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March 19, 2010
Legal payoffs, dubious payments, FCR's corporate ethics, and the continuing mystery of Ridge Hill
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder publishes another segment in his series following up on last week's ceremonial Atlantic Yards groundbreaking.
So many of them--the public supporters of Atlantic Yards on the dais--were paid, thus tainting their words.
The Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who delivered the invocation, asserted that the property that Forest City Enterprises CEO Chuck Ratner once called "a great piece of real estate" was some " "long-neglected, rodent-infested, garbage-strewn strip of geography."
Daughtry is a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) signatory, and all CBA signatories receive funding from Forest City Ratner (despite Daughtry's lack of transparency).
Delia Hunley-Adossa, chairperson of the CBA executive committee, asserted the wonders of the CBA, also has ducked questions about Ratner's money.
Then there's the Rev. Al Sharpton, who came to pronounce the essential value of the project, despite his unwillingness to do any analysis. (His National Action Alliance has been funded by the developer.)
It's all perfectly legal. Not terribly savory--and rather problematic, according to a New York City Bar analysis of CBAs--but legal.
(Was Jay-Z paid? He doesn't need the money. But surely he negotiated a sweeter deal in thanks for his willingness to shift the spotlight off the Russian oligarch behind the curtain.)
The mystery of Ridge Hill
Nobody was talking about another set of payments involving Forest City Ratner, part of a deal that was much more complicated, required more political hardball, and has provoked three federal indictments.
Posted by eric at March 19, 2010 10:19 AM