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January 30, 2008
CBA Blog
These days, every project with serious negative impacts seems to have its own Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), designed to make the project more palatable. It was only a matter of time before someone started blogging exclusively on CBAs.
Earlier today, we linked the entry on the Bronx Terminal CBA. Here are two other controversial CBAs from NYC:
The fundamental problem with the Atlantic Yards CBA is that it is not representative of the community. A significant portion of Brooklyn residents are opposed to the project due to the extensive impacts that it will have on Brooklyn, and they were not invited to participate in negotiations. Rather, the talks were led by community members already on the developer’s side. It can only be guessed what the CBA would have looked like had inclusive and transparent talks actually been held.
With Atlantic Yards and Yankee Stadium, New York City established a pretty bleak track record in coming up with CBAs that came anywhere near their Californian counterparts’ successes (like the Staples Center and LAX CBAs). Because of this, CBA supporters were hoping that an agreement concerning Columbia University’s expansion into West Harlem would provide a better model for future New York CBAs.
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It seems that the Columbia CBA negotiations were begun in good faith, with intentions to be as inclusive of divergent community interests as possible. Regardless of the LDC’s continuing pledges of support for community interests, though, it has not succeeded in instilling much faith in its efforts among the public. The resignations and hastily drawn up agreement have not helped. Nor has the LDC’s continuing willingness to allow eminent domain to be used in the project.
Posted by lumi at January 30, 2008 8:11 PM