With departure of ESD head Cohen (also Chair of advisory AY CDC), a chance for Gov. Hochul to shape Atlantic Yards? Not just affordable housing, but accountability.

Longtime Cuomo advisor resigns from top economic development job, Spectrum News Nick Reisman reported 8/25/21:

Steve Cohen, a longtime advisor to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who had been appointed to lead the state's chief economic development arm is resigning from the post, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office on Wednesday said. 

Cohen was among the Cuomo advisors and aides named in a report released this month the state attorney general's office as part of an effort to allegedly retaliate against Lindsey Boylan, one of the women who accused the former governor of sexual harassment.

Cohen had recently taken the reins of Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. He also was an ex oficio member of the Atlantic Yards Community Development (AY CDC), which is supposed to meet quarterly, but hasn't met since March.

The AY CDC is supposed to have 14 members, but has only 11, according to the web site, and, with Cohen's departure, will only have ten.

What's pending?

The departure of Cohen, tweeted Gib Veconi offers an opportunity for "shoring up the #affordablehousing at #AtlanticYards likely to miss the May 2025 completion deadline." 

As a member of the coalition BrooklynSpeaks, Veconi in 2014 helped negotiate that deadline, which imposes penalties of $2,000/month per missing unit (but had no influence on the level of affordability, which means a disproportionate number of middle-income units). He's since been appointed to the AY CDC board, and is one of the few directors who's raised probing questions.

Beyond apartments under construction, 876 more are required, and a June 2022 expiration of 421-a benefits--which may be renewed, revamped, or canceled--poses a challenge for buildings that haven't started.

Cohen, as I tweeted, in March had mentioned possibility of a "fix" to ensure (or exempt?) the affordable housing.

Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon tweeted:

Serious attention needs to be paid to #AtlanticYards (no, I will never call it Pacific Park). It’s woefully behind sched, liabilities accruing. So little #affordablehousing built —> so much displacement of #BIPOC from the CBs that were supposed to benefit from proposed housing!

What will Hochul do?

The new governor is known as a pragmatist, and she has a lot of things on her plate, which suggests Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park would hardly be at the forefront.

I wrote earlier that, based on the example of the surprising departure of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, not much would change for the project, which is moving--intermittently--down a track set by previous administrations.

That leaves those with the most information--the developers and their lobbyists--whispering into the ear of those in the governor's office.

It also perhaps leaves a role for local elected officials, and legislative oversight bodies. It's possible that a more left-leaning legislature might not renew, or might curtail, the 421-a tax break, making future construction more difficult.

With Cuomo out of office, would it be more difficult to get that legislative "fix"? Maybe.

The issue, is not merely affordable housing, it's accountability. With new leadership at ESD, might it be possible for the state authority to be more responsive to the public, say, delivering promised meeting minutes promptly?

Would the public benefits for the project be assessed along with public support, thus allowing policy makers to better evaluate whether subsidies are worth it?

Could Hochul appoint new members of the AY CDC board with independent expertise and a willingness to apply oversight, rather than just rubber-stamp, ESD policy toward Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park?