Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

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...

From Wayne Barrett's THE DEAN OF THE SENATE: A commentary on the chronicles of corruption in the state Senate , originally published by City and State 2/12/15: With all the focus on Shelly Silver and his Assembly apparatchiks, let’s not forget New York’s state Senate, where four of the last five majority leaders have been indicted and the fifth, Dean Skelos, is reportedly under investigation. The first, Joe Bruno, got his conviction overturned because the U.S. Supreme Court significantly narrowed the “honest services” he owed his constituents, excluding the $3.2 million in conflict-of-interest consulting fees he collected from clients with public business before him. Pedro Espada was forced to resign as leader the same day he was indicted for embezzling hundreds of thousands from a state-funded nonprofit, using $49,000, for example, to make a down payment on a Bentley. Malcolm Smith, who thought cash bribes were the quickest way to buy himself a ballot line for mayor, is now fac...

City and State has issued its 2015 edition of the New York City Power 100 , and Bruce Ratner and many around him--notably lobbyists--take numerous places in the city's firmament. The editors suggest that the City Council's clout has diminished while "the influence of lobbyists, special interests and the media has grown." Ratner's place Bruce Ratner, Executive Vice President and Director, Forest City Enterprises, nudges up to 42 from 43, with this description: As Mayor Bill de Blasio continues his high-profile push to create or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in the city, Ratner has become a key ally. A supporter of the mayor during the mayoral race, Ratner’s development group—Forest City Enterprises—has established itself as a model for how to execute the 80/20 agreements (80 percent market rate/20 percent affordable) that the administration has been touting. That's an odd summary. After all, outside of the 80 DeKalb tower, I don...

The New York Times has a scoop, Sheldon Silver, New York Assembly Speaker, Faces Arrest on Corruption Charges : Federal authorities are expected to arrest Sheldon Silver , the powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption charges on Thursday, people with knowledge of the matter said. The case is likely to throw Albany into disarray at the beginning of a new session. The investigation that led to the expected charges against Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, began after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in March abruptly shut down an anticorruption commission he had created in 2013. Details of the specific charges to be brought against Mr. Silver were unclear on Wednesday night, but one of the people with knowledge of the matter said they stemmed from payments that Mr. Silver received from a small law firm that specializes in seeking reductions of New York City real estate taxes. Could it reach Ratn...

It's not just that the press has trouble departing from the spoon-fed consensus on Atlantic Yards. So too do elected officials and organizational leaders, either supportive or silent though, for example, the affordable housing--despite Mayor Bill de Blasio's words--skews from the "original promise." Morgan Pehme, the (recently departed ) editor-in-chief of City and State, wrote, in his thoughtful 8/28/14 essay Paging Cincinnatus , about the difficulty in finding models of civic virtue (like the revered Roman ) in New York, people willing to look beyond their own interests to the common good. Ironically, his two admirable examples, former Parks Commissioner and New York Civic head Henry Stern and former MTA rescuer and former Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch, were both unable to utter criticism regarding Atlantic Yards, whether for dubious use of eminent domain, (apparently) free public land, or departures from longstanding promises regarding housing or, say, ...

Perhaps endorsements were less important than longevity and local political activity in the community: , attorney and district leader Jo Anne Simon and lawyer and Senate staffer Jesse Hamilton easily won the Democratic nomination (tantamount to election) in the 52nd Assembly and 20th Senate districts, respectively. As noted by the Times, Simon won 52.9% of the vote compared to 39.9% for Pete Sikora and 7.3% for Doug Biviano. Even had Sikora gotten Biviano's votes--and gadfly Biviano attacked Sikora, not Simon, more vigorously--Simon would have prevailed. With nearly all the votes in, Hamilton got 64.9% of the vote , compared to 29.9% for Rubain Dorancy and 5.2% for Guillermo Philpotts, who was barely a campaign presence. That's a win for Borough President Eric Adams over Mayor Bill de Blasio, too. Cuomo weakness emerges In a seeming rebuke to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's very mixed record, especially on corruption issues, the incumbent won 62.1% of the vote to ...

52nd Assembly District This year, two legislative seats representing parts of Prospect Heights are open, given the retirement of Assemblymember Joan Millman and the ascension of state Senator Eric Adams to the Borough Presidency. So, tomorrow night, Wednesday, August 27, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC) will host a moderated discussion with candidates running for office in Brooklyn’s 52nd Assembly District and 20th State Senate District 52nd Assembly— Doug Biviano , Pete Sikora and Jo Anne Simon 20th State Senate— Rubain Dorancy , Jesse Hamilton and Guillermo Philpotts Moderator—Janet Babin of WNYC When: Wednesday, August 27, 7:30PM Where: Duryea Presbyterian Church, 362 Sterling Place (corner of Underhill Avenue) [Map] The Democratic primary election is Tuesday, September 9. 20th Senate District Community members may submit questions for the panels using Google Moderator. All questions will be reviewed an...

The New York Post reported 8/2014,  Ex-Sampson aide admits to swiping $100K from officials Indicted state Sen. John Sampson has been thrown under the bus to the feds by a former top aide who is also in big trouble with the law, new court papers reveal. Melvin Lowe admitted during confidential meetings with prosecutors that he defrauded the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee out of $100,000 – and gave $75,000 of the money to “Senator #1,” the filing says. A source said “Senator #1” is Lowe’s ex-boss, Sampson (D-Brooklyn), who is fighting charges that he, himself, also committed fraud and tax crimes. Lowe has admitted that he failed to file tax returns for 2010 to 2012, despite earning $923,000. His trial is September 2. As I wrote in July, 2010,  DSCC consultant Lowe, connected to Sampson and Ratner (and Boyland's challenge to Montgomery), racks up the bucks . City Hall News broke the news that "Largely Unknown DSCC Consultant Cleared $300k In Last Year....

At noon on Friday, July 11 is a crucial hearing in the federal lawsuit filed by trainees in a coveted pre-apprentice training program (PATP) promised in the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) via jobs-development group BUILD, or Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development, now defunct after developer Forest City Ratner stopped funding it.  U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York,  225 Cadman Plaza E. , Judge John Gleeson, Courtroom 6C South. The trainees--20 of 36--charge that BUILD CEO James Caldwell falsely promised that, upon finishing the 15-week program, they'd get jobs and union cards. They seek damages for that and seek recovery for weeks of unpaid labor on the training site Caldwell agreed to--an actual job assigned to the contractor, Gausia Jones, who was teaching part of the program.  The hearing concerns motions for summary judgment, as defendant Forest City wants most of the case against it dismissed, which woul...

Forest City Ratner's contributions in 2008 to the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee 's Housekeeping account and last year  to the New York State Democratic Committee are just the tip of the iceberg, with many, many donors giving such unrestricted "soft money" contributions. Though state law says party housekeeping accounts are supposed to be reserved for party-building administrative expenses but not to promote specific candidates, Common Cause/NY has shown that housekeeping expenditures somehow spike each election season for spending on political consultants and campaign-related advertising. "There are no contribution limits on housekeeping accounts, nor does the Board of Elections conduct any meaningful auditing or enforcement of how soft money funds are spent, making them an ideal outlet for New York's most powerful and entrenched special interests to influence New York State government," said Common Cause last August. In 13 years, sp...

A rather self-justifying  Daily News interview with convicted state Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens), who wore a wire to entrap colleagues (no indictments yet), ends with this quote: “If [Sens.] John [Sampson] and Malcolm [Smith] would talk, oh my God,” she said provocatively. “They flip him (Sampson) and you’ll need a special election to elect a whole new damn Senate.” As I've speculated , the dominos could lead to Forest City Ratner, given that Smith was once partners with longtime Forest City consultant Darryl Greene and Melvin Lowe, who also was taped, has worked as a lobbyist and consultant for the developer.

I speculated 4/5/13 whether the political corruption charges against Queens state Senator Malcolm Smith could eventually touch Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, given the close connection between Smith and former business partner, Darryl Greene, who works as a consultant for Forest City on minority contracting. Well, it's been a busy month. Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson, who once held a fundraiser at FCR offices, was charged last week with embezzlement, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Then came the revelation that Queens state Sen. Shirley Huntley, in an effort to reduce an expected sentence for her own corruption, had surreptitiously recorded meetings with seven elected officials and two political operatives, one of whom has worked for Forest City.  The information came from Huntley's lawyer, not law enforcement officials, so the release of names cannot be seen as suspicion of guilt--and many of those recorded have responded that they...

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...

Photo from NY Observer Brooklyn state Senator John Sampson has charged with embezzlement, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, as the New York Times reports : Mr. Sampson is accused of embezzling about $440,000 in funds involving the sale of foreclosed properties that he kept for himself instead of returning to court officials in Brooklyn. Mr. Sampson, who is a lawyer, was serving as a referee in the sale of the properties. Reported the NY Observer : Particularly stunning, [U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch] said, was Mr. Sampson’s attempts to thwart the investigation into thefts. After an unnamed associate’s arrest, she said, Mr. Sampson tried to obtain confidential information about the investigation, “going so far as to counsel lies and the hiding of evidence. At one point, he was recorded saying that if he was able to find out the identities of several cooperating government witnesses, he could arrange to ‘take them out.” Mr. Sampson al...