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December 20, 2009
Big Picture Questions: Does MTA Chairman Jay Walder Comprehend Atlantic Yards Link to MTA Cutbacks?
Noticing New York
This past Wednesday, the MTA board voted to approve service cuts. Public testimony was allowed before the vote. Michael White was there to condemn the sweetheart deal/development monopoly granted by the MTA to Bruce Ratner.
Our message was that the MTA’s giveaways to the proposed Atlantic Yards Forest City Ratner mega-monopoly are probably the most prominent example of why the MTA is was having to vote to implement these cutbacks. After we and the rest of the public spoke, MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Jay Walder made a statement that sounded uncannily as if he had listened to and taken to heart what we and others said that morning about the drain on the budget due to Atlantic Yards. Maybe it sounded that way until you remember how politicians and political appointees with an idée fixe about the Transaction Fixée (The Wired Deal) can mouth all the words of good, responsible government without meaning any of them.
Read the rest of the post to see how the deal given Ratner for the Vanderbilt Yards is hurting the MTA and how the bidding process was rigged so that only Ratner can have sole ownership of the Vanderbilt Yards at far below their value.
Posted by steve at December 20, 2009 6:22 PM