No Land Grab

The Occupy Brooklyn movement marched on the Atlantic Yards Project Saturday as part of a “March to Evict Corporate Greed.”

About 100 people participated, including Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.

"There is no greater monument to crony capitalism in all of Brooklyn than the Atlantic Yards Project," he said as the group paused in front of the Atlantic Center Mall in the shadow of the rising Barclays Center.

mcbrooklyn, Occupy Brooklyn Marches to Atlantic Yards and Other Sites of Corporate Greed

A multi-generational crowd showed up at Korean War Veterans Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn yesterday for the Occupy Brooklyn community event. The Green Party, FUREE and Common Cause joined the Occupy Brooklyn group.

The day included teach-ins about community organizing and the impact of big money on our politics, a hot lunch, performances and a march to sites of corporate greed in Brooklyn, including Atlantic Yards. Speakers said the 1 percent spend their political money to game the system against the 99 percent.

DIY Business Assoction, Occupy Brooklyn occupies Brooklyn blocks on November 12–13

From where we were standing, Occupy Brooklyn’s small collective of activists were some of the most positive, friendly protesters we’ve ever seen.

Here are some photos from Occupy Brooklyn’s Speak-out and Teach-ins at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall in Cadman Plaza West on Saturday, November 12. The pow-wow was followed by a March to Evict Corporate Greed! at 2:30 p.m.

On Sunday, November 13, Occupy Brooklyn is hosting a meeting for Community Actions from 11–3 p.m. and a General Assembly at 3 p.m.

Posted by steve at 11:05 PM

November 11, 2011

Assemblyman Boyland found not guilty in corruption case, despite lies and no-show job

Atlantic Yards Report

...But believe it or not, we hold our elected officials to an even lower standard than we hold Bruce Ratner.

Assemblyman Carl Kruger, and (by extension) Forest City Ratner must be breathing a little easier after learning that Assemblyman William Boyland, charged in the same overall federal corruption case which snared Kruger and mentioned FCR (in relation to Kruger), was acquitted yesterday.

In Jury Acquits Assemblyman of Conspiring to Take Bribes, the New York Times reported that the jury found Boyland's actions questionable but not criminal:

Most jurors felt that Mr. Boyland “clearly did things wrong,” the juror said, citing evidence that he lied on disclosure forms about his work for MediSys, and that he had a no-show job.

...“We could not connect the dots,” the juror said. “We could not say that because he got the money, he advocated for MediSys... We couldn’t do that beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Other party guilty

Here's what's confusing: the former MediSys CEO, David Rosen, was already convicted of conspiring to bribe Boyland in return for him helping MediSys. Maybe the difference was that Boyland, who did not testify, chose a jury trial, and Rosen chose a bench trial before a judge.

Kruger's trial is in January.

link

Related content...

The New York Times, Jury Acquits Assemblyman of Conspiring to Take Bribes

After the verdict was delivered, Mr. Boyland said, “I’m looking forward to getting back to serving as assemblyman for the 55th District.”

NoLandGrab: We bet he is. Dispensing his patented brand of compassion.

Posted by eric at 10:33 AM

November 10, 2011

Potential Roadblock for Permit Parking Plan

State Sen. Marty Golden and other southern Brooklyn pols are against the idea of permit parking for residents.

Park Slope Patch
by Jamie Schuh

The plan for residential permit parking, lauded by some residents who live near the Barclays Center arena, may not have a chance in Albany, if state Sen. Marty Golden, R–Bay Ridge, has his way.

The Brooklyn Paper reports that though City Council approved the proposal, Golden has called the idea of a voluntary permit parking system “another tax on our communities.”

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NoLandGrab: Marty Golden, however, was more than happy to spend a billion dollars of taxpayer money on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project.

Posted by eric at 10:55 AM

November 7, 2011

State Senator Kevin Parker makes it blatant: “I help you. You help me." (Yes, he once got Ratner-related funds.)

Atlantic Yards Report

Sure, he has a criminal record and a history of violent outbursts, but at least he's honest.

The Daily News today reports, in State Sen. Kevin Parker panned after invite to benefit asks for ‘help’:

ALBANY -- Controversial state Sen. Kevin Parker has raised eyebrows yet again with a fund-raising invitation that boasts: "I help you. You help me.”
"It would be simpler if he just said ‘quid pro quo’ on the invitation,” cracked Citizens Union executive director Richard Dadey.
...The front of the invitation bears the slogan: “I help you. You help me. Together we build.”
...But state Board of Elections spokesman Tom Connolly said that while it’s not necessarily the wording he would have chosen, the statement is “vague.”

It is, at the least, an example of candor: a campaign contribution does not necessarily guarantee reciprocal help, but it is often a precursor.

The Ratner connection

Has Forest City Ratner been connected to Parker? Of course. Karen Ranucci, sister in law of developer Bruce Ratner and spouse of leftist lawyer Michael Ratner, gave Parker a $3500 campaign contribution in 2006.

Click thru to see the identities of some of the other "statesmen" who've benefitted from the largesse of the extended Ratner family.

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Posted by eric at 11:46 AM

Big Politically-Connected Real Estate Projects: Ignoring The Public Majority With Futile “Participatory Democracy” Hearing Process

Noticing New York

When I heard Bill Maher on his Real Time show a week ago offer his thesis about the futility of the forms of participatory democracy into which we are routinely channeled by those with the political upper hand I couldn’t help but think of the public hearing process in New York City with respect to big real estate projects. . . I am not thinking about all real estate projects, but the “done deals,” the “wired deals” involving those you know are the politically connected heavyweights.

Maher was speaking about the complacent assurance of plutocrats that they’ve cornered the political market and therefore can expect to have the Occupy Wall Street 99% boxed in, just so long as the opposition movement can be channeled into the regular and routine forms of civic contest. Then plutocrats know that the 99% “will lose” if they can be channeled into the normal ways of doing political battle, says Maher, because “the other side [the plutocratic side] has all the lobbyists and all the suits.” Or, as Rachel Maddow observed in the same conversation, when the 99% does it the way the plutocrats would like, an out-gunned 99% can be ignored.

That’s why, says Maher, the plutocrats are intent on having the opposition do it THEIR way.
...

While Atlantic Yards is not the best example of the public being channeled into conventional participatory processes so they can then be ignored, it is a good example of the tinkering around the edges that occurs as things are engineered when the powers-that-be want a preordained result. Had those in power not had some appreciation of how massively objectionable to the public the Forest City Ratner project was likely to be they might not have decided to override standard public review process to deliver the deal to Ratner.

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NoLandGrab: Here's one recent example of how to not play by the rules.

Posted by eric at 10:53 AM

Bramson’s Scheme to Over-Ride Cuomo’s Tax-Cap Will Saddle New Rochelle With Large Post-Election Tax Increase

Talk of the Sound
by Anthony Galletta

Guess whose campaign donations are being cited as an issue in New Rochelle's mayoral race?

Bramson would like you to forget that he accepted campaign contributions from New Rochelle’s INDEPENDENT AUDITORS and IDA Tax-Abated wealthy developers like Cappelli & Forest City Ratner.

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Posted by eric at 10:20 AM

November 3, 2011

Council challenger: Williamson dislikes developer donations to councillors

Cambridge Day
by Marc Levy

Yonkers isn't the only place in which Forest City is at the root of electoral controversy.

James Williamson, self-desribed as an event organizer, publicist, neighborhood activist has been a frequent presence during public comment periods at city meetings, often speaking out on matters of affordable housing, public transportation and safety and representation for the city’s less wealthy residents. He first ran for City Council two years ago, saying “we need citizens on the City Council who will really pay attention to what’s going on in our city and will not be afraid to speak up and do something about it.” He sounded the same themes for this year’s campaign.

Why are you running? What is it in you or the community that compels you to do this now?

I want to actually do something on the City Council, rather than just sit back and do nothing and collect a check from the taxpayers for $70,000 a year along with campaign contributions from the likes of multiple members of the Ratner family (of Forest City, MIT’s “developer”) from places like Shaker Heights, a wealthy suburb of Cleveland— not Cambridge. Don’t we already have enough wealthy contributors and interests right here in good ol’ Cambridge?

Several councillor-candidates seemed to respond to concerns raised at the Area IV candidate forum last Thursday night with policy orders at Monday’s City Council meeting about rats, since residents are worried about rats displaced by major development across Main Street from Newtowne Court — but what about Ratners? The family’ behind much of this so-called development, the excavation generating the “rat problem,” and they’re major contributors to some of these very same councilor-candidates, to wit: Ken Reeves, Denise Simmons, Marjorie Decker, and, of course, Tim Toomey and David Maher.

Voters should be sure to examine the searchable database at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance to see to who the various members of the extended Ratner family have been contributing to in recent months and years. They are certainly not the only corporate real estate company “investing” in Cambridge candidates (see Alexandria, for example, among others), but they are perhaps the most visible. And they are evidently equal opportunity contributors, as they have given to the cash-starved Republican, Mitt Romney, and the ethically challenged former speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi, as well. Generous of them, don’t you think?
...

What is the No. 1 issue facing Cambridge you see now or coming up in the next two years, and what is your approach or solution to that issue? Be as concrete as possible in explaining what you will do.

The No. 1 issue is the tsunami of “development” heading toward Central Square and Kendall Square via proposals from the MIT Investment Management Co. and the Novartis and Forest City/Ratner plans for Massachusetts Avenue. And quo vadis Central Square? As noted, Ken Reeves is taking money from the “multiple Ratners,” as are Decker, Toomey, Maher and Simmons.

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NoLandGrab: Sound familiar?

Posted by eric at 11:53 AM

October 31, 2011

DOES ED TOWNS EVEN HAVE A POSITION ON CHARTER SCHOOLS (OR ANYTHING ELSE)?

Room Eight: Gatemouth's Blog

Politics maven Howard Graubard (aka Gatemouth) follows up on last week's accusation that State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who's thought to be prepping a primary challenge to longtime 10th District Congressman Ed Towns, is a flip-flopper on charter schools (among other things).

To return to the subject, on this issue and others, like Atlantic Yards, Hakeem Jeffries tends to nuance himself to death, but on this issue, as with Atlantic Yards, he often gets to a place near my own thinking. Further, I‘ll take this moment to remind BPA that he surely prefers Hakeem’s Atlantic yards nuance to ET’s full-throated support of Ratnerville.

But the real question here is “Does Ed Towns even have a stand on Charter Schools?

As I’ve documented before, on so many issues, ET’s thought processes, if one can even call them that, are quite embarrassing.

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NoLandGrab: The man does have a point.

Posted by eric at 11:43 AM

October 29, 2011

The Markowitz defense/explanation: I did it for Brooklyn (plus a letter the Times didn't print)

Atlantic Yards Report

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has a letter in today's New York Times, responding to the newspaper's lengthy investigation of his private fundraising:

I wasn’t elected Brooklyn borough president to do nothing, and I certainly wasn’t chosen for my good looks. My office doesn’t set its own budgets, and gets only $300,000 in discretionary money for programming in a borough of 2.6 million people — less than 12 cents per person! I refuse to accept these limitations, and Brooklynites deserve better.

To make a difference for Brooklyn, I’m an aggressive supporter of economic development and proud of every project that has helped our borough reach new heights.

The nonprofits affiliated with my office have helped countless Brooklynites, sending thousands of kids to summer camp, entertaining millions at free summer concerts, playing host to the largest book festival in the Northeast and providing residents in need with toys and food during the holidays.

And to the businesses that have helped these efforts, I say, Bravo! And more companies should do the same.

If when I’m finished, I have made you prouder to be a Brooklynite, improved your life even a little bit and put a smile on your face, then I achieved what I set out to do.

MARTY MARKOWITZ Brooklyn, Oct. 25, 2011

What's missing

Yes, Markowitz has used the money to serve the public--and to burnish his reputation, thus ensuring cakewalks in his two races for re-election. And Markowitz, of course, evades the question of whether those firms that donate get special favors.

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Posted by steve at 3:36 PM

October 28, 2011

Brooklyn Borough Prez Marty Markowitz: Arm Twister or Force of Nature for Nonprofits?

The Nonprofit Quarterly
by Rick Cohen

Marty Markowitz seems to be New York City’s happy political power broker. According to the New York Times, Markowitz has worked with real estate interests such as Forest City Ratner, the developer of the massive Atlantic Yards complex in downtown Brooklyn, to move their projects through the often-stalled pipeline. As a gesture of political gratitude, Forest City Ratner has contributed $1.7 million since 2003 toward charities favored by the borough president—part of more than $20 million the Times says Markowitz has raised from developers and special interests for four charities that Markowitz has created.
...

He doesn’t think that there’s any problem with donors who “might feel compelled to give because of his political influence,” because, as Markowitz told the Times, “I know the difference between right and wrong, and ethical and nonethical.”
...

Markowitz may see no problem, but the ethical issues are sort of obvious—even though Markowitz’s charities are a sort of Brooklyn boosterism-oriented kinds of groups. It doesn’t matter: if they are seen as the charities of the borough prez, the donations from corporations with borough business, particularly if subject to Markowitz’s arm-twisting, look bad.

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Posted by eric at 2:05 PM

Hey Bloomberg, Buy Your Own 7 Train to New Jersey!

Forbes
by Stephen Smith

An article about Mayoral support for extending the #7 subway to Secaucus contains this appraisal of the Bloombergian legacy.

Bloomberg has, overall, been a good mayor for New York, but his success in governing has not lived up to his reputation as a businessman. New York has improved its position over the past decade, but so have all American cities – it’s hard to attribute it to his leadership, specifically. The Hudson and Atlantic Yards redevelopment projects are his two greatest accomplishments, and both have been dogged by accusations of cronyism.

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NoLandGrab: Referring to two development projects whose only "development" is a half-built arena as the Mayor's greatest accomplishments is wildly off-base. Atlantic Yards may be the greatest misstep of his tenure, while things like 311, PlaNYC2030 and the remaking of the city's streetscape actually are noteworthy achievements.

Posted by eric at 1:46 PM

Hakeem Jeffries Sells Out Our Children’s Education & Future for DFER

New York City Parents Union

In July 2011, Jeffries did a flip flop on charters & charter co-locations betraying parents and attacking the NAACP & UFT for standing up for all children. He did this for DFER money. We responded to his selling out with our press release at: http://www.nycparentsunion.org/?p=195.

Now, Jeffries, the only elected to attend this charter town hall meeting yesterday is ramping up his sellout campaign to the privatizing, union busting charter lobby. Apparently, this is nothing new for Jeffries, he flip-flopped/sold out on Atlantic Yards too.

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NoLandGrab: It really shouldn't be this hard to upgrade from Ed Towns.

Posted by eric at 1:35 PM

October 26, 2011

What's the real Marty Markowitz like? Lawsuit depositions point to a calculating, volatile politician (and some questionable management by Markowitz's then-deputy)

Atlantic Yards Report

Oy vey.

What's the real Marty Markowitz like? "The people in Brooklyn know me," the Brooklyn Borough President yesterday told the New York Times, waving off criticisms about private fundraising from companies doing business in Brooklyn. (Common Cause was not convinced.)

But do they? Those who know only showman Markowitz may smile, but the real Marty is far more calculating and volatile, as detailed in documents in a sex discrimination suit filed in December 2007 by a former staffer against both him and his office.

Some of the headlines--prompted by the plaintiff's effort to lend momentum to her case by sharing depositions--have been lurid, magnifying relatively small incidents: Suit: Marty ran the Beep’s office like a frat-house and Marty Markowitz blasts 'Tinkerbell' ex-staffer.

By my reading of the extant depositions--surely not the whole record--ex-staffer Regina Weiss has a case, though it's not a slam dunk. No, Markowitz's office doesn't resemble the testosterone-fueled atmosphere of, say, a trading floor. Still, there may be evidence of disparate treatment toward male and female staffers.

The real Marty

More than anything else, the lawsuit pulls back the curtain on Markowitz, showing he recognizes the division between policy and his "shtick," can be a "screamer" beneath his jovial exterior, practices retail politics by pumping out proclamations, blurs the already-fuzzy line between governing and campaigning, and obsesses about his Brooklyn!! promotional publication, which aims to mention or honor as many people as possible.

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Posted by eric at 10:26 AM

October 25, 2011

Following up on the Times's Markowitz story: why the timing? who was left out (Bloomberg)? will Common Cause call for investigation be heeded?

Atlantic Yards Report

Will anything come of the New York Times's coverage of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's curious end-around of campaign finance laws via campaign contributions? Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY issued a statement today:

"This is sheer pay to play and it's dishonest to pretend otherwise. The Borough President has leveraged his position for personal aggrandizement at great expense to the public cause. Democracy demands accountability from our elected officials, anything less undermines us all. We believe that there should be a full investigation by both the Brooklyn District Attorney and the conflict of interest board."

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NoLandGrab: Given Markowitz's 25-year history or ethics violations, perhaps the Feds would like to have a look?

Posted by eric at 11:22 PM

Times takes belated but critical look at Markowitz's charity strategy; Forest City largest donor; BP claims criticism irrelevant, but what about his shilling for Atlantic Yards?

Atlantic Yards Report

The New York Times today offers a tough--but not tough enough--front-page (in the New York edition) story about Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's remarkable method of fundraising outside the campaign system.

It's headlined From Brooklyn Office, Mixing Clout and Charity. And yes, the largest amount--$2.4 million--comes from developer Forest City Ratner and Atlantic Yards-related firms.
...

A lame take on the Ratner connection

The anecdotes in the article all concern companies other than Forest City Ratner, so Markowitz's favorite project--and biggest source of donations--gets mentioned only at the end:

Forest City Ratner Companies, which is building the Atlantic Yards complex, has long relied on Mr. Markowitz’s backing for the huge project in the face of neighborhood opposition. Forest City is one of the biggest contributors to Mr. Markowitz’s charities, having given approximately $1.7 million.

“Sometimes, the borough president in his advocacy has blurred the lines between the role of private industry and government,” Councilwoman Letitia James of Brooklyn, an opponent of the project, said. “He is taking advantage of a loophole in the law.”

Mr. Markowitz, who has not yet decided whether to retire from politics or to run for mayor in 2013, called such criticism absurd.

“I have everything that I could have,” he said during an interview. “I don’t need anything. I don’t need any of you! I have done this. I loved it. You could raise all the issues you want — the people in Brooklyn know me, they love me.”

That's a nonsensical, evasive response, ultimately, and the Times shouldn't have let him get away with it.

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NoLandGrab: Somehow "love" doesn't quite seem like the right word.

Posted by eric at 12:32 PM

From Brooklyn Office, Mixing Clout and Charity

The New York Times
by Liz Robbins and Alison Leigh Cowan

What's front-page news to The Times is something that most of us have known for a long time — something is rotten in Brooklyn (Borough Hall).

When one of the biggest real estate developments in Brooklyn was stalled two years ago, its owner turned to the city government for help, seeking $20 million in financing. Nearly 50 projects were applying for a small number of aid packages at the time, but this one, City Point, had a prominent supporter.

“The future of Downtown Brooklyn depends on it,” Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, declared.

City Point received the financing, and around the same time, the lead developer on the project, Acadia Realty, gave $50,000 to a charity run by Mr. Markowitz. The donation was one of a series that Acadia has made to Mr. Markowitz’s charities since 2005, totaling more than $300,000, city records and interviews show.

New York City has adopted some of the strictest rules in the nation to curb the influence of money in politics. Donors with business before it are all but barred from contributing to officials in the city’s campaign finance system.

Yet in recent years, Mr. Markowitz has found another way to tap into those donors. He has established a network of four charities that has reaped at least $20 million since 2003, and probably more, according to interviews and an analysis of city records.
...

The donors to the nonprofit groups range from huge corporations like Wal-Mart and TD Bank to local entrepreneurs, but they usually have one thing in common: They have a stake in city legislation, real estate projects, zoning disputes and other Brooklyn issues.

But everything's kosher, according to Marty.

“I know the difference between right and wrong, and ethical and nonethical,” Mr. Markowitz said. “I am not pitching them to give me money, and me in turn give them anything.”

Uh-huh.

Here's how the game works.

Mr. Markowitz was once an outspoken critic of Wal-Mart’s effort to open in the city, contending that the company treated its workers poorly and would harm local businesses.

In 2008, Mr. Markowitz recommended approval of the zoning resolution for a retailer in East New York, Brooklyn, preferably a supermarket, but only on the condition that Wal-Mart could not be the retailer unless it changed its employment practices. He even demanded that the developer promise in writing to prohibit Wal-Mart.

Last spring, Wal-Mart executives donated $150,000 to the Martin Luther King Jr. concerts, a Markowitz group, and met with Mr. Markowitz.

Soon after, Mr. Markowitz softened his criticism of Wal-Mart, saying its executives convinced him that the company had improved its labor practices. He added that shoppers were now going to Wal-Mart on Long Island. “It doesn’t make sense to me how we keep Wal-Mart out of Brooklyn,” he said.

Both Wal-Mart and Mr. Markowitz said the donations were unrelated to Mr. Markowitz’s views on Wal-Mart’s expansion to Brooklyn.

Union leaders, who have long opposed Wal-Mart in New York and elsewhere, disagreed.

“When somebody changes their mind after a corporation has come in and given a large donation, it is seen as an example of everything that people are disgusted with in politics,” said Patrick Purcell, the assistant to the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500.

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NoLandGrab: Disgusted, indeed.

Posted by eric at 12:16 PM

October 22, 2011

Does Warren Buffett really back Schumer's plan to trade visas for home purchases? It was more an offhand remark amid support for the market's workings

Atlantic Yards Report

Did billionaire Warren Buffett really back the proposal, co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mike Lee (R-UT), to stimulate housing demand by offering visas to immigrants who spend $5000,000 in cash for housing?

Despite widespread coverage saying just that, the evidence is far more murky. Actually, Buffett made an offhand, somewhat fanciful comment--not a policy proposal--while urging that the free market work its course, as the video below indicates.

...

NPR reported:

The concept appears to have broad support. Billionaire Warren Buffett endorsed it as an effective way of getting rid of excess housing inventory in an August interview with Charlie Rose.

"If you wanted to change [the] immigration policy so that you let 500,000 families in, but they'd have to have significant net worth and everything, you'd solve things very quickly," Buffett said.

...

Here's an excerpt from the transcript.

BUFFETT: I mean this -- this is a huge correction of a bubble that popped.

ROSE: And -- and what is necessary to take place over the next two years in order to increase household formation and decrease the amount of construction?

BUFFETT: Well, we’re doing pretty well on the decrease in construction.

...ROSE: Demand is a factor in that.

BUFFETT: Demand is a factor and we artificially gave it a little boost when we went with the credit a year or two ago on -- on -- on purchase of homes. I think it’s a mistake to try and -- to try and front end it. I mean it just delays the eventual recovery. If you’ve gone in excess of something -- if I’ve got too many purple dresses and I run a dress shop, I get rid of those purple dresses and -- and then I can start all over again with the dresses that the people want.

ROSE: Yes.

BUFFETT: And I -- I mark them down to whatever it takes. You could -- you could -- you could have -- you could have a bunch of rich immigrants come in and they’d all need houses, for example. I mean if you wanted to change your immigration policy so that you let 500,000 families in but they have to have a significant net worth and everything, you’d -- you’d solve things very quickly. But naturally it’s being solved. Capitalism is solving this. But we’re fortunate in doing this, Japan has a declining population. I mean, if they get in excess of something it isn’t going to get worked off. We have households being formed every day. I’ve got a grandson getting married this weekend so we’re -- we’re forming them all the time. And -- and we’re forming it a lot faster than we’re building homes.

(Emphasis added)

Note that all the news coverage omitted the next sentence Buffett uttered: But naturally it’s being solved.

Sure, there's room to disagree on whether, in the housing market, more should be done to support homeowners and avoid community dislocation. But an offhand remark, amid a larger call for the free market, should not be seen as a policy prescription.

link

Posted by steve at 3:39 PM

October 19, 2011

Catching up on Bruce Ratner's campaign contributions: to de Blasio and New York Uprising (and would past gift to Schneiderman stave off Downtown Brooklyn Partnership investigation?)

Atlantic Yards Report

Money can buy you friends, and even better, the obeisance of people who shouldn't be looking the other way.

After late 2010 campaign contributions to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and to Senate Republicans, Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has made two other notable contributions.

On 12/23/10, he gave $4,950, the maximum, to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a likely 2013 mayoral candidate and a reliable, if not always credible, Atlantic Yards supporter. Ratner in June was the co-chair of a de Blasio fundraiser.

Ratner on 4/1/11 gave $25,000 to New York Uprising, the clean-up Albany effort founded by his old mentor Henry Stern of New York Civic, with support from several noted former elected officials, including former Mayor Ed Koch.

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NoLandGrab: As we've said before, there's something Orwellian, almost about Bruce Ratner giving money to a clean-up Albany effort.

Posted by eric at 1:30 PM

"Status Cuomo": unmet Atlantic Yards oversight means savings to Ratner

Atlantic Yards Report

Governor Andrew Cuomo, dubbed "Status Cuomo" by his political rivals, seems to have earned that appellation regarding Atlantic Yards.

After all, his administration has merely continued the policy of its predecessors, for example defending the failure to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, even though contracts signed by the state allow a 25-year buildout, rather than the decade predicted.

Job left open, lagging of oversight

Think about it. For four months, the state has left open the community relations position once occupied by Forrest Taylor, then dubbed ombudsman (though he didn't have such power).

Meanwhile, construction noise, dust, and traffic can make life in areas adjacent to the Atlantic Yards construction very trying.

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Posted by eric at 1:16 PM

October 17, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Hits Grand Army Plaza

Prospect Heights Patch
by Amy Sara Clark

We're guessing Marty didn't see the irony.

Occupy Wall Street came to Brooklyn today with dozens gathering at Grand Army Plaza to bring the movement to their own borough.

And the most unlikely occupier — if logic counts for anything — was the one in the middle:

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz stopped by to show support, both for the right of free speech and assembly and for the mission of the movement.

“I share a lot of those sentiments,” he said, citing the disparity of wealth, the struggles of the middle class and the migration of jobs overseas as some of his top concerns.

As one commenter on the Brooklyn Paper's story wrote:

"He's been the biggest booster of Atlantic Yards, the poster project for 1% abuse, and has stood with the 1% who have sued to undo traffic calming on Prospect Park West. What a hypocritical opportunist."

Couldn't have said it better ourselves.

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Posted by eric at 12:01 PM

October 15, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Movement and Atlantic Yards

Occupy Wall Street seeks to expand to Brooklyn. As the thrust of the movement is against corporate welfare, the recipient of such largesse, Bruce Ratner and Atlantic Yards soon come into the picture.

Corrente, Whose Park? Our Park.

This blog post reveals the contents of a letter from Occupy Wall Street's legal advisors to Brookfield Properties that ostensibly stopped New York City from ousting Occupy Wall Street from Zucotti Park. Analysis finds that one of the signatories of the letter was none other than Michael Ratner, Bruce's brother.

But it is the name of Michael Ratner that caught my eye last night. For Ratner is not just the number one human rights legal activist in New York City, arguably the US. He is also the scion of a multi billion property development firm run by his brother, Bruce Ratner, who happens to be a crony/buddy of Michael Bloomberg. So much so that he got more than 100 million dollars of tax and price breaks from NYC to build--against community opposition--a boondoggle basketball stadium in Brooklyn.

(Oh, and besides being a crony of Bloomberg, guess what! Bruce Ratner was the real estate developer for the New York Times' shiny new skyscraper. Do you think the Atlantic Yards stadium boondoggle got much coverage in Izvestia?)

So while Michael Ratner's credentials as a legal rights activist are solid, his family/monetary connections (he was conspicuously silent in the community legal battle against his brother Bruce, and he owns shares in the Nets, Ratner's team) place him well inside the cozy embrace of New York's power elite.

About.com, Occupy Brooklyn Arrives Saturday, Oct. 15 at Grand Army Plaza
By Ellen Freudenheim

It was just a matter of time, really, before Brooklyn became the umpteenth site for the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon. So tomorrow, Saturday, along with your Farmers Market pumpkins and squash, you can get (and give) a good dose of politics at 11 AM at Grand Army Plaza in Park Slope. What's their message? It's still being honed and harvested.

Where Will Occupy Wall Street in Brooklyn Hang Its Hat?

Outgrowing Zuccotti Park, the protesters need a place to hang their hats.

Personally, I'd like to see a Speakers Corner in Brooklyn, like the famous one in Hyde Park, London.

But hmm...a big empty space that's privately owned? Too bad there's not a safe public space near that so called "blighted" area, Atlantic Yards. Now wouldn't that be the irony of all ironies, if Occupy Brooklyn were to occupy Atlantic Yards? A bloggling thought...

Atlantic Yards Report, At Occupy Brooklyn rally Saturday, will Markowitz show up? From Grand Army Plaza, why not head past arena site and measure corner pedestrian congestion?

The gathering at Grand Army Plaza is not planned as an occupation, just a rally. Peter Rothberg wrote on Patch that organizers were exploring whether to try to "take up indefinite residence in the borough."

What could be the Brooklyn equivalent of Zuccotti Park, site of Occupy Wall Street? The most obvious example to some would be MetroTech Commons, also a privately-owned public space and home to not only Brooklyn's most powerful developer, Forest City Ratner, but also the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership as well as several city agencies.

Posted by steve at 8:53 PM

October 10, 2011

Bloomberg: "you promise users everything, then you build what you can and what you think they need"

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder ties the cross-examination of Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the trial of a disgraced political consultant to his defense of developer Bruce Ratner.

In a 10/4/11 article headlined Mayor, Not Recalling Much, Testifies in Consultant’s Trial, the New York Times captured a sequence which cast doubt on Mayor Mike Bloomberg's credibility--and suggested that he and developer Bruce Ratner share a penchant for making promises they can't keep.

article

Posted by eric at 11:54 AM

October 9, 2011

Taibbi on why Wall Street isn't in jail: "financial crimes don't feel real"

Atlantic Yards Report

Matt Taibbi, he of the famous "Goldman Sachs as vampire squid" formulation, was on the Leonard Lopate Show Monday.

And that pointed me to his 2/16/11 Rolling Stone article headlined Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them.

Here's the close:

The mental stumbling block, for most Americans, is that financial crimes don't feel real; you don't see the culprits waving guns in liquor stores or dragging coeds into bushes. But these frauds are worse than common robberies. They're crimes of intellectual choice, made by people who are already rich and who have every conceivable social advantage, acting on a simple, cynical calculation: Let's steal whatever we can, then dare the victims to find the juice to reclaim their money through a captive bureaucracy. They're attacking the very definition of property — which, after all, depends in part on a legal system that defends everyone's claims of ownership equally. When that definition becomes tenuous or conditional — when the state simply gives up on the notion of justice — this whole American Dream thing recedes even further from reality.

That's not exactly the Atlantic Yards story, but it's also not out of the ballpark. For example, what should we make of the lies presented to potential immigrant investors?

...

Remember how Forest City Ratner, having pledged $100 million cash in 2005 for the rights to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard, in 2009 convinced the agency (via its political patrons) to restructure the deal, putting down $20 million for the initial parcel needed for the arena block and agreeing to pay the rest over 22 years at a gentle interest rate?

link

Posted by steve at 11:02 PM

October 4, 2011

Brooklyn Nets Have Perfect Job for Post-Presidency Marty Markowitz

The L Magazine
by Benjamin Sutton

Last we heard it sounded pretty likely—though not completely certain—that current Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz will be retiring from politics when his current term ends in 2013. But just because he's (probably) leaving public office doesn't mean he has to cease being Brooklyn's most boisterous spokesman: the Brooklyn Nets need an announcer, and we think Marty'd be perfect for the job.

article

Posted by eric at 11:00 AM

September 30, 2011

Top Markowitz aide Scissura positioning himself for Borough President; does he agree with his boss that "Brooklyn is 1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards"?

Atlantic Yards Report

Four more years of Marty? Shouldn't term limits apply to clones, too?

City Hall News reported 9/28/11:

Carlo Scissura is taking another step toward running to replace his boss Marty Markowitz as Brooklyn borough president. The beep’s chief of staff is stepping down from that job to become a special advisor instead, taking a $15,000 pay cut to $124,000, with some of his responsibilities transferred to other staff members. The move frees him from the restrictions that bar top city officials from raising campaign money or doing other overtly political acts. Scissura, who declined to comment, received Conflicts of Interest Board clearance for the move. Markowitz will not replace him as chief of staff.

In other words, Scissura likely will function in several ways as chief of staff, but without the title--for more than two years.

Fundraiser tomorrow

He's holding a fundraiser tomorrow, with one of hosts Andrew Steininger, capital budget/economic development specialist at Borough Hall, and another Sharon Davidson of the North Flatbush Business Improvement District.

(Note how Scissura, in the picture, is wearing a "Brooklyn" pin the way Markowitz does.)
...

Some baggage

City Hall News noted that Scissura's political baggage includes his willingness to represent Markowitz when his bought a house--a conflict of interest that led both to be fined this year.

article

NoLandGrab: Now there's change we can believe in — a pro-land grab, anti-bike lane, ethically challenged Borough President.

Posted by eric at 11:56 AM

September 29, 2011

Getting Near to Holly Near: Performing This Saturday at First Acoustics (with John Bucchino and special guest Linda Tillery)- Plus Notes on Empire

Noticing New York

This blog post begins with musical matters and then moves to thoughts about a contemporary musician, Jay-Z.

But if you want your bad guys pure and straight up bad in their “empire”-building we suggest you direct your attention where gangsta-rap music star Jay-Z directed his attention this week: Atlantic Yards, the Bruce Ratner mega-monopoly. Jay-Z has been given a small piece of the action in Ratner's mega-monopoly to act as a front man dutifully providing ripped-off-the-Teleprompter PR statements centered around unbelievable stories about job creation and similar fictions. Talk about “contrived.”

The problem is that the bad empire-building behavior Jay-Z is supporting is not happening at a safe remove in a by-gone historical era. The damage he is contributing to is going on now in real time. The only good thing good about the fact that it's happening in real time is that this means a conscious and objecting public has options to do something about. Insisting that Ratner's monopoly be broken up and bid out to competing developers would be a good first step in the things to be accomplished. Ensuring that subsidies are fair and minimal with diminished density would be some other good things to accomplish.

...

Jay-Z showed up at the press event this week to announce that the Ratner/Prokhorov basketball team, the New Jersey Nets now in New Jersey are being renamed the “Brooklyn Nets.” The team, of course, along with jay-Z, have are being used to justify Ratner’s land grab, receipt of huge public subsidies and override of laws and the community.

But the only elected representative at the event was Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. All other politicians stayed away, although Ratner is still very much reliant on the Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo backing he gets in the background.

link

Posted by steve at 2:05 PM

September 18, 2011

Quote of the week, from Marty Markowitz: "I would bring the heart back to this city" (if he decided to run for mayor)

Atlantic Yards Report

The New York Post reported in a 9/14/11 article headlined Fuhgeddaboutit! B’klyn Beep Marty retiring from politics:

Marty Markowitz -- the powerful, popular Brooklyn borough president who had seriously considered a bid to replace Mayor Bloomberg in 2013 -- is no longer interested in the gig, sources told The Post yesterday.

NLG's Eric McClure suggested Markowitz would be "your next Forest City Ratner Companies Vice President of Governmental Affairs!"

Backing off

Then Markowitz backed off--sort of.

In a NY1 piece later that day headlined Markowitz Denies Report He's Ready To Leave Public Office, Markowitz in some ways seemed to confirm the earlier report, acknowledging that, unlike the announced candidates, he hasn't made any steps to campaign.

link

Posted by steve at 10:47 PM

September 14, 2011

Fuhgeddaboutit! B’klyn Beep Marty retiring from politics

NY Post
by Rich Calder

Ladies and gentleman — your next Forest City Ratner Companies Vice President of Governmental Affairs!

Marty Markowitz -- the powerful, popular Brooklyn borough president who had seriously considered a bid to replace Mayor Bloomberg in 2013 -- is no longer interested in the gig, sources told The Post yesterday.

Jeez, and he had such a good chance of winning.

In fact, the 66-year-old Markowitz, who can’t run for re-election again as borough president because of term limits, has been telling close confidants he’s grown tired of the strains of political life altogether and is not planning to run for any other elected post.

He's not the only one who's grown tired.

...
As borough president, he played a major role in the opening of the Red Hook cruise-ship terminal, attracting new development to Downtown Brooklyn and Coney Island and convincing the owners of the NBA New Jersey Nets to move into a new Prospect Heights arena next year.

But Markowitz has also infuriated his share of constituents, including bicycle activists, over his opposition to a bike lane along Prospect Park West.

Opponents of the controversial Atlantic Yards project, including the new Nets arena, regularly ridicule him for being its biggest booster.

article

Related coverage...

Runnin' Scared, Marty Markowitz Is Retiring

This comes after Markowitz's ethics issue in July, in which the city Conflicts of Interest Board fined him $20,000 for accepting free travel for his wife who accompanied him on business trips to Turkey and the Netherlands, though representatives of Markowitz said this was unrelated to the decision not to run.

No formal announcements have been made yet. The big question, along with who will replace Marty Markowitz? is does Fuhgeddaboutit retire too?

Posted by eric at 1:03 PM

August 20, 2011

From the Village Voice's Siegel: Sharpton as mayoral king killer (and, I'd add, the knife in Ferrer's back over AY)

Atlantic Yards Report

This week's Village Voice features on article about the influence of Atlantic Yards supporter Al Sharpton on New York politics. Norman Oder takes a look back at how Sharpton's AY support took precedence in his support of Fernando Ferrer for mayor.

Unmentioned is a key episode in the Ferrer campaign, whereupon the candidate belatedly came out against Atlantic Yards, only to have Sharpton--his supporter--immediately issue a statement criticizing him.

Most in the press played Sharpton's knife in the back over Ferrer's policy switch. The New York Times, for example, published a 10/29/05 article headlined Ferrer Is Chided Over Atlantic Yards:

In a statement sent by e-mail to reporters, Mr. Sharpton said that he and Mr. Ferrer "strongly disagree" on the project, which would place a ridge of skyscrapers and a basketball arena at a major Brooklyn intersection and straddle several low-scale neighborhoods where opposition to the project has recently intensified. Mr. Ferrer, he said, "needs to realize that failure to get projects like this done would be a terrible loss for communities of color throughout this city."

"We cannot play politics with something as important as the Atlantic Yards," Mr. Sharpton said.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Sharpton played down the notion of a rift between the two camps, saying that the statement had been issued in response to calls from reporters and was intended "to make it clear that I wasn't playing politics."

That, people, is Orwellian. What was Sharpton doing other than playing politics?

link

Posted by steve at 3:53 PM

August 15, 2011

From Borough Hall: banning photography and video at the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meetings is "to prevent disruptions." What are disruptions?

Atlantic Yards Report

At the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting, held the morning of 7/14/11 at Borough Hall, some of us in the audience picked up cameras to take a few photos.

I did, as did Amy Clark of Prospect Heights Patch, Michael D. D. White of Noticing New York, and a couple of academics working on a project related to Atlantic Yards.

A Borough Hall staffer told us to stop taking photos.

Getting an explanation

Later, I asked, as I had done in February, for an explanation of why cameras were banned at the meetings, held bi-monthly.

Markowitz spokesman Mark Zustovich sent me a statement:

“Our office, along with Empire State Development (ESD) and Council Member Letitia James, are preparing a statement about the openness of these meetings and our expectations regarding public attendee behavior, and that statement will be included with each meeting’s agenda so there’s no confusion going forward. However, you will recall that an announcement was made at the second AYDSC earlier this year by Arana Hankin of ESD that since these meetings are non-deliberative, they are not subject to open public meetings law. [see coverage] Therefore, while we’ve allowed the public to attend and view the meetings, we have prohibited the use of film and photography in order to prevent disruptions. The public is encouraged to view, record audio, take notes and report on the proceedings of the cabinet. They are not permitted to film or photograph the meetings.”

Follow the link for Norman Oder's conjecture about the reason for the ban — which might have something to do with vanity.

article

Posted by eric at 10:25 AM

August 7, 2011

Markowitz's concert program: ads from the Barclays Center/Nets (the Dodgers connection!), Forest City Ratner, Turkish restaurants, and many more

Atlantic Yards Report

Atlantic Yards ur-opponent Patti Hagan passed along the program from Borough President Marty Markowitz's August 4 Seaside Summer Concert Series, held in Coney Island.

It's a hefty publication, with actual (promo-ish) articles about such things as Brooklyn movies and Brooklyn writers, and lots of ads, including from the many patrons (listed in graphic below), sponsors, and contributors.

The pages at bottom show the cover, and the ads from the Barclays Center/Nets and Forest City Ratner.

Hagan noted that, at the August 4 concert featuring Aretha Franklin, Markowitz saluted the Nets and Barclays but managed not to mention Forest City Ratner.

...

Inside the program, as shown at right, Barclays Center and the Nets are going straight for the Brooklyn Dodgers-Brooklyn Nets connection, positioning an image of seats from a baseball stadium on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, the gateway to all things Brooklyn.

It would be a little more difficult to juxtapose photos of the modest, retro Ebbets Field with the modern Atlantic Yards arena, with its "Barclays Center" signage. Such signage turns a publicly-owned (at least nominally) sports facility into a billboard for a sponsor that bought naming rights that the state simply gave away.

...

Note that some but not all are patrons of Markowitz's other concert series, the Martin Luther King, Jr. concert series, but Barclays/Nets and Forest City are patrons of both.

The Seaside series, held in Coney Island, is aimed at a significantly white audience, though it appeals to a broader crowd. The MLK series, held in Crown Heights, is aimed at a significantly black audience, though it appeals to a broader crowd.

link

Posted by steve at 10:43 PM

August 6, 2011

Post: Markowitz gave capital funds to hospital that paid for trip; BP says every hospital gets money; records suggest this hospital did well

Atlantic Yards Report

Now that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has pushed back against a ruling that cost him $20,000 in fines from the city Conflict of Interests Board, the New York Post is looking a little more closely at potential quid pro quo activity.

In today's article, headlined Carib junketeer Marty 'repays' favor to hosp, the newspaper reported:

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz delivered more than $2.5 million in capital funds last year to the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Fort Greene -- which paid his way on a Caribbean junket in 2007, The Post has learned.

...One of those trips in 2007 was to the island of Grenada, where the Brooklyn Hospital Center covered airfare and lodging bills estimated at $1,000 to $5,000.

Markowitz listed the purpose of the visit on financial-disclosure forms as: "Promoted intercourse in health-care innovations and Brooklyn as a tourist destination."

He also met with officials of St. George's University medical school, which sends students to the Fort Greene hospital for training.

Every hospital that asks?

The BP's office told the Post pointed out that, since 2007, every hospital in Brooklyn that applied for capital money received an award.

Perhaps, but it looks like the Brooklyn Hospital Center did well. In 2009, the one year for which I have details, two hospitals were funded, at much lower numbers: Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center got $700,000, while Long Island College Hospital got $295,000.

Reasons for concern

However, the Post found a watchdog to say the obvious:

But Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, called the combination of the freebie trip and the government handout worrisome.

"The capital item for the Brooklyn Hospital may be entirely needed. But in the context of him having visited Grenada on their nickel, it raises questions," said Dadey.

link

Posted by steve at 10:57 PM

August 2, 2011

Markowitz on wife Jamie: "I ask her if I've made right decisions."

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder still can't get over Marty Markowitz's hyperbolic boosterism, but in Oder's defense, is there really any Brooklynite more tedious than Markowitz?

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, defending his flouting of a directive not to let his wife Jamie take freebies, tells New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, in Markowitzes two peas in a pod: "It's foreign to me not to have her. I need her. She's got a great sense of what's important. I ask her if I've made right decisions. Yin to the yang, she's my life. My soul mate."

Um, did Jamie agree that, as Markowitz said on video, "Brooklyn is 1000 percent--1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards"?

link

Posted by eric at 12:22 PM

July 27, 2011

Following up on the Markowitz campaign fine: two editorials criticize him; Brooklyn Paper suggests wife is First Lady; poll (taken before fine surfaced) shows BP high in 2013 Mayoral rice

Atlantic Yards Report

That $20,000 fine levied against Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz for letting his wife get her expenses paid on three international trips--despite explicit advice to the contrary (which he ignores)--is still provoking discussion.

The Daily News reports, in Irked Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz: Change city travel law, that Markowitz is hoping for the City Council to allow spouses to travel for free. Council Members say that's unlikely.

Is Jamie "First Lady" of Brooklyn?

In an editorial, Marty Markowitz scores another Knucklehead Award for trying to pass off his wife as first lady of BK, the Daily News simply says Markowitz is wrong, without noting how the judge in the case contrasted Jamie Markowitz's duties with that of a real First Lady.

article

NoLandGrab: First lady? Somehow, we don't see Michelle Obama grabbing up as many expensive place mats as she can carry, and telling people who didn't get one "you snooze, you lose."

Posted by eric at 10:33 AM

July 26, 2011

Markowitz fined $20,000 for accepting free airfare and other travel perks for his wife--despite having stated he knew he had to pay her way

Atlantic Yards Report

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has been slammed with a $20,000 fine by the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) for gaining free travel for his wife on three foreign trips, two to Turkey and one to the Netherlands.

And while Markowitz, in press statements, has produced some part-justifying and entertaining explanations--yes, there was a lot of official business, yes, it's hard to split hotel costs--he (and many in the press) ignore the fact that, before the first of the three trips, Markowitz told the COIB that he'd pay for his wife.

It's been a rough stretch for Markowitz at the COIB. In February, he was fined $2,000 by the COIB for using Chief of Staff Carlo Scissura as his lawyer for a home-buying transaction in 2009. Scissura was fined $1100.

And his wife Jamie has previously taken advantage of her position, taking home eight valuable placemats given to attendees at a Brooklyn Museum gala in April 2008.

article

NoLandGrab: And to think the whole spurious legal case against Brooklyn's beautiful Prospect Park West bike path hangs on Markowitz's sworn statement.

Posted by eric at 11:54 AM

July 24, 2011

Stringer calls for abolition of member items in City Council; Daily News editorial points to importance of fairness in contracting

Atlantic Yards Report

The distribution of Member items is inequitable and have become a way of keeping Council members in line. This has led to a critical report from the Manhattan Borough President. Atlantic Yards helps provide an example of how member items are doled out.

The Daily News pointed to this:

Consider two councilmen - Domenic Recchia and Charles Barron - who were elected in Brooklyn districts located fairly close to each other.

Recchia is a Quinn lieutenant and chairman of the Finance Committee. He represents Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Brighton Beach and Gravesend. This year, he distributed $1,630,064 to groups such as the Brighton Ballet Theater Company, the Russian American Foundation and the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association. His total amounted to $10.30 per resident.

Barron is a self-styled civil rights firebrand who has attacked Quinn's leadership. He represents East New York, Brownsville and Canarsie and was permitted to deliver less than a quarter of Recchia's sum to groups in his neighborhood: $399,464, or $2.40 per person.

Not that it was germane to the distribution of funds, but guess which Council Member supported Atlantic Yards, and which one did not? Right.

...

In fiscal year 2012, Council Districts received an average of $638,479. City Council Member Letitia James, serving her second full term (plus part of the late Council Member James Davis's unfinished term), has seniority, but not an in with Quinn.

So in 2012, James's 35th District received $481,964.00, ranking 37th among 51 Council Districts.

link

Posted by steve at 9:42 PM

July 21, 2011

Querying Bill de Blasio on Atlantic Yards progress: "I still believe this is a project that can create a lot of jobs and a lot of affordable housing"

Atlantic Yards Report

After a panel on jobs, during which there was time for only a couple of questions, I approached de Blasio and introduced myself. He was friendly, recognizing me--after all, we'd spent a memorable couple of hours jousting about Atlantic Yards in in 2007, leading to my rather critical portrayal.

Below is the transcript of our exchange, unedited, but with some commentary.
...

NO: And now the numbers on jobs are pretty low, the numbers on housing are zero. Has that caused you to rethink either the concept of CBAs, or your support, or government's posture--any sort of cause to rethink?

BdB: I want to get the results we wanted originally, or as close to them as possible. So my framework here--I don't think this history's over yet.

NO: --Of course not.

BdB: And I know you feel differently. So let's just--

NO: It's not a question of whether I feel differently, it's whether I analyzed it.

BdB: I appreciate you. I've always appreciated analysis. I remember when we sat in the Tea Lounge long ago--we disagreed, but I admire how much work you put into it, I think you do some good thinking. But my bottom line is, I still believe this is a project that can create a lot of jobs and a lot of affordable housing, and what I want to do is see that come to fruition.

NO: Right--but, fair enough, but how do you do that, to go from the rhetoric to the actual performance?

BdB: Y'know, I don't have the chapter and verse, I didn't see this morning's article--

NO: Understood.

BdB: But my point to you--I'm trying to be honest about the question. I still believe the project can be very effective, and my job is to try and help make it effective, that's the bottom line.

Arguably his job is to protect the public interest, so "effective" means gaining the public benefits without too many public costs. And his reliance on developer Bruce Ratner to help raise funds certainly raises some question of his loyalties.
...

In February 2011, I queried two of his spokesmen to ask whether the Public Advocate had a position on Forest City Ratner's failure to hire an Independent Compliance Monitor. I never got a response.

NO: This CBA was supposed to have something called an Independent Compliance Monitor. It never happened. And because the only people who can enforce the CBA are the signatories, government can't intervene. In L.A., where the CBA is also signed by the government, government can actually try to enforce it. So your thoughts about CBAs, to the extent that you do think about them, because I know you've got a lot on your plate--have you thought about whether government should be a part of CBAs?

BdB: I think it depends on the context. But again, where I'm trying to focus, I think it's kindred to your point, is clearer definitions, better enforcement. And that's something I'm working on.

What next?

How exactly de Blasio's working on it remains unclear because, at that point, one of his aides intervened and he moved on to another interlocutor.

article

Posted by eric at 11:45 AM

July 20, 2011

In the Village Voice, a tough portrait of Mayor Bloomberg, but a missed opportunity to mention Atlantic Yards

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder has a short review of a recent Village Voice piece headlined Citizen Bloomberg: How our mayor has given us the business.

article

Posted by eric at 9:36 PM

July 14, 2011

Hakeem Jeffries breaks it down: court decision means ESDC has done the developer's bidding, illustrates need for Atlantic Yards governance

Atlantic Yards Report

I asked Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, sponsor of governance legislation that has passed the Assembly but still waiting in the Senate, if he had any comment on the court decision yesterday ordering the Empire State Development Corporation to conduct an additional environmental review of the Atlantic Yards project.

"The court decision further illustrates the need for the Atlantic Yards governance legislation, given the mounting evidence that ESDC has repeatedly failed to protect the public interest in this project in order to do the developer's bidding," he stated.

link

NoLandGrab: That's all well and good, but other than sponsoring this not terribly toothy legislation, has Hakeem ever really done anything to fight Atlantic Yards? Better governance of a total disaster doesn't really solve the basic problem.

Posted by eric at 3:25 PM

New Mayoral candidate Tom Allon, of Manhattan Media, and his ill-fated work for Forest City Ratner's Brooklyn Standard "publication"

Atlantic Yards Report

The newest 2013 mayoral candidate is another rich media mogul — this one a man infamous for publishing a fake Atlantic Yards newspaper.

Tom Allon, President/CEO of Manhattan Media is a (mini)mogul running for Mayor in a self-professed Bloombergian mode, and his campaign so far has drawn skepticism mainly because of his longshot status.

But if Allon gets serious attention, he should be questioned about his company's ill-fated, un-journalistic alliance with Forest City Ratner on the promotional Brooklyn Standard "publication."

The "publication" lasted all of two issues in 2005, folding after ridicule in the Times (headline: O.K., the Whole Paper Is Basically an Ad) and a mini-scandal over putting a contributor's byline on articles he didn't write. (Allon promised a retraction in the next issue, but no issue ever emerged.)

"I encourage our journalists to cover the Mayoral race, as well as politics in general, with neither fear nor favor," Allon said in a letter this month to staffers, according to the Observer. "I am a journalist first, and would have it no other way."

He sure wasn't a journalist first back in 2005, appearing on the Brooklyn Standard masthead below two Forest City Ratner "editors in chief."

article

Posted by eric at 10:36 AM

Mayor Bloomberg’s New York: A Model or Cautionary Tale?

BeyondChron
by Randy Shaw

Bloomberg’s approach to governance offers a complex case that requires a particularly nuanced and fact-driven analysis. Julian Brash’s new book, Bloomberg’s New York: Class and Governance in the Luxury City, addresses some components of the mayor’s leadership strategy, particularly emphasizing his effort to run the city like a private corporation.
...

The use of Hudson Yards as the chief case study is also questionable because it involved a unique political obstacle, needing and ultimately failing to gain the support of state Assemblymember Sheldon Silver.

Brash had many better examples available to prove his thesis about Bloomberg’s autocratic and often elite-driven approach to governance, including Bloomberg’s support for the outrageous Atlantic Yards land grab in Brooklyn. That project had all of the features Brash found compelling in the Hudson yards struggle, including a new stadium as a “front” for a massive new office development scheme. The difference is that Silver or any other single state official lacked the power to kill Atlantic Yards, whose construction reflects how Bloomberg has almost always gotten his way.

article

NoLandGrab: Actually, Silver (or former State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, or any number of Governors), could have killed Atlantic Yards — had they wanted to.

Posted by eric at 10:06 AM

July 9, 2011

Status Cuomo? Governor names Lawrence Schwartz, top Paterson aide (including on AY) to be his top aide

Atlantic Yards Report

Status Cuomo?

The New York Times, in Cuomo Picks Schwartz to Be New Top Aide, today reported:

In a shakeup of his senior staff, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday appointed Lawrence S. Schwartz, a senior adviser in his administration, to be his top aide.

As secretary to the governor, Mr. Schwartz will return to a position he held under Gov. David A. Paterson. The move establishes him as arguably the most influential unelected official in state government over the past several years, and marks a rare instance of one man serving as the top staffer to two consecutive governors.

Schwartz played a quiet but not insignificant goal gatekeeping Atlantic Yards for Paterson, for example meeting in December 2009 with Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries on the issue.

That month, Paterson himself met with Atlantic Yards opponents, promising "an objective and fair hearing," but nothing came of it.

In fact, at the March 2010 groundbreaking, Paterson repeated some myths about Atlantic Yards job projections.

link

Posted by steve at 5:01 PM

July 7, 2011

Jim Brennan Wants to Force Ratner to Build More Atlantic Yards Parking

Streetsblog
by Noah Kazis

More on Jim Brennan's really bad Atlantic Yards parking idea.

According to Tonice Sgrignoli, a legislative aide for Brennan, the legislation is still being researched and no details are available at this point. According to Sgrignoli, ESDC eliminated a requirement to build underground off-street parking that had been in an earlier agreement with Forest City Ratner and this legislation would likely undo that change.

When Streetsblog asked why Brennan thought that Atlantic Yards should have more parking in the first place, Sgrignoli replied that “Anyone who’s ever tried to drive a car and park it in that area will understand why it’s important to provide parking.”

Hopefully, Brennan himself has a more sophisticated understanding of parking policy. As former Boerum Hill Association president Jo Ann Simon said, no conceivable amount of off-street parking is going to free up on-street spaces so long as they are cheaper than going to a garage and available to anybody. “If people drive there, they will always try and find something free on the street,” she said. What happens on-street — many in the area, including Simon, have long pushed for residential parking permits — Simon said, “is entirely irrelevant to whether there should be more off-street parking to serve the arena.”

Simon’s argument is borne out by the reality at Yankee Stadium. There, despite a whopping 9,000 off-street spaces, area residents still complain that on-street parking is impossible on game day, according to a Crain’s report.

Moreover, building extra parking will simply mean that more people are able to drive to the area instead. “Brennan’s proposal to compel more off-street parking in one of New York City’s most transit-accessible locations betrays a terrible lack of understanding regarding transportation and mobility,” said University of Pennsylvania parking expert Rachel Weinberger. “His idea will invite more traffic through his district, more traffic in adjoining districts, and by requiring all of that parking, other development is preempted.”

article

Posted by eric at 11:55 AM

Bloomberg's Principles

The Future of Capitali$m
by Ira Stoll

Mayor Bloomberg has been doing a fine job of defending Walmart's right to open a store in New York City, but a New York Times news article overstates it some when it refers to Mr. Bloomberg as "a longtime defender of free-market principles." Was he defending free-market principles when he backed the use of eminent domain to seize private property for subsidized housing and a basketball arena at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn?

link

Posted by eric at 11:16 AM

June 29, 2011

Atlantic Yards Watch gets $4000 in discretionary funding from Council Member James

Atlantic Yards Report

Among the many member items in the City Council's just-passed 2012 discretionary budget [PDF] is $4000 from City Council Member Letitia James to Atlantic Yards Watch:

The Atlantic Yards Watch is an initiative currently co-sponsored by the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, the Boerum Hill Association and the Park Slope Civic Council to collect important data about the impacts from the construction and operation of the Atlantic Yards Project. The goal is to ensure the health and sustainability of the neighborhoods the project impacts.

link

NoLandGrab: Tish, where's the love? We're going to hike our IPO price based on that valuation.

Posted by eric at 10:19 AM

June 27, 2011

U.S. Supreme Court Threatens Campaign Finance Reform in NYC

Untapped New York
by Janos Marton

New York City’s campaign finance system, often lauded as the best in the nation, has a secret. It’s under attack.

On the heels of last year’s devastating Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates for more corporate spending in elections, the United States Supreme Court may be about to severely curtail the role of public financing in elections. The case, McComish v. Bennett, involves a challenge to Arizona’s public financing system, specifically a provision granting “trigger funding” to participating candidates facing well-funded opponents. Following oral arguments in late March of this year, it appears the Supreme Court is likely to declare “trigger funds” unconstitutional, a determination that could have wide-ranging implications and affect the way we run elections here in New York.
...

In the case of a massive, multi-hundred-million-dollar project like Atlantic Yards or the planned Vornado Tower, where the developers stand to make far more than their colossal investment, it becomes clear why a real estate mogul might want to drop a mere million dollars to win a Council seat, if that outlay virtually assured approval of a controversial building or complex.

Trigger funds are a key safeguard against this type of brazen manipulation of the system, because they prevent all but those with Bloomberg bucks from overwhelming the political process with money. Though certainly a robust campaign finance system is not without its cost — the CFB distributed $27 million in taxpayer dollars in 2009 — the expense is relatively small in relation to its effectiveness in limiting the power of special interests in shaping government policy and public works. If the Supreme Court rules trigger funds unconstitutional, it is likely that local candidates will find themselves trapped in a financial arms race, where the temptation of selling out to special interests for campaign cash will be increasing difficult to resist.

article

Posted by eric at 10:52 AM

June 25, 2011

Atlantic Yards down the memory hole: no, the City Council never held sway (and thus campaign finance reform had no impact)

Atlantic Yards Report

In Huffington Post, New York Civic's Morgan Pehme explains how the city's campaign finance system, which guarantees candidates matching funds (unlike candidates for state offices), is in jeopardy.

The headline is Pulling the Trigger: U.S. Supreme Court Threatens Campaign Finance Reform in NYC.

I commented:

Please note that the situation regarding Atlantic Yards was even less democratic than described: "In the case of a massive, multi-hund­red-millio­n-dollar project like Atlantic Yards... it becomes clear why a real estate mogul might want to drop a mere million dollars to win a Council seat, if that outlay virtually assured approval of a controvers­ial building or complex."

With Atlantic Yards, the local City Council member, Letitia James, never got to vote, because the mayoral administra­tion agreed to have the approval process bypass the city's typical Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and instead be shepherded by the unelected Empire State Developmen­t Corporatio­n, controlled by gubernator­ial appointees­.

Even former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff has said, in hindsight, that Atlantic Yards should have gone through ULURP.

That said, ULURP has its problems and the local City Council member does not always hold sway. For example, the administra­tion, along with Council leadership­, outmaneuve­red Council Member Stephen Levin on the New Domino project in Williamsbu­rg.

link

Posted by steve at 8:55 PM

June 24, 2011

Letitia James: A Strong Voice during Tough Times

Our Time Press
by Mary Alice Miller

What next for Letitia James? Voters from all walks of life are asking that she run for the 10th Congressional seat when current Congressman Ed Towns eventually retires. And, why not?
...

James took exception to the Atlantic Yards project being taken out of the City Council’s land review process. Her vocal opposition to the displacement of her constituents via eminent domain was heard across the state. She remains firmly in support of the Unity Plan’s alternative principle that the community needs affordable housing more than it needs a sports arena.
...

Letitia James is an unwavering voice who speaks truth to power.

article

Posted by eric at 10:34 AM

June 20, 2011

Some of the Markowitz back story: if he runs for mayor, his record, and personality, will get more scrutiny

Atlantic Yards Report

Last week, we learned that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who avoided a potential 2009 mayoral run thanks to the extension of term limits, is considering a 2013 mayoral race, after the implosion of Anthony Weiner's political career.

I pointed out that Markowitz would face not merely ridicule but scorn for his Atlantic Yards support, given his blatant lie to potential immigrant investors: "Brooklyn is 1000 percent, 1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards."

The Post's criticism

Markowitz surely has a record to run on--he will credit his leadership for the "renaissance" of Brooklyn (debatable), but can claim innovations (some with dubiously gained private funds) like the Brooklyn Book Festival, Dine In Brooklyn, as well as a capital budget geared to big projects like his (now-stalled) Asser Levy Park bandshell.

The New York Post, in a 6/18/11 editorial headlined When beeps fly, slammed the aspirations of not only Markowitz but Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio:

Truth is, beeps haven't had much on their plates since 1990, when their powers were sapped and they became figureheads with expense accounts.

Likewise the public advocate, who is nominally the No. 2 official in New York, but whose role is mostly limited to smiling and collecting a paycheck while offending no one and waiting patiently for the mayor to depart.

Well, the offices have relatively light duties, but they are what the officeholder makes of them. Stringer and other Borough Presidents have paid more attention to policy than has Markowitz.

And another Public Advocate, say Norman Siegel, might have prioritized policy more than de Blasio.

So it's the people, not the job.

article

Posted by eric at 9:55 AM

June 18, 2011

On Battle for Brooklyn day, Markowitz, Nets, allies plant tree in Fort Greene Park to promote donations

Atlantic Yards Report

Yesterday, as the film Battle for Brooklyn opened commercially to widespread positive reviews, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and the city of New York were doing their best to promote the Nets, the Barclays Center, and the salubrious effect of the team's move in 2012.

The event: a tree donation, and a photo op, with associated advertising for the team, the arena, and a lawn care company. (There was no mention of how Forest City Ratner tried to evade paying for street trees it demolished.)

The media event drew coverage from the New York Post's Brooklyn blog and NY 1.

link

Posted by steve at 2:11 PM

June 13, 2011

Legislators: one week left to get the state Legislature to pass a bill establishing a subsdiary to oversee Atlantic Yards

Atlantic Yards Report

It seems like an obvious argument: Atlantic Yards, as a massive development project, deserves a subsidiary or authority overseeing it long-term, just as other major projects, from Battery Park City to Brooklyn Bridge Park, have their own governance entities, helping evaluate the terms of the project and revising the schedule and plans as necessary.

And the bill, in its current form, is hardly prescriptive, giving community members a fractional voice but not definitive power, as the subsidiary would be appointed by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).

That argument, however, has gained relatively little traction in Albany over the last few years, as Forest City Ratner lobbying, which includes a close relationship with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and consistent Atlantic Yards support from governors, has managed to stymie any progress.

With barely a week left in the legislative session, this year the governance bill has a greater chance than before, elected officials said at a forum Saturday sponsored by BrooklynSpeaks. (Photos of the event, which drew some 60 people, by Tracy Collins.) That doesn't mean it's likely, but the bill has passed two Assembly committees, one more than previously, which gives it a fighting chance in the Assembly.

Beyond that, the dynamic surrounding the project--recognition that promised benefits are far off, and Forest City Ratner's entanglement (though not indictment) in a prominent corruption case--has changed somewhat.

BrooklynSpeaks leaders, who handed out letters to be filled out at the meeting to be sent to Albany, urged further phone calls and lobbying.

article

Related coverage...

Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Patch, June 13: All Eyes On Albany

Procrastinators everywhere will recognize the flurry of activity in the halls of the State Capitol in the coming days as our elected representatives struggle to resolve tough issues before they join schoolchildren across the state on summer break.

For months, they have debated, revised and negotiated details of bills with big-time implications for many Brooklyn residents, including whether to extend rent regulations, to create a panel to oversee Atlantic Yards redevelopment or to legalize same-sex unions.

Now it's crunch time.

Posted by eric at 10:27 AM

Markowitz running for Mayor? He'll have to explain why he lied blatantly about Atlantic Yards (on video) to help Forest City Ratner

Atlantic Yards Report

Markowitz deserves more than merely ridicule.
...

He deserves scorn.

His performance in a video presented to potential immigrant investors in Atlantic Yards--a dubious program offering huge savings to Forest City Ratner--as I wrote in February, is spectacular.

Markowitz claims, incredibly, "Brooklyn is 1000 percent, 1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards."

He knows that's false. But it could help save Forest City Ratner some $191 million under the dubious exploitation of a federal program in which immigrant investors get green cards for themselves and their families in exchange for purportedly job-creating investments.

link

Posted by eric at 10:03 AM

Marty eyes mayor run

NY Post
by Rich Calder

Run, Marty, run!

The king of Kings now has his eye on all five boroughs.

Marty Markowitz is “strongly considering” a run for mayor in 2013, sources close to the Brooklyn borough president told The Post.

“He’s very serious about it but will take the summer to think it over,” one source said.

With Rep. Anthony Weiner sexting himself out of New York’s mayoral race, political experts say the door is wide open for Markowitz to mount a successful campaign.
...

However, Markowitz has also infuriated his share of constituents, including bike activists over his opposition of a bike lane at Prospect Park West. And opponents of the controversial Atlantic Yards project, which includes the arena, regularly ridicule him for being its biggest booster.

Doug Muzzio, a political-science professor at Baruch College, said Markowitz’s "great sense of humor" and being a "cheerleader" might only go so far with voters.

article

Posted by eric at 9:56 AM

June 12, 2011

Lawmakers Demand Public Oversight For Atlantic Yards Project

NY 1

Brooklyn lawmakers want the public to have more of a say in the Atlantic Yards project.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery are asking community advocates to round up support for the Atlantic Yards Governance Act.

The bill would allow a corporation to be set up to oversee the project and give the public a forum for feedback.

"This is a multi-billion-dollar development that is going to impact the Prospect Heights and Fort Greene and Park Slope and Boerum Hill communities," said Jeffries. "It's important to create a structure, legislatively, where we can have public involvement, transparency, and participation."

"It's the exact opposite of what was promised, and we want to ensure that the local community and local elected have a say," said Fifth Avenue Committee Executive Director Michelle de la Uz.

Leaders are trying to get Albany lawmakers and Governor Andrew Cuomo to support the bill, which is currently in a legislative committee.

link

Related coverage...

Carroll Gardens Patch, In the Fight Against Atlantic Yards, Community Enters a New Phase

The bill to create an oversight panel for the Atlantic Yards construction site is currently in the Assembly's powerful Rules Committee, which is chaired by Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Speaking in an empty space, the steel girders of the rising Barclays Center visible through a window in the background, Jeffries seemed optimistic about the bill's chances of getting a full Assembly vote before the Legislature convened for its summer recess on June 20.

However, Montgomery — who saw a similar effort fail to pass through a Democrat-controlled state Senate last year — left on a more pragmatic note.

"We are dealing with an environment where money trumps almost everything," she said. "It's been our problem since the beginning."

Posted by steve at 5:36 PM

June 9, 2011

Pro-bike CB10 member not reappointed by lane foe Gentile

The Brooklyn Paper
by Kimberly Lightbody

Long-time community activist and bike lane advocate Bob Cassara has been booted from Community Board 10 after nearly 10 years, the only member of the panel who sought re-appointment but did not get it.

Insiders believe that Cassara was tossed by Councilman Vince Gentile because the two disagreed over new bike lanes — though the veteran board member wouldn’t go that far.

“Community boards are all about politics, so what can I say?” Cassara mused.
...

The specifics of the Cassara non-appointment remain unclear, but it wouldn’t be the first time that a prominent community board member was silenced for taking a strong position against the will of his political patron.

In 2007, Borough President Markowitz declined to reappoint 10 members of community boards near the Atlantic Yards mega-project after those board members opposed Markowitz’s beloved project.

At the time, Markowitz denied that he had purged anti-Yards members, saying also that he was seeking new blood.

article

NoLandGrab: Marowitz would've been more believable if he'd just claimed that his Community Board appointments had been hacked.

Posted by eric at 9:49 AM

June 1, 2011

Bruce Ratner among the co-chairs of planned de Blasio fundraiser

Atlantic Yards Report

Capital Tonight's Liz Benjamin reports that Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, widely seen as a mayoral candidate in 2013, is holding a 50th birthday fundraiser on June 23.

Check out the list of co-chairs (below) and see the name Bruce Ratner.

That suggests that de Blasio's essential backing of Atlantic Yards--he belatedly criticized the process, not the project--hasn't deterred Ratner. (Here's my analysis of de Blasio's due diligence.)

Is Ratner backing just one horse in 2013? Too soon to tell.

link

Posted by eric at 4:00 PM

May 24, 2011

On NY1, Markowitz practices Atlantic Yards revisionism, FCR cheerleading: "they have every intention of keeping their word"

Atlantic Yards Report

For a preview of Atlantic Yards revisionism, take a look at Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's appearance last week on NY1's Inside City Hall.

The high points:

• Half of the housing will be affordable (no, just the half the rentals)
• "Seven years of lawsuits" delayed the project (the first lawsuit began in 2006)
• "Atlantic Yards" is the railyard (no, the Vanderbilt Yard is less than 40% of the 22-acre site)
• the railyard was "totally empty" (no, it was a working railyard that only in recent years became attractive to developers, as with Hudson Yards)
• "they [developer Forest City Ratner] have every intention of keeping their word" (shouldn't Markowitz have gotten a little skeptical after promises, for example, that architect Frank Gehry would remain on the job?)

(Note: To reach the Atlantic Yards segment, you must cycle through the first loop of the interview, which lasts 8:26.)

article

Related content...

NY1 Online, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz On "Inside City Hall"

"Inside City Hall" talked with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz on Thursday about the proposed closing of eight fire companies, his concerns about bike lanes and development of Coney Island.

NoLandGrab: Markowitz also has the audacity to claim — in talking about recent Community Board 6 votes on the Prospect Park West bike path — that "I reappoint members on community boards that don't agree with me." That must be a change in policy, since Markowitz infamously purged nine CB6 members in 2007 because they didn't agree with him on Atlantic Yards.

Posted by eric at 12:01 PM

May 23, 2011

The Tappan Zee Is Falling Down

Why is New York taking so long to replace a vital bridge?

City Limits
by Nicole Gelinas

Bruce Ratner's Brooklyn mega-project makes a cameo appearance in this in-depth look at the Tappan Zee Bridge's interesting past and perilous future.

The deeper problem behind all the delays, however, is not regulatory but political. When New York officials want to do something quickly, they don’t worry overmuch about legal niceties, public input, or possible court challenges. It took politicians little more than a year to comply with NEPA’s (National Environmental Protection Act) requirements for the Fulton Street transit center in lower Manhattan, for example—a project favored by Sheldon Silver, the powerful Speaker of the state assembly. It also took little more than a year to secure NEPA approval of extending the Number 7 subway line to the Far West Side of Manhattan, a project that Mayor Michael Bloomberg threw his political weight—and the city’s money—behind. The Atlantic Yards basketball stadium and housing project in Brooklyn doesn’t involve federal money, so officials didn’t need to deal with NEPA in that case, but they did steamroll over a similarly rigid state-environmental review process, inviting the state court cases that arose.

No politicians, though, have championed the Tappan Zee. That’s not surprising, since they wouldn’t get much out of it politically. It doesn’t offer affordable housing, as Atlantic Yards supposedly does. Nor does it open up vast new tracts of land to development and tax revenues, as the West Side extension is supposed to. And it isn’t a project funded by a pot of 9/11 money, as the Fulton Street project was (at least until costs exceeded those funds). All the pols will get for building a new Tappan Zee is complaints for years on end about construction and money—so that some future politician won’t have to watch a bridge collapse.

article

NoLandGrab: Unmentioned by Gelinas is the fact that we might have more dollars for bridges if we didn't squander boatloads of them on unnecessary arena boondoggles.

Posted by eric at 10:15 AM

May 21, 2011

Marty Golden's silence on Carl Kruger; Richard Lipsky's campaign money for Golden, and a wide variety of politicians

Atlantic Yards Report

In March, I pointed to a couple of posts Room 8 blogger Gatemouth, aka Howard Graubard, had written about the charges against state Senator Carl Carl Kruger (who, by the way, says he's running for re-election!), Assemblyman William Boyland, and lobbyist Richard Lipsky.

Now Gatemouth points out that state Senator Marty Golden, who in 2008 took three days to introduce a resolution concerning arrested state Senator Hiram Monserrate, has been conspicuously silent regarding Carl Kruger, who helped to elect Golden.

And, Gatemouth points to another curious connection between Kruger and Golden: a $3000 campaign contribution by Dorothy Lipsky (lobbyist Lipsky's wife) to Golden.

Spreading the wealth

I took a look at campaign contributions that Richard Lipsky and Dorothy Lipsky gave from their three addresses (all listed in the city's lobbying database; search on Richard Lipsky) and found a varied set of recipients.

See below for the full list, but it includes significant contributions--$9000 from 2008-10--from Dorothy Lipsky to "Friends of Carl," which is Kruger's campaign committee.

(If Richard Lipsky was funneling cash to Carl Kruger, as charged, this would be considered the legal element of a larger scheme. Lipsky himself gave $3500 to Kruger from 2003-07.)

Dorothy Lipsky made a $3800 contribution in 2009 to the untouchable Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. She gave $2500 to Monserrate in 2006 and again in 2009. Her husband gave $4500 from 2005-08.

Richard Lipsky gave $4800 from 2008-10 to Assembly powerhouse and Brooklyn Democratic leader Vito Lopez and $5000 in 2009 to Senator Pedro Espada, who was later indicted for embezzlement (and goes to trial in September).

He also gave $3000 in 2010 to former City Council Member Tony Avella in his successful campaign for state Senate. (City Hall News reported 1/27/10 on Avella's new conciliatory strategy.)

Most of Lipsky's contributions have been to Democrats, though, as the contribution to Golden suggests, he and his family are not doctrinaire. Indeed, in 2002 and again in 2010, he gave $2000nto the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

The AY angle

Lipsky, a longtime lobbyist for Forest City Ratner, made one set of contributions that might be seen as furthering the developer's interests.

In 2006, he gave three contributions totaling $2500 to Tracy Boyland's stealth campaign against incumbent state Senator Velmanette Montgomery, an Atlantic Yards opponent.

Was Boyland, in fact, the "Ratner candidate," as some charged? Not exactly, but there were some signficant intersections. As predicted by a source in the Crain's Insider, Boyland indeed used the same consulting firm--Knickerbocker SKD--that FCR has used for its deceptive Atlantic Yards mailers.

(As noted, former Council Member Boyland told the Brooklyn Papers that she's friends with FCR's Bruce Bender, a former top City Council aide.)

link

Posted by steve at 11:47 PM

May 19, 2011

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries Forms Congressional Exporatory Committee

The L Magazine
by Mark Asch

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, of the 57th District (Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights) has formed a congressional exploratory committee, Politicker reports. Jeffries, a personal, well-educated, well-dressed 40-year-old, is seen as something of a comer in Brooklyn Democratic politics; he's been touted as an Obama-like crossover figure. As the districts are currently drawn, he'd be challenging the 10th district's incumbent-for-life, Ed Towns, should he run.
...

District and neighborhood boundaries are something of a pet issue for Jeffries—he successfully cosponsored a bill to end prison-based gerrymandering in New York State, and he recently got Corcoran to stop using their real estate listings to expand Prospect Heights into Crown Heights.

This could be seen as something of a sandbag levee constructed against the creep of gentrification; Jeffries's other recent pet project, Project Reclaim, aims to fill unfinished and under-occupied boom-era condo developments with low- and middle-income tenants. (Which is not to say that he's gone full populist: he was a noted fence-sitter on Atlantic Yards.)
...

Also on the list of Young African-American Brooklyn Pols Who Are Not Going to Wait Forever, by all accounts, is the second-term City Councilwoman Letitia "Tish" James, who would, if elected to congress, bear a rather uncanny resemblance to the House member played by Queen Latifah on 30 Rock that time.

article

NoLandGrab: Tish, of course, has been anything but a fence-sitter on Atlantic Yards.

Posted by eric at 10:34 AM

May 13, 2011

'Living wage' backers storm City Hall

Advocates rally before a hearing on a bill to hike wages at city-subsidized projects. But mayoral aides and business leaders say the measure would kill jobs.

Crain's NY Business
by Daniel Massey

Proponents of a bill to mandate higher wages at city-subsidized projects took to the streets Thursday morning to call for its passage and to protest a city-funded study that found the measure would stifle development and job growth.

The City Hall Park rally, attended by several hundred people, including dozens of pastors, preceded a City Council hearing on the bill that was expected to last late into the afternoon. Protestors carried signs pressing for a “living wage” and accusing its opponents of “putting New Yorkers to work for less.” The latter sign mocked Putting New Yorkers to Work, a nonprofit group established by the Real Estate Board of New York that has led opposition to the bill.

“When companies and developers benefit from government support, they should provide something in return—jobs that allow people to live in dignity, not jobs that keep people in poverty,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, told the crowd.
...

The bill, Intro 251-A, which would compel employers at projects that receive $100,000 or more in city subsidies to pay workers $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 without benefits, was expected to draw passionate testimony from supporters and opponents.

Tokumbo Shobowale, chief of staff in the office of the deputy mayor for economic development, planned to testify on the findings of the city-funded study, details of which were released earlier this week. His prepared testimony called for him to say that wage mandates would hinder development and result in tens of thousands of jobs lost and billions of dollars of lost private investment over the next 20 years.

The job loss and disinvestment would occur disproportionately in neighborhoods outside Manhattan and could potentially prevent some two dozen projects—including the World Trade Center, Coney Island and Atlantic Yards—from going forward, his prepared testimony said.

article

NoLandGrab: OK, how is compelling Bruce Ratner to pay workers $10 an hour going to prevent Atlantic Yards from going forward? We thought the project was supposed to deliver thousands of good-paying, family-supporting jobs, and in New York City, a "good-paying" job doesn't have an hourly wage that's in the single digits.

It's time to stop blaming the project's failings on everything but Forest City Ratner and its long list of phony promises.

Posted by eric at 11:45 AM

May 12, 2011

Tea’d Off: Lone N.Y.C. GOPer Michael Grimm Feels the Pinch

PolitickerNY
by David Freedlander

"Do-gooder, liberal" Bruce Ratner makes a cameo in the Observer's profile of conservative local Congressman Michael Grimm.

A few days before the New Yorker piece, and before Mr. Grimm met the voters of Brooklyn, and before Republicans pulled the rug from under the backers of the Ryan budget, Mr. Grimm toured Beekman Tower, a still-under construction residential tower in Lower Manhattan, which, when completed, will be the tallest such structure in the city’s history. Mr. Grimm wore a hard hat and blue jeans and chewed gum and was led on the tour by a bunch of similarly outfitted union reps and the project’s developer, Bruce Ratner. The group took a rickety cage of a construction elevator up the side of the building. The whole city seemed to breeze through the bars. “It’s the working people of America that drive this country, Mr. Grimm told the group. “Always has been.”

His presence there illustrated the awkwardness of life as a Republican these days. It is hard to talk about the need to reduce government spending and simultaneously call for more government investment in construction projects.

article

NoLandGrab: Nobody can reach across the aisle (and into the public pocketbook) like Bruce can! Wonder if Grimm noticed that the building's flat side faces Staten Island?

Posted by eric at 11:38 AM

New York Campaign Contributions from Big Banks & Real Estate Developers Hit New Highs in 2010

$3.9 Million in Contributions to New York State and City Candidates

New York Stimulus Alliance via readMedia

As the On May 12 coalition prepares to challenge the logic behind Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget with a teach-in and rally tomorrow, one of the questions that Common Cause/NY members asks is why are New York State and City leaders refusing to balance spending cuts with reductions in generous subsidies for big banks and real estate developers? Part of the reason may be because New York politicians are increasingly dependent on them for campaign contributions.
...

Twelve major residential real estate developers -- The Donald Zucker Company, Durst Fetner Residential, Extell Development Company, Forest City Ratner, Jack Resnick & Sons, Milstein Properties, Rose Associates, Rudin Management Company, The Brodsky Organization, The Related Companies, Tishman Speyer Properties, and Two Trees Management – and the Real Estate Board of New York made over $3 million in New York campaign contributions in 2010. This figure is triple the amount of contributions made in 2009 and almost double the amount of contributions made in 2008. Crucial policies up for renewal in Albany this year, such as rent control and the extension of the 421a subsidy, are likely fueling the record spending.

link

Posted by eric at 10:40 AM

May 11, 2011

Even in 1997, some in the press were questioning Ratner's use of political donations and influence

Atlantic Yards Report

On May 3, I pointed to a 11/1/2000 City Limits article that cast a critical perspective on Forest City Ratner--evidence that, despite claims in the Real Deal that developer Bruce Ratner "enjoyed largely favorable PR" before Atlantic Yards, less favorable PR was hardly insignificant.

Consider this 12/28/97 article from the New York Post, headlined King of the Retail Deals:

Ask megadeveloper Bruce Ratner why questions of political donations and connections dog virtually every development his hugely successful Forest City Ratner Companies builds - or even vies for - and he snaps, "It's just silly."

The 52-year-old developer, lawyer and former commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs angrily dismisses the persistent notion that his heavy contributions at the city, state and federal level get Forest City favored treatment - and even allow him to make special deals.

article

Posted by eric at 10:32 AM

May 10, 2011

Jeffries gets Corcoran to revise listings from Prospect Heights to Crown Heights; why not challenge FCR's claim AY would be in "downtown Brooklyn"?

Atlantic Yards Report

What was that we were saying earlier about a whole heap of nothing?

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who's drawn attention, praise, and skepticism (I Love Franklin Ave., Brownstoner) for his announced plan to "punish real estate agents for inventing neighborhood names and for falsely stretching their boundaries," can report some success with the latter part of his effort.

(Perhaps not coincidentally, Jeffries just opened an exploratory committee for a possible race for the Congressional seat now occupied by longtime Rep. Ed Towns, who may retire.)

He announced yesterday (full press release below) that, in response to his request, the Corcoran Group, a major real estate company, agreed to move "the eastern boundary of the Prospect Heights community back to its proper border, and correct[ed] several listings that had improperly marketed Crown Heights properties as located in Prospect Heights."
...

What about AY?

Given that Jeffries is apparently a stickler for Prospect Heights' boundaries, citing Flatbush Avenue as its western border, it's notable that the Assemblyman has not taken on a bigger target, challenging Forest City Ratner's ongoing claim, since 2003, that Atlantic Yards would be in "downtown Brooklyn."

But Jeffries has often been on the fence regarding Atlantic Yards. And his constituents likely are more divided on Atlantic Yards than on real estate brokers claiming that Franklin Avenue = Prospect Heights, or even the emerging ProCro coinage to describe the zone just east of the recognized Prospect Heights border.

article

Posted by eric at 12:35 PM

In profile of ESDC head Adams, Jeffries expresses optimism about stability and accountability; did Adams's AY testimony merit that?

Atlantic Yard Report

From a profile in The Capitol headlined Empire Building: Andrew Cuomo, Kenneth Adams and the struggle to restore New York’s economy:

The governor’s desire to grow the private sector will be tested, though, by the internal complexities at ESDC, a sprawling agency with 10 regional offices, 430 state employees, hundreds of subsidiaries and oversight over thousands of public-private partnerships, from mega-projects like the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn to much smaller grant programs for equipment procurement and facility upgrades.

Optimism about Adams

The article notes:

But even critics of the agency’s work express optimism that change is on the way.

“Ken Adams should provide a greater measure of stability and accountability at the agency, which has suffered over the years as a result of the constant musical chairs at the top,” said Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, an outspoken critic of the agency’s handling of the Atlantic Yards project.

Jeffries is more of a selective critic than an "outspoken critic," making the legitimate case that a subsidiary is needed to oversee Atlantic Yards but, unlike some fellow elected officials, steering clear of any lawsuits challenging or criticizing the project.

Accountability coming?

Beyond that, during testimony last month at a confirmation hearing, Adams expressed optimism that the delayed project would proceed, spoke vaguely about ensuring community voices would be heard, and, when asked about eminent domain, changed the subject to explain how, with incentives for projects smaller than Atlantic Yards, the state does better to ensure that promised results be delivered before benefits are paid out.

Adams's entrance may suggest stability, but his testimony didn't promise accountability.

link

NoLandGrab: Jeffries is more like a CINO — a "critic in name only," since his "criticism" has accomplished a whole heap of nothing.

Related content...

The Capitol, Empire Building

Posted by eric at 11:40 AM

May 6, 2011

Good Grief! More Stories (Involving Computers and Schools) Deflating The Bloomberg Management Expertise Myth

Noticing New York

When you are questioning the reliability Bloomberg’s management expertise and the extent to which his statistics reflect a real world versus Bloomberg’s desire for an exulting edifice-complex oriented headline, the statement the in the Times about Bloomberg’s “big push” for an applied sciences school (“envisioned as one of the largest development projects in the city’s history” - What? Bigger than the Atlantic Yards mega-monoploy handed to Bruce Ratner?) has more ominous resonance:

William A. Zajc, chairman of Columbia’s* physics department, said the idea for an applied sciences school was a “field of dreams venture.”

(* Is this gripe just because Columbia doesn’t want competition for its takeover of West Harlem?)

(See: Bloomberg’s Big Push for an Applied Sciences School, by Javier C. Hernnandez, April 26, 2011.)
...

The Times story also includes criticism that the mayor should, instead, be thinking in terms of deploying the city capital (“the city has pledged to offer capital [$100 million or more] and public land”) to build upon and expand existing resources and programs rather than these grandiose plans to “start from scratch” which NYU’s proposal to the mayor dares to criticize:

“A ‘start from scratch’ approach that parachutes a new player into New York without the requisite ingredients that lead to success has the potential to be a waste of resources.”

Willlets Point, Atlantic Yards, Coney Island, even the Columbia expansion into West Harlem (potentially competing with the mayor's applied sciences school vision): Where else have we been hearing about the mayor’s intoxication with wiping the slate clean in order to “start from scratch” before building anything?

article

Posted by eric at 10:32 AM

May 3, 2011

Markowitz, de Blasio outraged by potential conflicts in taxi selection, but they didn't mind conflicts with Atlantic Yards

Atlantic Yards Report

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Public Advocate (and Brooklyn resident) Bill de Blasio, and Assemblyman Micah Kellner have written a letter (below) to New York City Comptroller John C. Liu asking him to investigate the process by which the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has selected the new "Taxi of Tomorrow."

They believe that the Turkish manufacturer Karsan, the only one of the three RFP respondents that promised to build parts for the taxis in Brooklyn, was eliminated due to several potential conflicts of interest, including a leak of a consultant's report to the New York Times, and that consultant's work for the other two finalists.

(Here's coverage in the Brooklyn Paper and Patch. The winner was Nissan.)

Selective outrage

They make a reasonable case--I haven't studied it enough to be sure--but I'm struck by the (ahem) selective outrage.

Other potential and real conflicts related to Atlantic Yards did not draw the ire of Markowitz and de Blasio, notably 1) the essential decision by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to give the Vanderbilt Yard to Forest City Ratner without an RFP (which was belatedly issued), and 2) the role of environmental consultant AKRF, which worked consecutively for FCR and the Empire State Development Corporation.

link

NoLandGrab: Surely Markowitz and de Blasio only care about the merits, and not the politics, right? Right? 'Cause we know, when we go car shopping, Karsan is always at the top of our list.

Posted by eric at 9:03 PM

April 28, 2011

Avella to donate campaign funds to offset Lipsky cash

Queens Campaigner
by Connor Adams Sheets

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said Tuesday he has planned since shortly after Richard Lipsky turned himself in to authorities March 10 on corruption charges to donate to charity an amount equal to the $3,000 in campaign contributions the lobbyist made to his 2010 campaign. Avella said he has also cut off all contact with Lipsky and suggests others do the same.

For the two years before his federal indictment, Lipsky was one of the most prominent voices in defending Willets Point United, a coalition of small business and property owners in Willets Point who have sought to fight the city’s plans to replace the 62-acre district of auto repair shops and factories with a $3 billion development project.
...

“I told people that may have Lipsky on their payroll that he may under no circumstances contact my office or come to my office,” Avella said. “We will have no contact with the individual. And my recommendation is for any group that had hired him as a lobbyist to let him go.”

article

Posted by eric at 9:54 AM

April 21, 2011

Fighting His Third Term Curse Bloomberg Now Uses His Own Money To Promote Mega-Projects That Aren’t Happening

Noticing New York

Michael D.D. White has noticed that Mike Bloomberg is running self-financed campaign-style TV spots, absent a campaign.

I caught one of these personally financed Bloomberg “campaign-style advertisements” the other day (it ended with the legend: “Paid for by Michael R. Bloomberg”). Whether it was nominally or otherwise intended “to bolster his battle with the teachers’ union” or “an effort to lift his sagging approval ratings” it, surprisingly, prominently devoted precious moments of its 30 seconds to promoting Bloomberg’s big, city-assisted real estate developments.
...

It is a surprise that Bloomberg should be promoting his city-assisted real estate developments given that Bloomberg, now into his third four-year term, has made so little headway with any of his mega-development dreams. Truth to tell, most of the 'jobs' they have so far created have been only for those in the demolition trades.
...

The projects initiated under Bloomberg have all so far involved mostly just destruction: Atlantic Yards, Willets Point, the Columbia University’s takeover of West Harlem, Coney Island.
...

It is also surprising that Bloomberg is advertising his languishing city real estate projects as “job creation projects” given that, for instance the Atlantic Yards arena is now mainly famous for the jobs it isn’t creating while the housing to be constructed is now conspicuously in the news for the cutback in jobs associated with the developer’s announced intention to shift to modular construction, building the tallest modular building in the world (if this pushing-the-limits of technology is permitted), and perhaps making the densest area of North America a forest of such units.

article

Posted by eric at 10:51 AM

April 20, 2011

Paying the price to be heard in Albany

LoHud.com

Consider the saga of Patricia Lynch Associates LLC, as discussed in the Sunday article. The robust lobbying firm paid a $500,000 fine last year as part of a settlement with then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office. Investigators asserted that the firm arranged campaign contributions, gifts and other favors to gain access for clients to the state Comptroller's Office under the disgraced Alan Hevesi. The firm also agreed to a five-year ban on lobbying the comptroller's office.

In 2010, Patricia Lynch Associates clients included the City of Yonkers, which paid it a total of $78,486. Another Lynch client is Forest City Ratner, the developer building the massive, mixed-use Ridge Hill complex in Yonkers. It figures prominently in a federal corruption case against former Yonkers Councilmember Sandy Annabi, a Democrat accused of accepting a bribe to drop her longstanding opposition to Ridge Hill.

article

Posted by eric at 10:28 AM

April 17, 2011

Downtown Brooklyn Partnership aims to take over MetroTech BID funding; yes, Forest City Ratner's involved

Atlantic Yards Report

Opponents of Atlantic Yards would be glad to see Atlantic Yards cheerleader, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, just go away. The Partnership is essentially a representative of developers, including Bruce Ratner, and has lost much of it's funding after accomplishing very little. Now it's trying to stay in existence by taking over the Metrotech BID and its more substantial funding.

The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a reliable cheerleader for Atlantic Yards, and once (and perhaps still) under investigation for improper lobbying, is in a tussle over funding with one of its components--and, yes, Forest City Ratner is entangled in it.

In an article April 14 headlined Brooklyn BID takeover moves forward, Crain's Insider reported:

Allies of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership have managed, for now, to beat back a proposal aimed at blocking its ability to usurp funding from the MetroTech BID, which it oversees.

The BID held an emergency meeting yesterday that was attended by board members, Bloomberg administration staff, and lawyers for some of downtown's largest developers. The sole item on the agenda: revising the BID's conflict-of-interest policy.

...“This is not just about MetroTech,” said BID President Victoria Aviles. “This is about all the BIDs in New York City and how umbrella organizations can take them over.”

Despite her efforts, opponents managed to stall the vote after lawyers for Forest City Ratner and Muss Development criticized the proposed conflict-of-interest proposal for being vague. Following an onslaught of hoots and hollers, members voted to form a committee that will review the policy.

The DBP has seen its city funding decline, while BIDs are funded by extra tax assessments. The DBP manages three BIDs: the MetroTech BID, Fulton Mall Improvement Association, and the Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn BID.

The MetroTech BID board next meets May 5.

The back story

In a 7/11/10 article headlined A partnership slows in Downtown B'klyn: Stalled merger exposes political divisions, Crain's reported:

The seed money it was getting from the city, a robust $2 million only two years ago, has plunged to a mere $250,000, forcing it to shed personnel and accelerate a long-envisioned takeover of three local business-improvement districts and their reliable revenue streams. But the longtime head of one BID has balked, and local politicians have put the merger on hold.

The partnership must pull off the ambitious reorganization if it is to survive as anything but a shell. The BIDs would account for $5 million of the organization's proposed $7.5 million budget for the fiscal year that began this month. Member contributions would total just $340,000.

Meanwhile, some Brooklyn City Council members—who view the organization as an arm of the Bloomberg administration, characterized by big salaries and nebulous accomplishments—want it disbanded.

The leader of the MetroTech BID, Michael Weiss, seeing the potential loss of his job in the reorganization, has "rounded up political support to stall it," Crain's said.

Crain's reported:

[DBP President] Mr. [Joe] Chan declined to comment, but his spokesman, Lee Silberstein, paints a bright picture of the partnership's accomplishments and future. “On balance, this is playing out as it was supposed to,” he says, noting that the partnership enjoys strong support from the downtown Brooklyn business community, including titans like developer Bruce Ratner, banker Alan Fishman and former KeySpan chief Robert Catell.

Ratner to the rescue?

Crain's reported:

But Councilwoman Letitia James says Mr. Chan miscalculated in his handling of Mr. Weiss's BID. “Joe's usurpation of MetroTech was not wise, was not smart politically. He did not do his homework and is now suffering the consequences,” she says.

Mr. Ratner tried to broker a compromise by offering Mr. Weiss a job paying more than the $165,000 he is making, but Mr. Weiss declined.

“Right now, we're at a standstill,” says Ms. James. “We're trying to work something out.”

link

Posted by steve at 10:59 PM

April 13, 2011

Here comes the bribe: Kruger hit with more charges

The Brooklyn Paper
by Thomas Tracy

More crimes have been added to the morass of charges filed against state Sen. Carl Kruger — leaving the embattled legislator in even hotter water than he was before.

An indictment released last week adds bribery to the fraud and money laundering charges filed against Kruger (D–Brighton Beach) last month.

If convicted on all counts, Kruger, 61, would face 90 years in prison. He would also have to pay more than $10 million in fines.

During an arraignment hearing on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Harrington told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff that he has 100,000 documents and 30,000 recorded phone conversations that establish his case.

Kruger is accused of taking close to $1 million in bribes from lobbyist Richard Lipsky, Brooklyn developer Aaron Malinsky, David Rosen, the former CEO of Brookdale Hospital, and a handful of other hospital officials between 2006 and 2010.
...

During the brief hearing, attorneys for four of the legislator’s would-be co-conspirators, including Turano, announced that they were planning to sever their cases from the senator, apparently believing they’ll have a better chance with a jury without Kruger’s alleged crimes dragging them down. Severing the cases would also improve a defendant’s chances of a plea deal as they approach trial.

Defense attorneys say severing their cases from Kruger’s is logical since the FBI’s case involves several different conspiracies that do not involve all of the defendants.

“It’s a confusing indictment,” attorney Jeff Lefcourt, who is defending Lipsky, said. “It alleges six different conspiracies, but my client isn’t in all of them.”

article

Posted by eric at 2:45 PM

April 12, 2011

State Sen. Kruger pleads not guilty to bribery

Democratic Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he took $1 million in bribes for helping a developer, a lobbyist and two hospital executives.

AP via Crain's NY Business

A New York state senator has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he took $1 million in bribes in a federal influence-peddling case.

Democratic Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn entered the plea Tuesday. The hearing came days after prosecutors boosted charges against him, adding bribery.

Outside court in Manhattan, Mr. Kruger's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said his client "never accepted bribes from anyone for any matter, and he never abused his office in any way whatsoever."

In court, Mr. Brafman said a substantial number of 30,000 calls intercepted by the FBI during the investigation involved his client either directly or indirectly.

link

NoLandGrab: 30,000 calls intercepted by the FBI. Wonder who might be sweating that?

Posted by eric at 10:03 PM

April 10, 2011

Add To Bloomberg’s Other Mistakes: Mistakes In NOT Acknowledging Mistakes, Including A Certain Ratner Mega-Monopoly

Noticing New York

Everyone knows that the first step in correcting a mistake is recognizing when you've made one. Mayor Mike Bloomberg should take a step back, recognize his error in supporting Atlantic Yards and do what he can to fix his mistake.

Atlantic Yards is probably Bloomberg’s supreme mistake. . . . Atlantic Yards is a spectacular example of a decision that was rushed through with improperly forced haste and it is a spectacular example of just how bad the consequences of such thoughtless haste can be.

The Bloomberg administration has implicitly acknowledged the ignominy of its failure with respect to Atlantic Yards. It did so in the way it handled the departure of Deputy Mayor for Development Daniel Doctoroff (see: Atlantic Yards As Political Hot Potato.)

However disgraceful all its lapses, the Bloomberg administration has done nothing to correct the misreckoned Atlantic Yards course it is on. Correction could be made with less difficulty than continuing through the bog in which the city is now steeped. It would be relatively easy to do what is needed which is to take the project back to the drawing board and bid it out to multiple developers. (Yes, this time the megaproject, currently 17 separate building sites, should actually be bid out.) The project is adrift, amorphously ill-defined and the developer repeatedly transgresses with unacceptable behavior that should long ago have disqualified the developer from Bloomberg’s ongoing accommodation and indulgence.

...

Bloomberg still has the opportunity to walk away from the Atlantic Yards mega-project and declare it a recognized mistake. Bloomberg’s recently departed housing commissioner Rafael Cestero said that Atlantic Yards is not deserving of additional housing subsidies (it, "was not a good public investment"). Such subsidies would be disproportionate and greater than the subsidies that other more deserving projects would be eligible for elsewhere in the city. Nevertheless, given Bloomberg's very recent defense of the megadevelopment (immediately after talking with Bruce Ratner), Atlantic Yards Report is predicting that we should all gird for the awfulness of yet more subsidies for Atlantic Yards courtesy of Mr. Bloomberg. Atlantic Yards Report has an excellent record in making such calls.

link

Posted by steve at 8:42 PM

April 8, 2011

Council Member James: departure of Cathie Black, along with Atlantic Yards, a sign of Bloomberg's "third-term curse"

Atlantic Yards Report

In response to Mayor Mike Bloomberg's dissmissal of the much-criticized, little-qualified Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, City Council Member Letitia James, a leading critic of the publishing executive, said, "The Blizzard of 2011, CityTime, the Atlantic Yards project, and now this; many would consider this the third term curse.”

(Gothamist noted that the blizzard actually happened at the end of last year.)

James was a leading critic of Bloomberg's effort to overturn term limits and engineer a third term.

Atlantic Yards a third-term curse?

James is not exactly shy in her rhetoric, and there's a good deal of media fatigue regarding Atlantic Yards, but there's reason to consider Atlantic Yards a third-term curse:

• the impact of delays and changes (like modular construction) on expected revenues
• Bloomberg's willingness to go to bat for Forest City Ratner's dubious effort to raise cheap money from immigrant investors seeking green cards

Actually, Atlantic Yards might be better considered a first-term (and ongoing) curse, since Bloomberg backed the project unquestioningly from the start.

link

Posted by eric at 10:41 AM

Malinsky indicted on more charges in Kruger bribery scandal case

The Real Deal
by David Jones

A federal grand jury handed down a new 11-count indictment in the state Sen. Carl Kruger ongoing bribery scandal charging the defendants, including real estate developer Aaron Malinsky and lobbyist Richard Lipsky, with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Malinsky was previously indicted for allegedly making $500,000 in bribes to Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, who later stepped in to help move forward several major real estate developments.

Lipsky, who represented various high-profile clients including Forest City Ratner, also allegedly paid off Kruger.

article

Posted by eric at 10:27 AM

April 6, 2011

Mayor Bloomberg scores four season tickets for New Jersey Nets before stadium is even finished

NY Daily News
by Adam Lisberg

Maybe it's us, but we're guessing they meant "Brooklyn Nets" in that headline.

Mayor Bloomberg is bullish on Brooklyn basketball - snapping up four season tickets at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

"The Nets are going to provide some great entertainment," he said. "It's going to be exciting basketball."

The steel skeleton of the arena, rising above Atlantic and Flatbush Aves., is 30% finished.

"We are thrilled that the mayor has decided to become a season-ticket holder," said Nets CEO Brett Yormark. "The mayor is one of the most astute investors in the city, and we are pleased that he sees the Nets in Brooklyn as a great investment."

link

NoLandGrab: The astute Mayor must indeed be viewing those tickets as an investment, because we surely don't expect to see him court-side beyond opening night. Of course, when your net worth is reportedly more than $20 billion, it's no big deal to piss away $176,000 (assuming a $1,000-per-ticket face value) on something as awful as Nets basketball. The equivalent purchase for someone with just a million dollars to his name would run less than nine bucks.

Posted by eric at 9:58 PM

April 5, 2011

As media pile on to Post's questionable scoop, Bloomberg defends Ratner; get ready for request for additional subsidies

Atlantic Yards Report

The New York Post's questionable, conclusory article yesterday, based on SEC worst-case warnings, drew unskeptical follow-up in Gothamist, New York, Business Insider, Huffington Post, and others.

Even the Star-Ledger, in Nets' Brooklyn project reportedly could be scaled back, chose to trust the Post's framing of the story rather than the facts its reporters noted.
...

Bloomberg professes optimism

In Mike believes Atl. Yards hoopla, the Post followed up:

A confident Mayor Bloomberg insisted yesterday that the housing and commercial component of the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards complex won't be scrapped, saying he was certain that developer Bruce Ratner is proceeding as planned.

"I talked to Bruce Ratner as late as 30 minutes ago, and let me tell you, he thinks his business is going very well out there and he's very optimistic about Atlantic Yards," Bloomberg said.

Except Ratner's business isn't going very well; that's why he sold 49% of 15 retail properties.

Nor is the project proceeding as planned; after all, Bloomberg's own administration--at least under the recently-departed HPD head--denied additional subsidies for the first tower.

article

Posted by eric at 4:32 PM

April 3, 2011

Brooklyn pastor scores prime seats at Nets' new venue

New York Post
By Gary Buiso

Rev. Daughtry was for jobs, hoops and housing for the Atlantic Yards project. Who knows when the jobs and housing might show up. He's got hoops!

Want Nets tickets? You'll have to make a higher calling.

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of a Boerum Hill church, will have the final say over the distribution of 54 free tickets and a luxury box for every event at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

The deal is part of a "community benefits agreement" the clergyman -- who was a high-profile proponent of the arena's construction -- hammered out with developer Forest City Ratner on behalf of his nonprofit Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Association, which was formed with $50,000 in seed money from Forest City in 2005.

The deal includes four seats in the $1 billion Barclays Center's lower bowl, 50 ducats in the upper section, and a posh suite, according to Nets spokesman Barry Baum.

...

"This is [Daughtry's] little piece of the pie for having been a cheerleader to Ratner," said Candace Carponter, legal director of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, a group opposed to Atlantic Yards.

link

Related coverage...

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Who Needs Housing When You Have Free Tix?

So just when it looked like all the promised benefits of the Atlantic Yards project--loads of construction jobs, lots of affordable housing--were empty promises, Bruce Ratner has finally come through with the big payoff for the community. Well, not exactly for the community, but for long-time Ratner cheerleader Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who will get to distribute 54 free tickets and a luxury box for every event at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

And those gratis ducats aren't chump change. Season tickets for the Nets went on sale last week, with an average price of $132 a seat, about double the prices that prevailed last season in New Jersey. Fans were not delighted, even with the lowest price point. According to one commenter on a Nets fan site:

In the end, I may actually be priced out of this place if I don’t want to be in the rafters. Think about the starting price of $99 for the All Access Pass ticket sections. That’s $99 per game, per seat so basically...you are signing a contract to pay $26,400 for 2 seats for the next 3 years without knowing what the product will be on the floor.

To me, that’s just too much at this point....

But displaced fans shouldn't look to Daughtry for his freebies. The Reverend told the New York Post that "he hopes to use some tickets as a carrot for kids to get better grades and perhaps offer the suite to sick patients at Fort Greene's Brooklyn Hospital Center."

Better yet: maybe that luxury box could be retrofited to be the affordable housing component of Atlantic Yards. Who says promises don't come true?

Atlantic Yards Report, Post focuses on the Rev. Daughtry's control of arena tickets; will he also control use of the arena ten times a year by community groups?

The New York Post discovers that the Reverend Herbert Daughtry and his created-for-the-Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance (DBNA) will be in charge of free tickets for the Barclays Center arena, as we've long known.

But the big news--if true--was slipped in as an aside: Daughtry's group also would control the ten-times-a-year use of the arena by community groups. That was never specified in the DCBA.

Daughtry's role

In Brooklyn pastor scores prime seats at Nets' new venue, the Post reports:

Want Nets tickets? You'll have to make a higher calling.

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of a Boerum Hill church, will have the final say over the distribution of 54 free tickets and a luxury box for every event at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

The deal is part of a "community benefits agreement" the clergyman -- who was a high-profile proponent of the arena's construction -- hammered out with developer Forest City Ratner on behalf of his nonprofit Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Association, which was formed with $50,000 in seed money from Forest City in 2005.

The deal includes four seats in the $1 billion Barclays Center's lower bowl, 50 ducats in the upper section, and a posh suite, according to Nets spokesman Barry Baum.

Note: I reported after the March 2010 groundbreaking that Daughtry had spoken of controlling access to 50 free tickets--valued at $33,000, a mere blip in the total of public subsidies and tax breaks the developer has received.

(I'm assuming such $15 tickets would all sell out. And while lower bowl seats and a a suite would have a higher face value, it shouldn't be assumed that any value should be assigned, since they wouldn't all sell out.)

Some background

The Post reports:

The 80-year-old activist, who was an adviser to the Rev. Jesse Jackson and slain rapper Tupac Shakur, found God after doing a four-year stint in state and federal prison in 1953 for attempted armed robbery.

Daughtry's group was among eight that signed the benefits agreement in 2005 and stand to gain as the project proceeds. One signatory, for example, the Mutual Housing Association of New York -- it replaced the defunct activist group ACORN and in 2008 received a $1.5 million loan from Forest City -- will be in charge of marketing the project's affordable-housing component.

It's worth mentioning that, while Daughtry claims to live in Brooklyn, he raised his kids in Teaneck, NJ.

As for ACORN, that was not a $1.5 million loan, but a $1.5 million grant/loan. The distinction isn't crucial; ACORN isn't paying Forest City Ratner, and the developer still got a good deal.

Posted by steve at 11:00 PM

April 1, 2011

Former hospital executive David Rosen indicted in Kruger corruption case

NY Daily News
by Robert Gearty

When you're bribing crooked politicians, it's apparently a really bad idea to cut out the middle man.

A former hospital executive on Thursday became the first defendant in the corruption case against Brooklyn Sen. Carl Kruger to be indicted.

David Rosen, the former head of Jamaica Hospital, is charged in a bribery scheme involving Kruger and Assemblyman William Boyland, both Democrats.

A federal grand jury in Manhattan accused Rosen of bribing Kruger, Boyland Jr. and the late Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio to get them to support the hospital's requests in Albany.

Rosen was ousted as CEO after being arrested last month.

article

Posted by eric at 11:28 AM

March 28, 2011

Take TWO (AYR’s) On Times Coverage- Revisiting Light Shed by CityTime Outsourcing Scandal When Reexamining Bloomberg Management Myth

Noticing New York

In beating the New York Times to the punch covering the Bloomberg administration’s admissions about the city’s failed outsourcing policy, an about-face in that came in response to the CityTime scandal, Noticing New York presented a very different and much bigger big picture story than did the Times Sunday. - - Missed in being so Johnny-on-the-spot was the opportunity to incorporate observations by Atlantic Yards Report today about how the Times story buttressing a key point of that Noticing New York coverage: That the ill-fated trust the administration placed in delegations of government duties to the private sector carries over into its failures with respect to the management of the city’s mega-development projects.

article

Posted by eric at 10:08 PM

So, the Prospect Park Alliance actually welcomed Bruce Bender's help to get state funding via Carl Kruger for a new skating rink

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder follows up on Emily Lloyd's letter to the New York Post.

I'd point out that there's a little wiggle room there. Alliance staff asked Amy Bender for help. They didn't necessarily ask her to ask her husband. But perhaps that was implied. And it certainly was welcomed, according to Lloyd's letter.

Also note that the article cited, “Kruger Crony Leaned on Me for Vote”, doesn't actually say anything about the Prospect Park Alliance. Rather, a March 16 Post article, headlined Prospect Park group rage at 'Kruger' exec, began:

A top Atlantic Yards executive who requested state funds for Prospect Park's skating rink from embattled state Sen. Carl Kruger was never asked to do so by the park's fund-raising group -- and now park advocates are furious at being linked to the corruption scandal, sources told The Post.

"He has dragged our name through the mud," fumed a Prospect Park Alliance source about Forest City Ratner Vice President Bruce Bender, whose conversation with Kruger was featured in a federal criminal complaint against the Brooklyn Democrat.

The claim that Bruce Bender wasn't asked is not inconsistent with Lloyd's statement. Prospect Park Alliance board members may not have agreed to have Bruce Bender raise funds for them, though some might have recognized that asking Amy Bender would involve her husband.
...

I'd add that the Alliance might not want to be involved in dialogues like these, as described in federal charges.

"The Vice President said he needed a 'combo of two projects... the park and Carlton Avenue Bridge." Kruger said "the bridge is out," and asked Bender to choose:

The Vice President said that he did not know and that "this" was "bad." KRUGER said, "I guess the park, fuck the bridge." The Vice President said that "my dilemma is as you know, I don't mind fucking the bridge, I can't fuck it right now, I've got to leverage that bridge, what's my value?"

link

Posted by eric at 11:18 AM

Behind the Bloomberg administration's CityTime scandal: budget director Mark Page (who helped steer the revision of Forest City Ratner's MTA deal)

Atlantic Yard Report

Mark Page, the Bloomberg deputy most responsible for the CityTime scandal, has a bit of Atlantic Yards history.

Page, it should be remembered, was one of the two Bloomberg appointees on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority who pushed hard against any skepticism toward Forest City Ratner's requested June 2009 revision of the September 2005 deal for Vanderbilt Yard development rights, allowing the developer to save on upfront cash and a smaller replacement railyard.

As I wrote 6/25/09, as for the last-minute character of the deal, which had been aired only two days earlier, Page claimed unrealistically that, because MTA staff had been busy working on the deal, “it’s not as though it’s something that’s been dropped in our laps suddenly to consider.”

“I think that realizing value from railyard property that we own is something that we have learned over the last number of years, much of which has been in a boom real estate cycle, is extraordinarily difficult,” Page said. “Because we require the railyard function... we’re selling the space above it. To have an opportunity to actually realize value for the space above our land requires a tremendous upfront investment by the buyer to actually build the platform, an upfront, major investment before the buyer can then move on.”

However, I pointed out, there's no obligation that Forest City Ratner build the platform on the majority of the Vanderbilt Yard site.

article

Posted by eric at 10:41 AM

March 27, 2011

Daily News investigation of City Council Members points to (AY supporters) Dilan, Mealy as "the worst of the worst," also targets Sanders

Atlantic Yards

The New York Daily News has been publishing a dismaying series on the ethical shortcomings of one-third of the 51 City Council Members.

An editorial yesterday, The City Council is a sorry spectacle, the Daily News investigation showed in sordid detail, highlights a few, including these two:

Two Brooklynites won the award for the worst of the worst. Erik Dilan and Darlene Mealy represent districts with large low-income populations, where families with limited resources face the tough challenge of finding decent places to live.

And what has Dilan, of Bushwick, chairman of the Housing Committee, done to help? He helped himself, of course. He moved into a subsidized apartment that is supposed to be for families with incomes of less than $114,000. He and his wife reported incomes $40,000 over the limit.

Mealy, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, is also squatting on housing that should be occupied by someone making a lot less than the $112,500 salary plus a $10,000 lulu she gets for her part-time Council job.

She and her sister bought a taxpayer-subsized three-bedroom co-op in Bed-Stuy in 1993, when Mealy worked for the Transit Authority. Their joint income was supposed to be less than $15,000. Two years later, they came up with a $14,000 down payment for a brownstone.

Mealy was one of the two members of the 16-member Brooklyn City Council delegation to show up at the March 2010 Atlantic Yards arena groundbreaking. Mealy's gotten campaign contributions from members of BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development), an Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement signatory, and has supported BUILD with discretionary grants.

Dilan, as the graphic at left shows, was one of the earliest elected officials to support Atlantic Yards; the list is from the bid for the Vanderbilt Yard that Forest City Ratner delivered in July 2005 to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

What about Sanders?

Also note the presence on that list of Council Member James Sanders.

He presided over the notorious May 2004 City Council Committee hearing in which Forest City Ratner and its allies spoke all morning, before a full slate of committee members and the press, while project opponents faced empty chairs and a media blackout in the afternoon--a scene prominent in the upcoming Battle for Brooklyn documentary.

The Daily News pointed out that Sanders, while criticizing predatory lenders, had his own conflict:

He failed to mention that he had stopped paying his mortgage and his home was in foreclosure. He calls himself a "victim" and represents himself in court, trying to avoid eviction and damning predatory lenders.
...Sanders declined to discuss his case, but predicted his final settlement will allow "other victims to learn that they, too, have a way to fight back.

That reasoning prompted an editorial scoffing at his excuse:

Identified by the Daily News I-Team as delinquent on his payments, Sanders countered that he was a victim of predatory lending rather than a plain old deadbeat.
It was the bank that lured him into a $588,000 mortgage on a Far Rockaway home in 2006.
It was the bank that made him believe he could afford $3,000-a-month payments.
It was the bank that got annoyed when he stopped sending in checks.
It was the bank that has insisted on foreclosing.
It was the bank that doesn't understand why he should be allowed to stay in the house payment-free after two years.
As Sanders pleaded in court, "My family and I were likely the victims of dishonest, deceitful and ... corrupt lending practices."
So here we have an elected official who purports to be smart enough to write laws while pleading that he was bamboozled into borrowing half a million dollars he could not afford.
How dumb is that?
New York Knucklehead dumb.

link

Posted by steve at 10:37 PM

The Myth Of Bloomberg’s Management Expertise Reexamined: What Happens When Government Doesn’t Manage Its Programs

Noticing New York

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent considerable time and energy promoting himself as a great manager. Is this really the case? Not if you first consider the backpedaling that his administration has done after losing control of the outsourced CityTime project.

Word is that the Bloomberg administration is busy making acknowledgments that it screwed up (and consequently needs to make some serious readjustments) when it delegated to the private sector complex technical projects for which the administration should have retained responsible for itself. In its ill-fated relinquishment of these responsibilities to others, the administration much vaunted for its management expertise lost control of the management, cost, and scope of essential work and tens of millions of dollars of fraud ensued. All of this is surfacing with announcements Thursday night that the administration is now shifting (contritely?) to a policy of “insourcing” from what it had been a policy of “outsourcing.”

...

At the end of last year it came out that the city was the victim of a “$80 million information technology fraud scheme involving development of the CityTime project, “an automated system devised to streamline employee timekeeping.” The New York Times wrote that the ongoing federal investigation was:

casting a pall over an initiative that the mayor had championed as a hallmark of efficient, computerized management, the case does little to help the opinion of the administration’s outsourcing practices.

Similarly, Bloomberg has lost control over large development projects that are essentially outsourced to developers.

Do you want to know what was most on my Noticing New York mind the entire time I was considering all this information about the ill-advised course taken with the Bloomberg administration’s outsourcing of these sophisticated and technically complex projects? It’s the penchant of the Bloomberg administration to do essentially the same thing when, by policy, it hands over large swaths of the city like Atlantic Yards, Willets Point, Columbia's West Harlem takeover, and Hudson Yards, to private developers (or paves the way for the leveling of Coney Island), essentially subcontracting the public’s warfare to those developers and just hoping for the best. It is the same thing: Government walking away from the job that only government can really do well.

Surely, with these subcontracted handouts to the private sector, the public similarly loses money, but this time billions instead of hundreds of millions. Similarly, just as Deputy Mayor Goldsmith says: “the bigger problem is they become the City. Right? We lose control of the scope and we lose control of the price and we need to bring more of the management on our side of the table.” And if this loss of control doesn’t lead to what is technically “fraud” it leads to essentially the same kind of losses for the public as the unleashed developers ultimately deliver mega-messes that differ significantly in quality, scope, and nature from what they promised on day one.

link

Posted by steve at 10:15 PM

March 23, 2011

Kruger scandal costs developer another project

The Brooklyn Paper
by Thomas Tracy

A deep-pocketed developer entrenched in an ambitious, federally funded plan to build the borough’s tallest building at Albee Square has been quietly thrown off the project for his involvement in the FBI’s sweeping bribery probe into state Sen. Carl Kruger.

Acadia Realty Trust, the builders behind the $750-million City Point project, which received $20 million in tax-exempt federal stimulus money when it suffered financial troubles in 2009, confirmed that developer Aaron Malinsky’s PA Associates has been “removed from all operational involvement” behind the plan to bring a four-story shopping mall and as many as 700 units of housing to the Fulton Mall.
...

“Acadia would never have tolerated anything improper being done [to the City Point project],” project spokesman Rick Matthews said in a statement. “We have no knowledge of any improper or illegal activities related to Malinsky’s projects, but we have strong policies in place prohibiting illegal or unethical conduct by employees, associates or affiliates.”
...

The developer was arrested alongside Kruger (D–Mill Basin) and six others on March 10, and was charged with bribing Kruger and his lover Michael Turano with $472,500 over the years.

In return, Kruger:

• Tried to get Forest City Ratner Companies, the lead developer on the soon-to-be-built Four Sparrows Retail Center on the southern tip of Flatbush Avenue, to give a portion of the project to Malinsky so he could build a department store on the city-owned site.

article

Posted by eric at 10:50 AM

Who Made the New Brooklyn (and Who Controls the Old)

The L Magazine

Brooklyn is the fourth-largest city in the country—as such, it is a complex place. For some, it is a throwback to the greatness of immigrant America, for others, it is the frontline of international hipster monoculture... Whatever the case, the idea of "Brooklyness" has never been more out in the world, even if it's impossible to pin down. What follows is a look at the people who've created that idea, and in whose hands its future rests.
...

Marty Markowitz
Though powerless to undo new bicycle infrastructure (phew!), Marty remains a mighty political force, by far the likeliest borough president to make a bid for city hall if/when Bloomberg's reign ends. Brooklyn has changed dramatically since the third-term prez took office in 2001. He's notched noble efforts in education and affordable housing, but there's the far more substantial list of less laudatory causes Marty has championed: tearing down Admiral's Row; turning Brooklyn from a place where people live into a brand that people buy; and a little real estate project called Atlantic Yards—he harnessed the power of denial for a recent video message courting potential Chinese investors, proclaiming: "Brooklyn is one thousand percent behind Atlantic Yards!"
...

The Forever Yards: Bruce Ratner
However many of Atlantic Yards' planned infrastructure-toppling residential towers ever go up over "blighted" Prospect Heights, given the current housing market (and however many pol-placating low-income units they ever include), the man still brought major league sports back to the BK, and the shockwaves—like Park Slope's panic over a stadium-crowd-catering hip-hop club—have already begun.

link

Posted by eric at 10:17 AM

March 22, 2011

Kruger crony thrown off B'klyn skyscraper plan

NY Post
by Rich Calder

A New York developer nabbed in the sweeping federal corruption probe that snared state Sen. Carl Kruger earlier this month has been quietly cut out of one of Brooklyn's biggest projects, which was slated to bring the borough its tallest building, The Post has learned.

Aaron Malinsky's PA Associates had been partnering in City Point, a mixed-use project slated to rise as high as 65 stories at the city-owned former Albee Square Mall site in Downtown Brooklyn.

But Acadia Realty Trust confirmed yesterday that it has used its powers as majority partner to remove Malinsky "from all operational involvement" in City Point.
...

The feds say Malinsky funneled $472,500 in bribe money to Kruger through a shell company set up by Kruger's lover and alleged accomplice, Michael Turano. In exchange, the feds say, Kruger assisted Malinsky in getting approvals to develop the $65 million Canarsie Plaza Shopping Center on city property and Kruger tried to get developer Forest City Ratner to give Malinsky a piece of a retail center Ratner is building on city land in Mill Basin.

Kruger even arranged a meeting with Forest City officials and Malinsky, the complaint says.

article

NoLandGrab: No word yet as to whether the ESDC has thrown Forest City Ratner off the Atlantic Yards project.

Posted by eric at 10:53 AM

March 21, 2011

Corrupt Brooklyn Politician's House Looks Exactly How You'd Expect

Curbed
by Joey Arak

State Senator Carl Kruger, accused of shady dealings in connection with a number of Brooklyn real estate projects—including Atlantic Yards and the Brooklyn Navy Yard—has had a long and complicated and possibly intimate relationship with members of the Turano family of Mill Basin. And seeing as how the Kruger case will one day make for a great Dateline special, the Times investigated these colorful characters in great detail. But the star of the show, by far, is the Turano's gaudy 7,000-square-foot waterfront mansion, which looks like it was built for a mobster, probably because it was.

link

Photo: Emily Berl for The New York Times

Posted by eric at 11:13 AM

The Day: Modular Construction and Political Corruption

The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill]
by Mitchell Trinka

Last week we watched a new clip from “Battle for Brooklyn”, a documentary (by Local contributor Michael Galinsky) coming out this spring chronicling the fight over the Atlantic Yards Project. The clip shows Bruce Bender, Forest City Ratner executive vice president, and politicians talking about the local jobs the project will create.

The claims of job creation came under scrutiny last week, after The New York Times reported that developers are constructing a 34-story modular high-rise at the site. The building, which would be the world’s tallest prefabricated steel structure, could cut construction costs in half by requiring fewer and cheaper workers.

That potential reduction in Atlantic Yards construction jobs has refueled the drive to closely examine the project and Forest City Ratner, which was recently mentioned in a corruption case against New York State Senator Carl Kruger. The New York Times also reported that the developer pressed Mr. Kruger for $9 million to rebuild the Carlton Avenue Bridge at Atlantic Yards.

link

NoLandGrab: Forest City actually said they were considering prefab construction.

Posted by eric at 11:07 AM

March 20, 2011

Kruger's campaigns see big 'Net' gains

New York Post
By Gary Buiso and Aaron Short

Talk about team spirit.

State Sen. Carl Kruger -- who, the feds charge, directed state money to the Atlantic Yards project, which includes a new Nets arena -- took thousands of dollars in campaign cash from deep-pocketed donors connected to its developer, the team and the arena.

Nets investor Michael Ratner -- a lawyer and brother of the developer, Bruce Ratner -- and Michael's wife, Karen Ranucci, each gave $2,000 to the Brooklyn Democrat's campaign weeks before Bruce bought the team in 2004. Bruce's company, Forest City Ratner, is also building the Brooklyn arena.

Richard Lipsky, a former Ratner lobbyist who, with Kruger, was charged by feds on March 9 in a $1 million bribery case, legally gave Kruger's coffers $3,500 between 2003 and 2007, and Lipsky's wife, Dorothy, gave $9,000 between 2008 and 2010, state data show.

Lipsky was caught on FBI wiretaps allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Kruger, who is charged with directing state cash to Forest City's $4 billion Atlantic Yards project and other Lipsky clients.

Other Nets investors in the Kruger campaign-money mix were Vincent Viola, a Wall Street mogul and former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, who gave $5,000 in 2009, Ahron Hersh, a former CEO of a handbag company, who gave $5,000 in 2005, and Martin Rostowsky, president of a Sunset Park electric-supply company, who gave $250 in 2004.

...

Kruger, 61, has gone out of his way to cheer for the Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, which sits well outside his South Brooklyn district.

At a public hearing in 2006, he gushed: "We're not talking about the Nets arena. We're not talking about Forest City Ratner . . . We're talking about Brooklyn first. What better way can we talk about Brooklyn than bringing an arena and a first-class team to the doorstep of what is truly the capital of our world, our borough, Brooklyn?"

Critics blasted Kruger's cozy relationships with Nets and arena backers.

"Contributors feel as if they have to make campaign gifts in order to have the support of crooked officials like Kruger," said Dick Dadey, head of the watchdog group Citizens Union.

Michael Ratner, Viola, Lipsky and Rostowsky did not return calls for comment. Ranucci hung up the phone when Kruger's name was mentioned. Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City Ratner, declined to comment, as did Nets spokesman Barry Baum.

Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, New York Post notices contributions from Michael Ratner and wife to Kruger, discovers other Nets investors who gave

When, in September 2006, I first wrote about lawyer Michael Ratner's campaign contribution in apparent furtherance of the goals of Forest City Ratner (run by his brother Bruce), nobody in the press seemed to care.

When news of corruption charges against state Senator Carl Kruger first surfaced this month, I mentioned that Kruger had received FCR-related campaign contributions, and on Friday I wrote again about Michael Ratner.

Exclusive?

Today, in an article labeled "Exclusive," the New York Post offers Kruger's campaigns see big 'Net' gains:

State Sen. Carl Kruger -- who, the feds charge, directed state money to the Atlantic Yards project, which includes a new Nets arena -- took thousands of dollars in campaign cash from deep-pocketed donors connected to its developer, the team and the arena.

(Actually, he directed state money toward a Prospect Park project pushed by Forest City executive Bruce Bender.)

Nets investor Michael Ratner and his wife, Karen Ranucci, are cited first, with no reference to my coverage.

New findings

The others listed advance the story:

• Richard Lipsky, a former Ratner lobbyist, and his wife, Dorothy (Lipsky's also been charged, for illegal gifts, as well)
  
• Vincent Viola, a Wall Street mogul and former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange
  
• Ahron Hersh, a former CEO of a handbag company
  
• Martin Rostowsky, president of a Sunset Park electric-supply company

Hersh said his gift thanked Kruger for helping Russian Jews, while no one else, including reps for the developer and the Nets, would comment.

The numbers are not so great as to suggest a massively organized plan; still, it's notable that so few would comment.

link

Posted by steve at 10:02 PM

At tense Council hearing, James, Lander cite AY delays, construction changes, press NYC EDC's Pinsky on need for updated cost-benefit analysis

Atlantic Yards

City Council Members Tish James and Brad Lander questioned Seth Pinsky about what the true benefits would be for Atlantic Yards. Pinsky continues to acknowledge the 25 year build-out that call into question any return for the City's subsidies for the project.

Two Brooklyn City Council Members yesterday grilled Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) about Atlantic Yards, but Pinsky both defended Forest City Ratner’s potential plan to build modular housing for the project, and argued that it, along with delays in tax revenues from a longer buildout, would not necessarily affect the city’s cost-benefit analysis of the project.

The latter statement, which Pinsky repeated in several ways, left Council Member Brad Lander dismayed and dumbfounded, calling Pinsky’s answers to Council Member Letitia James “deeply inadequate” and warning that the city has “misplaced confidence” in Forest City Ratner (FCR).

I'd also suggest that it requires an independent cost-benefit analysis, by the Independent Budget Office, rather than a self-serving one by the city.

...

“Let me go to may favorite project of all time, Atlantic Yards, they've been in the news,” James said. “They've been involved in two controversies, sort of unindicted co-conspirators.” She cited the Ridge Hill corruption case and the charges against state Senator Carl Kruger.

Does the $24 million “we so graciously have provided them” for the Carlton Avenue Bridge represent new money?

“No. That's money that's been in the budget now for some time,” Pinsky responded. “As you know, the original investment that the city was going to make in the Atlantic Yards project was about $200 million. Over the course of our negotiations, we finalized an agreement with Forest City last year which brought the total investment by the city to $179 million. the $24 million for work that were doing to help it go forward, $24 million for the Carlton Avenue Bridge, and $131 million for land acquisition.”

“What was original commitment to Forest City Ratner from the City of New York?” James asked.

“I believe the $200 million,” Pinsky responded.

That’s not true. The city initially committed $100 million, only to double that figure in 2007 after the project received initial approvals, and later to dial back slightly. (I think it’s still murky, given the likelihood that the city is also paying for some work on the FCR side of the ledger.)

...

“Have you done an updated cost-benefit analysis to determine how many jobs are being created by Atlantic Yards, because this project has changed?” James asked.

“The project actually has not changed significantly,” Pinsky maintained. The build program still calls for 16 towers. The arena size, though it’s decreased in square footage, continues to have the same number of seats. The MTA yard continues to meet the needs of the MTA.”

(That’s a bit of a euphemism, because, while a replacement railyard remains planned, it’s smaller than originally announced.)

“We haven't updated the cost-benefit analysis since we made the investment, but the analysis that we did showed that this would yield hundreds of millions of dollars in net incremental benefits to the city,” he stated.

James then referenced the recent news that Forest City Ratner is considering constructing the tallest-ever building made via modular construction, to meet its affordable housing obligations.

“Does that concern you?” she asked, noting that it would affect the number of jobs and the cost-benefit analysis.

“As I understand, this is an option that’s being explored,” Pinsky said carefully. ”I think, more importantly, that it's really not our place to stand in the way of innovations in technology relating to buildings.” He added that "it’s obviously incredibly important” that whatever is built complies with the project Design Guidelines and with safety requirements, but said that it’s tough to speculate on the impact until Forest City Ratner makes a decision.

He then went on to speculate a bit. “One thing I do know, in the articles, Forest City said they were looking at using a factory in New York City to do the construction, which is a benefit and job creator that we certainly didn't ever factor into our analysis,” he said. So, “if we were to go back,” that would have to be factored in.

“Well, clearly they're not going to complete this in ten years,” James noted, adding that the city committed funds based on that timetable.

Council Member Brad Lander continued the questioning:

“Everything you've said so far, in response to my questions, I think, has been a thoughtful answer. I have to say the answers you gave to Council Member James’s questions, I think, were deeply inadequate,” Lander began. “To begin with, let’s talk about the cost-benefit analysis. If I promise you a dollar today, and then instead I say, ‘I’ll give you a dollar in 15 years, is that dollar worth the same amount?’”

“Well, actually, that's not what the agreement was,” replied Pinsky with a touch of pique. A veteran of grilling by the bombastically prosecutorial legislator Richard Brodsky, Pinsky is no shrinking violet. “If we’re going to play an intellectual game it has to be fair.”

“I'm talking about the cost benefit analysis on the project revenues,” Lander continued, in a genially prosecutorial tone. “Your cost-benefit analysis evaluated a city investment of capital against projected tax revenues to the city, correct?”

“Among other things, correct,” Pinsky replied, a bit cagily.

“A pretty important one, though, the revenues, in terms of figuring out whether it’s a net positive to the city,” Lander asked.

“Absolutely,” confirmed Pinsky.

“So,” Lander continued, with increasing incredulity, “if the project is delayed from the timetable of ten years, and you earlier in your remarks said ‘over the course of the next several years,’ which I think is extremely generous, to a minimum of 25 years, with total uncertainty on whether the full buildout will happen at all, when and whether the office jobs will actually happen, the revenues that are going to come to city as a result of the construction and implementation and operation, are likely to be dramatically delayed from what you originally estimated in the cost benefit analysis that you did when you agreed to put all this capital into that project. I don’t see how you can say that’s not true.”

link

Posted by steve at 9:27 PM

March 19, 2011

Press Release: Councilmember Lander Criticizes EDC for Refusal to Conduct New Cost-Benefit Analysis for Atlantic Yards, Calls for Suspension and Reduction of City Subsidies

Councilmember Brad Lander

New York, NY – On the heels of the revelation that Forest City Ratner may build the first residential tower at Atlantic Yards with modular construction, thus dramatically reducing total wages and tax revenues to the City, City Councilmember Brad Lander today criticized NYC Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky's refusal to reevaluate the City's capital contribution to the Atlantic Yards project and conduct an updated cost-benefit analysis in light of significant changes to the project. Lander called for the City’s subsidy to Atlantic Yards to be suspended, and subjected to the same 17% capital cut that EDC is taking overall.

At the City Council's preliminary budget hearing on EDC's budget, Lander argued that changes to the project since EDC committed $200 million to Forest City – a much-longer timeframe, uncertainty about full build-out and the contemplated office space, and now the potential of modular construction significantly reducing wages and tax revenues – are likely to dramatically reduce the project’s tax revenues to the City, and therefore require a fully updated cost-benefit analysis, before the City proceeds to distribute any remaining subsidy dollars.

“The City’s subsidy to Atlantic Yards should be suspended until we have a new cost-benefit analysis, and subjected to the same 17% capital cut that EDC is taking overall,” Lander said. “I was not initially a die-hard opponent of this project, but I had many questions and concerns about whether the benefits would be realized, the public costs would be contained, the developer would live up to its obligations, and the process would be transparent. Unfortunately, those concerns have grown enormously, and it has become clear that City is very likely to lose many millions of dollars on this project, even as many of the contemplated benefits have evaporated. We need a new cost-benefit analysis before we proceed to put City taxpayer money into this project, just as we need real public oversight and accountability.”

Lander, together with Councilmember Letitia James, also asked Pinsky a series of questions about several troubling developments related to the project, including allegations that Senator Carl Kruger took bribes for his efforts to secure New York State subsidies for the Atlantic Yards project, and that representatives of Forest City Ratner and its partners may have misled foreign investors as part of its efforts under the EB-5 program to secure investment through the procurement of US visas, despite the fact that these investments will create no new jobs beyond what had already been promised.

Mayor Bloomberg has imposed a 10% capital cut for parks and infrastructure, and EDC overall has taken a 17% capital cut. Yet the City’s contribution to Atlantic Yards has not been reduced – despite the City’s fiscal difficulties, despite the many concerns surrounding the project, and despite the likelihood that the project’s tax revenues to the City are likely to be significantly reduced.

Posted by steve at 11:49 PM

March 18, 2011

Bruce Ratner's late 2010 campaign contributions: $12,500 to AG candidate Schneiderman, $7500 to the Senate Republicans

Atlantic Yards Report

Michael Ratner, of course, is not the only Ratner doling out lavish campaign money.

To architect Frank Gehry, whose grasp of development politics appears (in retrospect) enormously shaky, Bruce Ratner is "politically like me" and a fellow "liberal, do-gooder."

But a look at Ratner's pattern of campaign contributions again suggests otherwise.

Would a "liberal, do-gooder" in New York State give $7500 to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, as Ratner did on 11/1/10?

Or would that donor more likely be, as I wrote in February 2008, someone who "plays hardball when it counts?"

The Schneiderman contribution

Ratner on 10/28/10 also gave $12,500 to the campaign of Democratic Attorney General candidate Eric Schneiderman, who won his race with 55 percent of the vote.

(The contribution limit in statewide elections is $37,800.)

Could that be an effort to ensure that Schneiderman not pursue a lingering investigation from the Andrew Cuomo-led AG's office into the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership's lobbying on behalf of Atlantic Yards and other projects?

Or is it just to make sure that Schneiderman takes some calls ahead of others?

Previous coverage

Last year, I noted $12,500 in contributions to Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign, $2000 to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's campaign, and $10,000 to New York Uprising, the clean-up-Albany project spearheaded by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Citizens Union Director Dick Dadey, and former New York City Parks Commissioner and New York Civic Director Henry Stern, Ratner's mentor.

article

NoLandGrab: The idea of Bruce Ratner supporting an effort to clean up Albany always makes us chuckle — right before we puke.

Posted by eric at 12:06 PM

The Ratner-Kruger campaign connection; one month after Atlantic Yards was announced, (brother) Michael Ratner and his wife gave $2000 each

Atlantic Yards Report

Follow the money.

Now that charges are swirling around state Senator Carl Kruger, it's worth a look back to see how Forest City Ratner (FCR) apparently steered campaign contributions to him less than a month after the Atlantic Yards plan was announced.

Kruger, along with some other undistinguished Brooklyn politicians, received campaign contributions via a most unusual source: FCR CEO Bruce Ratner's brother Michael Ratner, the eminent human rights lawyer, as well as his wife Karen Ranucci.

Kruger got $2000 from each on 1/6/04, as indicated in the graphic (click to enlarge; full list at bottom). Atlantic Yards was announced on 12/10/03.

Michael Ratner's curious pattern

Michael Ratner wouldn't comment when I first wrote about this in September 2006. I suggested that he was carrying water for his brother Bruce, who for a stretch was a "refusenik" from campaign contributions.

Michael Ratner's Brooklyn political contributions--in a pattern quite different from his other contributions to progressive politicians--seem to have been guided not by ideology but by corporate interests.

He was an investor in the Nets, as well as significant stock in the publicly traded corporation, Forest City Enterprises, controlled by the Ratners' extended family.

Indeed, the evidence is damning: Michael Ratner and his wife, Karen Ranucci, both Greenwich Village residents, both made campaign contributions using Forest City Ratner's Brooklyn building as a return address, as well as from their home address.

Click through to learn how many of Michael Ratner's favorite pols have ended up behind bars.

article

Posted by eric at 11:57 AM

HOSPITAL BRIBERY CHARGES: Willets sticks with Lipsky

YourNabe.com
by Connor Adams Sheets

You have to hand it to the Willets Point United crew — they're far more loyal than Richard Lipsky has ever been. Or Forest City Ratner, for that matter.

Willets Point United was keeping Lipsky’s services as of Monday, bucking the trend of cutting ties with him set by many of his other clients and associates. The group paid Lipsky $57,500 in 2010, according to lobbying records.

“The allegations have nothing whatsoever to do with Willets Point, and we consider that Dr. Lipsky has done a most effective job on behalf of WPU to expose the severe negative impacts of the proposed Willets Point development,” the group said in a lengthy statement on its website. “WPU is motivated, indefatigable, and inspired by Dr. Lipsky’s contact with federal enforcement agencies.”

Forest City Ratner Cos., the developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, a flashpoint in the national eminent domain debate, hired Lipsky, effectively barring him from being able to work on behalf of project opponents.

Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for the developer, said Lipsky worked for Forest City Ratner as a consultant for about five years before he was terminated last week.

“He actually worked on issues related to youth and sports. His background is in sports. He has a doctorate in sports psychology or something like that,” DePlasco said. “He was a consultant, so he wasn’t directly employed.”

Hmm. We'll have to go back and re-read all of Lipsky's "Daniel Does Destroy" blog posts attacking Atlantic Yards critics to try to find the youth and sports angle.

Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), an outspoken opponent of the $3 billion plan to redevelop Willets Point, spoke at that same protest. He said Friday he was “very surprised” to hear that the lobbyist worked on both sides of the eminent domain issue.

“I wouldn’t have expected Lipsky to be involved, but it’s symptomatic of the system,” he said. “How the hell can you be involved in helping the Willets Point owners fight the misuse of eminent domain and yet you’re supporting the misuse of eminent domain by Ratner at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn?”

Indeed.

article

Posted by eric at 11:21 AM

March 17, 2011

Kruger crony leaned on me for vote: pol

NY Post
by Rich Calder and Dan Mangan

A Forest City Ratner executive whose cozy relationship with state Sen. Carl Kruger is featured in a new criminal complaint against the Brooklyn politician personally lobbied a Yonkers councilman hours before a controversial vote that later led to bribery charges against a councilwoman.

Yonkers Council Majority Leader John Murtagh Jr. said FCR Vice President Bruce Bender leaned on him in 2006 to change his expected vote opposing a controversial FCR development. The meeting was set up hours before a Yonkers council vote by then-Yonkers Republican Party chairman Zehy Jereis.

Bender, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, was the point man for FCR’s efforts to win the Yonkers council’s approval for the $630 million 81-acre “Ridge Hill” retail, commercial and residential development there.

Murtagh told The Post that Jereis called him “hours before the vote” and asked him to meet at a Yonkers Starbucks.

When he arrived, Jereis, who was with Bender, warned Murtagh that Councilwoman Sandy Annabi “is going to vote ‘yes,’ so this is going to pass, and it would help me politically if I vote in favor of it also,” Murtagh recalled.

Murtagh said he refused, adding, “I don’t make decisions like that, to do so would be political suicide.“ Jereis in Oct. 2006 was given a one-year, $60,000 real estate consulting contract by FCR in what prosecutors claim was a payoff by the company for getting Annabi to drop her opposition to the development.

Jereis had no experience in the real estate business and never submitted monthly work reports to FCR until March 2007 when the feds began dropping subpoenas as part of the Yonkers investigation, prosecutors said.

Last year, Annabi was charged by federal authorities with accepting more than $166,000 in bribes to vote in favor of Ridge Hill and another Yonkers development.

article

Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, Post: Yonkers Council Member says Bender pushed him to change vote in Ridge Hill case

In Kruger crony leaned on me for vote: pol, the New York Post continues chipping away at the relationship between developer Forest City Ratner and scandal-plagued state Senator Carl Kruger, again looking at the Ridge Hill case in Yonkers.
...

And this time, unlike in an article earlier this week, the Post completes the story, explaining that Jereis got a consulting job from Forest City in an apparent reward, even as the developer and its staff evaded any charges.

Posted by eric at 9:40 AM

March 16, 2011

Post: Backlash from Prospect Park Alliance toward FCR's Bender over fundraising conversation with Kruger

Atlantic Yards Report

You'd think that the Prospect Park Alliance, a group of civic-minded folk raising money for a beloved resource, might be a little peeved at being caught up in some apparently sleazy politics, and at least a few are.
...

Did the group get the $4.5 million promised? Apparently not, according to the Post:

A Prospect Park Alliance spokesman said the group never got the money, and another official there said they doubt it ever will.

link

Posted by eric at 4:18 PM

March 15, 2011

Krugerpalooza: Tuesday Edition

NY Post, Ratner's Kruger connection! Bruce had dealings with indicted senator

The biggest developer in the borough — whose Atlantic Yards project is the biggest in Brooklyn history — is now linked to the biggest pay-to-play story in years.

Federal wiretaps show that a lobbyist for Forest City Ratner, which is building the Barclays Center arena as part of the 16-tower apartment and retail complex, paid hundreds of thousands in bribes to state Sen. Carl Kruger (D–Brighton Beach), the former Finance Committee powerhouse.

The lobbyist, Richard Lipsky, was indicted by federal prosecutors with Kruger and several others last week, for his role in the scandal, which included funneling $252,000 to Kruger, who in turn provided state funding to projects being developed by Forest City and other clients.

No one from Forest City was indicated or charged — and it is unclear if the company knew what Lipsky was allegedly doing.

But Forest City Vice President Bruce Bender was caught on the federal wiretap negotiating with Kruger, who has steered millions in state money to the $4-billion project.

The Brooklyn Paper, Arrested Kruger: I’m not going anywhere

State Sen. Carl Kruger says he’s going to continue serving the people of Southern Brooklyn despite federal charges that could earn him up to 120 years in the Big House — and land him in the poorhouse.

Five days after federal authorities announced that the Democrat sold his political clout and government connections for close to $1 million in payoffs to deep-pocketed lobbyists and developers, the embattled legislator said he’s going to keep on fighting for the residents who sent him to Albany.

“I am here to represent the people of my district,” Kruger, who’s facing more than $5 million in fines, repeated to reporters in Albany on Monday during his first public appearance since his arrest last week. “I am here to do my job and that’s what I’m doing.”

NoLandGrab: What a statesman — only thinking about his beloved constituents.

Cleveland Scene, A Brooklyn Bridge, Cute State Senator, Involve Forest City in New York Corruption Case

New York news is finding its way back to the Forest City.

Wire-taps, bribes, scathing snippets of conversation published in the newspaper; ring a bell? The scenario must be annoyingly familiar to Cleveland’s best-loved real estate developer, Forest City Enterprises. Although the company avoided the Cuyahoga County corruption fallout, it’s not faring so well in New York where it is being showcased as “Real Estate Developer No. 1” in a federal public corruption case there.

The criminal case was unsealed last week and is a little complicated. We will try to boil it down for you. There is a skating rink, a retail development, and a bridge in Brooklyn. To clarify—not the Brooklyn Bridge, but another one. All are part of a new complex that the company's Forest City Ratner division is developing to be the new home to the Nets.

Let's hope they're wrong about Prospect Park being part of the project.

The Times notes that this is the second time in less than two years that Forest City Ratner has been named in a federal corruption investigation involving New York. The company has escaped indictment both times.

NLG: So far.

Posted by eric at 11:40 PM

The Carl Kruger backstory, via Gatemouth's long memory

Atlantic Yard Report

Room 8 blogger Gatemouth, aka Howard Graubard, has a couple of very interesting posts on the charges against state Senator Carl Carl Kruger, Assemblyman William Boyland, and lobbyist Richard Lipsky.

First, in Restling With Our Rights, or Lincoln Suspends the Constitution (Due Process for Electeds, Part One), he criticizes District Leader Lincoln Restler, who became the first pol to call for the elected officials' resignations before a trial.

But he's no supporter of Kruger, not at all. He writes:

Carl Kruger and I go back a long way.

I’ve despised Carl ever since 1984.

Brooklyn Democrats were then in the midst of a leadership war between the forces of Borough President Howard Golden and the late Tony Genovesi, fighting a series of proxy wars across the County.

The anecdote continues for a while, leading to this:

I then looked at an angry looking bald man watching us warily. Having already been through a morgue of newspapers clippings looking for dirt on Maisel’s associates, I said the following, and nothing more:

“You must be Carl Kruger.”

The man turned blood red.

I guess I understand why. If someone called me “Carl Kruger,“ I’d be insulted too.

But this man was Carl Kruger.

The mad man now started screaming at the top of his lungs.

“FUCK YOU!!!!…AND FUCK YOU, KENNY, FOR BRINGING HIM OVER HERE.”

There's much more, including an account of Democrat Kruger's endorsement of Republican Rudy Giuliani for U.S. Senate and Republican Marty Golden against sitting Democratic State Senator Vincent Gentile, a trade that ensured Kruger's safe seat, and an explanation of how Kruger's alliance with Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno sabotaged the reform efforts of Gov. Eliot Spitzer:

Truthfully, no one writing on the blogs today has a longer and more distinguished record of hatred for Carl Kruger than I do.

Click through for Part II.

link

Posted by eric at 12:14 PM

March 14, 2011

Lightning Keeps Striking: It Couldn’t Happen To Some More Deserving People . . Over and Over, Again- Ratner, Illegal Bribes and Jay-Z and Beyoncé

Noticing New York

Michael D.D. White ponders how it can be that Forest City Ratner keeps popping up in the pages of federal corruption indictments.

It’s that OMG-lightning keeps striking in the same place phenomenon. It may startle you, but if you know your science then you know that not only can lightning keep striking the same place, if the conditions are there it is quite likely to.

Suspense and . . .

It may also be described as the couldn’t happen to a better person phenomenon. That is to say that sometimes when you have watched the operations of a firm like Forest City Ratner closely for a long time you have found yourself wondering for just how long they are going to escape the consequence of a certain style of heinously cynical conduct. Looks like the answer may be not much longer. . . or, at least, not forever.

article

Posted by eric at 4:15 PM

More shocking than Kruger's $500,000 gift to Bruce Bender's pet project is the Senate leadership's willingness to let Bender allocate funds himself

Atlantic Yards Report

Though state Senator Carl Kruger has certainly helped developer Forest City Ratner over the years, and the charges described last week certainly put that help in a new light, the federal complaint does not show Kruger allocating funds to the developer.

Sure, he seemed willing, but he didn't have enough money, so what he did have went to a Prospect Park project requested by Forest City Ratner Executive VP Bruce Bender.

That might be seen as much as helping an old crony as anything else.

Senate leaders bend to Bender?

Still, another look at the complaint suggests some shocking--at least to those who believe what they learned in civics class--behavior from a Senate staffer, apparently at the behest of "Senate Leader #1."

Who's that? Apparently Senator John Sampson (as identified in news coverage), who has had supporters use Forest City Ratner offices for a fundraiser.

That staffer was willing to essentially outsource government "pork" directly to Bender, letting the real estate executive allocate money "as he saw fit."

article

Posted by eric at 4:06 PM

Is the Kruger/Lipsky case the end of the scandal investigations in Albany? Maybe not. What about the Aqueduct "racino"?

Atlantic Yards Report

In Piling On Carl Kruger, Convicted Already In Court Of Public Opinion, City Hall News explains that state Senator Carl Kruger, unlike many charged with corruption, is not even being given the doubt in the recently announced case involving payments from Richard Lipsky.

Why? City Hall News reports:

“Everyone who’s been paying attention to politics in Brooklyn, has long known that these two gentlemen play pay-to-play politics,” said one politician who asked not to be named, referring to Kruger and Assembly Member William Boyland, Jr., who was also accused of accepting bribes. “They are shady folks, period.”

Kruger’s personal life is already the source of much speculation and innuendo. But his political behavior did not win him any friends either.

Dan Feldman, a former Brooklyn Assembly member tried to explain why.

“A high percentage of the time, I’m amazed and shocked when these people get into trouble. Frankly, this is one of those cases where I’m not shocked—I just didn’t get good vibes,” Feldman said. “Most politicians are very gregarious. With Carl, you never got the feeling of any kind of personal connection. I don’t mean to be cruel—to some extent, it felt like you were talking to a computer.”

Also, Kruger's clear role in Senate shenanigans--one of the "Four Amigos" whose party allegiance was malleable--surely played a role.

Anyone else?

The newspaper reports:

Some wondered how much further the scandal would go. Would there be more arrests in addition to the eight already?

“The cynical analysis is this is the tip of something much larger and this could explode,” [Baruch College professor Doug] Muzzio said. “It’s not only waiting for the other shoe to drop. There seems to be a whole shoe closet here with shoes ready to fall out.”

If so, who could that be? Perhaps the investigation of the Aqueduct "racino" will yield further charges.

If so, those could involve state Senators Malcolm Smith of Queens and John Sampson of Brooklyn.

And if so, there might be a tangential connection to Forest City Ratner.

link

Posted by eric at 2:43 PM

Time for an update? Markowitz, on video, praised Forest City to potential investors: "I can assure you that their reputation is unbelievably reliable"

Atlantic Yards Report

In December, I first wrote about Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's hyperbolic praise for Forest City Ratner, assisting the developer's effort to raise low-cost capital from Chinese (and Korean) investors seeking green cards.

Now that Forest City executive Bruce Bender has been caught on government wiretap trying to get government help to fulfill the obligation to rebuild the Carlton Avenue Bridge, and also saying, "I don't mind fucking the bridge," maybe Markowitz's claims of FCR reliability deserve a rethink.

"The largest company in Brooklyn is Forest City development, and I can assure you that their reputation is unbelievably reliable," he declared on the video produced to pitch the project to the investors. "They're a great company to work with; they've worked very closely with government. And the most important thing: they make a promise, they keep it."

Right.

article

Posted by eric at 11:48 AM

March 13, 2011

Yes, Kruger apparently helped FCR, but not on Atlantic Yards; Post focuses on the Mill Basin connection, where pol tried to delay public review

Atlantic Yards Report

I've been so focused on the not-quite-favor on Atlantic Yards Forest City Ratner's Bruce Bender tried to negotiate with the indicted Carl Kruger that I didn't look closely at the other FCR deal, where Kruger apparently was helpful.

Rich Calder of the New York Post follows up today, in Kruger's political favor:

State Sen. Carl Kruger -- who is facing federal corruption charges in an alleged pay-to-play scheme -- used his political muscle to hold up a Bloomberg administration project in Brooklyn at least three years to benefit a favored developer also highlighted in the embattled pol’s criminal complaint, the Post has learned.

Note that the details are outside the official complaint, which focuses on the role of another developer in the Mill Basin project.

The article continues:

At issue is a 15-acre city project that includes a new retail center in Mill Basin, built by developer Forest City Ratner. The project, along Flatbush Avenue, is also supposed to hold a Cadillac car dealership. The site currently houses a Toys-R-Us store.

Kruger (D-Brooklyn) sent former Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber a scathing letter in January 2008 threatening to sue the city because it wanted to begin the mandatory public review process on the dealership’s portion of the project, without FCR’s part.

At the time, the car dealership plan was in jeopardy if the city didn’t move quickly, but FCR wasn’t ready to begin a public review – and was concerned that segmenting the project could hurt its plans, sources said.

“It is our intent, and the shared intent of the community and other elected officials, to commence legal action if necessary,” Kruger said in the letter.

The city ultimately gave in to Kruger’s demands, but luckily was able to save the dealership deal. Last month, the entire project’s public review finally began.

FCR has not been charged, but the doubts about whether it's a good corporate citizen--as the Empire State Development Corporation asserted last year--increase.

link

Posted by steve at 10:40 PM

Crain's: Lipsky's relationship with Kruger may have solidified after the lobbyist signed on with Forest City Ratner

Atlantic Yards Report

In Lobbyist Richard Lipsky's downfall: Lobbyist in bribery scandal touched nearly every biz cause, Crain's New York Business describes Richard Lipsky's ethical flexibility and, near the end of the article, suggests that a connection with developer Forest City Ratner led Lipsky to ally with state Senator Carl Kruger.

Crain's reports:

In the 1990s, lobbyist Richard Lipsky fought ferociously on behalf of small business owners against building a Pathmark supermarket in East Harlem, and, a decade later, against a Walmart store on Staten Island. But the underdog narrative that ran through his three-decade career became muddied more recently as signs emerged that Mr. Lipsky was following the money rather than his principles.

Forest City Ratner hired him in 2006 for its $5 billion Atlantic Yards megaproject in Brooklyn, and a related corporate entity snagged him to pave the way for an East Harlem shopping mall whose anchor is a Target superstore. Those moves were widely attributed to the developer's desire to prevent Mr. Lipsky from stirring up and advocating for the little guys, his traditional constituency.

He aligned himself with four rogue legislators who upended the Democrats' tenuous hold on the Senate in 2009. And he recently signed on with the Committee to Save New York, a big-business alliance backing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's fiscally conservative agenda.

“He was serving far too many masters,” said a Democratic operative. “You could purchase his position on an issue.”

Um, I think Atlantic Yards critics and opponents were pointing that out well before charges surfaced last week.

link

Posted by steve at 10:38 PM

Kruger's vote on gay marriage, protests by activists, and the need for scrutiny

Atlantic Yards Report

In Media Runs With Kruger Gay Stories: Activists' charge indicted anti-equality senator is closeted finally surface, Gay City News reports on the mainstream media's willingness--for the Times, tentative, for the Post, certain--to finally look closely at some evidence that seemed to have been staring at them in the face:

Shortly after Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger joined seven other Democrats in voting against New York’s marriage equality bill in December 2009 –– dooming it to a 38-24 loss –– a busload of LGBT activists descended on two homes blocks apart where Kruger either claimed to live or in fact resided, with some picketers loudly decrying him for being closeted.

In the wake of Kruger’s indictment March 10 on federal charges of taking more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for political favors, the story of Kruger’s homosexuality –– indeed accounts that he is lovers with the son of a woman who was often his companion in public –– have made it into the mainstream press.

A March 11 New York Times story recounts the gay rights protest at Kruger’s residences, noting that the senator has denied being gay. The newspaper also notes that while neighbors of 73-year-old Dorothy Turano's staggeringly gaudy house in Mill Basin described her and the senator as a couple, “it was the oldest son, Michael, to whom Mr. Kruger was closest, and they forged a relationship in which they ‘supported and relied on one another,’” according to the federal indictment.

Michael Turano, a 49-year-old gynecologist, was indicted for helping Kruger to launder his alleged illegal gains.

Both the Times and the New York Post make clear that Kruger was not living in his legal residence in Georgetown, where his sister lives, but with the two Turanos and “Dottie’s” other son, Gerard, who is 47.

The Post is more definitive in its characterization of the relationship between Kruger and Michael Turano, describing the senator as “closeted” and the younger man as his “beau” and “secret longtime companion.”

Kruger and Michael Turano were in near daily contact, according to the U.S. Attorney. Maybe if the protests in 2009 had been taken more seriously, and Kruger's living arrangements scrutinized--if not his companionship, at least the outlandish luxury in which he apparently lived--the press would have been ahead of the feds.

link

Posted by steve at 10:35 PM

What kept Carl Kruger untouchable: member items, and the redistricting that carved up territory for him and Marty Golden

Atlantic Yards Report

In the wake of the charges against state Senator Carl Kruger and others, it's worth another look at my 10/30/06 review of former State Senator Seymour Lachman's timely book of analysis and advocacy, Three Men in a Room: The Inside Story of Power and Betrayal in an American Statehouse, coauthored by Robert Polner. Indeed, the entire legislative and governmental process is distorted by an absence of democracy.

As I wrote, few of our elected representatives come off well. Is it no surprise that several of the officials who back the Atlantic Yards plan are among those who benefit from and support the systematic dysfunction?

Member items

How do leaders keep people in line and maintain incumbency?

“Member items,” basically a discretionary fund that can be used for worthy civic purposes and also to build political capital. In the Republican-controlled Senate, a minority Democrat might get $100,000 to $200,000 to distribute to local community groups and local services, Republicans sometimes get ten times more. (In the Democrat-controlled Assembly, the flip side obtains.)

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Posted by steve at 10:30 PM

The Sunday Krugerpalooza

Insights into the relationship between State Senator Carl Kruger, lobbyist John Lipsky and developer Forest City Ratner continue.

New York Daily News, Crooked Carl Kruger wallowed in Albany's corrupt pork-barrel slush-fund ways

An FBI listening device showed just how much money an individual lawmaker can control - and just how routinely a legislator can dole it out, without accountability or sound judgment, to special friends.

This particular transaction unfolded in December, when Kruger fielded a call from Forest City Ratner honcho Bruce Bender - a client of lobbyist Richard Lipsky, who had allegedly bribed Kruger for help on other matters.

Bender was seeking an amazing $15 million: $9 million for a bridge related to his company's Atlantic Yards project, $2 million for a retail center in Mill Basin and $4 million to renovate a skating rink in Prospect Park.

As it happens, Bender's wife sits on the board of the Prospect Park Alliance.

Kruger laments that he has but $4 million to offer and asks, "What do you want done?" adding, "I guess the park. F--- the bridge."

But Bender prods Kruger for more. You're the Finance Committee chairman, he says. Can't you squeeze something additional out of Senate Democratic leader John Sampson?

Kruger replies that other community groups "would take $10,000 and kiss somebody's a--."

Crain's New York, Lobbyist Richard Lipsky's downfall

In the 1990s, lobbyist Richard Lipsky fought ferociously on behalf of small business owners against building a Pathmark supermarket in East Harlem, and, a decade later, against a Walmart store on Staten Island. But the underdog narrative that ran through his three-decade career became muddied more recently as signs emerged that Mr. Lipsky was following the money rather than his principles.

Forest City Ratner hired him in 2006 for its $5 billion Atlantic Yards megaproject in Brooklyn, and a related corporate entity snagged him to pave the way for an East Harlem shopping mall whose anchor is a Target superstore. Those moves were widely attributed to the developer's desire to prevent Mr. Lipsky from stirring up and advocating for the little guys, his traditional constituency.

He aligned himself with four rogue legislators who upended the Democrats' tenuous hold on the Senate in 2009. And he recently signed on with the Committee to Save New York, a big-business alliance backing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's fiscally conservative agenda.

“He was serving far too many masters,” said a Democratic operative. “You could purchase his position on an issue.”

...

It isn't clear when his relationship with Mr. Kruger developed, but observers suspect their ties solidified around 2006, when Mr. Lipsky signed on with Forest City Ratner. Its executive vice president for government affairs, Bruce Bender, has known Mr. Kruger for decades.

New York Post, Kruger's political favor

State Sen. Carl Kruger -- who is facing federal corruption charges in an alleged pay-to-play scheme -- used his political muscle to hold up a Bloomberg administration project in Brooklyn at least three years to benefit a favored developer also highlighted in the embattled pol’s criminal complaint, the Post has learned.

At issue is a 15-acre city project that includes a new retail center in Mill Basin, built by developer Forest City Ratner. The project, along Flatbush Avenue, is also supposed to hold a Cadillac car dealership. The site currently houses a Toys-R-Us store. Tim Wiencis/Splash News

Kruger (D-Brooklyn) sent former Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber a scathing letter in January 2008 threatening to sue the city because it wanted to begin the mandatory public review process on the dealership’s portion of the project, without FCR’s part.

...

“He cost the city three years it can’t get back on a project that already faces a lot of opposition,“ said one city official.

Kruger and Bruce Bender, a vice president for government relations at FCR, are longtime allies who both got their starts in Southern Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club.

According to the complaint, Bender in December asked Kruger for $11 million in state funds for two FCR projects in Brooklyn – the Mill Basin project and Atlantic Yards – and another $4 million to renovate a Prospect Park skating rink near Bender’s Park Slope home.

Talk of the Sound, Lobbyist for Forest City Ratner, New Rochelle's Echo Bay Developer, Indicted for Bribing Elected Officials in Brooklyn

Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist employed by Forest City Ratner, has been indicted on allegations of paying bribes to New York State Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn). Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Public Relations Bruce Bender is also identified in the complaint for his role in seek funds from Kruger last December for three projects -- $9 million for a bridge related to the Atlantic Yards project; $2 million for the Mill Basin retail development in Brooklyn; and $4 million for a skating rink in Prospect Park. Mr. Bender’s wife, Amy Bender, is on the board of the Prospect Park Alliance, the park’s fund-raising group.

Referred to in the charging document as "a significant real estate development firm ("Real Estate Developer #1")", Forest City employed Richard Lipsky up until Wednesday when the developer terminated the relationship.

Forest City Ratner is the developer behind the Echo Bay Development project in New Rochelle which recently received an extension of a Memorandum of Understanding. Mayor Noam Bramson aggressively pushed through the M.O.U. after a series of secret meetings with City officials and refusing to allow public comment on a revised development plan. Bramson has received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the Ratner family. Bramson also receives tens of thousands of dollars a year in payments from Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) who has, in turn, also received funds from the Ratner family. Bramson has been the most vocal proponent for the Forest City Ratner plan to develop Echo Bay.

Posted by steve at 10:08 PM

March 11, 2011

KRUGERPALOOZA!

The headlines are awash today with the indictments of State Senator (and big Atlantic Yards booster) Carl Kruger and his not-so-trusty sidekick (and paid Atlantic Yards lobbyist) Richard Lipsky, and of course, "Real Estate Developer #1."

The New York Times, Developer Among Cast of Characters in Kruger Case

A corruption case unsealed on Thursday included a large cast of characters beyond State Senator Carl Kruger, Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr. and six others who were charged.

Also highlighted in the criminal complaint was “a significant real estate development firm,” identified as “Real Estate Developer No. 1,” that was “spearheading an over $4 billion, multiyear, mixed-use commercial and residential development project in Brooklyn.” The description left little doubt that the firm was Forest City Ratner, the developer behind the Atlantic Yards project, a 22-acre residential and retail complex in Brooklyn that includes a new home for the Nets.

It was the second time in less than two years that the company played a role in a corruption case, though it was not charged either time.

The complaint accused Mr. Kruger, a Brooklyn Democrat, of taking at least $1 million in bribes in exchange for help on state matters, including bribes from Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for Forest City Ratner, and other clients.

The complaint said the company’s “vice president of governmental affairs and public relations” — Bruce R. Bender has that role at Forest City Ratner — had asked Mr. Kruger last December for state money for three projects: $9 million for the Carlton Avenue Bridge, which is to be replaced as part of the Atlantic Yards project; $2 million for a retail development in the Mill Basin neighborhood of Brooklyn; and $4 million for the renovation of the skating rink in Prospect Park, a public project.

Mr. Bender’s wife, Amy Bender, is on the board of the Prospect Park Alliance, the park’s fund-raising group.
...

[Forest City spokesman Joe] DePlasco said the company ended its relationship with Mr. Lipsky on Wednesday, when word of the case began to leak out, because of the “serious nature of the charges.” Forest City Ratner was the development partner of The New York Times Company on its Midtown headquarters.

Although the complaint contained no evidence that Mr. Bender believed Mr. Kruger was taking bribes, longtime opponents of Atlantic Yards were dismayed that no one from the company had been charged.

“I find it sad that politicians are expendable, but rich developers are not,” said Candace Carponter, the legal director of the group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.

Atlantic Yards Report, Two unanswered questions in the Kruger case: Does the ESDC still trust FCR? Why did FCR try to get the state to pay for its bridge obligation?

The New York Times, to its partial credit, follows up on the charges against Carl Kruger and Richard Lipsky with an article headlined, at least online, Developer Among Cast of Characters in Kruger Case.

There's not much there that wasn't in this blog yesterday, but the Times did get a quote in the developer's defense:

Forest City Ratner did not deny that Mr. Bender was the person to whom Mr. Kruger was speaking. “I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that the person in charge of government relations at Forest City Ratner speaks to government officials,” said Joe DePlasco, a spokesman. The complaint, he said, “does not suggest that Forest City Ratner behaved in any way that’s inappropriate.”

Mr. Bender lives in Brooklyn, Mr. DePlasco said, “and I assume he likes Prospect Park.”

DePlasco's partly right--there's no evidence that Forest City Ratner instructed Lipsky to pass on lobbying fees to Kruger.

Weaseling out of bridge obligation?

But Forest City, arguably, did behave inappropriately, though not criminally. The developer, as of last June, was supposed to pay $16 million of the $40 million cost of the Carlton Avenue Bridge reconstruction.

The taped conversation shows that Forest City was trying to get $9 million in state funds to reduce its obligation. If the developer is still scrounging, what does it say about its commitment to rebuilding the bridge?

NoLandGrab: We're pretty sure it says "f*ck the bridge!"

Curbed, BROOKLYN BACKSCRATCHING

The Times takes a more detailed look at the involvement of developer Forest City Ratner in the corruption charges against Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger. There are no smoking guns for Atlantic Yards opponents, nor has FCR been charged with any wrongdoing, but wow, it just makes you feel dirty reading it. Ratner's VP of governmental affairs, Bruce Bender, tried to get Kruger to steer millions in state funds to three Brooklyn projects, and then Kruger made him choose one. Bender picked the skating rink renovation at Prospect Park, where his wife is a major fundraiser.

NLG: Like Carl said, "f*ck the bridge!"

The New York Times, Federal Corruption Case Ensnares a Self-Styled Fighter for the Underdog

...according to federal prosecutors, Mr. Lipsky had come to rely heavily on one well-placed politician to do his bidding, State Senator Carl Kruger, Democrat of Brooklyn, and was secretly paying him for his services.

Prosecutors said over $100,000 in cash was found in a safe in his home, and some $4,000 in crisp bills was in his suit pocket.

NLG: Wonder if they've dusted those bills for fingerprints yet.

LoHud.com, High-profile state senator charged in state's latest political scandal

Forest City Ratner and its affiliates have paid Lipsky more than $320,000 since 2005 for help with its projects in Yonkers, Brooklyn, Har-lem and Queens. Included in that was $256,000 that covered lobbying Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone and City Council members regarding the $600 million Ridge Hill project. Forest City Ratner terminated its contract with Lipsky on Thursday, as did some other clients. Yonkers officials did not respond to messages for comment.
...

The indictment relates to none of those projects, although prosecutors contend that Lipsky's efforts on behalf of Forest City's massive Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn did receive help from Kruger.

NY Daily News, State Sen. Carl Kruger and Assemblyman William Boyland surrender to feds to face bribe rap

key player was co-defendant Michael Turano, son of Kruger's longtime friend, Dorothy Turano. Michael Turano controlled a shell company, Olympian Strategic Development, that served as Kruger's indirect ATM.

The FBI described Turano as Kruger's "intimate associate." Prosecutors say Kruger was so deeply involved with Turano's family, that by giving money to Turano, the bribers effectively paid off Kruger.

Olympian got $472,500 from developer Aaron Malinsky over several years to back his Brooklyn projects.

Recently, Malinsky tried to get a piece of mega-developer Bruce Ratner's project to build a retail complex called the Four Sparrows on city property in Mill Basin.

Ratner was torn between bringing in small department stores - the plan Malinsky wanted - or going with a "big box" superstore."

NLG: Yeah, we bet he was losing a lot of sleep over that one.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, "I Don't Mind F-king The Bridge."

Forest City Ratner has shown a knack for appearing in corruption cases, but never seems to get a proper screen credit. In the Ridge Hill corruption scandal they were billed as "Developer #2" and now, in the state Senator Carl Kruger indictment they appear as "Developer #1".
...

The FBI reported that when told by Kruger, during a wire-tapped conversation, that there would be funds for a Prospect Park project but no public money to steer toward replacing the Carlton Avenue bridge, Bender was not happy:

The Vice President said that ..."this" was "bad." Kruger said, "I guess the park, fuck the bridge." The Vice President said that "my dilemma is as you know, I don't mind fucking the bridge, I can't fuck it right now, I've got to leverage that bridge, what's my value?"

It's hard to imagine that even a screenwriter could come up with an exchange that better encapsulates Forest City Ratner: a company whose only regard for the public is how much of our money can be siphoned off.

Atlantic Yards Report, If anyone else is snared in the federal investigation, who could it be? Maybe another legislator who's expressed excess Atlantic Yards enthusiasm

A reader asked if anyone, besides state Senator Carl Kruger, might be caught up in the federal investigation that snared Kruger and lobbyist Richard Lipsky.

We don't know--and there's no evidence that any other legislator is under investigation.

But who else, the reader asked, resembles Kruger in performance--a Brooklyn legislator who represents a district far from the Atlantic Yards site, but has vocally and dramatically backed the project?

That would be state Senator Marty Golden, who led a rally for the developer (below) at the 7/29/09 public hearing on Atlantic Yards and entered late, rudely interrupting the proceedings, at a 5/29/09 oversight hearing held by state Senator Bill Perkins.

The Village Voice has reported on Golden's questionable ethics, directing much business to a catering hall he used to own, and family members still run.

Is there any evidence Golden took money from lobbyist Richard Lipsky, or anyone else, to help Forest City Ratner? No.

But, just as Kruger's enthusiasm for Atlantic Yards should now be seen in new light, Golden's outsize enthusiasm deserves some reconsideration.

Park Slope Patch, Ratner Exec Tied to Pol Arrested for Corruption

A top Atlantic Yards executive pressed a Brooklyn state senator for millions of dollars to fund the controversial development, as well as a new ice-skating for Prospect Park, court documents reveal.

The charges filed against state Sen. Carl Kruger by federal prosecutors on Thursday do not explicitly name Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, but they do describe conversations with officials from a “real estate developer which is spearheading an over $4 billion, multi-year, mixed-use commercial and residential development project in Brooklyn.”
...

Like the entire Atlantic Yards development, the reopening of the Carlton Avenue bridge — which links Prospect Heights and Fort Greene — has been beset with delays.

Originally the bridge was slated to close from roughly early 2008 to early 2011. Now, as the watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report noted, the bridge is set to reopen in the summer of 2012.

NLG: Wonder what Vegas is giving on the Summer 2012 bridge reopening? 60-1? 70-1? We'll bet the over/under is October 2015.

Posted by eric at 11:24 AM

Best Wiretap Dialogue from a Federal Corruption Indictment Ever

[Warning: this exchange is rated NC-17 for inappropriate language]

From page 22 of the 53-page federal corruption indictment of New York State Senator Carl Kruger, lobbyist Richard Lipsky et al...

Kruger asked "what do you want done?"

The Vice President [Forest City Ratner's Bruce Bender] said that he did not know and that "this" was "bad."

Kruger said, "I guess the park, fuck the bridge."

The Vice President said that "my dilemma is as you know, I don't mind fucking the bridge, I can't fuck it right now."

And that, friends, is how business gets done in Brooklyn, USA.

Posted by eric at 12:26 AM

March 10, 2011

Yes, Kruger corruption charges involve Atlantic Yards; unnamed "Developer #1" is FCR; Bender: "I don't mind fucking the Carlton Avenue Bridge"

Atlantic Yards Report

I had questioned whether the corruption charges regarding Carl Kruger's involvement with a "Brooklyn developer" meant Atlantic Yards, but apparently they do.

From the Daily News:

The complaint also points out Kruger's involvement in supporting mega-developer Bruce Ratner's planned $4 billion stadium project in downtown Brooklyn.

Kruger took elaborate steps to hide the payments, having checks funneled through a company called Adex Management Inc., then through a shell company, Olympian Strategic Development.

Olympian was controlled by Michael Turano, a son of Kruger's longtime friend and local community board director, Dorothy Turano. Michael Turano was also charged Thursday.

Kruger is accused of receiving at least $1 million in bribes, sharing lobbying fees paid to Richard Lipsky, another defendant, and then taking the official acts in favor of which Lipsky had been paid to lobby.

If Forest City Ratner, which is not named, is not a target, this might be a repeat of Ridge Hill, in which the developer benefits from apparent corruption but is not penalized.

Can the Empire State Development Corporation repeat its statement, in response to my queries about Ridge Hill, that they "remain confident in Forest City as a developer and as a good corporate citizen"?

From the complaint

The complaint (page 7) notes defendant Richard Lipksy's clients "include, among others, a significant real estate development firm ("Real Estate Developer #1") which is spearheading an over $4 billion, multi-year, mixed-use commercial and residential development project in Brooklyn, New York, as well as various unions and associations...."

On p. 14, it states that Kruger has taken a number of official actions to benefit Lipsky's clients, including "Developer #1."

More coming...

Click through to the complaint, and begin reading at the bottom of page 21 to find out why the reconstruction of the Carlton Avenue bridge is taking so long. Warning: rated NC-17 for adult language.

link

Posted by eric at 12:47 PM

$leaze rap for top pol

Corruption case

NY Post
by Mitchel Maddux, Josh Margolin and Dan Mangan

Speaking of mom 'n' pop businesses, MomandPopNYC blogger, retail consultant and Atlantic Yards lobbyist Richard Lipsky has been swept up in a corruption investigation that netted Brooklyn State Senator — and big Atlantic Yards booster — Carl Kruger.

State Sen. Carl Kruger, a powerful Brooklyn Democrat, will surrender to federal authorities today to face corruption charges, along with an Upper West Side lobbyist linked to him, sources told The Post.

Kruger has been under investigation since 2007 by Brooklyn federal prosecutors for allegations he performed official acts in exchange for campaign donations.

But that ongoing probe is not related to charges Kruger, the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Finance Committee, will face today in Manhattan federal court, sources said.

Those charges relate to lobbying involving hospitals in the city, NBC said.

In addition, longtime Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. of the 55th District in Brooklyn is facing corruption charges today, the station reported.

Also surrendering is lobbyist Richard Lipsky -- well-known for helping small businesses oppose plans that would benefit larger business, including big-box retailers such as Walmart, The Post has learned.

He recently has been advising developers of Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project.

article

Related coverage...

The Brooklyn Paper, Report: Kruger will surrender to feds in corruption case

State Sen. Carl Kruger is expected to surrender to federal authorities and be charged with trading his political clout for personal gain today — just one week after his attorney claimed the FBI was no longer investigating the Brooklyn legislator.
...

Federal prosecutors haven’t disclosed the criminal charges that Kruger is facing, nor have they named any of his would-be co-conspirators, although the Times claims that Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. (D–Brownsville) and Richard Lipsky, a longtime small business lobbyist and blogger whose client list includes Forest City Ratner Companies, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, will be charged alongside the senator.

Kruger isn’t talking either — he hung up on this reporter on Wednesday evening.

The New York Times, 2 State Legislators Surrender in Corruption Case

State Senator Karl Kruger, Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr. and an influential lobbyist were among eight people who surrendered on Thursday to face charges in a federal corruption case accusing the lawmakers of taking bribes over the course of a decade in schemes large and small, from pushing hospital mergers to extending business hours for liquor stores.

In addition to the lawmakers and the lobbyist, Richard Lipsky, those charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday morning included a real estate developer, two hospital executives, a hospital consultant and a Brooklyn doctor.

Photo: NY Post

Posted by eric at 11:18 AM

March 9, 2011

State Senator Kruger, lobbyist Lipsky said to surrender on corruption charges; details coming Thursday

Atlantic Yards Report

With the expected indictments of Brooklyn State Sen. Carl Kruger and lobbyist Richard Lipsky on corruption charges--not related to Atlantic Yards, at least so far (but see below)--the ranks of Atlantic Yards supporters/enablers with a taint keep growing.

Quick: former Assemblyman Roger Green had to resign (and run again) after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor; Darryl Greene, Forest City Ratner's consultant on minority hiring, had to withdraw from the Aqueduct "racino" project because of his record of mail fraud; Carpenters Union official Sal Zarzana was cited by a court-appointed monitor for inappropriate expenditures; Carpenters Union official John Holt was cited for obstructing an investigation and giving false answers to an investigator.
...

Note of course that charges are not convictions, so the "taint" described above could be removed should Kruger and Lipsky emerge vindicated.

Last summer, news broke about an investigation into Kruger,--an aggressively unabashed supporter of Atlantic Yards, and recipient of Forest City Ratner-related campaign contributions.

Lipsky, who's worked for developer Forest City Ratner and against eminent domain for projects such as the Columbia University expansion and Willets Point, had not been mentioned as part of the Kruger investigation.

Click thru for more, and links to more coverage — some of it titillating.

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Posted by eric at 11:50 PM

Brooklyn Senator to Turn Himself In

The New York Times

State Senator Carl Kruger, a powerful and at times controversial Brooklyn Democrat, is expected to turn himself in on Thursday to federal authorities in Manhattan on corruption charges, according to several people briefed on the matter. An influential lobbyist, Richard Lipsky, is expected to surrender alongside Mr. Kruger.

Mr. Kruger had been under investigation by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn who were looking into accusations that he had helped businessmen surmount bureaucratic hurdles in exchange for assistance raising campaign money, but the charges stemmed from an investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors and the F.B.I.

Others were also expected to be charged in the case, according to one person briefed on the matter, who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the charges had not been made public.
...

Details of the Manhattan case against Mr. Kruger and Mr. Lipsky were not available on Wednesday night. The United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, and officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were expected to hold a news conference on Thursday to announce the charges.

Mr. Kruger’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment on Wednesday. Mr. Lipsky’s lawyer, Gerald B. Lefcourt, also declined to comment.

article

NoLandGrab: People who've followed the Atlantic Yards fight over the years are familiar with Mr. Kruger and Mr. Lipsky, both fervent supporters of the project.

Posted by eric at 11:16 PM

If Cuomo's seeking to expand fight against financial fraud, maybe he should look at Forest City Ratner's EB-5 effort

Atlantic Yards Report

A front-age New York Times article February 16 headlined online Cuomo’s Deep Reach Into Regulatory Territory Could Provoke Clash in Albany and, in print, "Cuomo Seeking to Expand Grip to Fight Fraud," stated:

Buried in the governor’s new budget are provisions that would grant the executive branch sweeping new powers to investigate Wall Street banks, hedge funds and insurance companies, alarming some industry officials and raising the prospect of a major clash with his successor as attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and local prosecutors over high-profile securities and investment cases.

The provisions accompany Mr. Cuomo’s proposed merger of the state’s Insurance and Banking Departments, along with the Consumer Protection Board, into a new Department of Financial Regulation. Mr. Cuomo has argued that those changes are necessary to create a more efficient and modern regulatory framework for businesses and better protection for consumers.

But the budget language would also empower the new agency to issue subpoenas, compel testimony and seek damages and penalties from anyone committing “financial fraud,” a term defined broadly to encompass investments, securities and derivatives marketed and sold by Wall Street investment houses, as well as financial services, life insurance and more.

Wouldn't it be worth looking into the potential "financial fraud" involved in Forest City Ratner's quest for $249 million from immigrant investors under the federal government's EB-5 immigration program?

After all, potential investors are clearly being misled, and the spirit--if not the letter--of the federal program is being violated.

And the Empire State Development Corporation, Cuomo's economic development agency, is helping.

link

Posted by eric at 12:15 PM

March 5, 2011

Times slams Louisiana governor for dubious charity run by wife, ignores Markowitz's use of his own charity to draw corporate donations

Atlantic Yards Report

A front-page New York Times article March 3, headlined Wife’s Charity Offers Corporate Tie to a Governor, begins:

Louisiana’s biggest corporate players, many with long agendas before the state government, are restricted in making campaign contributions to Gov. Bobby Jindal. But they can give whatever they like to the foundation set up by his wife months after he took office.

Transpose the issue to Brooklyn, and change set up by his wife to he himself set up, and the Times might have reason to examine the work of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Missing the point

However, in a 7/16/10 article about Markowitz's concert series, headlined Bringing Fun to Brooklyn and appearing on the front page of the Weekend section, a Times music reporter barely touched on the issue:

Artists are paid for their appearances; each series has a budget of around $1.3 million, three-quarters of which comes from corporate sponsorships. But performing for a big, appreciative crowd deep in Brooklyn can be its own reward, said John Legend, who played the King series two years ago and will return to Seaside on Aug. 5.

As I wrote, that skates over that fact that corporate and foundation contributions, such as from Forest City Ratner and its foundation, mean Markowitz might be indebted to big developers like Forest City Ratner.

Those donations continue, as I pointed out this past January, with $50,000 to each of the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series and the Seaside Summer Concert Series.

Also, as the New York Post has pointed out, Markowitz's separate charity, Best of Brooklyn, has a record of issuing no-bid contracts.

link

Posted by steve at 6:31 PM

March 4, 2011

Is Brooklyn thriving and an economic engine? Markowitz cheerleads, but the evidence of unemployment is sobering

Atlantic Yards Report

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz gets on his soapbox for an essay that's part of the March/April issue of City Limits, Defining Brooklyn.

The headline is Beep Says Brooklyn Is NYC's Economic Engine: "In spite of saying 'goodbye' to our treasures of yesterday, Brooklyn is thriving," writes Borough President Marty Markowitz.

(The essay is mostly adapted--self-plagiarized?--from his State of the Borough Address last month. More importantly, not that Markowitz is embarrassing himself by lying about Atlantic Yards in an attempt to help Forest City Ratner recruit Chinese investors, how much credibility does he have left?)

The evidence for his optimism?

In spite of saying "goodbye" to our treasures of yesterday–Brooklyn is thriving. The reason is simple: Brooklyn has embraced modernization without forgetting its past and become an economic engine for New York City.

Don't believe me? The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And in this case the pudding is employment data. From June 2009 to June 2010 none of New York's boroughs were even close to Brooklyn. Brooklyn increased employment by 3.6 percent. Not only is that nearly double the next highest number in New York City, it's good enough for 2nd best of all large counties … IN THE COUNTRY. And Crain's New York Business proclaimed Brooklyn to be "at the forefront of the city's economic recovery" thanks to the 14,000 jobs Brooklyn added in 2010.

Do the math

The problem? A 3.6 percent increase in employment is a mere dent in an 11 percent unemployment rate. In other words, you don't subtract 3.6 from 11. (To reduce 11 percent to 7.4 percent would require a near 40 percent drop.)

But don't worry, Marty's prioritizing Borough Hall's spending to address our most pressing needs.

Is spending $1 million of his capital budget on a business incubator a significant allotment? After all, more than one third of his capital budget for 2009, some $24.6 million, was directed to the $64 million amphitheater planned for Asser Levy Park in Coney Island, home of his concert series.

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Posted by eric at 10:21 AM

March 2, 2011

Brooklyn Loves Atlantic Yards, Adorable Old Man Tells China

Curbed
by Joey Arak

Atlantic Yards critic/blogger Norman Oder has finally captured his white whale: The video message recorded by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz to pitch Chinese investors on that green-cards-for-cash Atlantic Yards scheme. The one in which Markowitz says Brooklyn is 1000% behind the controversial megaproject. It's even better than promised. Like the boss says, there's nothin' betta than China and Brooklyn tuhgedda! Anyone else feel like they need a shower after watching this?

link

Posted by eric at 10:43 PM

How Hakeem Jeffries Became the Barack of Brooklyn

NY Observer
by David Freedlander

The parishioners and many far beyond central Brooklyn have been expecting bigger and better things from Hakeem Jeffries since before he was even a candidate for the Assembly. His funky first name, his appeal to both black churchgoers and earnest reform types and his academic pedigree-graduate degree from Georgetown University, law degree from N.Y.U.-have earned him the label "Brooklyn's Barack."
...

Mr. Jeffries has been a shrewd political operator-his detractors see him as overly calculating-since he finally won the Assembly seat, in 2006. He is a favorite of Brooklyn political boss Vito Lopez, but he is also close to a group of reformers who want to oust Mr. Lopez. He has come down in the middle of the heated fight over Atlantic Yards. His district includes some of the most rapidly gentrifying parts of Brooklyn, including Fort Green, Prospect Heights and Clinton Hill, but he has made a name for himself racking up legislative victories on issues that may matter more to the desperately poor precincts that surround those neighborhoods, including the outlawing of the NYPD's stop-and-frisk database.

If he takes on Mr. Towns in '12, he could have a clear shot at the longtime congressman. If he waits, he could see a Congressional district redrawn to better suit his political base, but he could face the prospect of running in a crowded primary that would feature not only Ms. James, but also Councilman Charles Barron.

article

NoLandGrab: And neither Tish James, nor Charles Barron, for that matter, have "come down in the middle" regarding Atlantic Yards — both have firmly opposed it.

Posted by eric at 12:10 PM

February 22, 2011

Jeffries, Barron, James seen as leading candidates for Congressional seat now held by Towns

Atlantic Yards Report

City Hall News reports on the expected departure of Rep. Ed Towns and his son Darryl Towns' recent appointment to a post in Albany, in Next Towns Over: The next expected Brooklyn Congressional vacancy:

Now, the field for the coveted north Brooklyn seat has likely narrowed to four frontrunners: Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, Council Member Charles Barron, Council Member Tish James and, depending on whether he runs for re-election, Ed Towns himself.

There are reasons to believe Towns may not. He not only lost his chairmanship but also was very publicly bounced as the ranking member of his committee by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over fears that Towns would not aggressively combat investigations launched by the new chair, California Rep. Darrell Issa.

Still, a Towns spokesman said last week that the Congressman would run again.
...

Tish for Public Advocate?

The newspaper reports:

Council Member Tish James is also seen as a potential candidate, though she and Jeffries both share the same Fort Greene base. James was noncommittal about her plans.

...According to two people who have spoken to James about her plans, James is strongly leaning towards running for public advocate if Bill de Blasio runs for mayor.

article

Posted by eric at 11:19 PM

February 12, 2011

Cuomo Appoints Towns (the Younger One)

The Wonkster
By Gail Robinson

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has named Brooklyn Assemblymember Darryl Towns commissioner and CEO of the state’s Homes and Community Renewal, which includes the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the state mortgage agency and other housing agencies.

Towns, who has served in the legislature since 1992, is the son of U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns and has often been mentioned as a possible successor to him.

...

Towns currently chairs the Assembly’s Committee on Banks and the Black, Puerto Rican/Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. During his time in the legislature, Towns, whose district includes parts of Cypress Hills, Bushwick and East New York, helped win passage of the ANCHOR Program. He has backed the Atlantic Yards project and recently penned an op-ed for the Post, essentially supporting the idea of a Walmart in East New York. He was a sponsor of a bill that would have end the city police’s shoot to kill policy, instead requiring them to wound suspects if forced to fire.

link

More coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, Cuomo's appointment of Assemblyman Towns may be good news for colleague Jeffries, with a clearer path to the House of Representatives

The ascension of Brooklyn Assemblyman Darryl Towns as commissioner and CEO of New York State's umbrella housing agency is good news for his colleague, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, according to City Hall News, in its 2/11/10, Winners and Losers:

Hakeem Jeffries – Darryl Towns is going to have all sorts of projects in his portfolio as he leaves the Assembly for his new job, but it’s his father’s seat in the House of Representatives that might be affected first and most visibly by his appointment as Andrew Cuomo’s housing commissioner. Now the eventual race to replace Rep. Ed Towns, whose retirement has been expected for years, will almost certainly have one less candidate. That’s good news for Hakeem Jeffries—the Brooklyn Assemblyman who most people have assumed was headed to DC from even before he first arrived in Albany—precisely because it’s bad news for Charles Barron, who will likely need another split primary vote if he wants to squeak through the open primary, whenever it finally comes.

Another potential candidate is the perennial Kevin Powell.

Posted by steve at 5:01 PM

February 10, 2011

Brooklyn's Brennan named Chair of Assembly Corporations Committee; will he press ESDC on Atlantic Yards?

Atlantic Yards Report

A press release from the office of Brooklyn Assemblyman Jim Brennan:

BRENNAN ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT AS CHAIR OF CORPORATIONS, AUTHORITIES AND COMMISSIONS

Assemblymember Jim Brennan (D-Brooklyn) announced that Speaker Silver has appointed him Chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.

Mr. Brennan has served as a member of the committee for 26 years, and served as counsel to his predecessor, who chaired the Subcommittee on Public Power, a subcommittee of the Corporations Committee, for three years prior to his election. Mr. Brennan previously chaired two subcommittees of this 26-member committee – the Subcommittee on Business Corporation Law and the Telecommunications Task Force.

“I want to express my thanks to Speaker Silver for appointing me Chair of this committee,” said Mr. Brennan. “I look forward to the challenges ahead on the issues confronting the committee, including mass transit funding, utilities, and the accountability and governance of our public authorities and corporate entities.”

That's a powerful position, one Brennan's predecessor Richard Brodsky used to pursue reform of laws governing public authorities and to take a tough look at the New York Yankees' new stadium.

Avoiding AY in the Assembly

It's also one that Brodsky chose not to use to look at Atlantic Yards, which just happens to be favored by Speaker Sheldon Silver. So I wouldn't bet on Brennan holding an Atlantic Yards hearing (but am willing to be surprised).

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Posted by eric at 9:09 PM

Cuomo Appoints Towns (the Younger One)

Gotham Gazette
by Gail Robinson

Governor status-Cuomo has gotten a bit sidetracked from his "reform" agenda, apparently.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has named Brooklyn Assemblymember Darryl Towns commissioner and CEO of the state’s Homes and Community Renewal, which includes the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the state mortgage agency and other housing agencies.

Towns, who has served in the legislature since 1992, is the son of U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns and has often been mentioned as a possible successor to him.

In the release from the governor’s office both Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, and Duncan MacKenzie, chief of the New York State Association of Realtors, praised the appointment, as did the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, a trade group. The statement did not include comments from any tenant groups.

We don't know about you, but three cheers from the real estate industry always screams "reform" to us.

He has backed the Atlantic Yards project and recently penned an op-ed for the Post, essentially supporting the idea of a Walmart in East New York.

link

NoLandGrab: No need for Forest City to run up to Albany — Mr. Towns has already cashed Bruce's checks.

Posted by eric at 8:46 PM

February 9, 2011

Looking for local coverage of Markowitz's fine

Atlantic Yards Report

On Monday, the dailies reported that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was fined by the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board for using Chief of Staff Carlo Scissura as his lawyer for a home-buying transaction in 2009.

The Brooklyn Paper hasn't reported that news yet, though yesterday it offered a tough story about Markowitz's objectification of women in public comments--a point I raised in my coverage last week of the State of the Borough address--and today covers the news/photo op involving the visit of Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas to Borough Hall.

link

Posted by eric at 10:57 AM

February 8, 2011

Second meeting of Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet slated for Thursday at Borough Hall; updates on first tower, web site coming?

Atlantic Yards Report

The second meeting of the Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet will be held Thursday, February 10, at Brooklyn Borough Hall, from 9:30-11 am, allowing various agencies and entities involved with Atlantic Yards to update each other, and to hear from developer Forest City Ratner.

As with the first meeting, held in November, neither the Borough President's office nor any other sponsoring entity has publicized the event, though a staffer in the office of Council Member Letitia James confirmed the time and location in response to my query.

In contrast with such reticence, last September, Empire State Development Corporation Project Manager Arana Hankin said at a public meeting, "The structure and schedule of these meetings will be announced shortly, and we look forward to your participation."

Questions beforehand

The event is open to the public for observation, but questions must be submitted beforehand to local community boards, James's office, or the Borough President's Office.

Expect an update on construction progress, with an increased number of workers at the site.

New web site delayed

At the November meeting, Forest City Ratner Executive VP MaryAnne Gilmartin said the developer was "working on creating an information web page. This will provide the public with regular updates on the project, including issues around construction and traffic. Our goal is to have this up by the end of the year."

That didn't happen.

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NoLandGrab: God knows, in the year of our Lord, two-aught-eleven, it takes a loooong time to create a web page.

Posted by eric at 10:39 AM

Marty’s ‘pole’ numbers are dropping

The Brooklyn Paper

The pole dancing climax to Borough President Markowitz’s State of the Borough address didn’t go over so well — and some critics are saying that Markowitz’s objectification of women can no longer be ignored.

“I just didn’t think it was necessary,” said Chinita Pointer, who was honored at the Feb. 4 speech for running the non-profit music program, the Noel Pointer Foundation.
...

Markowitz couldn’t resist showing off photos of him with glittery celebrities Beyonce, Brooklyn Decker and Christy Turlington, who were included in the speech for eye candy.

“Tall women have a thing for short, chubby guys,” cracked Markowitz.

The joke was anything but isolated to this one speech.

Markowitz also made some frat house-groaners about Beyonce at the Atlantic Yards ground-breaking ceremony in March, which was attended by her hubby, the rapper Jay-Z.

article

NoLandGrab: It's time for him to go.

Posted by eric at 10:09 AM

February 7, 2011

Markowitz fined for using staff lawyer to close home purchase, had denied doing so until confronted with documents; BP's travel record gets a look

Atlantic Yards Report

Tsk, tsk, Marty.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, according to the Times's CityRoom post, Brooklyn Borough Chief Fined for Conflict of Interest, has been fined $2,000 by the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board for using Chief of Staff Carlo Scissura as his lawyer for a home-buying transaction in 2009. Scissura was fined $1100.

Scissura, in response to Markowitz's request, had recommended Leslie Lombard, who worked at his law firm. But Lombard was on maternity leave and Scissura replaced her. Markowitz didn't get a bill until the COIB began investigating.

The Daily News, in Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz slapped with $2K fine for using work lawyer for home deal, adds to the story it broke, pointing to some duplicity:

Markowitz initially denied that Scissura had represented him - then claimed, when presented with contradicting documents, that the law applies only to lawyers working for the city as attorneys, not as chiefs of staffs.

Beyond conflicts, travel

The Wall Street Journal, in its report, links to a 7/21/10 report, Officials Disclose Freebies, Debt, that stars the BP:

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz accepted more free travel than any other elected official in New York City last year, journeying with his wife to Turkey and the Netherlands, records released Tuesday showed.

Mr. Markowitz, and his wife, Jamie, visited the Netherlands March 18-21, 2009, and they spent Nov. 13-17 in Turkey. Each trip cost between $5,000 and $39,999, and in both cases the couple allowed others to pay their way, records show.

link

NoLandGrab: WE DON'T BELIEVE A WORD coming out of Marty's pie hole.

Posted by eric at 11:39 PM

STATE OF THE BOROUGH: MARTY MARKOWITZ HAS ISSUES

F**ked in Park Slope

I'm starting to think it's time for our unmedicated esteemed borough president Marty Markowitz to retire to Century Village or Naples, FL where he can ride his tricycle in peace.

Don't we have term limits around here? His schtick is getting old.
...

He talked about a few controversial projects without actually mentioning that they're pissing a lot of people off: Atlantic Yards and the expansion of the Gateway Mall (yeah, the Walmart one), to name a couple.

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Posted by eric at 10:37 AM

February 5, 2011

“You should let the marketplace decide,” Bloomberg asserts, regarding Wal-Mart; sound familiar?

Atlantic Yards Report

From yesterday's New York Times, headlined Wal-Mart Skips Council Hearing as Impact of Stores Is Assailed:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has said that New York should be open to any legal business that wants to come here, was asked by a reporter on Thursday about the hearing and if it was in the city’s best interest to let Wal-Mart set up shop.

“You should let the marketplace decide,” he said. “Anybody who has tried to manage the marketplace, it has not turned out very well. I think the Soviet Union is as good an example as you’d ever need of that.”

Bloomberg has similarly suggested that the market for sports teams is a free market, which, of course, it's not. It's a cartel, with limited supply.

And that leads localities to offer subsidies and other support to encourage them, such as an inside track on valuable public property like development rights to a railyard.

That's why Bloomberg’s identification with the developer, nearly 18 months before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s belated RFP for its Vanderbilt Yard, was clear in this verbal slip: "Then, we’ve got to find a find a ways--Bruce Ratner’s got to find a ways--to build this complex in Brooklyn."

link

Posted by steve at 2:50 PM

Markowitz Puts on a State of the Borough Spectacle

Carroll Gardens Patch
By Patrick Wall

Vesti la giubba, Marty.

But though the long speech was full of gimmicks and gags, the borough president didn’t avoid controversial topics, touching upon bicycle lanes, the Atlantic Yards project and the decision this week to close more than two dozen city schools.

...

As expected, the borough president also lauded the Atlantic Yards development, which he said would be an economic boon to Brooklyn.

“After seven years of planning and legal fights,” Markowitz said, “construction on the first phase of the Atlantic Yards project finally got underway, which means thousands of union jobs and an anchor for a rejuvenated downtown.”

The multi-billion dollar Atlantic Yards project, which will include commercial space, thousands of apartments and a basketball arena, has inspired passionate debate – and a few lawsuits – since it was first introduced in 2003.

link

Related coverage...

The Brooklyn Eagle, Marty’s Speech: It Wasn’t Just Bikes
By Raanan Geberer

He largely avoided controversy. Indeed, he mentioned several news developments — such as the Atlantic Yards project, the conversion of the old Domino sugar factory and the planned redevelopment of the Tobacco Warehouse by Arts at St. Ann’s — without saying that they were contentious issues. The one area in which he came out swinging (and, unfortunately, the only area that some news outlets and blogs chose to report) was the issue of bike lanes, specifically the expanded one on Prospect Park West. His entrance atop the “senior bike” on a synthetic-turf “bike lane” was meant to call attention to the subject in a humorous way.

Posted by steve at 2:11 PM

February 4, 2011

Markowitz uses new Strategic Policy Statement for tendentious, erroneous defense of his Atlantic Yards advocacy

Atlantic Yards Report

Does anyone know how to start the impeachment process?

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's new 2011 STRATEGIC POLICY STATEMENT [PDF] contains, among other things, a vigorous, tendentious, and erroneous defense of his Atlantic Yards advocacy, suggesting that the project would make use of an "abandoned rail-yard" and knit together neighborhoods rather than divide them.

It deserves several footnotes.

It starts:

I’m sometimes called a cheerleader or even a pitch-man for Brooklyn. One idea that I pitched on behalf of our borough was a long-held dream of mine that I’m thrilled is now definitely coming to fruition—my promise to bring major league sports back to Brooklyn. As a boyhood fan whose heart was broken when the Brooklyn Dodgers left for "La-La Land" in 1958, I wanted to bring that excitement back to the kids and families of Brooklyn. Nothing brings people together like music, food, religion and sports. I approached Forest City Ratner and expressed my desire for a NBA team in Brooklyn. Now all of Brooklyn awaits the arrival of the Brooklyn Nets! The plans evolved for an arena, retail and residential housing, including, at my insistence, 2,500 affordable units, located on the City’s third-largest transit hub, making modern use of an abandoned rail-yard and knitting together previously divided neighborhoods. The Atlantic Yards project will form a new cultural center befitting the nation’s fourth largest "city" of 2.6 million.

Though surely some Brooklynites await a new team, the tepid response from an invited audience at Markowitz's annual pronouncements during his State of the Borough address undermines his hyperbole about how "all of Brooklyn" awaits the Nets.

The railyard was and remains a working railyard to store and service trains; that's why Forest City Ratner had to build a temporary railyard and is supposed to build a permanent replacement.

There would be 2250, not 2500 subsidized apartments, but a good quantity--perhaps half--wouldn't be that affordable to the "real Brooklyn," as defined by the Daily News suggested.

Nor would superblocks knit neighborhoods; rather, insertion of new streets, as in the proposed UNITY Plan, might do so.

And "plans evolved" from a promise for 10,000 office jobs in four towers around the arena. Now just one of the towers is slated for offices, and indefinitely delayed.

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Posted by eric at 9:51 AM

At State of the Borough, Markowitz makes theater out of bike lane flap, touts "jobs, jobs, jobs," gets tepid response to Atlantic Yards salute

Atlantic Yards Report

It was an invitation-only audience, and the response to the Atlantic Yards arena was mostly tepid (as I'll describe below), which suggests that, when Markowitz makes the area more of a focal point, either in 2012 or 2013, he'll make sure to import a pro-arena contingent.
...

Markowitz said, "I also want to wish everyone a joyous Chinese New Year—'gung hay fat choy!' —happy Year of the Rabbit!" Of course, he made no mention of his shilling for Forest City Ratner's effort to recruit Chinese investors seeking green cards.

And while he kept talking about "jobs, jobs, jobs," he strained to connect that priority--“job one,” he asserted, for elected officials--to his favorite project.

His Atlantic Yards segment was brief:

Seriously, though, 2010 was the year that one of the grandest visions for Brooklyn finally became a reality. After seven years of planning and seven years of legal battles, construction on the first phase of the Atlantic Yards project finally got underway, which means, in the future, thousands of union jobs and an anchor for a rejuvenated Downtown.

That line drew no reaction, typical of past addresses. He didn't mention that jobs fall far short of expectations.

He continued:

Beginning in the fall of 2012, the Barclays Center will not only be the home of the Brooklyn Nets, who will mop up the floor with the Manhattan Knicks, it will also host the kind of events you used to have to leave Brooklyn to enjoy. But it’s not just about the arena; the affordable housing built nearby will help make sure that Brooklyn remains proud home to everyone from everywhere.

The reference to beating "the Manhattan Knicks" drew a brief burst of applause, less than for many other people and places mentioned. The other lines drew silence.

No one from Forest City Ratner or the Nets were present to take credit.

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Posted by eric at 9:38 AM

January 28, 2011

At State of the District, Jeffries talks education, jobs, housing, public safety--but not AY (later, he says he's waiting for an ESDC chair)

Atlantic Yards Report

At his fourth annual State of the District address last night, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries had some tangible and less tangible achievements to report to a supportive crowd, concerned with education, employment, housing, and public safety. And a few jabs at Mayor Mike Bloomberg certainly were well-received.

Ever more polished--part lawyer, politician, preacher--Jeffries drew a reasonable crowd on a snowy night, with local District Leaders (Walter Mosley, Olanike Alabi, Lincoln Restler) in attendance, along with Community Board 8 Chair Nizjoni Granville, CB 2 Chair John Dew, and Joe Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

Atlantic Yards, as with last year’s address, was not mentioned, a sign, perhaps, of Jeffries’ recognition that neither prominent criticism nor active support of such a divisive, complicated, and delayed project would play well with his base.

Or perhaps, Jeffries recognizes that he has relatively little clout at this point. I did interview him afterward (video below), and he said he hasn’t yet talked with Gov. Andrew Cuomo about Atlantic Yards because, understandably, a new Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) leader is not yet in place. (Update: Ken Adams was named today.)

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Related coverage...

Bed-Stuy Patch, Hakeem Looks Back at 2010

...he extolled his initiative meant to convert vacant luxury apartments into affordable housing, though he admitted progress was slowgoing.

“Since this law was passed several units of affordable housing have been created, but much work remains to be done,” Jeffries said. "We need more cooperation from financial institutions...some of them got more hustle than the fellas on 125th Street."

The Assemblyman only hinted at what was on his agenda this year, saying that the key to solving crime and poverty was jobs. Notably, he did not point to the Atlantic Yards project — often touted as a job creator — as a solution to the economic woes affecting neighborhoods in the vicinity of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues.

Posted by eric at 11:13 AM

January 26, 2011

Markowitz quiz: "The [???] will distort and manipulate anything they have to, to justify their action"

Atlantic Yards Report

Both Streetsblog and Aaron Naparstek point to a stunning interview of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz by Marcia Kramer of CBS, opposing the Prospect Park West bike lane.

"I don't believe a word coming out of that department, not a word," Markowitz says of the Department of Transportation. "The Department of Transportation will use any way to justify their action, distort and manipulate anything they have to, to justify their action."

While Markowitz thinks bike advocacy groups juiced the statistics by showing up the day of a survey, the DOT had a plausible explanation for the counter-statistics offered by Markowitz's favorite civic group: they counted only at the end of the line.

The Borough President wants an independent group to study usage of the bike lane, one not beholden to the DOT or the community.

The AY contrast

As several commenters pointed out, this sequence contrasts mightily with Markowitz's unyielding support of Atlantic Yards.

Consider, by contrast, Markowitz's lost opportunity to question the obviously distorted statistics on the Brooklyn housing market, contained in a KPMG report to the Empire State Development Corporation.

Or consider Markowitz's blatant lies in service to Forest City Ratner's effort to raise cheap capital from Chinese millionaires seeking green cards.

link

NoLandGrab: If you answered "Forest City Ratner" or "ESDC" or "Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes," give yourself full credit.

Posted by eric at 11:46 AM

Required Reading for Brooklynites of a Political Persuasion: What’s Happening to Our Borough?

About.com Brooklyn, NY Blog
by Ellen Freudenheim

In case you missed them, two important pieces were published in the past few days about Brooklyn. Not about restaurants and places to spend money, but about Brooklyn's fundamental direction--and the power of big developers to literally shape the landscape of a borough that so many call home.

"We're Essentially Powerless"

Sunday's New York Times published a powerful piece calling out Brooklyn's lack of political muscle. Brooklyn civic activist Norman Oder (who, as author of the Atlantic Yards Report blog, certainly has had a birdseye view of power politics in Brooklyn) says, "We lack meaningful local government, as well as broad-based media and civic organizations." His conclusion? Putting it mildly, "Brooklyn's powerful developers, institutions and politicians often evade scrutiny."

link

Posted by eric at 11:13 AM

January 24, 2011

The Vanishing City: film focuses on the fruits of a corporate-friendly mentality and the "luxury city"; AY gets a cameo

Atlantic Yards Report

Trying to understand the arc of the city that led to such projects as Atlantic Yards, I've been writing recently about the loss of manufacturing. That's part of a larger story, told intriguingly--if incompletely--in the 55-minute 2010 documentary, The Vanishing City, by Fiore DiRosa and Jen Senko.

The overview:

Told through the eyes of tenants, city planners, business owners, scholars, and politicians, The Vanishing City exposes the real politic behind the alarming disappearance of New York’s beloved neighborhoods, the truth about its finance-dominated economy, and the myth of “inevitable change.” Artfully documented through interviews, hearings, demonstrations, and archival footage, the film takes a sober look at the city’s “luxury” policies and high-end development, the power role of the elite, and accusations of corruption surrounding land use and rezoning. The film also links New York trends to other global cities where multinational corporations continue to victimize the middle and working classes.

Opening with the voices of neighborhood residents who fear they are being pushed out, the film pivots on the insights of anthropologist and urban historian Julian Brash, author of Bloomberg’s New York: Class and Governance in the Luxury City and subject of this 10/22/08 Q&A on Jeremiah's Vanishing New York blog.

The "luxury city" quote, as noted at the bottom, reflects Mayor Mike Bloomberg's framing of the city as a luxury product for corporations to choose as a location--a philosophy, as the film points out, that's belied by the tax breaks targeted for big employers.

But the film, not inappropriately, points to an emphasis on building luxury housing, with the attendant shift in the character of neighborhoods, as small businesses close.

The question, echoed in the 2007 and 2008 discussions of Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, is whether that was simply the market at work. As the film reminds us, it wasn't.

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Posted by eric at 9:04 AM

January 21, 2011

Complaint Box | Powerless in Brooklyn

City Room
by Norman Oder

The man who launched Atlantic Yards Report as TimesRatnerReport is becoming a semi-regular fixture in the paper. This essay will also appear in Sunday's Times.

Of the boroughs outside Manhattan, Brooklyn gets the most buzz — as a tourist attraction, a “hipster brand” and an incubator of art and artisanal products. That has provoked a backlash from longtime Brooklynites and others wary of smugness from the borough’s Brownstone Belt.

However entertaining these debates, Brooklynites — and, I dare say, all of us in the non-Manhattan boroughs — share one common problem: we’re essentially powerless. We lack meaningful local government, as well as broad-based media and civic organizations.

Marty Markowitz, the borough’s president and its relentless cheerleader, says that Brooklyn has nearly everything a city needs and that fulfillment will arrive when a professional sports team, the Nets, finally moves to an arena here in 2012 or 2013.

If only that were true.
...

Thus, Brooklyn’s powerful developers, institutions and politicians often evade scrutiny. While local blogs and community weeklies do their part, the latter have been diminished. After Rupert Murdoch bought the independent weekly Courier-Life chain in 2006, its rival, The Brooklyn Paper, trumpeted its independence, only to suffer the same fate — a Murdoch takeover — three years later. The papers have since moved into the same building, cut the staff and published many of the same articles. In my blog, AtlanticYardsReport.com, I’ve observed how The Brooklyn Paper has muted once-tough coverage and editorial criticism of Mr. Markowitz’s beloved arena project, Atlantic Yards, which is being developed by the newspapers’ landlord, Forest City Ratner.
...

The upshot? While Brooklyn may make a neat T-shirt slogan and be shorthand for culinary innovation, such a focus on consumption and authenticity gives a pass to the powers that be.

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Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, New York Times Complaint Box essay: Powerless in Brooklyn (without meaningful local government and broad-based media, civic organizations)

I have a Complaint Box essay in the Metropolitan section of Sunday's New York Times, now online at CityRoom, headlined Powerless in Brooklyn.
...

It's a bit of a departure for Complaint Box, which tends toward examinations of the nuances of such things as subway etiquette or tipping, but, given the limited space for op-eds in the paper--after all, the former City section is gone--any space is welcome. (Fun fact: they don't pay for this type of reader contribution.)

And yes, in only about 500 words, my essay is less nuanced than a longer version, so let's see how the comments play out.

Comments and responses

I will update this post with some comments and responses to them.

Posted by eric at 11:01 AM

January 19, 2011

Why the NYPD Bicycle Crackdown Is a Sign of How New York Sucks in 2011

myFDL

Something is rotten in the state of New York. The putrescent miasma, leaching out slowly from the windows in towering pre-war apartments, from out of the sidewalk vents where one can hear from below the failing heartbeat of the subway system, slowly being bled to death. The stench is everywhere… thick, suffocating, lethal. Some are immune, born with the resistance through inheritance, countless others traded away their soul for it. Everyone else just has to suffer.
...

Bloomberg’s administration has, through a variety of policies, criminalized any kind of independence of thought. The rezoning of certain areas in a number of examples, the far west side/Hudson Yards, or the Atlantic Yards catastrophe that awaits the people of downtown Brooklyn. One of the most egregious, the 125th St. rezoning plan where the city has changed the code to allow for residential construction as high as 30 stories tall, increasing the residential capacity of the corridor by as much as 750%. Developers are awarded height bonuses for ‘inclusive housing’, lottery winners from the immediate neighborhood, or in other words the lucky few who won’t have to be a part of the mass exodus of the poor Harlem denizens to the Bronx and points further afield. Retailers that can afford these newly zoned spaces are ones that can afford the high new rent: Old Navy, American Apparel (although them maybe not much longer), Nike, M.A.C., The Body Shop, Starbucks, and the list goes on. Local retailers need not apply.

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Posted by eric at 9:49 AM

January 11, 2011

Comptroller DiNapoli issues report on public-private partnerships: needed are full and fair value, realistic agreements

Atlantic Yards Report

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has released a new report, Controlling Risk Without Gimmicks: New York’s Infrastructure Crisis and Public-Private Partnerships [PDF], an effort to evaluate both the opportunities and risks with turning infrastructure over to partnership with the private sector.

The report notes that the state faces an estimated $250 billion in infrastructure needs over the next 20 years, notably transportation ($175 billion), municipal wastewater ($36 billion) and clean water ($39 billion). (Here's coverage from City Hall News.)

The Atlantic Yards example is not mentioned, but is at least partly on point: the main issue was the marketing of public land without a fair process, and secondary issues involved the packaging and valuation of public infrastructure such as a new railyard and transit entrance.

Essential principles

So DiNapoli's conclusions are worth noting:

There are four essential principles that New York must adopt in order to mitigate the financial risks inherent in public-private partnerships:

Full and Fair Value: Identify and use the best practices for the valuation of public assets to ensure that the public receives the full, fair value for the use of its property.

Reasonable Pricing: Keep private sector profits within reason to ensure that P3 agreements do not burden the public with unwarranted expenses, excessive fees, or high toll increases.

Realistic Agreements: Carefully draft P3 agreements to ensure that they do not include unrealistic expectations or inaccurate financial calculations.

Responsible Budgeting: Avoid budget gimmickry by adopting financing rules that prevent a disproportionate shift of current capital costs onto future taxpayers. This must be based on a comprehensive reform of the State’s debt and capital financing practices.

What about AY?

Given the history of Atlantic Yards, I'd argue that public assets were not fairly valued, nor have costs and benefits been accurately assessed.

Meanwhile, developer Forest City Ratner's efforts to renegotiate the Vanderbilt Yard deal with the MTA suggests that private sector profits--bolstered by a mayor and governor firmly on board with the Atlantic Yards project-- held sway over public value.

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Posted by eric at 11:23 AM

January 10, 2011

On Brian Lehrer Live, Markowitz asks, "Is it a matter of public policy to make New York City like Beijing of 1940?"

Atlantic Yards Report

It's such a slow day for Atlantic Yards news that Norman Oder could only provide us with a little comic diversion.

Last week, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz appeared on CUNY-TV's Brian Lehrer Live, and while he didn't quite discuss one of the questions posed by Lehrer in the segment intro--how can to strike a better balance between big development and the human scale--his performance was telling, both in his over-the-top rhetoric and his Atlantic Yards blind spot.

Click the link for more, if you can stand it.

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Posted by eric at 10:23 AM

January 6, 2011

The Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club: lasting connections to a Brooklyn power base have meant Atlantic Yards support

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder takes a look at the history of the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club, a veritable factory for the minting of sleazy politicians, slimy political operatives and Atlantic Yards enthusiasts.

Within the amazingly (and disturbingly) detailed 1988 book, City for Sale: Ed Koch and the Betrayal of New York, by Jack Newfield (R.I.P.) and Wayne Barrett, just let go by the Village Voice, is a highly unflattering portrayal of Meade Esposito, for 15 years the chair of the county Democratic Party until his resignation in 1984 (and his later conviction in an influence-peddling scandal).

Esposito's homebase was the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in Canarsie, described in the book as "patronage-rich."

The AY connection

What's the Atlantic Yards connection? Well, the club remains one of the city's most powerful, and longstanding ties among those spawned by the club mean support for Atlantic Yards.

Specifically, Forest City Ratner Executive VP Bruce Bender, a former chief of staff to City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, comes out of the club, as Matthew Schuerman of the Observer pointed out 5/31/06.

And that's partly why politicians from southern Brooklyn, like Carl Kruger (under investigation, and a beneficiary of Ratner campaign cash), Marty Golden, Lew Fidler, Mike Nelson, and Alan Maisel, have been staunch supporters of Atlantic Yards, even though it's hardly a priority for their constituents.

And that's partly why the New York Times reported, 12/18/06, that it was unlikely that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, as a member of the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), would block Atlantic Yards:

“I’ve articulated my concerns to the speaker in writing, and beyond that, I think it would be counterproductive at this time to discuss the matter publicly,” said Mr. Jeffries, who said he was “confident” that Mr. Silver would take into account the views of the Brooklyn delegation.

That includes, however, a cluster of state lawmakers from south Brooklyn, who are almost unequivocal in their support of the project as it now stands. Forest City Ratner’s chief lobbyist, Bruce Bender, is close to those members; like many of them, he began his career in the area’s leading political organization, the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club.

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NoLandGrab: Thomas Jefferson would surely be thrilled that his name has been appropriated by these paragons of democratic principles.

Posted by eric at 10:23 AM

January 4, 2011

The Bloomberg Era, Part Two

Nathan Kensinger Photography

Forced Change
December 31, 2010 - At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, this multi-part photo essay examines how New York City's built environment has changed over the past 10 years, and what the future of New York's skyline might be. Part one of this essay can be seen here.

On January 1st 2010, Michael Bloomberg was sworn into office for a nearly unprecedented third term as the Mayor of New York City. Bloomberg, the 23rd richest person in the world, is only the fourth mayor in the city's history to serve a third term in office, and accomplished that goal by running "the most expensive self-financed political campaign in U.S. history," according to the Huffington Post. During his tenure, Mayor Bloomberg has "amassed so much power and respect that he seems more a Medici than a mayor," according to The New Yorker. He has used his power and wealth to enact an agenda of post-9/11 development that has radically changed the city's landscape. As described in part one of this photo essay, "not since Robert Moses has a single individual presided over such a large-scale transformation of New York City's built environment."

Like Robert Moses, the legendary Power Broker, Mayor Bloomberg currently exerts a stranglehold of power over New York City. In 2009, New York Magazine bluntly declared "Mike Bloomberg owns this town," and "in the past seven years Michael Bloomberg has become the only powerful figure in New York who really matters.... The mayor is not a dictator... but Bloomberg gets what he wants more than any mayor in modern memory." Also like Robert Moses, who was called New York's Master Builder, much of Mayor Bloomberg's work has focused on constructing a new version of the city. In 2009, Bloomberg drew comparisons between his accomplishments and Robert Moses', telling The New Yorker that "we’ve done more in the last seven years than—I don’t know if it’s fair to say more than Moses did, but I hope history will show the things we did made a lot more sense." Unfortunately, the parallels between Bloomberg and Moses also include the use of controversial methods to force development projects through, often at the expense of New York's unique fabric of small neighborhoods.

One of the most controversial tools Mayor Bloomberg has utilized in his quest to transform New York City is eminent domain, a practice whereby the state seizes private property to clear the way for an impending development meant for civic and public improvement. This was a favorite tool of Robert Moses, "who rammed highways through dense urban neighborhoods with a 'meat-ax' and became the un stoppable engine of 'slum clearance'," according to Metropolis Magazine. Moses' methods were often vilified, but he created the infrastructure for present day New York City, building highways, bridges, tunnels, parks and institutional landmarks like the Lincoln Center and the United Nations that have been freely used by countless millions of people. Michael Bloomberg, on the other hand, has approved the use of eminent domain for private development projects that include luxury residences and retail shops, college campus facilities and a sports arena. When completed, none of these developments will be open to the general public. They include several neighborhoods documented on this website: Willets Point (aka The Iron Triangle), Manhattanville and the Atlantic Yards.

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Posted by eric at 1:28 PM

December 28, 2010

Brodsky, in final report, warns of importance of further public authorities reform, "failure to receive value for investments," doesn't mention AY

Atlantic Yards Report

AYR remains the only source of Atlantic Yards news that has dug out from under the snow.

Departing Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, the crusader for public authority reform who focused on the new Yankee Stadium rather than the Atlantic Yards project, has left with a valedictory report warning of the need for further reform, including this common-sense statement, "In an era when government is instructed to behave more like business, the failure to receive value for its investments is a crisis that can no longer be ignored."

Unmentioned in the six-page report (embedded below) is Atlantic Yards, nor the state's failure to receive any value for giving away arena naming rights.

Indeed, "the massive transfer of public property into private hands... not... accompanied by commensurate public benefits" hints at Yankee Stadium ("publicly funded sports facilities by IDA's") and the Columbia University expansion ("university construction using eminent domain powers") but not the equally controversial Atlantic Yards.

But Brodsky, who ran unsuccessfully for Attorney General, does get the politics:

To be sure, the rhetoric of job creation and economic development is powerfully expressed by elected officials, authority leaders and private sector beneficiaries of these transfers. But in the end the State has failed to protect its assets and interests.

And the issues he cites in the report, including added staff and increased power for oversight (the need for which I've previously reported), remain basic. Brodsky told City Hall News the future if very much up in the air:

Ultimately, ensuring that PARA is enforced is up to everyone in state government, he said, not just one legislative chamber or one governor.

“Everyone, the speaker, the new chair, the members, the governor, the comptroller. This is real and big and it has enemies,” Brodsky said. “Everyone is on the hook.”

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Posted by eric at 9:57 AM

December 11, 2010

Patricia Lynch, former Silver aide and lobbyist for FCR, among others, gets fined, but will that clean up Albany? Doubtful.

Atlantic Yards Report

One of Forest City Ratner's (and many others') lobbyists got her hand slapped this week, but it's hardly clear it will make a difference.

From an editorial yesterday in the New York Times, Lobbying for Gold in Albany:

Patricia Lynch, one of the most influential lobbyists in New York State, has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine and will be prohibited from doing any business with the state pension fund for five years. When one considers the sleazy way she maneuvered to get lucrative pension investments for her clients, that is only a slap on the wrist.

Ms. Lynch, who was once the top aide to Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, did acknowledge that she tried to “curry favor” with Alan Hevesi, the former comptroller, and his office. (Mr. Hevesi was one of eight people who pleaded guilty in a pay-to-play scheme.) As part of her agreement with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, she was not required to admit any wrongdoing.

We fear it is going to take a lot stronger medicine to change Albany’s relentlessly corrupt culture.

Albany’s lobbyists have far too much power to craft legislation or, more often, kill it. State lobbying codes are scandalously unfair to regular people who don’t have the $10,000 a month that is the going rate to hire Ms. Lynch and her well-connected colleagues.

(Emphasis added)

Among the non-regular people who do have the scratch to hire Lynch are Walt Disney, General Motors, Vornado Realty Trust, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and (ta da) Forest City Ratner, as shown in the state's Project Sunlight and the city lobbying database.

Read the rest of this blog post to see why skepticism is needed if anyone thinks that incoming governor Cuomo will act to diminish the influence of lobbyists.

link

Posted by steve at 9:33 AM

December 10, 2010

Jeffries says ESDC "has fallen down on the job" regarding AY oversight; will new governance bill help?; Governor-elect Cuomo wants an AY meeting

Atlantic Yards Report

At the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council's forum Wednesday on Atlantic Yards traffic, it was impossible for Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries to untangle potential solutions from governance issues.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries said his goal was that “if this project comes to fruition we will minimize the detrimental impacts it will have on quality of life.”

He reflected on the “interesting time” in state politics since he took office in January 2007, with turmoil in the governor's office, state Senate, and other Albany entitities.

From December 2006 through January 2011, Jeffries said, “We will have been through four governors in five years, and the consequence of that, I believe, given that this initiative was conceived at least as a public-private partnership with public involvement and oversight at the state level from the Empire State Development Corporation [ESDC], is that there's been chaos and uncertainty and a lack of direction and focus from the state agency that is charged with oversight and accountability and responsibility.”

“And that's been very detrimental,” he said. “Because in essence, what has occurred is that we've had a public-private project without any real public input.”
...

Later, Council Member Letitia James reported that, at a recent meeting, Cuomo “whispered in my ear that we need to have a conversation about Atlantic Yards.” Several people in the audience clapped.

“I said, thank you Governor-elect, but said Governor Paterson said the same thing and let me down," James said. "I hope you don't let me down.”

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NoLandGrab: We expect that conversation to go something like this:

Tish James: [Steam coming from ears.]

Posted by eric at 11:17 AM

The editorial that hasn't (yet) appeared: "Shame on you, Marty Markowitz, promoting Atlantic Yards in China as if there's no opposition"

Atlantic Yards Report

Markowitz in October backed out of a plan to take a privately-funded trip to China to support Forest City Ratner's effort to get a no-interest loan from Chinese millionaires interested in trading purportedly job-creating investments for green cards.

Still, he did his best to support the project--which could save the developer at least $191 million while delivering questionable public benefits--from afar.

Markowitz appeared several times in a video aimed to convince potential investors that this distant, hard-to-grasp project was a valid one, likely to bring green cards and ensure the return of their capital.

"All I can say, Brooklyn is 1000 percent, 1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards, and we invite Chinese investors to join with us, because there's nothing better than China and Brooklyn together," the Borough President declared.

His statement is laughable. First, there's no way Brooklyn is "1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards," and Markowitz knows that. The borough is divided, and many people are indifferent.

Moreover, clownish lines like "there's nothing better than China and Brooklyn together" simply distract potential investors from looking closely.

His statement is also grimly disturbing. Markowitz was elected to fulfill a public trust, not to boost the borough's most powerful developer.

Markowitz has every right to support Atlantic Yards and to devote some of his office's resources to that end.

He doesn't have the right to lie, here or overseas, regarding Atlantic Yards.

And he should have the sense to recognize that Forest City Ratner's plan to raise money from immigrant investors tests the spirit if not the letter of federal immigration law.

Shame on you, Marty.

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Posted by eric at 11:02 AM

December 3, 2010

The "Brooklyn buy-in" for the Aqueduct "racino" involves the Darman Group and the state minority contractors' group (and Forest City, tangentially)

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder looks at the sleazy shenanigans behind the Aqueduct "racino" bidding.

As I wrote November 29, Forest City Ratner continues to rely significantly on The Darman Group, a firm run by Darryl Greene, which was unfit to participate in a bid for the Aqueduct "racino" because of Greene's criminal record.

Indeed, in the past two years, Greene's firm has expanded beyond its Queens office, as indicated in the screenshot below, to Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

The Brooklyn office is at 182 Duffield Street, a row house adjacent to the MetroTech development, which is owned by Forest City Ratner's First New York Management division.

(Photos by Jonathan Barkey)

The IG's Aqueduct report

Greene and his firm came in for some tough treatment in the state Inspector General's 10/21/10 report that criticized the Governor’s Office and state Legislative leaders for failing to fulfill their public duty in the January 2010 selection of Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) to operate Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. (Full report here.)

According to the IG, AEG should have been disregarded at the start, and that the chaotic process resulting in AEG’s multi-billion dollar award was a “political free-for-all” marked by unfair advantages and more than $100,000 in campaign donations.

The report has been forwarded to United States Attorney Preet Bharara and New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., for appropriate action and referring Senators John Sampson and Malcolm Smith (Greene's former partner) and Senate Secretary Angelo Aponte to the Legislative Ethics Commission.

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NoLandGrab: Surely Governor-elect Status Cuomo is going to clean up this mess, though, right?

Posted by eric at 10:20 AM

Senate Democrats spend big bucks on consultants, including Melvin Lowe and BerlinRosen, both with Forest City Ratner ties

Atlantic Yards Report

A City Hall News article yesterday, headlined Helping Build Senate Democrats’ Debt, $6 Million In Outside Consultants And Vendors, explains that state Senate Democrats spent more than $6 million between consultants and outside vendors.

And two of those recipients have ties to Forest City Ratner and the Community Benefits Agreement.

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NoLandGrab: Surely Governor-elect Status Cuomo is going to clean up this mess, though, right?

Posted by eric at 10:16 AM

November 27, 2010

Flashback: How scout Khalid Green got hired by the Nets; his father's Ratner connection made the difference for a successful high school coach

Atlantic Yards Report

I missed this when it was announced, but veteran Bishop Loughlin basketball coach Khalid Green, son of longtime Assemblyman Roger Green, a leading local political backer of Atlantic Yards when it was announced in 2003, got a job two years ago as a scout for the Nets.

And his father helped connect him to the job.

All evidence suggest Khalid Green, as a successful high school coach, was qualified, but, as with so much about Atlantic Yards, it sure helps to know the right people to nudge ahead on the line.

(Remember how former Forest City Ratner point man Jim Stuckey said in 2005 that he didn't know whether railyard contract McKissack & McKissack was chosen by a bidding process?)

As No Land Grab's Lumi Rolley pointed out two years ago, "A 'casual introduction' to Bruce Ratner is one of those tangible 'community benefits' of the Atlantic Yards project."

link

Posted by steve at 8:19 AM

November 26, 2010

Coming soon? Still waiting for Best of Brooklyn web site

Atlantic Yards Report

The web site for Marty Markowitz's not-so-transparent Best of Brooklyn charity (logo at right) is apparently "coming soon," I wrote in February 2009.

Still.

link

NoLandGrab: 1,131 days and counting.

Posted by eric at 11:54 AM

November 25, 2010

In the latest issue of Marty's promotional Brooklyn!! "newspaper," some Nets cheerleading but no mention of "In the Footprint"

Atlantic Yards Report

Maybe the best way to analyze Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's promotional "newspaper" Brooklyn!! (latest issue embedded below) is to consider it a giant block association newsletter, with Markowitz as the president of the confederation of block associations.

A year ago, I pointed out (as in the past) that Brooklyn!! avoided any mention of Atlantic Yards. That's not so this issue.

Brooklyn Beat

Nudging up against mention of the Homecrest Senior Health Fair, the Borough President’s Latino Heritage celebration, and the participation of Randazzo’s Clam Bar at the Grand Central Oyster Bar's “Oyster Frenzy" in a page labeled headlined Brooklyn Beat, we learn:

Net’s [sic] new coach Avery “Little General” Johnson (center, back row) met with students of MS 51 in Park Slope to talk about positive choices and let kids know that they can “get to the next level.” He also encouraged his future fan base in Brooklyn to get ready to cheer for future NBA champions, the Brooklyn Nets!

The September visit prompted a dubious photo and caption in the New York Times. (How to "get to the next level"? The story of the Nets and Atlantic Yards offers numerous avenues surely not explored by the coach.)

Notably, Markowitz eschews the opportunity to recommend to fellow Brooklynites that they might learn something by going to see The Civilians' somewhat less rah-rah performance of IN THE FOOTPRINT: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards. Instead, he takes the safe route and recommends The Nutcracker.

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NoLandGrab: Around here, we're thankful for Norman Oder — and that January 1, 2014 is only 1,132 days away.

Posted by eric at 9:50 AM

November 21, 2010

Columnist Lee Siegel on Mayor Mike Bloomberg: "Tammany Hall with a Carnegie Hall face"

Atlantic Yards Repot

Without mentioning Atlantic Yards, New York Observer columnist Lee Siegel, in a pungent column headlined Boss Pinstripes: Bloomberg Isn’t a Democrat, or a Republican, or an Independent. He’s 18 Billion Dollars., summarizes how Mayor Mike Bloomberg does his job:

The surprise that greeted Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement of the exceptionally unqualified Cathie Black, the former chairman of Hearst Magazines, as the city's new schools chancellor was par for the course. The very fact of Mr. Bloomberg as mayor is an ongoing surprise. His political ascension in New York is as unnatural an event as a typhoon in Ohio.

In a capital of the world that has always prided itself on a rich public life, Mr. Bloomberg is devoted to managing government like a private enterprise. To go from the hot banter of Lindsay's, or Koch's, or even Giuliani's news conferences to Mr. Bloomberg's petulantly ignoring a question by saying, "I have a city to run"—yes, well, that's what we want to talk to you about, if you have a minute—is to go from being a rambunctiously engaged citizen of New York to feeling like the frustrated client of a remote service provider. In a place that demands colorful candor from its mayors, he is secretive and peremptory, hiring Ms. Black without any kind of public discussion...

And in the city of the Draft riots, and the Columbia student protests, and Stonewall, and bohemian dissent, and bristling intellectuality, and Baldwin, and Mailer, and Steinem, and Hamill, and Kramer (Larry), and William F. Buckley, for heaven's sake—in this primordially independent and troublemaking place, Mayor Mike buys himself the right to run for an unprecedented third term, and then carpet-spends his way to an easy win.

Chutzpah? Try contempt. The chutzpah would be to defy him. But he gets his third term with no more than a hushed protest from his once-ferocious city-state. Under Mr. Bloomberg, the city that never has to sleep has become the city that doesn't make a peep.

Worth mentioning: a likely reason why mayoral rival Bill Thompson never took the gloves off: the mayor poured money into pet project of the Comptroller's wife.

The influence on media

Siegel writes:

Mr. Bloomberg's gravitational force affects everyone who might be in the business of consequentially criticizing him. (For example: Go after him, and you can forget about opining on the Bloomberg L.P.-funded Charlie Rose Show.) His enveloping wealth produces all the effects of corruption without, itself (as far as we know), being corrupt.

Well, the New York Times has produced some reasonably tough coverage of Bloomberg's appointment of Black. And the Daily News has reported civic concern.

But the editorial pages report to the publishers and, as with Atlantic Yards and term limits, they seem to be getting in line. Today the Daily News opines, Mayor Bloomberg must get Cathie Black as schools chancellor if mayoral control means anything.

The Daily News front page that reported the Black pick summed up the response with the word, "HUH?" over the question, "No education experience, kids went to private school - she's perfect to run our struggling schools! Right?"

Bloomberg is convinced she is. His opinion demands respect, given his track record in identifying talent and the fact that mayoral control of the schools means mayoral control of the schools.

The power of the (lack of) paycheck

Seigel writes about machine politics upended:

Machine politics derives its staying power from putting the "little people" on the payroll. Mr. Bloomberg doesn't need to do that. He puts business-executive friends like Robert Lieber, Daniel Doctoroff and Patricia Harris—many of whom shuttle back and forth between his media business and his mayoral administration—in charge of the payroll and centralizes the system so seamlessly that top-down management performs the ordering function of a political machine. The whole thing stinks of undemocracy. When Mr. Bloomberg's rich appointees boast that they are taking only one dollar as an annual salary, they want to demonstrate a public servant's self-sacrifice. But what they are really doing is displaying an investor's indifference to the relationship between money and work. They are redefining responsibility in government. If the public doesn't pay their salary, then they are not accountable to the public. The result is Tammany Hall with a Carnegie Hall face. Mr. Bloomberg is not Boss Tweed. He is Boss Pinstripes.

Such a business arrangement recalls somewhat the role of Susan Rahm, a volunteer helping the Empire State Development Corporation manage the Atlantic Yards project at the request of then-Governor Eliot Spitzer. To whom was she accountable?

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Posted by steve at 11:21 AM

November 18, 2010

Brooklyn's New Politicos

Lincoln Restler crashed the gates of the Democratic political machine, now what’s next for the bespectacled wunderkind?

New York Press
by Dan Rivoli

A stalwart of the fight against Atlantic Yards — and a prolific photographer/videographer — makes an appearance in an article about Brooklyn's youthful Democratic Party reform movement.

Raul Rothblatt, who owns a worldmusic management company, got involved in city politics because of Atlantic Yards, a development only a short walk from his Prospect Heights apartment. He found the club to be an access point for politically motivated people, especially the growing number of new arrivals.

According to Rothblatt, “It’s not easy to find out about local stuff.” Rothblatt is also the first vice president of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, so he has experience in political clubs, but the reform clubs in the borough were started during the Vietnam War. Try as they might, attracting newer and younger members is difficult. “In a lot of existing clubs, often, the members are older,” Rothblatt says.

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Posted by eric at 10:57 AM

November 17, 2010

Client 9 (Spitzer): Divided by 3, No 2 Ways About It

Noticing New York

Michael D.D. White reviews the new Eliot Spitzer documentary Client 9, with a heaping side dish of Atlantic Yards.

Darren Dopp, who resigned as Spitzer’s director of communications over his own role in the Troopergate scandal, suggests that a primary reason Spitzer’s outing lead to ouster was that the “reservoir of good will was empty” drained by Spitzer’s “combative style.” That is probably largely true, especially if the phrase “combative style” incorporates Spitzer’s near vendetta-based crossing of ethical lines in pursuing his adversaries together with his hypocritical holier-than-thou superiority. Still, Spitzer might have had access to a deeper “reservoir of good will” if he had also not been hypocritical about the basic principles for which he was elected. Noticing New York would have been much more reluctant to see him hurried out of office had he been doing and saying the right things with respect to Atlantic Yards. He wasn’t and David Paterson, the Lieutenant Governor, was standing promisingly in the wings with a history of opposing eminent domain abuse. (David Paterson is obviously another politician whose hypocrisy helped usher him quickly out of office.)

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Posted by eric at 11:44 AM

November 11, 2010

Voice warns Cuomo to steer clear of lobbyists, says closest firm to governor-elect is DKC (which works for Ratner)

Atlantic Yards Report

Wayne Barrett's cover story in this week's Village Voice, headlined PECKING ORDER: Andrew Cuomo Goes to Albany, Where Lobbyists Are Waiting, offers a blunt warning to Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo to change the way he does business in Albany.

I wouldn't bet on it, but Barrett lays down the line:

If he doesn't take dramatic executive order action in his early days as governor to blunt the sway of lobbyists, they will chip away at his credibility, and voters will come to believe over time that all that has changed are the names of the ins and the outs. He can finance his next campaign without them. He can't restore public faith in state government with them.

Dan Klores firm has direct pipeline

Guess what: the firm with the most direct pipeline to the new governor is DKC, the firm that Forest City Ratner hired to massage its message. (This goes unmentioned in the Voice, which hasn't covered Atlantic Yards very closely.)

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NoLandGrab: We're preparing ourselves for the Status Cuomo.

Posted by eric at 10:29 AM

November 10, 2010

Big Real Estate's Super: Steve Spinola Has Run REBNY But How Will He Get on With Another Cuomo?

NY Observer
by Zeke Turner

You might not believe this, but in New York City, real estate and politics are the same thing!

Developer Bruce Ratner came to Steven Spinola for help in 1985. Mr. Ratner needed to get tenants for his planned MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, and Mr. Spinola was Ed Koch's economic development chief. Part of his job was to keep tenants in New York, and Morgan Stanley was thinking about moving its back offices to New Jersey.

"They were trying to convince Morgan Stanley to go to MetroTech," said Mr. Spinola last Friday, sitting at the lunch counter at Junior's near Times Square, his left hand surrounding a Diet Coke with lemon as he recalled his rise to prominence. "They asked me to go to a meeting with Morgan Stanley to discuss and to tell them that the city was ready to encourage them to do whatever."

Mr. Spinola was wearing a dark brown, three-button suit with a black-and-gold Real Estate Board of New York lapel pin. For the past 24 years, REBNY has been the seat of Mr. Spinola's power. He's the longest-serving president in the century-plus history of the city's largest trade group and arguably the most powerful real estate lobbyist in the state. He faces his sharpest challenge in years in dealing with an incoming governor, Andrew Cuomo, who has an electoral mandate and also a need to work with a real estate industry whose interests do not always jibe with his party's political machinery.

After Mr. Spinola's meeting with Morgan Stanley, the prospects for a deal looked dim. "We went down in the elevator. I turned to Bruce Ratner and I said, 'There's no way you get them to MetroTech.' I said, 'But I have a site on Pierrepont Street that's currently a garage. And one of my guys came to me two months earlier and said, "The city's about to give a new lease for this garage. We oughta have a cancellation clause in case we ever need it."'"
...

"So I called up City Hall, I asked for it, they gave it to me. So I said to Ratner, 'Can you spend the weekend coming up with a design for a building on that site? I'll sole-source it to you if we can get Morgan Stanley to be the principal tenant.' And we made that deal."

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Posted by eric at 8:48 AM

November 8, 2010

Cuomo's Urban Agenda: vague regarding housing and transportation, but rhetoric about community development promises local consultation

Atlantic Yards Report

New York Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo has an Urban Agenda (details in PDF), which sounds good in places, but is also vague and cautious. He was been criticized for issuing it too late and not grappling with big challenges like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Interestingly enough, when it comes to affordable housing, Cuomo says nothing about mega-projects and suggests, with perhaps more hope than anything else, that the federal government could play a much bigger role.

While the little press coverage focused on the politics of the agenda (e.g., outreach to the black community), the MTA, and housing, the document contains some impressive boilerplate in the direction of good planning.

Should such rhetoric be followed and Community Development Blueprints be created, projects like Atlantic Yards would be much more difficult to achieve, given the rhetorical importance given to community consultation.

But that's not necessarily how development gets done, especially when developers like Bruce Ratner have given campaign contributions and have the governor's ear.

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Posted by eric at 10:55 AM

November 5, 2010

Andrew Cuomo: How will he do with his shot at 'day one?'

Syracuse.com
by Sean Kirst

The more things change...

It struck me the other night, as I watched Andrew Cuomo make his acceptance speech, just how surreal the events of the last 48 months have been. It was only four years ago that we elected Eliot Spitzer, and I think most New Yorkers assumed we'd have him for governor for at least eight years - at which point he'd look toward Washington D.C. In any event, I went back and found the column I wrote when Spitzer was elected; an awful lot of it still goes for the attorney general who's becoming governor, this time around:

SPITZER IS VICTOR, BUT WHOM DID WE ELECT?

For Eliot Spitzer, this is Day One.

That's the theme he's used throughout his long campaign for governor. Today, at least symbolically, that time has come. George Pataki will have a month or two to clean out his office, but Spitzer becomes the one calling the shots.
...

Spitzer has supported the $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, yet he remains so keenly aware of community concerns in his native New York City that he wisely called last summer for additional time to review the project. Compare that with what Spitzer did at almost the same time in Syracuse: One of his campaign aides, behind the scenes, lobbied Councilor Bill Ryan, a Democrat, for a quick "yes" vote on the equally complicated billion-dollar final deal for the Carousel Center expansion, Ryan said.

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NoLandGrab: Fear not, Syracusians. You can rest assured that Eliot Spitzer didn't spend a second more contemplating Atlantic Yards than he did your Carousel Center project. It was all an act.

And don't hold your breath for anything different under Andrew Cuomo. We sure aren't. His pockets have already been lined with Bruce Ratner's money.

Posted by eric at 11:19 AM

November 2, 2010

Matt Damon: Working Families Party Mouthpiece

Big Government

Even Andrew Breitbart's web sites can be right twice a day.

It looks like Matt Damon’s been overdosing on Kool-Aid again. He’s apparently doing the bidding now for the ACORN spawn, Working Families Party.
...

Former Working Families Party co-chair and NY state co-chair Bertha Lewis was also once the CEO and Chief Organizer of the mighty ACORN, before it disbanded from its national brand name to a multitude of local and statewide affiliates under different names (thanks to those infamous prostitution tapes).

Ms. Lewis departed from the WFP organization in February this year, in the wake of the federal investigation of its for-profit company, Data and Field Services over claims it was using their company to skirt around the city’s stringent campaign finance laws. In the end, the feds decided not to file any charges against WFP; however, the investigation resulted in the organization’s restructuring to create firewalls between the for-profit company from the rest of WFP.

Let’s also not forget the sordid story behind real estate mogul Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner. The infamous Atlantic Yards project in NY is a multi-year long story of buyoffs, intimidation and corruption, not to mention the audacity of a massive land grab. Bertha Lewis and the WFP, initially opposed to the land grab because of their concerns about the “gentrification” of Brooklyn, quickly turncoated on their Brooklyn neighbors as soon as Ratner offered Lewis a $1.5 million bailout and a 50/50 deal on housing in his future high-end condos.

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Posted by eric at 3:22 PM

Jay-Z to Jeezy: 10 Rappers Who Should Run For Political Office

RapFix
by Chris Yuscavage

Why couldn't a rapper with a rap sheet hold office — plenty of other crooks in New York already do.

So today, in honor of Rhymefest's announcement and voting day tomorrow, RapFix came up with 10 other rappers who should consider running for political office. These guys would definitely get our vote if they ever decided to put their names on a ballot.

The Rapper: Jay-Z
The Political Office He Could Hold: Borough President of Brooklyn
His Qualifications: Jay's been holding BK down through his music for more than a decade now. But, more importantly to the people of NYC's biggest borough, he's been influential in helping bring the NBA's New Jersey Nets to BK's Atlantic Yards complex, a move that should help the local economy. It's also put him in touch with BK's current Borough President. So, how long until President Carter becomes, well, President Carter?

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NoLandGrab: If experience tells us anything, it's that nearly anyone can hold the office of Brooklyn Borough President.

Posted by eric at 3:14 PM

November 1, 2010

The Charter Commission's missed opportunity to address real change, and the "Morton's fork" faced by voters Tuesday on term limits, reform package

Atlantic Yards Report

Norman Oder attempts to sift through the absurdly confusing, non-reformist Charter "reforms" on Tuesday's ballot. What's a voter to do?

New York City voters on Tuesday will turn over their ballots to see two ballot referenda in small type, the relatively minor but not unimportant results of a Charter Revision Commission, appointed by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, that, this summer, heard much concern about issues such as land use reform.

Instead, the commission devised a question on term limits that's quite cynical--the current three-term limit, enacted after the City Council did Bloomberg's bidding, would be replaced by the old two-term limit, but not apply to current incumbents.

And, rather than offer yes-no voting on several other issues, the commission--claiming it was told that ballot strictures required it--lumped seven disparate reform measures into one vote.

On term limits, cynicism time

Wrote Craig Gurian in a Remapping Debate commentary headlined And then they’ll say we ratified their scheme:

We won’t know the outcome, of course, for another week. But there is something that we can safely predict. If voters reject the [term limits] proposal, those apparently believing in the divine right of municipal officials to a third term will say: “See, voters really don’t want us limited to three terms.” If voters approve the proposals, they will describe the outcome as: “See, voters think that relaxing limits to permit three terms is a good idea.” Heads the New Royalists win; tails we lose.

Will press coverage do anything more than uncritically convey the spin that term limit extenders choose to rationalize the ultimate outcome? As the Journal’s Riley put it two years ago: “[T]here's something deeply disturbing about a local press corps that lets the political class get away with it.”

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Posted by eric at 10:39 AM

October 30, 2010

Phoenix Suns owner Sarver on how arenas get built: "They get built through politics and political connections"

Atlantic Yards Report

Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver gets praise in The Atlantic's Brave Thinkers feature for agreeing to have the team wear "Los Suns" jerseys as a rebuke to newly-passed legislation, aimed at illegal immigrants but feared as fostering racial profiling.

Part of his explanation:

A lot of people looked at the decision as an inappropriate mixture of sports and politics. But I think it’s naive to say that sports and politics don’t mix. I mean, how do stadiums and arenas get built? They get built through politics and political connections. Almost all professional sports owners are active in politics to support candidates and causes, but it’s usually based on a financial agenda. To me, this law was more of a human-rights issue—and just an issue of fairness—than it was political.

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Posted by steve at 7:36 AM

Five Questions for Chris Owens

Prospect Heights Patch
By Graydon Gordian

Citizens are urged to keep a critical eye on Atlantic Yards in this interview with District Leader for the 52nd Assembly and Atlantic Yards opponent, Chris Owens.

Now that the construction of the Atlantic Yards development, or at least the Barclays Center, appears inevitable, how should the neighborhood engage with the development? Are there ways for Prospect Heights residents and other Brooklynites to interact with the development in a positive way? Or should those who opposed the development initially remain staunch in their opposition?

It is imperative that Prospect Heights residents remain extremely engaged in the development of the Atlantic Yards project. As a staunch opponent of the project, even I realized that if we lost the battles we would need to "sit at the various tables" as the project moved forward. I am proud to say that many PH residents have been active in fighting to ensure that the project does not totally destroy Prospect Heights as a special neighborhood.

Just last week I attended a block association meeting where representatives of the Empire State Development Corporation and Forest City Ratner were doing a lot of explaining about the impending traffic challenges for Prospect Heights.

In the end, our elected officials have to be unafraid to make a stink if things are not going right -- including the low level of employment for local community residents thus far, for example, and the uncertainty surrounding traffic patterns. (Look at the disasters already unfolding on Flatbush Avenue.)

Assembly Members Hakeem Jeffries (57th AD) and Joan Millman (52nd AD) along with State Senators [Velmanette] Montgomery and [Eric] Adams, and Congresswoman [Yvette] Clarke now bear the responsibility of enforcing appropriate and meaningful regulatory and political oversight of this monstrous project.

All of us have direct influence over these representatives whether or not we have direct influence over [Borough President Marty] Markowitz, [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg or the next Governor of our state. I will certainly be involved with these efforts as much as possible.

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Posted by steve at 7:27 AM

Green Party Candidates Want ‘Green New Deal’

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Atlantic Yards opponent Gloria Mattera is running for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Green Party ticket.

“We’re building a green political movement with a very diverse, exciting slate of candidates who represent a true cross-section of the population,” said Mattera.

Currently a member of the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn steering committee and an executive board member of Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro Chapter, Mattera is running for office for a fourth time in a decade.

...

Mattera ran for borough president in 2005 against popular Democratic incumbent Marty Markowitz, objecting to his support of the Atlantic Yards project. Mattera’s run for the top Brooklyn office called for “human scale sustainable development driven by community special needs.”

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Posted by steve at 7:20 AM

October 29, 2010

Green Party Candidates Want ‘Green New Deal’

Slope’s Gloria Mattera Runs for Lt. Governor

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by Harold Egeln

As Albany stews in a political cauldron of dysfunction, one of the alternative tickets being offered for the state’s top leadership posts offers a “Green New Deal.”

One of those candidates is from Park Slope, Green Party lieutenant governor hopeful Gloria Mattera, a healthcare worker known for her community and political activism.
...

Currently a member of the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn steering committee and an executive board member of Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro Chapter, Mattera is running for office for a fourth time in a decade.

In 2001 and 2003 she ran for City Council against Democrat Bill de Blasio, with campaigns focused on growing economic inequities, reaching out to the Muslim communities, and opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In her 2003 challenge to de Blasio, she emerged second with 20 percent of the vote.

Mattera ran for borough president in 2005 against popular Democratic incumbent Marty Markowitz, objecting to his support of the Atlantic Yards project. Mattera’s run for the top Brooklyn office called for “human scale sustainable development driven by community special needs.”

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Posted by eric at 10:34 AM

October 27, 2010

Cuomo has apparently put on back burner investigations of Willets Point, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership lobbying

Atlantic Yards Report

There's a very intriguing passage within a New York Times article today about Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, likely to win election as Governor next Tuesday, headlined Mixed Views on Cuomo as Attorney General:

But the praise is neither universal nor complete, and there are many who assert that Mr. Cuomo has, not unlike his predecessor, been more interested in headlines than in undertaking the tedious chores needed to bring lasting reform, and that he has mishandled, sidestepped or prolonged some public integrity cases.

For example, an investigation into whether the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and some public officials violated lobbying laws in their redevelopment efforts is still unresolved after two years. (Mr. Bloomberg last month endorsed Mr. Cuomo’s campaign for governor.)

What might that refer to? It's time to repeat my post from 12/12/09, adding that I never got a response to my queries from Cuomo's office:

Learning from Willets Point, Part 2: is the Attorney General still investigating lobbying by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership?

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Posted by eric at 4:18 PM

October 21, 2010

State IG probes problematic Aqueduct racino bidding; no such investigation was made of Vanderbilt Yard process

Atlantic Yards Report

A New York Times article today, headlined Report Says State Senators Manipulated Casino Bidding, cites the state Inspector General's report on the Aqueduct "racino":

In a scathing 300-page report [PDF] on the competition to install video slot machines at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, the inspector general described a chaotic and ultimately doomed process that was without formal rules or objective criteria, and was awash in “unrestrained political considerations,” lobbyists and targeted campaign contributions.

But when Forest City Ratner was anointed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard without any competiton--and when an RFP was issued 18 months later--there was no such inquiry.

And, as I argued in March, the Vanderbilt Yard deal was worse.

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NoLandGrab: These clowns might go down, but we all know nothing ever sticks to "Teflon Bruce."

Posted by eric at 3:53 PM

October 20, 2010

Marty Hypocritz Calls for City Council Approval for Bike Lanes, Atlantic Yards Not So Much

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is upset with the new bike lanes on Prospect Park West and real hot under the collar about them (when isn't he hot under the collar?).

What does he think the solution is? According to the Brooklyn Paper:

“This issue of where to place bike lanes, it’s worthy of review by the City Council,” said Markowitz. “What is our objective in this city? To stigmatize the use of cars? To make it difficult to park? Do we want Brooklyn to replicate Amsterdam? These are legitimate policy issues.”
(Emphasis added.)

Right, Markowitz, a few bike lanes to calm traffic on PPW should go under City Council review, but the largest development project in Brooklyn's history shouldn't. Surely there must have been some "legitimate policy issues" raised by Ratner's land grab, no?

(Btw, Brooklyn could learn a lot from Amsterdam.)

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NoLandGrab: People who disagree with the Borough President might be interested in this.

Photo: Ben Muessig/Brooklyn Paper, via Gothamist