No Wal-Mart Pledge

Crain's Insider is reporting that Brooklyn pols are trying to elicit the same no Wal-Mart pledge from Related on the Gateway Mall in Brooklyn that the developer has given for Willets Point:

"Brooklyn Pols Seek No-Walmart PledgeRelated and Sterling Equities said last week that there won't be a Walmart at their Willets Point development. In a letter to Related CEO Stephen Ross yesterday, Council members Charles Barron, Tish James and Erik Dilan, Assemblywoman Inez Barron and Community Board 5 Chairman Nathan Bradley asked Related for the same promise about its Gateway II development in East New York. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries may send a similar letter. Related got final approval from the state last month to move forward with Gateway II.

The company has not finalized its tenant mix for the development, a spokeswoman said. The planned 600,000-square-foot large-format retail center differs dramatically from the proposed Willets mall, an enclosed retail and entertainment complex that would not accommodate a Walmart."

Better late than never we suppose, but there's a simpler way to skin this cat. What Brooklyn should do is hold Related and Sterling hostage until the Gateway Wal-Mart exclusion is negotiated. After that, there is enough sleaze in the way the Willets Point project has been forwarded that the city council won't need a Wal-Mart to put a kibosh on the entire illegal mess.