No Land Grab

The New York City Council just voted to approve the Columbia University expansion plan. For those of you who are wondering how our local councilmembers voted, here's the scoop.

Bill de Blasio voted to approve — no surprises there for the Councilmember who notoriously pays lip service to overdevelopment, but does little to nothing in reality.

David Yassky also voted to approve the Columbia plan and in typical Yassky flippy-floppy fashion, he laid out his concerns against the plan: Community Benefits Agreements should not take the place of NYC's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and eminent domain should not be used as often. [Can someone get this guy a spine, because he'd probably make a fairly useful politician if he actually believed in SOMETHING.]

Many eyes were on City Councilwoman Letitia James, who has taken one of the strongest stands against Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan. However, local supporters wondered, how would their neighborhood champion vote if the project wasn't in her backyard and had the political support of the West Harlem representative.

This evening you can practically hear the sigh of relief on the outskirts of Ratnerville, when neighbors heard that Letitia James voted against the plan. A vote to "abstain" would have sent the same message, but without the emphasis of a "no" vote.

Here at NoLandGrab, we call 'em as we seem 'em, without reading the political tea leaves, so it's hard to know what, if anything, Tish James risked with her "no" vote. We heard from someone in attendance that a total of five Councilmembers voted "no" and another six "abstained," which gave James a little more political cover than if she had been a lone wolf.

We shouldn't be surprised how true to form these three politicians voted, we only wish we had placed a bet on the trifecta.

UPDATE: Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn had these words of praise for CIty Councilwoman Letitia James:

Staunch (the staunchest) political opponent of Atlantic Yards, Councilwoman Letita James, showed a consistency rare for most elected officials and voted against the Columbia plan, speaking eloquently against eminent domain abuse and for community-based planning.