Agenda for Atlantic Yards CDC meeting Tuesday focuses on annual budget approval, update on construction and community relations. What about big-picture questions?

Though I've suggested that, at its meeting Tuesday, the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) should address big-picture issues regarding the project--including plans for the delayed platform, the impossible affordable housing deadline, the overall timetable, fines for the Urban Room, and the (diminished?) commitment of developer Greenland USA--that may not happen.

The agenda and board materials (below) don't hint at such scope. Rather, they involve the requirement that AY CDC board, as it does annually, approve the operating budget--more on that below--and a vaguely titled "Corporate Update (Oral Report)" involving updates on construction and community relations.

That doesn't preclude an appearance by a representative of master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, dominated by Greenland USA, since the latter's Scott Solish did address the most recent AY CDC meeting, last June, despite a similarly vague agenda.

Then again, Solish has left his job, with no replacement announced. So it's likely that the presentation will be from Tobi Jaiyesimi, who works for both Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, and its AY CDC subsidiary.

Most AY CDC directors, who are generally uninformed about the project, are content to be spoon-fed by Jaiyesimi regarding the project's ongoing questions and the tone of community concerns. But there are two new directors now.

About the new towers

That said, there might be a presentation from Amir Stein of TF Cornerstone, which is opening the two-tower 595 Dean complex. 

If so, it's worth asking why the firm kept the middle-income affordability goals under wraps for so long, what the planned rent levels are (still not announced, though other developers have made their rents public before the housing lottery), and why that 595 Dean lottery, teased last November as starting "soon," won't launch until May. 

That means residents of the below-market units will be arriving well after market-rate tenants.

Also worth asking: where exactly do residents of the East Tower enter the building? (More on that soon.)

 

About the budget

As the memo below states, "prior to the commencement on April 1 of each new fiscal year," the AY CDC directors are required to adopt an annual operating budget.

In this case, though, they're considering a proposed budget while meeting after the fiscal year has begun, which implies (unstated) that the requirement isn't enforced and/or there's no expectation the budget would be voted down.

The $250,000 budget is funded by the developer. It has remained constant since the AY CDC's inception in 2014--prompted by a settlement that set the new May 2025 deadline for affordable housing--while salaries rise. 

For example, salaries of $153,589 and fringe benefits of $58,364 in FY 2022-23 added up to $211,953. For FY 2023-24, salaries of $160,556 and fringe benefits of $61,011 will total $221,567.

A decrease in insurance payments (for what?) from $20,000 to $10,386 allows for the increase in compensation, since the other non-personnel costs are constant.

That raises a question: at what point do the non-personnel costs gets squeezed out by rising compensation? Does ESD supplement the budget? Will Greenland be asked to increase payments?

About the staff

According to the See Through NY database, which includes ESD payrolls only through 2021, Jaiyesimi started in 2015 as Director, AY CDC, at a $67,000 salarty, while as of 2021, her salary was $94,627 to serve as "Senior Director, Community Relations/Atlantic Yards." 

Note: she has other duties, beyond Atlantic Yards, so either that title is not all-encompassing or she's paid on another line item. 

Jaiyesimi also serves as President of the Queens West Development Corporation (see bottom), which has one half-time staffer, earning $59,152 in salary and $24,252 in fringe benefits, totaling $83,404. It's unclear whether she is that staffer or not, so that's worth clearing up.

The other staffer in the AY CDC budget is Greg Lynch, who in 2021 had a salary of $58,692 as Senior Inspector, Atlantic Yards, up from $48,717 in 2015 (and $45,115 in 2014 as a Weatherization Senior Field Inspector.

As I wrote in March 2022 after the annual budget was approved, Jaiyesimi was asked by AY CDC directors about the other staffer. She said Lynch "walks the perimeter" of the project and "also takes a look from the community's perspective."

Are his reports covered in community engagement meetings, asked then-director Cy Richardson.

"No, his reports are shared with the [ESD] project team," Jaiyesimi said.

Are the Quality of Life meetings where those issues are resolved, Richardson asked.

No, she said, those meetings are designed to provide a general update on the project, and to be shaped by questions from the community.

As I wrote, what Lynch does is a bit of a mystery. It's worth finding out more--what particular things that he's noticed have led to responses or changes?