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January 7, 2008
Yankee Stadium Is Going Up, but Bronx Still Seeks Benefits
The NY Times
By Timothy Williams
When Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner announced the Community Benefits Agreement for the company's controversial 22-acre megaproject, it was roundly criticized and held up as the example of what NOT to do when negotiating with "the community." Now, one local agreement is winning the race to the bottom:
Several years ago, as the Yankees negotiated to build a new stadium in the South Bronx, the neighborhood faced the realities of a massive construction project in its midst: parks would be closed and moved, traffic would be horrendous, life would be, for a while, a hassle.
So, as one way to make up for these inconveniences, the Yankees and elected officials signed a community benefits agreement. It required that the team would give roughly $1.2 million a year, starting when the work began, to various community groups through a special panel. The deal was similar to agreements in other major projects, like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Columbia University’s expansion into Harlem.
But nearly 17 months after construction began, as workers race to complete the new Yankee Stadium by opening day 2009, none of that money has been distributed, and the group responsible for administering it has never met.
NoLandGrab: There are significant differences between the Community Benefits Agreements (CBA) listed above: the Atlantic Yards agreement was "negotiated" with handpicked groups, the Columbia University CBA was negotiated with a more diverse group of stakeholders but was still hammered out behind closed doors, and the Bronx CBA is widely considered to be a slush fund negotiated and "administered" by the Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr.
The Bronx WMD
TheEminentDomain.org
The new development-watchdog blog critiques The Times's report, and takes the paper to task for allowing the subject of its story to define the terms.
Kudos to the Times for reporting the story, but what’s up with this, in the second paragraph?: “The deal was similar to agreements in other major projects, like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Columbia University’s expansion into Harlem.”
Similar how, exactly? Aha: Carrión and the Yankees called the deal a Community Benefits Agreement…and so did the groups negotiating in Brooklyn and Harlem. Ergo, the Times calls the Yankee Stadium agreement a CBA, too. Further down in the story, reporter Timothy Williams clarifies: “The agreement for Yankee Stadium was unusual, however, because it was not negotiated or signed by community members.”
Unusual. Note to copy desk: “Bogus” might be a better word. By its own admission, by calling the Yankee Stadium deal a CBA the Times is using a term, supplied by the subject of its story, that blatantly misrepresents the origins and purpose of the enterprise.
Posted by lumi at January 7, 2008 4:55 AM