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January 28, 2010
Jeffries: "less than cautiously optimistic" on AY, waiting for Paterson response, says ESDC hasn't explained why governance structure isn't needed
Atlantic Yards Report
At his third annual State of the District address, held last night in the Pratt Institute's Higgins Hall, 57th District Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries spoke to a supportive crowd about three main issues, none of them Atlantic Yards, though he did answer questions about the project afterward.
His bottom line on AY: after initiating dialogue with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), he's "less than cautiously optimistic" about progress on most issues, including the use of eminent domain and the commitment to build affordable housing expeditiously. (He mentioned a letter to Governor David Paterson that he hadn't released when it was sent in December.)
Nor has the ESDC convinced him why Atlantic Yards, unlike such other large projects as Queens West or Brooklyn Bridge Park, does not deserve a separate governance structure to provide oversight over the long term. He was most animated in his frustration over that issue.
Jeffries, unlike other local legislators (City Council Member Letitia James, Assemblyman Jim Brennan, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and state Senator Velmanette Montgomery), has not gone to court to challenge decisions by the ESDC and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He's said that doing so would compromise his advocacy.
Thus he walks a careful line: expressing opposition to eminent domain but not standing with the main groups fighting eminent domain for the project; hoping to ensure that, if the project goes forward, there are jobs for community residents and sufficient affordable housing; and hoping to ensure that, if the project goes forward, there's a credible governance structure.
AYR also links to a video, posted on Jeffries's YouTube page, featuring an appearance on Fox News last November that included the Assemblyman and Matthew Brinckerhoff, the attorney who has argued the Atlantic Yards eminent domain cases on behalf of property owners. We missed that segment when it aired originally.
Click through Norman Oder's Q&A with Jeffries following his address last night.
Posted by eric at January 28, 2010 9:50 AM