Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

It looks like the shadowy, Utah-based polling firm Pacific Crest Research (PCR) may be back and involved in tapping/shaping public opinion about Atlantic Yards. From Brooklynian , selected comments: just got off the phone with someone, based in utah, who peppered me with a lot of questions about the yards project, and whether i agree that forest city ratner's doing a great thing for the slope and the community as a whole. i assume ratner's paying for the survey since many of the questions seemed tilted in his favor.. but i had some free time, and it was a very cathartic experience....still, to be doing a survey like this, the developers must be really worried about something. I took the survey and it was obviously sponsored by Ratner. I told the guy that I really shouldn't be taking the survey as my husband used to work for FCR and says the affordable housing phase of the project ain't never gonna happen. I took the survey too and also think it was sponsored by Ratner. ...

Would you believe that today, about a month after I was push-polled , I got another call from Pacific Crest Research, a “national polling firm,” according to the young woman from Utah on the phone, conducting “a very brief public opinion survey on some very interesting issues in Brooklyn.” This one wasn’t a push-poll, since there was no attempt to present new information and sway me about a candidate or an issue. But the topic was mainly the highly contested 11th Congressional District race and again the signs point to developer Forest City Ratner as the entity concerned enough to ask such questions. Top issues After being asked if I’d vote in the Democratic primary, I was asked if things were going in the right direction or off on the wrong track. Then I was asked which of the following six issues was most important: --the war in Iraq --affordable housing --education --crime --health care --jobs and the economy. AY opinions Then I was asked my opinion about “a major development projec...

Sometimes the news just falls into your lap. When I got a call yesterday from a pollster from Pacific Crest Research, the name rang a bell. The same company conducted a push poll last year to gauge and change attitudes regarding Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards (AY) project, almost certainly on behalf of the developer. I was asked numerous questions, some quite general, but most focused on the race between last-minute challenger Tracy Boyland and longstanding State Senator Velmanette Montgomery for the 18th Senatorial District. The point of the push poll apparently was to see if the information provided--including leading statements, with incorrect information--would nudge listeners into supporting Boyland, who backs the AY project, against the incumbent, who opposes the AY project. In the end, Montgomery was portrayed as an ally of those "who have million-dollar brownstones and want to preserve their exclusive neighborhood." A member of a Brooklyn political dynasty, Boy...

I'm told that Pacific Crest Research has also been calling Brooklynites about the 57th District Assembly race, involving Atlantic Yards opponent Bill Batson, AY proponent Freddie Hamilton, and Hakeem Jeffries, who has offered a range of criticisms but has said he would choose to support the project. And, as in the brief call I received, callers are asking about Atlantic Yards. Note that Forest City Ratner has neither confirmed nor denied a relationship with Pacific Crest.

The outline has emerged, perhaps for the first time, of Forest City Ratner's extensive reach into Brooklyn politics. Of course the borough's leading real estate developer--in terms of major projects--would play a significant role, but little analysis has appeared in the press. It's well-known that FCR spends a lot of money on lobbying, but that Bruce Ratner and his lieutenants eschew local campaign contributions. Still, that Watergate-era adage remains operative: follow the money. Contributions via surrogates As I've reported, Bruce Ratner's relatives and associates have contributed regularly to political races in Brooklyn (and beyond), especially as election day approaches . What makes this curious is that Michael Ratner, the eminent human rights lawyer, and his wife, both Greenwich Village residents, make some contributions from Forest City Ratner's offices in Brooklyn. Michael Ratner apparently does have an office there, but his wife sure doesn't--and th...

There are more hints of Forest City Ratner support for Tracy Boyland, challenger to longstanding State Senator Velmanette Montgomery (right), a vocal opponent of FCR's Atlantic Yards plan. As I reported July 30, a push-poll from Pacific Crest Research, which had conducted a previous push-poll regarding Atlantic Yards, aimed to influence listeners to vote for Boyland. (As I pointed out, it's likely that FCR is Pacific Crest Research's client.) Same consulting firm The Crain's Insider added some details yesterday: Suspicion is growing that Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner is behind former City Councilwoman Tracy Boyland's bid to oust state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery. Boyland [right] supports the $4.2 billion project, and Montgomery opposes it. Insiders say that Boyland is using the same consulting firm--Knickerbocker SKD--that Forest City used to produce its Atlantic Yards literature. Knickerbocker SKD was responsible for the Forest City Ratner's not...

Forest City Ratner executive Bruce Bender's name is expected to come up during the Yonkers corruption trial beginning this week, which includes the developer's Ridge Hill project. Bender might even testify. What about Melvin Lowe, a consultant connected to Forest City, who's had a surprisingly central role in state Democratic politics, thanks to his links to Brooklyn powerbrokers? It's unclear whether he'll be mentioned in the trial, but it's worth a quick look back at his history with Ridge Hill, Forest City Ratner, and local politics. There are a lot of seeming connections. Consulting work for FCRk As I wrote 8/31/09, Liz Benjamin of the Daily Politics pointed to Lowe, a new staffer for the fianlly-in-the-majority  Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) staffer, who "has provided consulting services to developer Bruce Ratner on the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn." That was a role I haven't seen confirmed elsewhere. A 5/6/0...

From the New York Times, New York Political Consultant Charged in Corruption Case : An influential political consultant whose clients include the New York Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and leading real estate developers, including Forest City Ratner, was arrested on federal corruption charges on Tuesday morning. ...The charges include wire fraud, bank fraud and criminal tax violations. The complaint says, among other things, that Mr. Lowe had failed to report more than $2 million in consulting income and used a false-invoice scheme to defraud the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC), as well as those who contributed to it, of $100,000. As it happens, none of the charges involve Forest City or any other developer. But it continues a remarkable string of corruption charges regarding people with ties to Forest City. Crain's reports : The complaint refers to an unnamed political consultant "Vendor #1" that appears to be Cornerstone Management Partn...

After news surfaced of a federal corruption investigation involving Brooklyn state Senator Carl Kruger--an aggressively unabashed supporter of Atlantic Yards, and recipient of Forest City Ratner-related campaign contributions--now the New York Post is following up with a close look at his campaign spending. In Senate's biggest 'waste' Probed pol a lavish campaign spender , the Post reported yesterday: The state Senate's top fat cat lives like a king off his campaign cash, tapping donations to pay for his meals, car, hotel rooms, phone, computers -- even flowers, candy and iTunes, records show. While Dick Dadey, executive director of the government watchdog Citizens Union, called for a criminal investigation, he acknowledged that lax state laws provide a lot of leeway: "He's abusing the law, even if he's not necessarily violating it." (The article came with a requisite ambush photo of Kruger.) Kruger issued a statement: ...

If you've gotten Tracy Boyland fliers in the mail or have seen posters up in the 18th Senatorial District, you know that the candidate challenging incumbent Velmanette Montgomery (who opposes the Atlantic Yards project) must be spending some serious money. Just yesterday, I received three different Boyland mailings--one with the not-so-subtle message of "Progress for us ," accompanied by three photo-ops at housing projects. However, according to Boyland's filing with the New York State Board of Elections (BOE), Boyland has only $100 to spend--from herself. (See below, and click to enlarge.) That was from her required 32-day pre-primary report, due in early August. Her 11 day pre-primary report was due September 1. She hasn't filed yet. And if she doesn't tell the public who's funding her before the primary election in September 12, well, she'll get away with a slap on the wrist: a fine of $500. Ratner's role? Is Forest City Ratner backing Boyland...

More than four years after the announcement of Atlantic Yards, and just in time for the Atlantic Yards quiz coming Thursday, herewith a selective and unscientific lexicon of memorable words, phrases, and quotes regarding the project. You're welcome to nominate your own contributions to the list, either in email directly to me or by posting comments. A-B “Absolute absence of democratic process”— New York Magazine’s Chris Smith on the AY approval process A.R.E.A. Bagels, formerly A.R.E.N.A. Bagels—a 5th Avenue bagel baker that changed its name after protests from patrons “Antibuilders, antidevelopment brigade, antidevelopment crowd, antidevelopment groups, antidevelopment protesters, anti-development yuppies…liberal... serving as sentries guarding the walls of the Central Brooklyn ghetto.”— Errol Louis’s invective toward AY critics "Are you stuck on stupid?"—William Stanford (aka “Mr. X”) on scheduling a community forum on Primary Day, at 8/23/06 DEIS hearing “A Super ...