In future, more opportunity to comment on Atlantic Yards Community Development Corp. agenda items and also at meetings? Sessions back in Brooklyn?

I wrote about the main takeaway--a likely extension of affordable housing obligations for developer Greenland USA and the possibility of a 421-a substitute--from the meeting 8/2/23 of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, or AY CDC. (And I have a longer article coming.)

I also wrote about the extension of the affordable housing lottery deadline for 595 Dean and the dubious prediction that move-ins would start by October.

More transparency

Near the end of the meeting (video below), the AY CDC board took up two issues that could increase transparency and public input.

First, the directors were open to ensuring that more information about the agenda was presented before the meeting, thus enabling more cogent  pre-meeting public comment. Second, the Acting Chair made it clear--despite evidence that obscures this option--that public comment at the meeting is welcomed. 

Third, the board, along with the parent Empire State Development (ESD), agreed to explore the possibility of meeting in Brooklyn, which was the pattern when the AY CDC started meeting in 2015. That might make it easier for local stakeholders to attend, though a weekday meeting during business hours--the latest was at 3 pm--precludes some attendance.

The challenge has been getting a facility with required video capabilities, so it's been easier to meet at ESD offices in midtown.

The limits of pre-meeting comment

As shown in the video excerpt below, Acting AY CDC Chair Daniel Kummer said that, before they moved to the official Public Comments section of the Agenda, "we should talk about the public comment we did receive before the meeting."

Initial Media Advisory,
comment deadline Aug. 1

So he read the comment from me, sent on Sunday, 7/30/23:

To the Directors (and ESD),
As a journalist and citizen who follows Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, I'd like to note that requiring comment on Agenda items more than a day before the meeting, and before​ any Board Materials or resolutions have been circulated—or, possibly, after Board Materials have been circulated for a day or so—effectively precludes meaningful public input.

A meeting is scheduled for Wednesday Aug 2, with a deadline for comment Tuesday, Aug. 1 but as of now nothing beyond a cryptic agenda posted publicly.

One recommendation in the "Open ESD" report issued last week by Reinvent Albany is:
ESD should provide all materials for Board meetings at least three days in advance of Board meetings so the public can meaningfully comment on agenda items. Any budget or tabular data should be provided in an open, machine-readable format.

Your discussion of that recommendation is in order.

Note that Kummer mentioned a citation to my blog that said the meeting scheduled for Wednesday had

Updated Media Advisory,
comment deadline Aug. 2

a deadline for comment on Tuesday.

"I thought that the deadline was this morning," Kummer stated. He was told that the deadline had been "pushed" to Wednesday morning.

Indeed, as shown in the screenshots at right, the 7/27/23 Media Advisory (top) set a deadline for comments at 3 pm on Aug. 1, while an updated 8/1/23 Media Advisory extended the deadline to 10 am Aug. 2.

That would've been hard to suss out.

Neither Media Advisory was circulated to me as media, nor were any of the AY CDC announcements circulated to a list of neighbors or posted on the AY CDC page. 

(The latter does post links to past Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meetings, which are supposed to be bi-monthly, though the schedule has slacked.)

The only way to find them was to navigate to the Board Meetings section of the parent ESD website.

Public comments at meetings?

Kummer said the comment raised "process issues" regarding deadlines, as well as perhaps a distinction between comments required to be submitted in advance and verbal comments delivered at meetings.

Note: he was proceeding as if it was obvious that comments during the meetings were welcomed.

That was not evident.

As shown in the screenshot of the Agenda at right, it's not clear if the Agenda item "Public Comments" refers to those comments submitted before the meeting or those delivered at the meeting.

Now we know that Kummer and fellow board members are open to public comments at the meeting. 

If so, the Media Advisory should be amended and augmented to state that public comment are not only welcomed before the meeting but also possible at the meeting.

Moving toward transparency

The discussion on video is often inaudible--so much for superior ESD video capability?-- but, as far as I can tell, board members asked about the obstacles to providing relevant documents to the public at least three days before the meeting.

The ESD staffer responsible, Corporate Secretary Debbie Royce, tried to respond, apparently citing delays in getting minutes from previous meetings prepared and approved.

AY CDC Director Gib Veconi said he thought that my comment referred to "the substance of what's going to be presented. which in this case would have been the presentation that [ESD executive] Joel [Kolkmann] made at the beginning."

Even an outline would've been helpful, Veconi said.

Kolkmann wouldn't commit to sharing such presentations, but said he'd try to offer more details.

Kummer suggested even a short summary after each agenda item would be an improvement. Kolkmann said they could work to make the agendas more robust.

Kummer noted that, "obviously we're not the only entity of this nature with ESD," so the parent authority should think about its processes. He asked if ESD could start with a commitment for having more information available three days before a meeting.

"That's always the goal," Kolkmann responded--though he's new and goals are not always met.

"Let's start with that as the adjustment to the process," Kummer said. "And I think, to be clear, one of the essential purposes of this entity is to to receive public comment," so the deadlines should not be seen as foreclosing comment if not previously submitted.

Again, that's something ESD should make clear. There were no public comments at this meeting, perhaps because 1) few knew of it, 2) even fewer could attend, and 3) even fewer knew they could make comments on site.

Meeting in Brooklyn

Veconi asked if there were no place for the AY CDC to meet in Brooklyn, citing previous meetings at Long Island University.

Royce asked for suggestions.

State Sen. Jabari Brisport, who was present along with Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, suggested the state office building at 55 Hanson Place, which has several conference rooms.

The next AY CDC meeting should be within three months.