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June 22, 2009
Stand clear of the closing deal! Pols seek delay on MTA’s new Yards pact
The Brooklyn Paper
by Mike McLaughlin
A coalition of Brooklyn politicians has asked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to postpone Wednesday’s vote to renegotiate a deal with Bruce Ratner for control of railyards at the center of his Atlantic Yards project.
Ratner has asked the MTA to loosen their 2006 agreement that called for the developer to pay $100 million for air rights over the train depot at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues.
Ratner now wants to pay far less — perhaps as little as $20 million up front.
The MTA said it will unveil the details of the classified proposal at today’s Finance Committee hearing, giving the public two days to digest the reconfigured transaction before it will be presented to the full board for a final approval.
The group of local pols — which includes Assemblyman Jim Brennan (D-Park Slope), Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D–Fort Greene), Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D–Carroll Gardens), state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D–Park Slope) and Councilwoman Letitia James (D–Prospect Heights) — wrote to the MTA that two days is not enough time to consider the financial impact it will have on the chronically indigent transit authority.
NoLandGrab: Anyone else get the sense that Lee Sander was axed as MTA chief 'cause he wasn't playing ball with Ratner's lower-low-ball offer?
Posted by eric at June 22, 2009 1:41 PM