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August 4, 2010
Deputy Mayor Wolfson owns $5000 of Forest City Enterprises shares; does it matter? Nah
Atlantic Yards Report
Does it make a difference that Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, who joined the Bloomberg administration in March, bought about $5000 worth of Forest City Enterprises (FCE) stock in 2007?
No, because 1) the administration was already behind the Atlantic Yards project promoted by FCE subsidiary Forest City Ratner and 2) the amount is too low to trigger action by the Conflicts of Interests Board (COIB).
Wolfson reported stock in the company, parent of Forest City Ratner, worth $5,000 to $39,999, but officials told the Post it was close to the minimum.
Unmentioned in the Post or AP reports is that $40,000 is the threshold for an "ownership interest" that, for someone in Wolfson's position, would require either divestment of that interest or disclosure to the COIB of that interest, subjecting him to the board's ruling.
NoLandGrab: $39,999 of Forest City stock purchased on April 16th, 2007 would be worth less than $7,300 today.
Posted by eric at August 4, 2010 1:20 PM