From City Limits: De Blasio Emails Shed Light on how ‘Affordable Housing’ is Packaged for the Press

I have an article today in City Limits based on the "agents of the city" email trove that the mayor's office was forced to release, which it did last Thursday, just before the long weekend, De Blasio Emails Shed Light on how ‘Affordable Housing’ is Packaged for the Press.

From the lead:

The emails (below), pried loose after a lawsuit by NY1 and the New York Post, also show how media events are staged, and why consultant BerlinRosen—both unpaid advisor and a paid consultant to de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York nonprofit, which operated 2013-16—might be prized by real estate developers aiming to stay on good terms with de Blasio....
Though the Mayor’s Office claimed, as cited in the court decision, that the “withheld documents relate to communications in which Mr. [Jonathan] Rosen was not acting on behalf of any clients nor interests they represent,” but rather offered advice “represent[ing] solely the interests of the Mayoralty and the City,” clearly there were overlaps.

As I wrote, regarding the grand opening of the "100% affordable" 535 Carlton tower in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park:

The emails show developer Greenland Forest City Partners scripting quotes from a grateful new 535 Carlton resident; a mayoral aide transforming a corporate press release into a governmental statement; and seeming distance from affordable housing advocates who once strongly backed Atlantic Yards, slated to include 2,250 below-market apartments.
Unmentioned: the grateful tenant was hardly representative of a building with 148 of 297 units aimed at middle-income households paying, for example, $2,680 for a one-bedroom apartment or $3,223 for a two-bedroom unit.

For the full article, go to City Limits.