Monday, October 17, 2011

Developing a Headache

The Observer is reporting on the uphill development slog at Willets Point and there's one point that we'd like to comment on: the putative investigation being done by the NYS Attorney General. Here's what the paper alleges about our slick friends over at TDC:

"The TDC bid has also elicited howls from opponents of the project, led by the holdout property owners group Willets Point United. It argues that TDC should be barred from participating because it was part of the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp., a nonprofit organization partially funded by the city that advocated for the redevelopment. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating whether the LDC illegally lobbied for the project."

How long can a law enforcement office investigate a cold blooded shooting committed in plain day light? We've said this time and time again, the law is clear that an LDC cannot influence legislation-anywhere, anytime. So why is the AG taking so long, and is there really an investigation "ongoing?" Beats us, and we met with the office and heard the party line firsthand.

And if there is an investigation why couldn't the AG confirm as such to the comptroller and the Department of State?-and do so before the state committed over a million and a half dollars to this investigated LDC. Shulman and her developer pals must be laughing their asses off at this phony posturing-all the way to the bank.

So we suggest that Senor Schneiderman give up his Buster Keaton Keystone Kop routine and bring all of this to a head. He's suppose to not be intimidated by the powers that be-not! And as for Related, when is the anti-Wal-Mart crowd going to get its act together and go after this Willets Point charade? At the end of the day it is clear that all of the unions who supported the project were played like fools.

This entire development symbolizes everything that is wrong with the Bloomberg administration-insider trading, speculative development, cooked books, and the shafting of the little guys. The Observer gets the last word: "Numerous challenges remain for the firms, even beyond the challenges of remediating a toxic site F. Scott Fitzgerald once referred to as the Valley of Ashes...As if centuries of pollution weren’t headache enough."