Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

So accidental Gov. Kathy Hochul is raking in the cash, having deterred both Attorney General Letitia James and former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio from challenging her, and she relies, as always, on real estate, along with various political action committees. She's way ahead of announced candidates Jumaane Williams, the NYC Public Advocate, seeking name recognition in an off-year, and Nassau County Rep. Tom Suozzi, who might wisely withdraw and run for re-election. Real estate showers Hochul with cash , the Real Deal reported 1/20/22: With at least $4.6 million from prominent New York building owners and developers, Hochul’s haul for the upcoming election blows away what Andrew Cuomo collected from the industry during his final run for governor, The Real Deal’s analysis of campaign disclosures found. All of the top real estate donors have business interests that depend directly or indirectly on state support. Some have projects on or beside state-controlled land or venues: airports , ...

The New York Times on 12/8/21 published  De Blasio Fought for 2 Years to Keep Ethics Warning Secret. Here’s Why. , with the subheading" Mayor Bill de Blasio was warned that he created an “appearance of coercion and improper access” by directly contacting donors who had business before the city." The lead: When Bill de Blasio first took office as mayor of New York in 2014, he called two powerful real estate developers who had active projects in the city, and asked them to donate money to a nonprofit organization that he had created to advance his political agenda.  The request to help his nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, seemed to violate the city’s ethics law, and a ban against asking for contributions from people who had business pending with the city. Within months of his solicitations, Mr. de Blasio was formally warned by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board [COIB] — in a previously undisclosed letter — not to repeat the behavior.  But even after that warnin...

So now that everyone's wondering about Mayor-in-waiting Eric Adams, it's worth a recap of his shifting but ultimately supportive posture of the Barclays Center and Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. And that suggests that he will do what he can to ensure future ribbon-cuttings, while perhaps ensuring some additional public benefits--whether meaningful or a mere gesture, we shall see. The early days Some 18 months after Atlantic Yards was announced in December 2003, the battle for public opinion was continuing. In June 2005, the minister-led Downtown Brooklyn Leadership Coalition, working with Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), promoted a "March to City Hall," with the lead article by Bob Law, a radio host, Prospect Heights merchant, and ally of Council Member Barron, who considered the proposed Community Benefits Agreement “corrupt.”  To Law, project supporters like the Rev. Herbert Daughtry (an Adams mentor) had backed "wealthy White powerbrokers," while...

So, we just had a (yet unresolved) primary election with a lot of candidates for Mayor/Borough President/City Council/etc., many who persevered though, after a certain point, they were clearly not serious contenders.  It's not easy to run for office, so in one sense they deserve kudos---- and the mayoral candidates, for example, had to develop sophisticated policy platforms. Then again, some candidates may be running not to win, but, depending on the office, to position themselves for a run at a later date, or to get a job in a new administration.  And the public spent nearly $110 million on it. As Daily News columnist Harry Siegel  put it , the "generous public matching funds [made] each campaign its own little patronage operation." Was it worth it? This is two months worth of police overtime in the City. Spending on the institutions of representative democracy - elected representative and their staff, election infrastructure, matching funds - remains one the best ...

The New York Times on 7/29/19 published Emily Badger's  How ‘Developer’ Became Such a Dirty Word , subtitled "It’s a demonized group, yet there are few solutions for the housing shortage that don’t at least partly involve more development." That's true, and it's also true that time tends to buff the development examples of the past in our memory--consider the adulation toward Rockefeller Center, which during its time, as author Daniel Okrent described , was the product of political clout and public relations wizardry. But the latter tactics are part of why developers today provoke significant skepticism, a theme largely absent from the article--though not the comments. but seriously, the question is not "are all developers bad?" It is "who benefits?" and "who controls the process? — Oksana (@OksanaMironov) July 29, 2019 Most important, developers don't get paid until project is finished & sold/leased. In some metros, th...

Developers and landlords poured cash into Cuomo campaign , Crain's New York Business reported 7/17/19, indicating that a disproportionate share from real estate went to Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the state Legislature pursued rent regulation and closed the LLC loophole. Several real estate figures gave $25,000 or more, and the article cites "Forest City Ratner's Bruce Ratner" as among those contributing $10,000. Indeed, that's Ratner's most recent campaign contribution, made in June, and he maintained the same MetroTech address, as shown in the screenshot below. However, Forest City--whether Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York or Forest City Enterprises/Forest City Realty Trust--doesn't exist anymore, having been absorbed at the end of last year by Brookfield Asset Management. And while Ratner may own some income-producing real estate ( such as 500 Sterling ) separately from his former company, his main role these days is as chairman of the Muse...

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...

All campaign contributions are fungible, right? Newsday reported 7/17/18, in  Mangano used $900,000 from campaign fund to pay his defense attorney : Former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, facing an October retrial on federal corruption charges, paid $900,000 from campaign funds to his criminal defense attorney during the first half of the year, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday with the state board of elections. Actually, the campaign account, Friends of Ed Mangano, has paid the law firm some $1.23 million since May 2015, as the filings show. And Mangano has raised $2.8 million just since 2014. A curious Ratner contribution But I want to remind people of what I wrote in May 2014: how Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner, who the previous August won the nod to revamp the Nassau Coliseum, did not--according to state campaign finance records--contribute directly to the successful re-election campaign of Nassau County Executive Mangano, who fav...

There are some interesting twists regarding the compromise announced this past Tuesday (11/21/17) regarding more affordable housing at the Bedford-Union Armory project, including some very misleading advertising (with no sanction?), a candidate apparently unwilling to disavow that advertising, and an Atlantic Yards boomerang. Council Member Laurie Cumbo announced a victory: "I fought to remove 48 luxury condominiums, deepened the bands of affordability by securing approximately 250 housing units for low-income and formerly homeless families - quadrupling the affordable housing that was proposed in the original plan, with at least $1.25 million annually in programmatic engagement at the Armory. Additionally, I am proud that a dozen not-for-profit organizations and athletic providers will have a new home at the Armory alongside anchored tenant, Brooklyn Medical Plaza, who will provide quality affordable healthcare for the uninsured.  The original proposal included just 67 hom...

Perhaps because its ambitions have scaled back, and perhaps because there are few truly contested races, Forest City New York (aka Forest City Ratner) has a more limited presence, as far as I can tell, in the current political races, than it has in the past . A rundown is below. First, as noted in a recent City Limits article , company Chairman Bruce Ratner ranks tied for 19th among intermediarie s gathering (aka "bundling") contributions for the campaign of Mayor Bill de Blasio, with a $9,900 total. That, by the way, is just $4,950 contributions in January 2016--early in the election cycle--from both Ratner's then-wife, Pam Lipkin, and his sister-in-law, Karen Ranucci. That's consistent with a longstanding pattern . Fun fact: the leading bundler is Arana Hankin, then a senior VP at WeWork (she's moved on), and former Atlantic Yards Project Manager for Empire State Development. The second leading bundler is lobbyist Suri Kasirer of Kasirer Consulting, who co...

It's just a small footnote in the New York City Campaign Finance Board finding that slapped Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2013 campaign with nearly $48,000 in fines for various violations. Included was a $3,200 fine for failing to demonstrate compliance with intermediary reporting and documentation requirements. Campaigns are required to report the intermediary for each contribution that was delivered or solicited by an intermediary. In addition, campaigns are required to provide a signed affirmation statement for each intermediated contribution. Among the 34 financing intermediaries "with outstanding findings" was Robert Sanna, Forest City Ratner's construction chief. He was among 17 intermediaries about which the campaign failed to provide documentation. Sanna's fundraising According to campaign finance records, Sanna helped raise $13,600 for de Blasio's 2013 election, as shown in the screenshot below. Oddly enough, a 1/11/13 $400 contribution from ...

From the New York Daily News's Greg Smith, in De Blasio's deputy Alicia Glen appears to lead the charge of helping donors get what they want : As chairman of Forest City Ratner, another large development company, Bruce Ratner needs city approval for projects. He built Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and is forging ahead with its affiliated Pacific Park development of half market rate, half subsidized affordable apartments. Just to be clear, Ratner needs city and/or state approval; Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park was approved by New York State, but Ratner--now, as part of Greenland Forest City Partners--must negotiate with the city on levels of affordability in the promised below-market apartments. And that is negotiable, as I've written . Note that Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park is to contain 6,430 apartments, with 1,930 condos, perhaps 200 of them below-market, and 4,500 rentals, half of them affordable. Writes Smith: Ratner has hosted two de Blasio campaign fund-raiser...