Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The candidates hoping to succeed Letitia James  (who's running for Public Advocate) as 35th District Council Member will meet at 7 pm tonight in a moderated forum at P.S. 9, 80 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights. The district includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, and pieces of Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy. The candidates include former District Leader  Olanike Alabi , museum founder  Laurie Cumbo , longtime Council aide  Ede Fox , attorney  F. Richard Hurley , and community organizer  Jelani Mashariki . (Here's an analysis of the race as of April from the Brooklyn Rail's Ted Hamm.) As noted below, questions regarding Atlantic Yards could show whether the candidates are willing to criticize the failure of the state to reform governance of the project and the failure of developer Forest City Ratner to hire the independent compliance monitor promised under the Community Benefits Agreement. (I raised similar issues in a post last month ....

Atlantic Yards came up last night in a NY1 debate between 57th District Assembly candidates Walter Mosley and Olanike Alabi, but it generated more heat than light. It begins at about 7:20 (and  excerpted  incompletely in Patch, which has broader coverage), when Alabi had a chance to address her rival: "You're also been cited as being on both sides of the Atlantic Yards issue, for and against.... How can we trust you? Where do you stand on Atlantic Yards?" (Here's some coverage of his positions. ) Mosley responded with a slip at first: “I was the only candidate in this race to support this project--to take a stance on this project. It was a project that dealt with creating affordable [sic] jobs, it was a project that dealt with the issue of housing, as it relates to our middle-class families, our working-class families. Now this project has broken its promises. But I do believe that because I was supportive of it at the very beginning doesn’t mean I gave up my o...