« Rico Suave! | Main | Community Groups Call For Independent Study Of Atlantic Yards Project »
November 30, 2007
State finally names an overseer for Atlantic Yards
The Brooklyn Paper
by Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper provides extensive coverage of the appointment of an ombudsman for Atlantic Yards.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have an ombudsman!
Two hundred and three days after promising to appoint someone to oversee demolition and construction work at the Atlantic Yards project — and after three other people reportedly turned down the job — state officials have finally hired their long-awaited watchdog.
And the man for the $105,000-a-year job is none other than Forrest Taylor, former chief of staff to once-time City Council speaker Gifford Miller, a former spokesman for Mayor Giuliani, and a former deputy executive director for operations for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“I look forward to working with all stakeholders to insure the community has access to current information and swift responses to questions and concerns,” he said in a statement.
Also included is a fond farewell to the No Land Grab "Ombudsman Clock".
Taylor’s appointment brings to rest the spinning “Ombudsman Clock” on the anti-Yards Web site, No Land Grab. The clock is now frozen at 203 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes and 28 seconds.
“At No Land Grab, we never imagined that it would take the ESDC 203 days to retire the count-up clock,” said the Web site’s publisher, Lumi Rolley. “Like most things Atlantic Yards, reality strains credulity.”
Posted by steve at November 30, 2007 6:14 AM