Hakeem and Velmanette stand up
In the ongoing battle over Atlantic Yards, one central critique of good government advocates has been the abject failure of the legislature to do its due diligence and examine whether this project is indeed in the public interest, and therefore worthy of public dollars.
One of the myriad lollipops being thrown at Bruce Ratner is this: a 421-a tax reform bill just passed by the Assembly reformed the 421-a tax break given to developers; now, one must actually build affordable housing to receive tax breaks for it. From Develop Don't Destroy:
The Assembly passed a bill reforming the 36-year old 421-a property tax break. No longer will developers building new construction receive tax breaks when they build all market rate buildings. Now they must provide 20% of the units at "affordable" rates in each building, based on a cap set at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). AMI for New York City is about $71,000 for a family of four (AMI for Brooklyn is about $35,000).
But Bruce Ratner gets a special deal written in clause 13 of the bill. For his Atlantic Yards project, he gets the tax break for his market rate condos. No other developer in the 421-a "Geographic Exception Areas" (which include Central Brooklyn where the project is proposed) will receive tax breaks if they build all market rate.
Mayor Bloomberg has called for a veto of the bill, and now, the two legislators who represent Atlantic Yards in the legislature, Velmanette Montgomery and Hakeem Jeffries, have made their displeasure known in no uncertain terms.
In a letter dated July 6, 2007, they write:
The City and State have presently committed in excess of $300 million in government subsidies to make the Atlantic Yards development possible, notwithstanding significant public discomfort and outright opposition to the project. In order to justify the substantial government subsidies, Forest City Ratner Companies ("FCRC") has consistently touted the "innovative Atlantic Yards housing program," as you have called it.
Pursuant to this housing program, FCRC will build 4,500 rental units, with 2,250 apartments set aside for low and moderate income families. FCRC also plans to build 1,930 condominium units as part of the Atlantic Yards development. On the eve of the Public Authorities Control Board vote in December 2006, FCRC committed to build 200 of these units on-site, as condominiums that are affordable to working and moderate income families. Please confirm in writing by Friday, July 13, 2007 if this is not your understanding.
The 421-a program, as recently pass by the Legislature, if signed by Governor Spitzer, requires 20% affordability at 60% AMI, in any apartment building that receives a tax exemption. However, because of an eleventh-hour, highly -secretive deal negotiated by the Real Estate Board of New York on behalf of FCRC, an Atlantic Yards carve-out provision will permit you to evade these requirements, unlike any other development in the entire City of New York. This preferential, lobbyist-negotiated treatment is completely unacceptable and undermines the integrity of the entire project.
It's unacceptable on good government grounds alone to give preferential treatment to any one party. It's even more galling when a developer receives massive tax breaks and subsidies and then doesn't even have to fulfill the same requirements expected of other developers. This is crony capitalism of the Halliburton variety. Governor Spitzer should veto the bill.
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Atlantic Yards | Urban Development | Bruce Ratner | Hakeem Jeffries | Velmanette Montgomery
Ratner gets it all
Ratner has gotten special treatment from day one and it was COMPLETELY because he was Pataki's Law School buddy and he greased lots of palms in the more corrupt corners of NY politics. Ratner has been given everything on a platter yet as far as I am aware there is nothing binding him to giving anything back. It is crony capitalism at its worst and embarassingly, many Democrats have been as corrupt in the process as Republicans.
And he has already been promised MORE land adjacent to the Atlantic Yards project with minimal review.
It does seem that either things are souring for Ratner now that his puppet Pataki is no longer in charge, or he has overplayed his hand big time. Hakeem Jefferies ran with union support that assumed full support of Ratner. I talked to some of his union supporters on primary day and they said in no uncertain terms that Hakeem was their man because of Atlantic Yards. Yet Hakeem has become something of a critic. What changed? Pataki leaving? Ratner getting too greedy? The revalation that Bloomberg wanted NYC taxpayers to buy the land for Ratner? The revalation that Ratner never even bothered to file a business plan?
Councilman Yassky has also become a critic of Ratner. In his case I think it is the realization that Ratner is being given too much with nothing really coming in return. I got the feeling he still clung to some faith in Ratner during the last election, or at least felt that Ratner was the only game in town. Now he seems to be increasingly disgusted with the sweets being offered Ratner's Jabba-the-Hutt sized appetite and the corruption surrounding Ratner. I think had he said the same things he is saying now back in 2006, he may well have squeaked into Congress.
Bloomberg is also calling for a veto? That's interesting since he wants NYC taxpayers to buy the land for Ratner. Why are some forms of crony capitalism acceptable to him but others not? Or is his switch to Independent reflected in a switch away from crony capitalism altogether? I'd like to see him shed more and more of the Republican sleaze that has surrounded him. But I am skeptical.
Where's Joan Millman and Marty Connor on this? As self proclaimed reformers, I hope they recognize that the sleaze surrounding Ratner is enough to stand with Hakeem and Velmanette on this one.