Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Based on his record of campaign contributions, semi-retired real estate executive Bruce Ratner, like a lot of others in the field, probably didn't want insurgent Zephyr Teachout to win the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, but can live with Public Advocate Letitia James, even if she was not the first choice. Forest City New York Executive Chairman Ratner contributed $2,500 (see screenshot above) to Maloney on Sept. 13, primary day , part of the huge haul Maloney took in after real estate executives, via the Real Estate Board of New York, got the push . Maloney's big expenditures on advertising helped build name recognition and detract from Teachout, a factor in James's easy win in the Democratic primary. Giving to James And guess what: Ratner on Oct. 29 gave $10,000 (see screenshot below) to James's campaign, in which she's expected to beat Republican Keith Wofford in tomorrow's election. Consider the continued criticism of James's disse...

Forgive me for looking at political races through the lens of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, but that's often a simple way to decide who represents the establishment and status quo and who doesn't. So, Rep. Yvette Clarke, a project defender, was challenged--and almost beat--by Adem Bunkeddeko in the Democratic primary. (And he partly made Atlantic Yards an issue.) In a key state race, when the primary is in September, we have Republican state Senator Marty Golden, whose ethical deficits are legion , serving as a bulwark for Atlantic Yards (and gaining $5,000 in 2016 campaign funds from Bruce Ratner ). He'll be challenged by a Democrat, either  Ross Barkan , a journalist/insurgent, or lawyer Andrew Gounardes , who has more mainstream party support. A challenger in North Brooklyn And, thanks to Newsday's Mark Chiusano, I learn of another state Senate candidate, Julia Salazar , who deserves attention in the district that includes Bushwick, Cypress Hills, Williams...

If you scroll down Politico New York's article yesterday, Campaign reports show Cuomo continues to rely on big donors , there's a chart listing the top 87 donors. At #55, though actually tied with others starting at #51, is a listing for "Ratner," the only individual donor listed without a first name. Did Bruce Ratner in fact give $55,000 since January 2015? I couldn't confirm it.  Rather, it looks like he should have barely missed the listing of the top 87 donors, who gave a minimum of $45,000, as he gave $42,500. Bottom line: he gave enough, I'd bet, to get his phone calls returned. Looking at the reports Cuomo's July 2016 disclosure form listed contributions from Ratner of $7,500 and $15,000. Cuomo's January 2016  disclosure form  listed no Ratner contributions. Cuomo's July 2015  disclosure form  listed contributions from Ratner of $5,000 and $15,000. Cuomo's January 2015  disclosure form  listed no Ratner contrib...

Embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, is stepping aside in the wake of corruption charges, as the knee-jerk support he got from see-no-evil members has begun to erode. After all, the press has (finally) been brutal. The Times reports : In an unusual arrangement, Mr. Silver would not quit his post. Instead, he would temporarily delegate his duties as speaker to a group of senior Assembly members. ...Under the tentative plan developed on Sunday, the Assembly majority leader, Joseph D. Morelle of the Rochester area, and the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Herman D. Farrell Jr., Democrat of Manhattan, would assume responsibility for budget negotiations. Three other senior Democratic members — Carl E. Heastie of the Bronx, Catherine T. Nolan of Queens and Joseph R. Lentol of Brooklyn — will round out the leadership team. Yes, that's veteran Joe Lentol of that mysterious cameo in Forest City Ratner's Ridge Hill case . The Buffalo News suggests : The li...

Remember the very, very strange experience of watching left-wing organizer Bertha Lewis and right-wing Republican state Senator Marty Golden together championing Atlantic Yards, at this 7/29/09 hearing ? Well, Republican commenter Galewyn Massey  (a pseudonym, I suspect) pointed out another irony,  writing  10/29/13: Did the Republican-Conservative Candidate for Mayor Joseph Lhota clear his Atlantic Yards attack against [Democratic nominee Bill] deBlasio with his strongest GOP supporter in Brooklyn, State Senator Martin Golden ? One of the headlines: “Lhota Says Developers Have ‘Bought’ de Blasio’s Silence on Atlantic Yards” — Another: “De Blasio ‘ignoring’ affordable-housing delays because pal is in charge” — Still another: “Joe Lhota slams Bill de Blasio over being quiet on affordable housing in Atlantic Yards” Isn’t it somewhat hypocritical that one of Lhota’s biggest supporters, Marty Golden, was similarly “Bought” by Forest City Ratner, the developer of the ...

Thanks to some investigation by the Metropolitan Council on Housing, which prompted coverage in the New York Daily News and by New York Times columnist Michael Powell, we now know more about a January giveaway to developers worth some $50 million to the largest project. Note that this 421-a "carve-out" is worth far less than the "carve-out" in 2007 legislators gave developer Forest City Ratner regarding the Atlantic Yards project, wroth $150-$200 million. The Daily News article,  NY lawmakers mandate massive tax breaks for millionaires’ Manhattan apartments , was published 6/18/13: The millionaires buying apartments in a soaring tower rising on 57th St. will get more than sweeping views of Central Park: They’ll also be eligible for massive city tax breaks. So will the homeowners and builders of four other luxury Manhattan condo and rental developments. Language quietly inserted into a bill that sailed through the state Legislature singled out the five dev...

New York Magazine's Chris Smith reports on Public Advocate (and mayoral hopeful) Bill de Blasio's attempt to curry favor with real estate developers: He ripped “heavy-handed, rapacious bureaucrats” getting in the way of development, and beat up on the city’s land use approval process and its buildings department, two eternal villains in the business community. And as a badge of business-friendly courage, de Blasio cited his support of Atlantic Yards despite the fierce opposition the project provoked in Park Slope, the neighborhood he represented in the City Council. "When it came to the criteria that mattered above all others — good jobs and affordable housing,” de Blasio said, “it was clear that Atlantic Yards would help stanch the bleeding in an area facing huge problems of affordability.” If only that were how things have turned out. Channeling Kruger & Golden? de Blasio, actually, sounds like a couple of seeming ideological opposites, a conservative Demo...

In March, I pointed to a couple of posts Room 8 blogger Gatemouth, aka Howard Graubard, had written about the charges against state Senator Carl Carl Kruger (who, by the way, says he's running for re-election !), Assemblyman William Boyland, and lobbyist Richard Lipsky. Now Gatemouth points out that state Senator Marty Golden, who in 2008 took three days to introduce a resolution concerning arrested state Senator Hiram Monserrate, has been conspicuously silent regarding Carl Kruger, who helped to elect Golden. And, Gatemouth points to another curious connection between Kruger and Golden: a $3000 campaign contribution by Dorothy Lipsky (lobbyist Lipsky's wife) to Golden. Spreading the wealth I took a look at campaign contributions that Richard Lipsky and Dorothy Lipsky gave from their three addresses (all listed in the city's lobbying database; search on Richard Lipsky ) and found a varied set of recipients. See below for the full list, but it includes significant contribu...

In Unions Outraged Over Ratner's Prefab Tower , Patch does a good job rounding up comments from construction unions regarding Forest City Ratner's plan for modular construction , which came to light yesterday. Here are a few quotes: “We understood that there would be a certain number of jobs generated by this project that would in turn support the local economy. Clearly farming out modular housing does not do any of those things,” said Richard Weiss, a spokesman for Construction & General Building Laborers’ Local 79. “The union supports projects based on one criteria only: are there jobs for our members in this project? If that’s not the case, then we’re not going to support it.” ...“It would be disappointing, very disappointing,” said Edward Walsh, president of the New York State District Council of Iron Workers, which works on the site of the $4.9 billion, 16-tower mega project at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. “There are a lot less jobs for iron workers if this is built ...

In the wake of the charges against state Senator Carl Kruger and others, it's worth another look at my 10/30/06 review of former State Senator Seymour Lachman's timely book of analysis and advocacy, Three Men in a Room: The Inside Story of Power and Betrayal in an American Statehouse , coauthored by Robert Polner. Indeed, the entire legislative and governmental process is distorted by an absence of democracy. As I wrote, few of our elected representatives come off well. Is it no surprise that several of the officials who back the Atlantic Yards plan are among those who benefit from and support the systematic dysfunction? Member items How do leaders keep people in line and maintain incumbency? “Member items,” basically a discretionary fund that can be used for worthy civic purposes and also to build political capital. In the Republican-controlled Senate, a minority Democrat might get $100,000 to $200,000 to distribute to local community groups and local services, Republi...

A reader asked if anyone, besides state Senator Carl Kruger, might be caught up in the federal investigation that snared Kruger and lobbyist Richard Lipsky. We don't know--and there's no evidence that any other legislator is under investigation. But who else, the reader asked, resembles Kruger in performance--a Brooklyn legislator who represents a district far from the Atlantic Yards site, but has vocally and dramatically backed the project? That would be state Senator Marty Golden, who led a rally for the developer (below) at the 7/29/09 public hearing on Atlantic Yards and entered late, rudely interrupting the proceedings, at a 5/29/09 oversight hearing held by state Senator Bill Perkins. (Photo by Tracy Collins) The Village Voice has reported on Golden's questionable ethics, directing much business to a catering hall he used to own, and family members still run. Is there any evidence Golden took money from lobbyist Richard Lipsky, or anyone else, to help Forest City...

In his radio address last Friday ( transcript , audio ), Mayor Mike Bloomberg saluted new infrastructure projects, agreements with construction unions, and new efforts to broaden access to construction trades--and then connected that to Atlantic Yards. He said: And last week, New York State's highest court moved us closer to realizing a major piece of that future, in its 6-1 decision concerning Brooklyn's proposed Atlantic Yards development. The court's ruling was a long step forward for a project that will spur extensive investment in new offices, stores, and thousands of units of new housing. It will also produce a new Brooklyn home arena for the Nets professional basketball team. All told, Atlantic Yards is expected to create some 8,000 new permanent jobs in Brooklyn. More immediately, building it is also going to produce nearly 17,000 of the new union construction jobs that New Yorkers need. (Emphases added) Some factchecking Well, not exactly. Those figures--17,00...

Once upon a time, in the magical world of Atlantic Yards, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis and Republican State Senator Marty Golden found common cause, with Golden saluting “ACORN, the premier low-income housing organization.” (He had to overlook their divergent stances on housing policy in general.) On health care, though, they look to be parting company. Lewis, according to Politico : If we invest heavily now, we will ensure more savings and the long-term fiscal health of the country. Health care is the perfect example. We all know costs are out of control for the government, consumers, and employers. Comprehensive health care reform should result in lower costs and more savings that is passed on to consumers and employers. Consumers will have more disposable income for other goods, moving consumer spending to healthier levels. Employers will also have more money to purchase inventory, expand, hire additional employees, etc. A policy initiative to tackle America’s long-standing health care ...

The Courier-Life's notorious Stephen Witt this week offers not just an undiscerning round-up article on the first day of the Atlantic Yards hearing. He also pens an "Orwellian, almost" sidebar in which he gives pro-project hecklers an implicit endorsement and wrongly states that Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn asked a couple of black ministers for "protection." (A new reporter--or intern?--also shares the byline.) The round-up The round-up article is headlined online as Atlantic Yards meeting brings out supporters and opponents . In print the main headline is "From out of the woodwork," which implies that those supporters and opponents have been laying low. Not exactly. He writes: The $4 billion, 22-acre project starting at the Atlantic/Flatbush Avenues intersection proposed by developer Forest City Ratner (FCR) includes an arena to house the NBA’s Nets franchise and at least one mixed-income residential building in the first phase. Actually, it...

I finally got video (by Adrian Kinloch ) excerpts of the "press conference" organized by Forest City Ratner during the July 29 Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) hearing on Atlantic Yards at the Klitgord Auditorium of New York City Technical College. It was more of a "press event" than a press conference, given that there was no opportunity for questions, supporters kept cheering, and the timing was organized for the arrival of television cameras. Strange bedfellows Though several Atlantic Yards backers (union leaders, Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership for New York City) made speeches for the cameras, the stars, so to speak, were State Senator Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) and ACORN Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis. They make for some strange bedfellows. The ethically-challenged Golden, for example, has long sided with the real estate industry, not tenant groups, in refusing to support the repeal of vacancy decontrol , which currently allows rent-stabilized apart...