Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Earlier this month, New York magazine published an illuminating, somewhat sympathetic profile of King Carl of Canarsie: The gothic saga of Brooklyn power broker Carl Kruger, a state senator who loved a gynecologist and his family so much he was willing to sell his influence for them. It allowed Kruger to half-explain how he slipped into corruption, clawing his way up from neglect (he was put up for adoption but returned to his mom) and poverty--and it provoked several (mostly anonymous) commenters, as noted below, to observe that Kruger was dirty a lot longer. And, though Atlantic Yards is unmentioned, the Kruger saga provides excruciating context for the (then)-Senator's over-the-top support for Atlantic Yards, support that, at least in retrospect, seems provoked not by Brooklyn pride, or jobs, but something more. It's not clear whether (guilty) lobbyist Richard Lipsky 's payments to Kruger were predicated on support for Atlantic Yards, but Kruger pleaded guilty  to,...

I had questioned whether the corruption charges regarding Carl Kruger's involvement with a "Brooklyn developer" meant Atlantic Yards, but apparently they do. However, they do not indicate that the developer initiated illegal payments (or knew about them) from FCR-paid lobbyist Richard Lipsky to Kruger. Rather, they portray a chummy relationship between Kruger and FCR Executive VP Bruce Bender, who not only tried to get money for Atlantic Yards--for the Carlton Avenue Bridge the developer is supposed to fund -- but for the Lakeside Center project in Prospect Park. (Bender's wife is on the Board of Directors of the Prospect Park Alliance and the Benders, like many others, have raised money for Prospect Park.) Though the conversation between Kruger and Bender occurred last December, the charges cast in new light some of Kruger's over-the-top support for Atlantic Yards, including his serenade at a May 2009 Senate hearing, or his Brooklyn aria at an August 2006 en...

Remember how a Forest City Ratner executive,  asked  in July 2009 if the would seek more subsidies, responded, “Forest City does not expect to ask for more subsidy?" Not only did Executive VP later request $10 million more in housing subsidies, so too did Executive VP Bruce Bender try to get state funds to repair the Carlton Avenue Bridge the developer was  supposed to fund . The corruption charges that surfaced in March 2011 against then-state Senator (and now-imprisoned) Carl Kruger portrayed a chummy relationship between Kruger and Bender, who not only tried to get money for the bride but also for the Lakeside Center project in Prospect Park. (Bender's wife is on the Board of Directors of the Prospect Park Alliance.) Though the conversation between Kruger and Bender occurred in December 2010, the charges cast in new light some of Kruger's over-the-top support for Atlantic Yards, including his Brooklyn aria at an August 2006 environmental re...

Southern Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger , he of the big political war chest and questionable allegiances (e.g., the "Three Amigos" insurrection in Albany), has long carried Forest City Ratner's water on Atlantic Yards. And while a reported federal corruption investigation of Kruger does not apparently touch on Atlantic Yards, it suggests some more dubious behavior on the part of the Senator--though parties involved say that's not so. In an article yesterday headline Brooklyn Senator a Focus of Federal Corruption Inquiry , the Times reported: Federal investigators are examining whether Senator Carl Kruger, one of the State Legislature’s most powerful members, sought campaign contributions in exchange for political favors, according to court filings and people briefed on the case. Mr. Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn who has amassed the Senate’s largest campaign account, declined to comment on the investigation. But a Senate Democratic spokesman confirmed Friday t...

With the expected indictments of Brooklyn State Sen. Carl Kruger and lobbyist Richard Lipsky on corruption charges--not related to Atlantic Yards, at least so far (but see below)--the ranks of Atlantic Yards supporters/enablers with a taint keep growing. ( Photo by Adrian Kinloch) Quick: former Assemblyman Roger Green had to resign (and run again) after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor; Darryl Greene, Forest City Ratner's consultant on minority hiring, had to withdraw from the Aqueduct "racino" project because of his record of mail fraud; Carpenters Union official Sal Zarzana was cited by a court-appointed monitor for inappropriate expenditures; Carpenters Union official John Holt was cited for obstructing an investigation and giving false answers to an investigator. The charges The New York Times reports : State Senator Carl Kruger, a powerful and at times controversial Brooklyn Democrat, is expected to turn himself in on Thursday to federal authorities in Manhattan...

The mayor's office has quietly indicated  (as per  Queens Crap)  the demise of Forest City Ratner's  Four Sparrows project , once touted as housing a Wal-Mart: The Four Sparrow Marsh Retail Center at Mill Basin project has been withdrawn as of September 2011. It's unclear why, but the project has been tainted by corruption charges. About 15 acres were to be retail, including an existing Toys 'R' Us, and 46 acres formally mapped as parkland. This fit into Forest City's m.o.: getting the inside track on potentially valuable public property and then getting the zoning changed. Here's the  Draft Scope  for an environmental impact statement and here's the  Environmental Assessment Statement . Here's a  photo  of the vacant city-owned site, by Adrian Kinloch, which shows why environmental and park advocates were  alarmed . Here's some  previous   coverage  of the issue. Touched by corruption charges Does "withdr...

Sixteen-year Southern Brooklyn state Senator Carl Kruger pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting at least $1 million in bribes--thus supporting his over-the-top residence in Mill Basin and a Bentley--and resigned from the Senate. The news coverage ( Times , Daily News , Post ), the more entertaining editorials ( Daily News , Post )  and Michael Powell's Times column ,  emphasized Kruger's self-pitying, pathetic, tearful apology, while the Daily News (as did the Observer ) pointed to a culture of corruption in Albany. Indeed, Kruger gets to keep his pension. Neither Kruger's brief allocution nor any of the news coverage mentioned Kruger's interaction with "Real Estate Developer #1" (as detailed beginning on p. 21 of the the 3/9/11  complaint ), aka Forest City Ratner. However, Kruger's guilty plea apparently included admitting that he helped deliver state funds to a cause championed by Forest City Ratner executive Bruce Bender, part of the legislator...

Room 8 blogger Gatemouth, aka Howard Graubard, has a couple of very interesting posts on the charges against state Senator Carl Kruger, Assemblyman William Boyland, and lobbyist Richard Lipsky First, in Restling With Our Rights, or Lincoln Suspends the Constitution (Due Process for Electeds, Part One) , he criticizes District Leader Lincoln Restler, who became the first pol to call for the elected officials' resignations before a trial But he's no supporter of Kruger, not at all. He writes: Carl Kruger and I go back a long way. I’ve despised Carl ever since 1984. Brooklyn Democrats were then in the midst of a leadership war between the forces of Borough President Howard Golden and the late Tony Genovesi, fighting a series of proxy wars across the County. The anecdote continues for a while, leading to this: I then looked at an angry looking bald man watching us warily. Having already been through a morgue of newspapers clippings looking for dirt on Maisel’s associates, I said th...

In Media Runs With Kruger Gay Stories: Activists' charge indicted anti-equality senator is closeted finally surface , Gay City News reports on the mainstream media's willingness--for the Times, tentative, for the Post, certain--to finally look closely at some evidence that seemed to have been staring at them in the face: Shortly after Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger joined seven other Democrats in voting against New York’s marriage equality bill in December 2009 –– dooming it to a 38-24 loss –– a busload of LGBT activists descended on two homes blocks apart where Kruger either claimed to live or in fact resided, with some picketers loudly decrying him for being closeted. In the wake of Kruger’s indictment March 10 on federal charges of taking more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for political favors, the story of Kruger’s homosexuality –– indeed accounts that he is lovers with the son of a woman who was often his companion in public –– have made it into the mainstream ...

In lobbyist Richard Lipsky's guilty plea yesterday, there was no mention of Atlantic Yards or the unnamed developer, Forest City Ratner, that was among his clients. It was about paying referral fees to now-disgraced Sen. Carl Kruger for clients Kruger directed his way, and then expecting Kruger to help him in Albany. Though the indictment and legal complaint  indicated that Kruger allocated $500,000 to a client of Lipsky--actually the allocation was at the request of Forest City Ratner executive Bruce Bender, but to his wife's charitable cause--there was no evidence of whether Kruger did so at Lipsky's request. Lipsky, whose Neighborhood Retail Alliance blog was frozen after he was charged last March, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of bribery. Though he faced a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, Crain's  reported  that Lipsky made a d...

The ironies pile up. Just as the process for development over railyards in Manhattan and Brooklyn raises questions about the process behind the Atlantic Yards approval, so does some news out of Coney Island. Monday's night's Coney Island Development Corporation information meeting was canceled because of an overflow crowd ready to criticize the Bloomberg Administration's redevelopment plan, as reported by Omar Robau on Kinetic Carnival . An overflow crowd at the Atlantic Yards public hearing last year meant many interested parties from the immediate neighborhoods were shut out by groups bused in by project supporters. Yes, there were additional "community forums," but they didn't get the same media attention, and many people just gave up. (One forum, of course, was on the day of the primary election.) Kruger's campaign The leader of the opposition to the Coney Island plan was State Sen. Carl Kruger, who even said, according to Robau, "This is a back...

I can't believe everyone missed this. More than two weeks before the state Senate hearing on Atlantic Yards, where state Sen. Carl Kruger, oddly enough, was accusing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of intransigence as Forest City Ratner tried to reduce its obligations to pay cash and provide and upgraded railyard, Kruger telegraphed his stance in a press release. The press release issued May 13 (though I'm not sure when it was actually posted), is headlined DON’T STAND IN THE WAY OF ATLANTIC YARDS, SEN. KRUGER TELLS MTA . It's notable for its bizarre inversion of reality and Kruger's assurances, since demolished, that the project would be built as promised with benefits as promised. Kruger, a Democrat with an untouchable seat, has been a recipient of Forest City Ratner campaign contributions and comes out of the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club, which produced Forest City Ratner aide Bruce Bender. The press release The press release begins: Senator Carl...

Though state Senator Carl Kruger has certainly helped developer Forest City Ratner over the years, and the charges described last week certainly put that help in a new light, the federal complaint does not show Kruger allocating funds to the developer. Sure, he seemed willing, but he didn't have enough money, so what he did have went to a Prospect Park project requested by Forest City Ratner Executive VP Bruce Bender. That might be seen as much as helping an old crony as anything else. Senate leaders bend to Bender? Still, another look at the complaint suggests some shocking--at least to those who believe what they learned in civics class--behavior from a Senate staffer, apparently at the behest of "Senate Leader #1." Who's that? Apparently Senator John Sampson (as identified in news coverage), who has had supporters use Forest City Ratner offices for a fundraiser. That staffer was willing to essentially outsource government "pork" directly to Bender, le...