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November 29, 2011
Pact's Benefits in Limbo
Pledge to Nonprofits Cleared Deal for Columbia, but Money Tied Up in Squabble
The Wall Street Journal
by Jacob Gershman
New York City's CBAs are leaving a lot to be desired.
It was supposed to be a breakthrough victory for Harlem residents and a model on how to settle raging land-use disputes.
But more than 2½ years after Columbia University brokered an agreement with community groups—exchanging a lucrative package of benefits for the area's blessing of the university's expansion into West Harlem—local officials and residents are complaining that the fruits of the deal remain a mystery.
Political squabbling over control of the benefits has left nearly $3 million in Columbia-donated funds idling in a bank. The group administering the largest chunk of benefits, the West Harlem Local Development Corp., doesn't have an office, a website or a staff. The corporation hasn't made public any reports of its activities.
As required, Columbia has directed funds to pay for an agreement compliance officer hired by the state and a tenants attorney to advise residents on evictions. But no one has been retained.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who enforces the state's charities law, has subpoenaed the nonprofit corporation, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars but never registered with his office.
"It's a lesson in what not to do. These community benefit agreements, you have to be very careful because all that glitters is not gold, especially from the perspective of the people who live in the community, the little people," said state Sen. Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat who has opposed the university's expansion efforts.
...The snags highlight common problems with private pacts between developers and neighborhood coalitions. Agreements for the Atlantic Yards arena project in Brooklyn and the construction of the new Yankee Stadium ran into similar complaints.
Posted by eric at November 29, 2011 11:15 AM