Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Some people have asked me about the mayoral candidates' postures on Atlantic Yards, and though I recognize that are many reasons for choosing a candidate (see NYT issues page and Nicole Gelinas's analysis ), it's worth reviewing how bad the three leading--at least according to the (flawed) polls--candidates have been on Atlantic Yards. Everyone recognizes things didn't go as promised, and they've even been reminded, such as at a January mayoral forum in East New York, that mention of Atlantic Yards to the hoi polloi can generate scorn. But none of the mayoral candidates have tried to pursue accountability, as I've written, with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio notably failing to even comment that the Community Benefits Agreement he champions has the promised Independent Compliance Monitor. Council Speaker Christine Quinn failed to approve any Council oversight hearing on the project, though Council Members Letitia James and Brad Lander wanted one. And f...

The mayoral forum last night in Park Slope, sponsored by the Park Slope Civic Council and other civic organizations, was not actually a forum (or a debate), but a sequential series of one-on-one interviews with WNYC's Andrea Bernstein. The event attracted all the major candidates from both parties, except Republican Joe Lhota, and the attendees--the sanctuary at Congregation Beth Elohim was less than half-full--got a decent chance to observe, at least, the style of the mayoral hopefuls. Quick: Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Comptroller John Liu, both Democrats, are the most charismatic pols; billionaire neophyte candidate John Catsimatidis, a Republican, is not ready for prime time. On a few issues, a candidate like Democratic longshot Sal Albanese could distinguish himself: support for bike lanes and a refusal to take corporate money. In the main, however, the candidates obfuscated, and questions about Atlantic Yards and the Barclays Center were perfect examples. The o...

The Democratic mayoral candidates met last night in Brooklyn Heights, in a debate sponsored by the Brooklyn Reform Coalition, and the news concerned term limits and member items, according to the Daily News , Post , NBC , and Patch . (The St. Francis College auditorium was crowded .) They also were asked about Atlantic Yards, and though neither the question nor most of the answers were particularly on-point (or even coherent), the exchange did establish Comptroller John Liu as the candidate most critical of the project, suggesting it was not worth the subsidies granted--though he did call the Barclays Center a "beautiful stadium." Still, the overall discourse--in which no one seems to fully understand the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) nor the city's (non)role in it--has to favor the status quo. The question, and the context The question was read by Ede Fox, president of Prospect Heights Democrats for Reform: "Forest City Ratner signed a C...

So, does developer Forest City Ratner support any candidates in the 2013 election? Campaign finance reports suggest significant support via bundling for mayoral candidates Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson, as well as some support for Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Notably, a prominent Republican executive in Virginia, whose steel company produces key components for both the arena and the first modular tower, has contributed $1,000 to Democrats Thompson and Quinn, in one case through an FCR intermediary. (Do the candidates know his company is non-union ?) Comptroller John Liu, probably (and perceivedly) the main candidate most critical of Atlantic Yards and development, has received no FCR-related contributions. (His campaign also has some ethical question marks .) In the race for Public Advocate, where anti-Atlantic Yards Council Member Letitia James is one of three candidates, Forest City-related contributions clearly favor fundraising lead...

Concern over the belated announcement of Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in the Barclays Center, apparently bringing previously undisclosed bottle service, surely must have been heightened by a high-profile melee at a bottle service club in SoHo this week. The impact of the brawl and the bottle service announcement is unclear, but surely the issue will be raised before the State Liquor Authority at a hearing June 20 on the arena liquor license. The brawl DNA Info reported yesterday, in Bottle Service May Be on the Rocks After Chris Brown/Drake Brawl : City Council Speaker Christine Quinn Friday called for an emergency meeting with NYPD brass and the nightlife industry in the aftermath of a brawl in a SoHo club between Chris Brown and Drake over Rihanna. Quinn, a mayoral hopeful whose district includes scores of nightclubs in Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, said she wanted to prevent the type of violence that broke out at WIP early Thursday, which left five people injured. ...

Something's rotten in the City Council. Citizens Union  on 5/1/12 released a comprehensive report on the New York City discretionary funding process  that concluded that, despite past reforms, the process of allocating funds to Council members for distribution is based on political ties to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, rather than the needs of the district: "While the city's discretionary funding process is improved in significant ways from a decade ago, it remains flawed and needs additional reform," said Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens Union. "Recent reforms in the City Council have improved the vetting of organizations receiving funding and provided additional disclosure, yet the distribution process to members remains too politicized and not equitable and objective enough." The Post reported 5/2/12, Council’s pots of gold go to power pols .The Daily News reported, 3 Brooklyn Democrats were best at stuffing coffers with pulled pork: Domin...

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who uses his office more as as policy shop than cheerleading Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, this week issued a report calling for the abolition of the favoritism-riddled system of member items in City Council. The report is of course somewhat self-serving--it was seen as a slam on City Council President Christine Quinn, a rival to Stringer in the 2013 mayoral race, and Stringer never refused member items when serving in the state Assembly. But it was embraced by at least two editorial pages, with one pointing out how the current system offends fairness--an observation that, as I describe below, could have been applied to a key episode in the Atlantic Yards process. From the report: As the new fiscal year begins, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer today released “Reforming Local Member Items in New York City,” a report recommending the abolition of the current system for allocating City Council member items. Th...