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September 16, 2010
In Cleveland, public corruption indictments leave Forest City unscathed, but lucrative land deal remains "a head-scratcher"
Atlantic Yards Report
In August 2008, Cleveland-area media reported on a public corruption probe that involved, among other things, a curiously lucrative return to a subsidiary of developer Forest City Enterprises.
Today some indictments came down, but the developer--shades of the Ridge Hill case involving subsidiary Forest City Ratner?--seems unscathed.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on the indictment of Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, a man who once declared "I'm not an angel, but I'm no crook... I'm not doing anything different than any other public official does."
The article stated:
In 2000, Dimora ballyhooed the purchase of contaminated Cleveland land that, after a decade and millions of additional tax dollars needed for environmental cleanup, is finally set to house a new Juvenile Justice Center. He said then that the project would create 200 jobs.
The deal has always been a head-scratcher. The county's interest in the land was known, but a subsidiary of real estate developer Forest City Enterprises bought it at a county auditor's sale for about $400,000. Then, months later, the county bought the property back for $2.75 million.
On the day the deal was signed, Campbell, according to an audio recording of the meeting, marveled that a project in limbo for years took off after Dimora became a commissioner.
"It's being Italian," Dimora replied then. "You make people an offer they can't refuse."
Federal agents sought documents related to the project when they raided his office in 2008.
Indeed, it's a real head-scratcher. It's not even part of the 139-page indictment. Another Plain Dealer article reported that the overall investigation continues.
NoLandGrab: Head-scratcher? With all the mutual back-scratching that goes on between Forest City and Cleveland's public officials, it's hardly surprising.
Posted by eric at September 16, 2010 9:21 AM