From City Limits: "State Weighs Tax Deal, Plans ‘Public Engagement’ for Atlantic Yards as Housing Deadline Nears" (plus bonus material)

Yesterday City Limits published my article, State Weighs Tax Deal, Plans ‘Public Engagement’ for Atlantic Yards as Housing Deadline Nears. 

While a key outline of the potential compromise emerged two weeks ago--The Real Deal reported on the possibility of a substitute for the 421-a tax break--my new article teases out how, based on discussions at the Aug. 2 meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), state officials do not seem ready to push developer Greenland USA.

As I wrote, some AY CDC directors, notably Gib Veconi and Ron Shiffman, were skeptical that ESD’s proposed “community engagement process” regarding the project’s future, including affordability of future units. could be taken seriously when the state has not enforced previous promises or pushed to ensure that the developer would meet the 2025 affordable housing deadline or be held accountable.

For the rest of the article, go here, but let me add a little more below.

Bonus material

That proposed (and not yet specified) community engagement, though hinted at in a previous meeting, was presented in a bit of a curveball.

Consider the sequence below, on video, Xinmei (Macy) Wang, a Greenland executive based in Los Angeles, focused on milestones regarding the 36-month buildout of the first platform block.

 

After Wang's description, AY CDC Director Ethel Tyus drilled down to the key question: “When did you say that will start?”

Wang, on the phone, paused briefly. “There is no affordable housing subsidy in place for this project,” she said, indicating 421-a, “so we are evaluating how to proceed.”

Then ESD executive Joel Kolkmann interrupted and, rather than pushing the developer to answer the question about the start date or their willingness to pay required fines, he aired the concept of a community engagement process to assess the future of the project. As I wrote, this seemed like an orchestrated plan.

How much affordability?

Also, during the meeting, Shiffman and Veconi both asked ESD officials to detail not just the total number of affordable units but also how that configuration compares to earlier promises, notably in the much-promoted but non-binding 2005 Affordable Housing Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU.

I’ve provided such an accounting, below. But there's no reason it shouldn't be should be done officially.