EAST HARLEM ALLIANCE OF RESPONSIBLE MERCHANTS LAWSUIT DISMISSED BY COURT

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2010/2010_07227.htm

The NYS Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously affirmed the dismissal of all claims made by EHARM in their fight against the East Harlem M/E/C LLC. East 125th Street project; despite the misuse of municipal might, power, and procedure to take private, productive commercial property and hand it over to a secretly selected development group, beset by trouble.

Justice Catterson issued a separate statement warning that: “In my view, the record amply demonstrates that the neighborhood in question is not blighted, that whatever blight exists is due to the actions of the City and/or is located far outside the project area, and that the justification of under-utilization is nothing but a canard to aid in the transfer of private property to a developer.

Unfortunately for the rights of the citizens affected by the proposed condemnation, the recent rulings of the Court of Appeals in Matter of Goldstein v. New York State Urban Dev. Corp., 13 NY3d 511, 893 N.Y.S.2d 472, 921 N.E.2d 164 (2009) and Matter of Kaur v. New York State Urban Dev. Corp., 15 NY3d 235, —- N.E.2d —— (2010), have made plain that there is no longer any judicial oversight of eminent domain proceedings. Thus, I am compelled to concur with the majority.”

We are responsible owners,” said Fancy Dry Cleaner’s Damon Bae, one of the property owners who filed the Petition and a spokesman for the group. “We maintained our land and grew our businesses over the past decades, but we are also being victimized by the City. The City neglects its own property, and then cries ‘blight’ so it can take our property and give it to some politically connected developer.”

“What all this points to is that a rich guy can pay his way to hire the government to seize private land so that he can make more money”, said Bae. “Say for example that you had a single-family house in a large parcel of land that was passed down from generation to generation in what all of a sudden became the next up and coming neighborhood. A large developer with deep pockets can now come in, make significant payments to a few very well connected individuals, hire the government to call
your house “underutilized” (since after all, you are only one family occupying a large parcel of land only for yourself, while a large condo building can be built that can house 100 families) and have your house condemned. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Scary, but this is what is going on today in America, the land of opportunity.*

East Harlem Property Owners “Sold-Out” by Former NYC EDC President Michael Carey

Members of the East Harlem Alliance of Responsible Merchants “EHARM” continued their fight last week against the City's planned use and abuse of eminent domain in connection with the East 125th Street Project in East Harlem. EHARM sued the City in State Supreme Court in Manhattan in December 2008 to halt the project and the proposed taking. The City responded to the suit in March.

EHARM served its reply last week after discovering explosive information suggesting that the entire approval process was tainted by a conflict of interest involving the former President of the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The Developer chosen in secret but not revealed until minutes after the final approvals were secured was East Harlem M/E/C LLC, which consists of Archstone-Smith (which was funded by Lehman Brothers), General Growth Properties (which filed for bankruptcy in April, 2009 and now has pulled out of the project) and the Richman Group.

Documents recently obtained by EHARM now confirm that Archstone-Smith, General Growth, and the Richman Group made payments in 2007 and 2008 to the Carey Group, LLC totaling $297,669.40 for “lobbying,” Further, the "targets" for these payments are confirmed in filed documents to include the EDC with the purpose of the payment confirmed to be "procurement." When the development team was finally publicly disclosed on October 7, 2008 (after the final approvals were granted by the City Council), Mayor Bloomberg 's press release reported the Carey Group, LLC, to be a "member" of the "development team," but the City has more recently back-pedaled from that assertion, now referring to the Carey Group as a "consultant" to the developer.

The Carey Group principal and namesake, Michael Carey, touts on the company website that he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel to the EDC from 1997-1999, the President of EDC from 1999-2002 and then served as a Special Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg himself before starting his new practice. In fact, during his tenure as the President of EDC, Michael Carey also openly asserts that he oversaw the “revitalization of East 125th Street.”

According to Fancy Cleaners' Damon Bae, “It now comes as no surprise that this particular development group was chosen. There can be no doubt that this was a highly suspect process."

According to Attorney David MacCartney, "EHARM has alleged from the start that the City and EDC have abused power and procedure on many levels. This new information confirms and vindicates our position. The City and EDC acted in secret to benefit private parties led by an 'insider' which received almost $300,000 from financially troubled developers to influence the process. Worst yet, the unseemly process resulted in City approvals missing any assurance that this secretly chosen developer would ever have to deliver any of the promised public benefits used to justify the project."

A copy of the reply papers is online at http://www.eastharlempreservation.org/docs/E125Street.htm.