Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Pinsky Leaves EDC: The More Things Change…

The Observer is reporting that Seth Pinsky is leaving as head of EDC to go for greener pastures at a NYC real estate firm:

“The waning months of Mayor Bloomberg’s reign are expected to be marked by a series of high-powered departures, as one official after another jumps ship before the mayor leaves office. The latest is Bloomberg stalwart and Dan Doctoroff protégée Seth Pinsky, who is stepping down from the Economic Development Corporation to take a private sector gig with RXR Realty, as the agency announced today.”


This brings to mind Shakespeare’s observation about a character in Macbeth; “Nothing in his life. Became him like the leaving it.” Pinsky played the loyal foot soldier (or foot stool) for all of the mayor’s fronting for the city’s big real estate developers-and in its valedictory the Observer forgets the role li’l Seth played in the illegal lobbying scheme at Willets Point.

Using illegal methods to advance the Willets Point project is being thrust down the historical memory hole-after all, the city has done so much damage to small business and communities that we shouldn’t get all bent out of shape by lawbreaking. Should we?

But what the Observer article underscores is just how much the EDC has become a cat’s paw fro big finance and big real estate: “Mr. Pinsky, who worked as an investment analyst and lawyer, refinancing real estate deals for the big banks as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb before leading the EDC…”

Sure he did, and who is replacing him? “As for Mr. Kimball, who worked as a vice president at both Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan before joining the EDC, the next few months will likely be extremely busy.” Detecting a pattern?

Look at all of Bloomberg’s deputy mayors foe economic development-every single one comes out of the world of Wall Street and high finance. Is it any wonder that the little guys have been pummeled by the Bloomberg regime?