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June 1, 2009
Recapping the Senate hearing: what was learned/missed, plus the biggest deceptions, memorable moments, and more
Atlantic Yards Report
For those of you who don't have hours to sift through all the coverage of last Friday's Atlantic Yards hearing political theater, today's post from Norman Oder gets our vote for best recap. Featuring the best and worst and most "brutally weird" moments from the event, it also sums up what we learned and what we still don't know.
Our vote for best category:
Most "Monty Python" moment: After DDDB attorney Baker accused Forest City of orchestrating disruptive forces, a construction worker bellowed, "We're not disruptive"
Click through for the rest of the "awards."
"Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?"--CIA employee Joe Turner (Robert Redford), in Three Days of the Condor.
The state Senate oversight hearing Friday, held by the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions (chaired by Sen. Bill Perkins), was titled “Atlantic Yards: Where are We Now, How Did We Get Here, and Where is this Project Going?”--an enormous goal that was hardly met.
Almost no light was shed on the past and relatively little shed on the present. As suggested by the quote above, government officials were hardly candid--and they (and others) get their due below.
What we learned
But we did learn some important things:
- the Independent Budget Office (IBO), recalculating its 2005 cost-benefit analysis, concluded the arena would be a money-loser
- the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is willing to compromise with Forest City Ratner on the timetable (and perhaps the total) for the $100 million owed, as well as the quality of the new Vanderbilt Yard
- neither the state nor the city have updated their analysis of new revenue--already deeply flawed, because it excludes costs--to acknowledge current conditions
- that the New York City Housing Development Corporation is waiting for Forest City Ratner and ACORN (which is in hock to the developer) renegotiate the configuration of the affordable housing
- the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) likely will produce a revision of the Modified General Project Plan (GPP) in the next month or two, which will trigger a new public hearing
What we didn't learn
Some other important things we didn't learn:
- how long the project might take
- when construction might begin
- when affordable housing might begin
- whether there are enough bonds for affordable housing
- how the per-unit cost of affordable housing compares to other projects
- whether architect Frank Gehry is on the project
- whether officials realized FCR decided to seek more subsidies well before the economic downturn
- why the ESDC lets private companies benefit from naming rights to public buildings
Posted by lumi at June 1, 2009 6:30 AM