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June 25, 2009
MTA approves deal 10-2 despite warnings from Brennan, Straphangers, RPA; DDDB offer disdained; see video of testimony and board justifications
Atlantic Yards Report
Here's Norman Oder's synopsis of yesterday's MTA board meeting:
Despite a warning by veteran Assemblyman Jim Brennan that they were squandering their assets, a recommendation of caution by the Straphangers Campaign, and even a request by the Atlantic Yards-supporting Regional Plan Association that the deal be renegotiated, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday voted 10-2 to allow Forest City Ratner to stretch payments for the Vanderbilt Yard over 22 years, at a generous interest rate, and to build a smaller railyard worth $100 million less than originally promised. A diminished temporary yard could persist more than twice as long as originally planned.
Board members--who were reported (see WNYC) to have been under pressure from the mayor and governor who appointed them--agreed that this was the best deal they could get at a time when development is difficult.
They ignored questions from state Senator Bill Perkins, including the need for an appraisal. While several opponents suggested board members were violating their fiduciary duty, the board was told that MTA legal counsel backed their vote.
They went though some convoluted defenses of their failure to challenge FCR further. “The market is what the market is,” declared board member Jeff Kay, disregarding the failure to actually test that market.
As for the last-minute character of the deal, which was aired only on Monday, board member Mark Page, claimed unrealistically that, because MTA staff had been busy working on the deal, “it’s not as though it’s something that’s been dropped in our laps suddenly to consider.”
Also, confirming the “done deal” aspect of the vote, they disregarded without discussion a last-minute--and, understandably, hardly fleshed-out--proposal from Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) to pay $120 million for the Vanderbilt Yard, $20 million more than FCR’s offer.
“It is highly probable that we will sue the MTA as a result of their actions,” DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein said afterward.
Check out the full article for the blow-by-blow account, complete with YouTube video from "BrooklynTruth."
Posted by lumi at June 25, 2009 7:04 AM