yards project site) called the special tax break for Ratner "offensive," and said that the developer must "comply with the [421-a] law." He added that "the government should review completely the entire merits of this project" if the special clause is not eliminated. Mr. Jeffries also called the special Atlantic Yards carve-out "economic segregation" because "[Forest City Ratner] negotiated a provision that would allow them to have all luxury condominiums and still get the tax break."

It is also unclear how ACORN's Bertha Lewis, a staunch Atlantic Yards supporter, will react to reports of this "negotiation." She has called the special Ratner provision "bad public policy."

Much like the mythical scale-back of the Atlantic Yards project--announce project, increase size of project, return project to original size, claim reduction--this so-called "scale back" of the special 421-a Atlantic Yards "carve-out" plays the same game: propose and pass legislation allowing a large, indefensible tax break that should not exist at all, reduce the size of the large, indefensible tax break that shouldn't exist, and claim it "could save the city $100 million."

Former City Planning Commissioner Ron Shiffman said, "Ratner always asks for more than he needs, but the politicians and bureaucrats always give him more than he expects. In this case of the 421-a special provision, the so-called 'compromise' far exceeds what he deserves."

###

DEVELOP DON'T DESTROY BROOKLYN leads a broad-based community coalition fighting for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them.

Posted by lumi at 10:03 AM

RATNER CLAUSE CONPROMISE

The NY Daily News got the big scoop today:

Pols slash tax-break on Atlantic Yards

Under pressure from the city, developer Forest City Ratner's sweetheart tax break is getting scaled back by state lawmakers, the Daily News has learned.

Officials yesterday agreed to reduce to 15 years the length of time Bruce Ratner is exempt from paying property taxes on 1,900 market-rate condos slated for the Atlantic Yards project, a tweak that could save the city $100 million.
...
A Bloomberg spokesman declined to discuss details of the negotiations but said Forest City Ratner and city officials had hammered out an agreement this week.

NoLandGrab: Ha, ha — this is a joke, right? After holding "negotiations" with Forest City, the Bloomberg administration has come up with a "scale back" "that could save the city $100 million."

Do they mean saving the city $100 million of the $300 million the previous deal gave away? What's wrong with Ratner getting the same deal as every other developer in NYC?

DEJA VU ALERT:

NEGOTIATED?
In 2005, the MTA "negotiated" with Forest City Ratner to spice up the embarrassingly low $50M offer for the development rights for the railyards. The $100M deal they hammered out was still lower than the $150M competing offer from the Extel development company and much lower than the MTA's original $214M appraisal.

"Negotiations" always seem to end in Ratner's favor, which makes you wonder what kind of superpowers he possesses.

SCALEBACK??
Since Atlantic Yards was announced in 2003, the project continued to grow on the drawing board. In 2006, The New York Times had an exclusive that announced that Ratner decided to "scale back" the project. The Times didn't comprehend that Atlantic Yards was "scaled back" to roughly its original size.

Today's News story had the step on the NY Post's "exclusive."

RATNER-CITY DEAL NEAR ON HOUSING

After threatening to pull $100 million in subsidies from the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the Bloomberg administration appears close to a compromise over middle-income housing, sources said yesterday.

The administration, developer Bruce Ratner and state legislators have made significant progress in recent days negotiating changes to an affordable-housing reform bill passed by the Legislature.

NoLandGrab: Though the Post missed the story, it's interesting how the word "negotiating" was used again, as if Forest City is another branch of government or something.

Atlantic Yards Report confirms our suspicions that $100M savings is really just a one-third decrease in the big special gift to Ratner and explains that the special carveout still stands.

Behind closed doors, a "compromise" on the Ratner clause

Because the gist of the exclusive, published unaccountably in the newspaper's Brooklyn section--is this not of citywide interest?--is that the "Atlantic Yards carve-out" would be reduced from $300 million to $200 million because the 1930 condos would get tax exemptions for 15 years rather than 25 years.
...
Missing is the voice of any neutral analyst, but surely such person could point out that, while Forest City Ratner did expect to get tax breaks for all-condo buildings before the law changed, the justification for treating this development differently is hard to get past the average citizen, as noted Tuesday by Jeffries' constituency.

The NY Times is bringing up the rear today with their City Room blog post citing the NY Post article.

Posted by lumi at 9:11 AM

Ratner Handouts, PD Embarrasses, ‘Sicko’ Shames Us

Cleveland Leader
By Roldo Bartimole

The legendary Mad Overkiller of Cleveland illustrates how Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner learned his moves from the Cleveland clan.

Someone sent me a copy of a column from the New York News entitled, “Atlantic Yards gets a deal so sweet it’s sick.”

Welcome to Cleveland, all you New Yorkers.

Read about how head honcho Al Ratner bragged to Bartimole that Ratner family affairs were going national:

He told me that I’d have a ball observing Forest City’s operations around the country. He said that they were getting federal subsidies all over the country. I guess his comments emanated from my reporting over the years about his and Sam Miller’s local hunger for government handouts.

Bartimole breaks down a Cleveland project that's slated to suck up even more publc subsidies, and castigates the local media for lack of talent, or interest, or something....

article

NoLandGrab: The manner in which the Cleveland project gets "back in line" for more public assistance is reminiscent of Bruce's MetroTech and Atlantic Center Mall, bailed out by the City and State, respectively, which have relocated agencies to the projects in order to "mitigate" the vacancy rate.

There's also a tidy tale of how the Ratners took care of a family member of a politician who turned on the subsidy spigot. This hearkens back to the scandal in Yonkers, where the former Mayor's twenty-something son-in-law left the payroll of the local development corporation sponsoring Bruce's Ridge Hill project in a storm of protest, only to appear a year later in Ratner's employ as the "property manager" (the project was years away from being approved, much less built or "managed").

Posted by lumi at 8:43 AM

Crain's: suites at new NYC-area sports facilities should sell well

Atlantic Yards Report

Though sports teams around the country are ripping out luxury suites, the New York-area market is an anomaly, and an article in this week's Crain's New York Business, headlined New arenas' suite deals, suggests that the planned suite-intensive Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards might do pretty well, even if it arrives later in the cycle.

Sports marketing executive Todd Parker told Crain's that the New York area has only 250 or so luxury boxes in all of its sports facilities combined, but with six new facilities expected to be completed in the three years, the total would leap to 900.

While "the competition for buyers could get intense" among the Devils, Nets, Mets, Jets, Giants, Yankees and Red Bulls, Crain's observes:

However, experts believe that the luxury-box market is in a unique position, since the city has been "starved" for corporate entertainment options but flush with cash from banks, hedge funds and law firms.

Norman Oder connects some more dots, noting that Ratner's own commissioned study from sports economist Andrew Zimbalist "assumed 'no new arena in Newark'" (it's slated to open THIS year, oops!). Crain's acknowledges some risk for Ratner, "ramping up from 29 current boxes in the current Continental Airlines Arena to some 170 suites in Brooklyn." There's also some confusion about the number of suites: Crain's reports 118, while recently released documents indicate "there would be 124 luxury suites, four party suites, and 40 loge boxes."

article

Posted by lumi at 8:18 AM

Dear Hillary, Stop Bruce Ratner and the Atlantic Yards

Brooklyn Downtown Star

One Brooklyn resident and urban development professional speaks out and implores Hillary Clinton to do the right thing:

As property owners in Downtown Brooklyn, tax payers, and registered voters, my family and U are deeply troubled by the propose Atlantic Yards Development. If this proposal is implemented, it will be the largest development project in the city and the most densely populated in the nation. As a professional with degrees in architecture and city planning and may years of service with the New York City Mayors Office of Development, neither I nor the vast majority of citizens are opposed to responsible development. However, we oppose the greed that this corrupt project incorporates—greed symbolized by the present Republican administration in Washington. We sympathize with the newly elected Governor Spitzer who has to inherit this proposal form his predecessor, Republican Governor Pataki and Pataki’s college buddy and developer, Bruce Ratner. Mr. Ratner is also the developer of two unsuccessful projects in downtown Brooklyn that required the state to relocate some of their offices to keep these projects afloat. This proposal also incorporates all the secrecy that the Bush administration has forced on our country. Why was this proposal not able to go through the City for review, including the Department of City Planning? Why is public space being advertised when it will be closed to the public? Why are 2,250 units of affordable housing being advertised when only 250 units are for incomes under $28,00? Why is this plan in conflict with the Mayors 2030 Plan? Why did the MTA accept Ratner’s bid, when today the Mayor is asking the Federal government for money to expand our subway system? Quite likely, the MTA was told to accept the bid by Governor Pataki.

more

Posted by lumi at 8:11 AM

MTA Gets Set to Raise Fares

The Villiage Voice
By Michael Clancy

When it comes to subway and bus fare increases, it isn't looking so much as a question of "if" but questions of "how much" and "when." Facing looming budget deficits, MTA executive director Eliot G. Sander said on Wednesday that the agency would seek to increase revenues from trains and buses, commuter trains, and bridge and tunnel tolls by 6.5 percent.
...
Not that an extra $100 million would solve the problem, but how's the MTA decision to let Bruce Ratner, the developer of the Atlantic Yards, have the Vanderbilt Rail Yards for $100 million looking these days? The MTA's own appraisal valued the land at $214 million—riders aren't get that discount.

article

NoLandGrab: We couldn't have said it better.

Here's some other local coverage about the MTA fare hike, none of which mention the fact that the MTA "negotiated exclusively" with Ratner to salvage his lowball bid, which was still the lowest bid when the deal was sealed:

NY Daily News, Look out for Regular Joes
Columnist Michael Daly explains:

If Eliot Mess [Spitzer] wants to make amends for smearing the Senate majority leader for using state helicopters, he could step in and devise a way to stave off a subway fare hike.

NoLandGrab: He could also regain some of his reformer cred by getting serious about Atlantic Yards.

The NY Times, Despite Surplus of $1 Billion, M.T.A. Says Increases Loom

MetroNY, Farebox hit

MetroNY, Striking a fiscal balance
From an interview with MTA chief Elliot Sander:

How much influence can riders expect to have at the hearings?

I previously served as a member of the Taxi & Limousine Commission. We heard input through the hearings process, and we significantly changed what we did when we increased the taxi fare. So I can point to specific examples where I have acted differently in response to public hearings. We also look forward to comments on the Web site — the plan is on the Web site (www.mta.info). When you look at things like the passenger report card that we put out, we’re trying to demonstrate a track record that we do listen. Sometimes we’re able to implement changes, sometimes not.

NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards critics did not find hearings to be very productive or fruitful, especially when decisions are made behind closed doors and the MTA negotiated exclusively with Ratner.

amNY, MTA proposes fare hikes

While the MTA has been riding a real estate boom, which yielded a surplus of about $940 million last year, the agency predicts a deficit next year of $965 million, growing to $2.1 billion in 2011 -- if fares and tolls do not increase.

Posted by lumi at 7:32 AM

July 25, 2007

It came from the Blogosphere...

This week, Atlantic Yards only gets respect from a bunch of train geeks:

Gothamist, Gehry Seeks Multimillions for Archive
Upon hearing that starchitect and Atlantic Yards designer Frank Gehry wants to sell his archives for big bucks, one reader comments:

They should bulldoze his Santa Monica house and replace it with a to-scale papier-mâché model of his Atlantic Yards project made from all 5,000 of those drawings.

and another notes:

I don't even hate his buildings -- some of them are grand -- but fuuuck if AY isn't misguided.

Ditmas Park Blog, Flatbush Junction
A new mall gets compared to Atlantic Yards:

I think this may be one of these things, like Atlantic Yards, that will be nice to have at a certain distance, and maybe less so close up.

NoLandGrab: Most NoLandGrab readers would prefer that Atlantic Yards remained in Frank Gehry's archive.

Sub Chat, Atlantic Yard
Clearly, these guys don't get out much:

I saw in the NY Post yesterday that the city is making or doing work on a yard called the Atlantic Yard does anyone know anything???

"AIM" notes it is called "Atlantic Yards," "Terrapin Station" knows that "Atlantic Yards is certainly a real project" and that work has begun over the railyards, "Osmosis Jones" can't wait to check out a game, and checked media reports that work has started:

No it hasn't, I passed by there today and saw nothing (not even a trainset).

NoLandGrab: Prep work on the railyards has actually begun — for instance, tracks have been removed — and last week Brit in Brooklyn noted the appearance of a drill rig in preparation for excavation activities, which were announced in last month's construction update.

Duffield St. Underground, AKRF works boths sides of the fence again

Duffield St. activists continue to question the credibility of AKRF as more reports note the potential conflict of interest between clients in the Atlantic Yards saga.

Queen's Crap, Ratner's problem

"Crappy" links yesterday's NY Post article, which reported that:

The Bloomberg administration is threatening to pull more than $100 million in city subsidies from the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn unless a deal providing massive tax breaks for developer Bruce Ratner is drastically revised.

Posted by lumi at 11:17 AM

Jeffries calls AY carve-out "offensive"--and his base agrees

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder checked out what Hakeem Jeffries had to say at the freshman NY State Assemblyman's first Town Hall meeting and noted:

As a candidate last year, Hakeem Jeffries was a qualified supporter of Atlantic Yards. And as a freshman member of the State Assembly, he still welcomes the project’s affordable housing.

But Jeffries' posture has gotten tougher lately, and last night he delivered an eloquent criticism of the project, declaring that promised affordable housing was easily matched by government support for developer Forest City Ratner and that the “Atlantic Yards carve-out,” a tax break available only to the developer, was “offensive” because it promoted “economic segregation.” And his audience, responding to the notion of special treatment, seemed to agree.

article

Posted by lumi at 10:30 AM

「誰にとって」問題

From kmr blog:

DEVELOP DON'T DESTROY BROOKLYNという都市再開発の見直しを求める運動が、ＮＹダウンタウン・ブルックリンで起きている。Atlantic Yards Projectと呼ばれるこの計画は、約９ヘクタール（約２万７千坪）の広大な鉄道跡地に、５３階建ての商業・住宅の複合施設を１６棟建設するというもので、敷地内にはＮＢＡのニュージャージー・ネッツの巨大なスタジアムも併設される。メジャー開発業者が着手に向けて動き出しており、設計はフランク・ゲリー。比較的低所得層が住むこの界隈を一挙にジェントリファイし、「ブルックリンをマンハッタン化」するこの計画に対し、いくつかの住民団体が組織され、専門家・アーティストなどを巻き込んだ反対運動が展開されている。訴訟も進行中だ。

article

NoLandGrab: So-o desu yo!

Posted by lumi at 10:17 AM

Real Estate Round-Up: July 23, 2007

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Sarah Ryley

Only one of the five oversight measures state officials promised for the Atlantic Yards project have become a reality, nearly three months after they were promised following the collapse of the Ward Bakery rooftop parapet, the Daily News reports.

An investigation into the causes of the collapse is still underway, but the promised ombudsman, construction liaison, and committee to oversee transportation issues and regular group meetings have yet to materialize, according to the News. A spokesman for the Empire State Development Corporation, the agency sponsoring the project, says group meetings will begin soon. “This basically says that the Spitzer administration, just like the Pataki administration, is giving us empty promises when it comes to transparency, oversight and accountability,” Councilwoman Letitia James, an opponent of the project, tells the Daily News.

article

For the record:

• it's 78 DAYS since the ESDC announced they would hire an ombuddy and
• 205 DAYS since "DAY ONE" of the Spitzer administration, the day, according to his campaign slogan, that "everything changes."
• 66 DAYS was all the public was granted to review and comment on the 4,000-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

[Not like we're counting.]

Posted by lumi at 9:51 AM

Mid-Summer Classic

Fans For Fair Play

We present the Fans For Fair Play Mid-Season Classic, one of our classic, patented bulleted lists. It's suitable for readers with short attention spans (the bulleted points are short) or long attention spans (this thing could go on forever!):

• Atlantic Yards is mired in federal and state court.
• Barclays, who paid $400M for the naming rights to the arena, is still making Brooklynites cringe.
• Our overdeveloper overpays (again) for an aging franchise player, but no worries taxpayers still get to overpay for Atlantic Yards.
• Ratner re-signed head coach Lawrence Frank, ensuring that Nets fans will get more of the same as the lame duck franchise eyes a move to Brooklyn,
• When all the professional sports scandals makes the NHL look like a bunch of girl scouts, why does hero worship and civic pride in having a hometeam even matter?
• Long live the Community Bookstore, the likes of which you never see in a Ratner mall.
• When the trough of available funding for affordable housing in NYC can't cover eligible projects even before Atlantic Yards cuts the line, shouldn't ACORN's Bertha Lewis have something to say?
• And, what's up with Hakeem Jeffries? Can a fence-sitting politician really do the right thing, sometimes?

These stories and more...

Posted by lumi at 9:14 AM

Grand Vision

Mayor Mike’s plan for a more sustainable city is surprisingly comprehensive.

Metropolis Magazine

Karrie Jacobs gives Mayor Bloomberg a standing O for PlaNYC, with two caveats: the enormous hedgerows of luxury waterfront condos and Bruce Ratner's 22-acre Atlantic Yards megalopolis.

Unfortunately, the plan casts some of the administration’s existing policies, such as rebuilding the old industrial waterfront into glam new residential neighborhoods, as moral imperative: housing must be built on every available site. The argument is that increased supply will lead to affordability, but that equation doesn’t always work in this city. (To be fair, the plan promises 22,000 units of middle-class housing and strategies such as inclusionary zoning, which grants developers bonuses for building affordable units in or adjacent to market-rate properties.) Housing, the plan says, should also be built on sites that don’t currently exist. PlaNYC calls for methodically decking over rail yards and sunken highways to acquire large tracts. The theory is exciting, but in practice so far the approach has spawned Atlantic Yards, a gargantuan scheme conceived with indifference to surrounding communities.

article

NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards critics were quick to note that Bruce Ratner's controversial plan is antithetical to nearly every principle outlined in Bloomberg's PlaNYC.

Though many urban planners currently support the concept of increased density at transportation hubs, the historic extreme density of Atlantic Yards is on an inconceivable scale that strains or counters nearly every one of the Mayor's objectives.

Now that PlaNYC is getting high fives all around, it might be the right time for the Mayor to quietly and casually withdraw his support for Atlantic Yards.

Posted by lumi at 8:55 AM

Forest City Announces Completion of Secondary Offering

dBusinessNews Cleveland

CLEVELAND -- Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA) (NYSE:FCEB) announced that certain members of RMS, Limited Partnership have completed their resale of 1.25 million shares of Forest City’s Class A common stock through a series of privately negotiated transactions.

RMS, Limited Partnership (controlled by the Ratner, Miller and Shafran families) owns a controlling interest in Forest City. The families sold 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. The proceeds from the sale were used for charitable, tax, estate planning and personal liquidity reasons. Following the sale, the families hold approximately 30.1 percent of the total shares outstanding of Forest City Enterprises, Inc.

link

Posted by lumi at 8:52 AM

He never saw a chop he didn't want to bust

NY Daily News
By Dennis Hamill

Deep within Hamill's column honoring the birthday of a Bayside, Queens community stalwart lies proof that the world needs community activists more than it needs newspaper columnists:

So, I'd always stop and chat with Skala in the street, usually about developers who were overstepping their bounds. Every week, the local papers carried his letters to the editor about local issues or about his strong opposition to the war in Iraq.
...
I have not always agreed with Skala. He has not always agreed with me. Sometimes, he'd stuff my own columns through my letter slot with comments.

When I wrote a column supporting the new basketball arena at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, Skala wrote in the margin: "How would you like it if they were taking your home via eminent domain?"

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Posted by lumi at 8:45 AM

What a Difference Party Affiliation Makes

Daily Gotham

Mole333 explains how a small chorus of local pols are calling out the rest of the politicians who are tyring to outdo one another by throwing money at Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan.

Everything goes screwy when Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent Mayor Bloomberg calls on the former-reformer Eliot Spitzer to veto legislation that includes a special windfall for the developer Brooklyn loves to hate.

But wait...how can Republican Bloomberg give away taxpayer money to Ratner then Independent Bloomberg complain about the state giving taxpayer money to Ratner? Wow! What a difference a change of party affiliation makes! Is Bloomberg abandoning crony capitalism along with the Republican Party? Boy THAT would be sweet!

This would be a good time for Spitzer to show us what he's worth. How about putting a stop to these giveaways to Ratner?

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Posted by lumi at 7:49 AM

July 24, 2007

Last month, Bloomy was offering a boilerplate defense of AY

Atlantic Yards Report

Mayor Mike Bloomberg seems to be coming to the realization that the Atlantic Yards project shouldn't get a special tax break and is apparently threatening to withdraw some pledged subsidies.

Is that a belated recognition that Atlantic Yards might be a drain on the public coffers or should not get special benefits? Is it part of a larger tactic to resist the state's revision of the 421-a tax break? Or is it something else altogether?

It is clear, however, that until recently, Bloomberg was offering a boilerplate defense of the project. A month ago, after Brooklyn resident Michael D.D. White wrote a thoughtful and pointed letter of complaint to the mayor, he received the following canned response, which he forwarded to me.

Click here to read the letter with Oder's comments interspersed.

Posted by lumi at 9:07 AM

We don't have Stuckey to kick around anymore

According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and a press release from the Mayor's Office, former Ratner exec James P. Stuckey made a public appearance last week as President of the NYC Arts Commission. This Stuckey sighting made us realize that things have been pretty quiet since the Forest City Ratner Atlantic Yards Development Group President was tidily terminated by Forest City.

We don't know about you, but we sorta miss the guy.

You could always count on the quotable Stuckey to share his personal narrative with a reporter or make some outlandish claim that would tip critics off to something fishy, for example: the tale about Atlantic Yards being as dense as the Downtown Brooklyn plan led to revelations that the project, if built, would be the densest residential community in the nation; and the claim that footprint tenants would be taken care of begged watchdogs to look at the fine print of what Ratner was really offering.

Duffield St. Underground calls Stuckey's role as President of the Arts Commission "surreal," but it makes sense if you recall that Stuckey plays ten instruments.

Posted by lumi at 8:37 AM

ESDC: AKRF's work for Ratner was disclosed

Atlantic Yards Report

Though Norman Oder has been striving to document the actual timeline and relationship between the Empire State Development Corporation's consultant AKRF and Forest City Ratner's consultant for Atlantic Yards, AKRF, the quasi-governmental agency released a statement to the more project-friendly Brooklyn Daily Eagle (see, "Consulting Firm Counts Both Developer and State As Clients on Atlantic Yards"

The ESDC's statement: “AKRF’s limited work for Forest City Ratner was disclosed to the board at the Sept. 2005 board meeting at which AKRF was hired. Once AKRF was hired by ESDC, its work for Forest City Ratner stopped.”

So there's no conflict of interest when a project's consultant stops working for the developer when they're hired by the agency tasked with sponsoring and reviewing the same project?

It remains in question, however, whether the disclosure is sufficient to have confidence that AKRF's work would be in the public interest or in the interest of its former client.

I had asked the ESDC what its policy is; in other words, how "limited" must work be and what's a sufficient time gap?

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NoLandGrab: Hey Norman, maybe the ESDC will come up with an answer in due time and you can read it in the Eagle.

Posted by lumi at 8:04 AM

Gehry seeks payout for superstarchive

Yesterday, the NY Times ran an article about how starchitect Frank Gehry is looking for top dollar for his archive.

For Architects, Personal Archives as Gold Mines

In reflecting on where a long career’s worth of architectural drawings and models will ultimately go, Frank Gehry is not focusing strictly on institutions that he feels close to — like the Guggenheim Museum, say, for which he designed a famous satellite branch in Bilbao, Spain. He’s trying to determine which place will pony up.

“I don’t want to give it away — it’s an asset,” Mr. Gehry said. “It’s the one thing in your life you build up, and you own it. And I’ve been spending a lot of rent to preserve it.”

Mr. Gehry, 78, is among a small but influential number of celebrity architects who are considering selling their archives — which can include tens of thousands of objects, from multiple large-scale models and reams of drawings to correspondence and other records — even as they continue to practice.

Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report wonders what hidden treasures might be contained within.

The ($$$) Gehry archive and Atlantic Yards

So, let's assume a Gehry archive would include records of interaction with client Forest City Ratner. Would it include his infamous crack about Atlantic Yards protesters, "They should've been picketing Henry Ford"? His stated willingness to meet with community members "as soon as the guys let me"? His statement that "[n]ormally I would’ve brought in five other architects," but his client wouldn't let him?

And would the public ever get a look at the renderings and models behind the door at Oz, the Atlantic Yards Information Center?

Posted by lumi at 7:50 AM

Transfiguration 101

flickr, gilly youner's photos

For you Potter fans out there, guess who was spotted by a local wizard at this weekend's Book Party in Soho.

Caption:

David "Lucius" Yassky: apparently escaping from the clutches of Lord Ratnemort, (He Who Should Not Be Paid).

NoLandGrab: There was no sign of "You know who-ner," but that doesn't mean that his spies weren't busy trying to save Christmas for Ratner Clause.

Posted by lumi at 7:38 AM

Bklyn Techie "Mau Mau" NoLandGrab!

A columnist for Brooklyn Tech's "The Survey" explains that he has perused NoLandGrab on a number of occasions, but apparently not enough to get the joke that compared him to another columnist who is frequently cited for playing fast and loose with Atlantic Yards facts.

Several readers thought that the call to "Mau Mau the Yuppies" might have been an absurd parody, but apparently not. Yesterday the columnist went on the offensive in his open letter to NoLandGrab:

Having perused your blog on a number of occasions, it’s glaringly obvious that you and your colleagues are not a guileless, altruistic bunch. Remember, Ratner is a businessman looking to make a profit. He is under no obligation to vet your complaints; quite frankly, neither would I if faced with the prospect of addressing a cabal of ad hominem-happy, third-rate Buckleys with too much time on their hands. That you’ve elected to rag on a high school paper is primary evidence of how desperate your situation has become.

[The opinion piece from Tech's high school paper appeared in a Google News Search and thus becomes part of the archived record of opinions on the project.]

The columnist goes on to describe his good fortune of never having run into the Hagan sisters:

In my daily experiences studying and shopping in Fort Greene and its adjacent areas over the past three years, I have yet to meet an individual vehemently opposed to the development.

Ironically, it seems like the piece headlined, "Mau-Mau the Yuppies, Ratner!" wasn't meant to be published, at least not with the vitriol and invective that puzzled many readers:

Thanks to the kind of miscommunication that is unavoidable in any news organization, “Mau Mau the Yuppies, Ratner” – an earlier draft (c. February 2007) of an article that was published last month that was initially planned as an editorial, hence all the vitriol – was archived on our website. Nevertheless, I still stand by most of the opinions espoused in that piece to a large extent.

NoLandGrab: We weren't ragging on the opinions, just the facts, like the one that, "Ratner has expressed interest in constructing new facilities for Tech within the Atlantic Yards complex." Ratner's plan was to build new facilities in his floundering METROTECH and turn Tech's historic building into condos, but thanks for playing and for the laughs.

The most recent "President of BTHSnews.org" posted a response attempting to analyze the quirky column and our inside-joke response, "It's Nice To Be Examined."

We're not sure that Ratner would agree that it is "nice to be examined;" remember, an ex-FCR exec described it as "Orwellian" to the NY Times.

Posted by lumi at 7:04 AM

Ratner re-signs Frank

The NY Post is reporting that Nets owner and Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has re-signed head coach Lawrence Frank to a two-year, $8.6 million contract extention.

In 2004, Frank stepped in as Byron Scott's replacement mid-season, just a week after Bruce Ratner bought the team. The Times reports that since then Frank has "led the team to more victories than any coach in team history," though the historically mediocre franchise is blessed with being in the even-more mediocre Atlantic division.

Here's a sampling of the coverage: NBA.com, LAWRENCE FRANK CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT
NY Post, NETS EXTEND FRANK
The NY Times, Nets Show Confidence in Frank With a Contract Extension
NY Daily News, Lawrence Nets 2-year extension
The Bergen Record, Frank wants a ring with the Nets
The Newark Star-Ledger, With extension in hand, Frank gets back to work

Posted by lumi at 6:54 AM

July 23, 2007

What Ratner & Gehry won't tell you about Brownfield bucks

An article which appeared nearly a month ago in the Albany Times Union reports that Governor Spitzer is taking a hard look at NY State's Brownfield Redevelopment program, which has become a windfall for developers like Bruce Ratner.

ANOTHER WINDFALL FOR DEVELOPERS
From "Brownfields bloom green":

Critics fear the tax deals are not being used effectively for their prime intent: to convert polluted sites in poor neighborhoods to industrial, commercial and residential space.

In adopting the program in 2003, the state offered very attractive financial incentives: tax credits for 10 to 22 percent of the cost of cleaning and -- what turned out to be even more important -- all new construction without limitation. Property-tax credits are also offered for 10 years.

ATLANTIC YARDS TOO!
Today's Journal News editorial explains:

There are 123 more projects in the pipeline for approval under the program; a flurry of the approved projects were OK'd just as former Gov. George Pataki was concluding his three terms in office.

NoLandGrab: This list of projects presumably includes Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards.

HOW MUCH? WHO KNOWS?
From an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal:

The tax credits due to the next 123 projects “could easily be twice as much” as the $1 billion already committed, [Environmental Conservation Department Deputy Commissioner Val] Washington said.

But the state actually has no idea of the potential tax liability, since it is based on what the projects cost - and so far there is no estimate of the total tab for them.

BROWNFIELD BUCKS HELP OFFSET GEHRY PREMIUM
And if you think we're just blowing smoke, lookie who scored with another Frank Gehry-designed project:

Barry Diller, owner of the Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster and Lendingtree.com, could get tax credits totalling $157.6 million for the new $770 million Frank Gehry-designed corporate headquarters Diller is building in Manhattan's trendy Chelsea neighborhood. If that's not a windfall, what is?

Note that earlier this month, The NY Times reported that the documents recently obtained and released by NY State Assemblyman Jim Brennan "cite architectural costs of just over $12 a square foot for the project, roughly three times the industry average."

NoLandGrab: It's no secret that there's a steep premium associated with designing and constructing a cutting-edge project by starchitect Frank Gehry, but the numbers get easier to swallow when 10-22% is covered by the Brownfield program.

BROWNFIELD BUCKS, ANOTHER KNOWN UNKNOWN
The amount of Brownfield subsidy that Bruce Ratner's Gehry-designed Atlantic Yards will earn is one of the "known unknowns" that could significantly boost the total amount of subsidy for the already subsidy-rich project that, at last count, could suck up $1.9 billion in taxpayer dollars (see, Public Subsidies (For Dummies?), PDF). What's worse, is that, under the current program, we won't know the final cost of Ratner's Atlantic Yards Brownfield credits until all project's cost overruns have been run up.

WWSD?
Will Governor Spitzer dare to lift a finger against this well meaning clean-up program turned developer windfall? Last month's article in the Albany Times Union reported:

The future of the program is now is flux. Last week, Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, proposed changes that would limit the size of the tax credits to $5 million, prevent developers from speculating by reselling credits, and direct more assistance to cleanup costs instead of construction.

The tax credits already approved, along with another 29 projects where cleanups have begun, could cost the state "hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years," according to Spitzer's bill.

Posted by lumi at 10:51 AM

RATNER'S PLAN HITS BIG $NAG

TAX DEAL IRKS CITY

NY Post

The Bloomberg administration is threatening to pull more than $100 million in city subsidies from the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn unless a deal providing massive tax breaks for developer Bruce Ratner is drastically revised.

"Pure and simple, it's a giveaway," a high-ranking city official told The Post.

At issue is an affordable-housing reform bill hastily passed by the state Legislature that included a special "carve-out" for Atlantic Yards.

Proving that you need to be a developer, an affordable housing advocate or have a mensa IQ to follow this stuff, Norman Oder emailed us to explain that the Post article mischaracterized the distinction between Atlantic Yards and other projects eligible for exemptions under the 421-a reform bill.

The Post reported:

[The bill] also exempts Atlantic Yards from a new definition of government-assisted affordable housing that limits it only to low-income households. Atlantic Yards could still include middle-income tenants.

Norman Oder explains that it has nothing to do with the middle-income tenants:

It's the other 900 units--40% of aff housing, 20% of rentals--at issue. The income threshold for them has been raised to 70% of AMI (Area Median Income), while it's 60% for everyone else to get 421-a.

The Post gets this part right:

Another provision eliminates - for Ratner only - the requirement that at least 20 percent of the housing units in each building in a complex be affordable.

Critics say it opens the door to Ratner "segregating" all of the project's 2,500 affordable-housing units into several buildings.

Aside from giving Ratner an advantage over all other overdevelopers, the arrangement could get progressively worse for New Yorkers:

"More sinister, [Ratner] can build the market-rate housing first and wait a decade to do the affordable housing or, even worse, come back after the market-rate housing is done and then say, 'We can't afford to do the affordable housing,' " an official said.

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Posted by lumi at 10:19 AM

With missing building (322 condos), AY financial projections have huge hole

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder discovers that the high-rise planned for Site V, including the 322 market-rate condos, was completely missing from a project planning document:

The omission is important.
...
[T]he numbers have been used in the projections made by Forest City Ratner and in the KPMG report (large PDF) commissioned by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) last year regarding project finances.

So the estimation regarding a internal rate of return--in this case, 9.6% for the non-arena portion of the project--omits a building. It doesn't wash.
...
So state officials who examined Atlantic Yards, including the Public Authorities Control board, missed a building.

The NY Times had its own explanation of the omission, but gets a key fact wrong. The irony is that this building was also the subject of a previously secret Memorandum of Understanding, released by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn in August 2005.

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Posted by lumi at 9:57 AM

Barron declares candidacy for Beep

One of the few City Councilmembers to speak out against the abuse of eminent domain in NYC and Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards announced his cadidacy for Brooklyn Borough President:

amNY, Barron plans run for Brooklyn post

One of the most outspoken and controversial members of the City Council is running for Brooklyn borough president, and he's making no secret of his ambitions for Gracie Mansion.

"We need to make to make sure that Brooklyn is not a borough for developers to come get rich and for working people to struggle every day," said Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York).

The NY Sun, Barron Opens Candidacy For Brooklyn

Thirty-six of the council's 51 members face term limits in 2009 and council members Bill de Blasio and Domenic Recchia are among those believed to be considering a run to replace the president of Brooklyn, Martin Markowitz.

NoLandGrab: While Barron has been unwaivering in his position against Bruce Ratner's controversial plan to take private property for the Atlantic Yards superblock arena and high-rise project, Bill de Blasio and Domenic Recchia both publicly support it.

Posted by lumi at 9:41 AM

Compromising on Congestion and Campaign Cash

Gotham Gazette
By Courtney Gross and Gail Robinson

An article about the compromises and agreements reached in overtime between the City and State lists a few items that didn't get done, including the 421-a reform bill that contains the "Ratner Clause:"

Tax Credits for Housing: The legislature has approved a version of 421a, a city program that provides tax breaks to housing developers in an effort to encourage construction of affordable housing. The mayor and City Council had proposed their own version late last year. But the version approved by the legislature - and apparently authored by Assemblymember Vito Lopez of Brooklyn -- included a huge tax break for Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project. And according to the city housing agency, the legislature's bill places additional conditions on developers that would hamper the city's effort to promote building of middle class housing. Bloomberg and Quinn have both urged Spitzer to veto it.

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Posted by lumi at 9:23 AM

New law muddles political donations

The Morning Journal
By Alex M. Parker

A reporter from a local daily paper in Ohio uses a campaign donation from a Forest City exec as an example of just the type of contribution that may come under stricter scrutiny under a ref