In skirmishes over accountability, ESD defends info disseminated, promises agency reps at future meetings. Nothing new on AY CDC, which has 4 openings.

This is the second of three posts on the 9/14/21 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, held on Zoom, sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD). The first concerned construction progress at four towers.

Despite some skepticism from audience members, Tobi Jaiyesimi of Empire State Development defended the biweekly Construction Updates, which sometimes omit information or don't come at all.

In response to concerns that certain elements may have been left off, she said “there's a process in place by which that construction alert is reviewed and distributed to ensure the accuracy of the information.” The review process involves both ESD and also the development team.

“And so in those situations where either a subcontractor may have acted prematurely”—like posting “No Parking” signs on Dean Street—or there was miscommunication, “we are sure to address that accordingly.”

That, to me, was a bit of gaslighting. For months, the Construction Updates omitted mention of or details regarding After-Hours Variances that were publicly available via the Department of Buildings’ web site.

An oversight

Asked why no Construction Update was circulated for the two weeks beginning July 26—an issue that became noticeable when apparent fire system testing was alarming neighbors—Jaiyesimi said “it was a severe oversight on my end, and I will take responsibility for that. We will be sure to keep the schedule of distributing the alerts accordingly.”

That Update was not posted after the fact.

ESD oversight

In response to a question, Jaiyesimi said the ESD’s contracted environmental monitor makes two or three weekly site visits, and ESD staff walk up the perimeter of the site, “at various times of the day in various times of the week.”

Other agencies coming

She said that, in response to previous requests, they were working to have representatives from the School Construction Authority (SCA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Sanitation, and NYPD’s Traffic Enforcement division to attend future meetings. 

She said they had tentative commitments from the DOT and SCA.

Waiting on AY CDC

She said they do not have a schedule yet for the next meeting of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), which is supposed to meet quarterly but has often fallen short. Its last meeting was in March.

The AY CDC’s 14-member board has nine gubernatorial appointees, and five from various elected officials. The four vacancies—including Steve Cohen, who for a brief period chaired both ESD and AY CDC—are all gubernatorial appointees.

That suggests new Gov. Kathy Hochul has a chance to make a mark by appointing people who actually pay attention to the project, though the incentives, of course, are to appoint people who will ease the project along its way and keep the AY CDC as it has been: mostly a rubber-stamp.

Jaiyesimi was hired to be executive director of the AY CDC, then took over the role of ESD's Atlantic Yards project manager--thus, as I've formulated it, essentially advising herself.