Ben Haber calls out Gene Kelty

Let Kelty explain Willets Pt. stand
Thursday, May 27, 2010, Times Ledger

Eugene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, was only “75 percent happy” with the city’s plan to relocate three large Willets Point businesses to College Point (“Willets Pt. relocation OK’d,” Flushing Times, May 13-19).

Presumably the missing 25 percent is related to Kelty’s need to have greater recourse in the manner in which the businesses are run to ensure they do not become “bad neighbors.” Under Kelty’s management, CB 7 had no trouble supporting the city’s Willets Point plan to destroy hundreds of small businesses and throw to the winds their thousands of employees and families for the benefit of a private, for-profit real estate developer that made him 100 percent happy.

That Kelty had no concern about the 100 percent unhappiness caused by the destruction of hundreds of small, Willets Point businesses and the loss of a livelihood by their thousands of employees and their families qualifies Kelty, Borough President Helen Marshall and Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his lackeys at the city Economic Development Corp. the true bad neighbors.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

"A land grab by the elite"

From the NY Post:

Next Tuesday, New York's highest court will hear the state's appeal of the decision last December preventing the use of eminent domain in order to forcibly take my family's property and give it to Columbia University, an elite private institution.

Columbia covets my property so it can add it to the rest of 17 acres in the Manhattanville area of West Harlem where it has decided to build a brand new campus.

A lot rides on how the court decides the case. In a little noticed section of the decision, Judge James Catterson ruled against the state's use of eminent domain on the grounds that Columbia's expansion is not a "civic project." The judge agreed with us that a private university doesn't constitute facilities for a "civic project."

A designation that a development is a "civic project" allows the state to "take" people's homes and businesses and add their land to certain specific types of projects. In the past, the courts have routinely held that "civic projects" should include significant public use of the facilities. Examples include a public park, a convention center, even a professional sports arena -- and, of course, a public school.

Never, however, has a court allowed eminent domain to be used purely for the benefit of a private school, college or university. And New York statutes nowhere make any specific reference to allowing this use of state power exclusively for an expansion of a private school.

As the judge noted, "Columbia is virtually the sole beneficiary of the project. This alone is reason to invalidate the condemnation especially where, as here, the public benefit is incrementally incidental to the private benefits of the project."

In short, as a matter of New York law, there is simply no precedent for designating a private university's project a "civic project."

If the Court of Appeals overturns this ruling, it could very well open the floodgates, for the first time ever, of excessive and aggressive expansions by any wealthy, well-connected private school. You could find yourself losing your home or business, wholly against your will, merely because the private school next door wants to build a larger gym or a new cafeteria. This is wrong.

Nick Sprayregen is the president of Tuck- It-Away Self Storage.

WPU will be sending representatives to the rallies and press conferences planned for June 1st in Albany.

Fighting blight designations

From Fox 5:

From Brooklyn to Long Branch, New Jersey, attorneys representing private citizens have been challenging a state's right to take control of a property for public use.

Historically, few challenges were made to the eminent domain law as it involved the creation of railways, expanded public facilites, etc. But in recent years there has been an increase in legal challenges to the law when 'blight' is used as the primary reason by the state for a takeover.

On Friday, Good Day NY spoke with Attorney Bill Ward who has represented property owners in Long Branch.

"The eminent domain process is subect to abuse. Where the controversy comes in is in redevelopment projects under the Local Redevelopment Housing Law (in NJ) that says certain areas of a city are blighted," Ward told co-host Rosanna Scotto.

"What I would like to see is the state legislature tighten the definition of blighted and eminent domain."

In 2005, following a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the states in an eminent domain case, more than 30 reformed their eminent domain laws.

Another great letter courtesy of Ben Haber

Letter to the Times Ledger:

City Comptroller John Liu is to be commended for his audit of the city Economic Development Corp. and, if he is correct, the EDC has been shortchanging the city to the tune of millions of dollars (“Liu finds EDC owes city more than $125M,” Flushing Times, May 6-12).

Lest the public be confused, it must be noted that while the EDC is a city agency, funds improperly withheld by it belong to the city’s general fund and would be available for general city purposes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a similar argument recently in connection to funds collected by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Bloomberg will, of course, make no complaint about the EDC because he approves, if not dictates, what it pursues. The purpose of the EDC as it has operated under the Bloomberg administration is not to create economic growth for the benefit of city residents, but for Bloomberg’s fat cat real estate friends.

The EDC has no interest in the poor, the middle class and the small business owner. A case in point is the EDC’s grant to former Borough President Claire Shulman’s group of $450,000, which has raised questions as to whether it was improperly being used to lobby City Council members to support the mayor’s and the EDC’s plan to destroy the many small Willets Point businesses for the benefit of a private real estate interest.

The time has come to recognize the EDC does not exist as a city agency charged with pursuing that which benefits all city residents, but as a group endowed with taxpayer funds which it uses for the benefit of real estate interests. The EDC must be overhauled with the public having a meaningful say in its operations.

If that cannot be accomplished, the agency should be abolished.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

Don't let the door hit you on the way out...

From the NY Times:

Robert C. Lieber, the former Wall Street executive who has guided the Bloomberg administration’s economic development efforts during the recession, told his staff on Wednesday that he would step down as deputy mayor in June.

Mr. Lieber, 55, who has been in the job since January 2008, has focused on projects including the redevelopment of Coney Island, the city’s takeover of Governors Island and the rezoning of Willets Point in Queens. He also has pushed the city’s economic development strategy beyond big real estate deals to include smaller entrepreneurial initiatives and a number of growing industries.

Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for small businesses who opposed the city’s plan to redevelop Willets Point and to use eminent domain to gain control of the land, said that Mr. Lieber’s approach failed to account for the collateral damage to the neighborhood.

“The deputy mayor and his agency have proceeded in a recession to promote a project that is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and displace scores of small businesses and thousands of workers without any conceivable plan or a developer to implement it,” Mr. Lipsky said.

Mayors and politicians have come and gone over the decades, but we are still here. And we plan on being here for many more decades to come.

Willets Point businesses react to Islanders proposal

Business owners in Queens slam the idea of the Islanders hockey team moving to their area. Videojournalist: Charles Eckert

Bloomberg open to Islanders coming to Queens

Originally published: May 12, 2010 8:51 PM
Updated: May 12, 2010 10:12 PM
By RANDI F. MARSHALL, Newsday
randi.marshall@newsday.com

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg indicated Wednesday that he was open to the idea of the New York Islanders heading to Queens.

"I'd love to have more teams move here," he said at a news conference. "That'd be great."

Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon told Newsday Tuesday he had spoken with Charles Wang, who owns the Islanders, about building an arena for the team near Citi Field. Wilpon also said it remains a possibility he could buy the team.

Wednesday, the Mets confirmed their interest in building an arena that could house the Islanders or a Major League Soccer team. Wilpon was not available for comment.

Asked at a news conference about the possibility of the Islanders moving to Queens, Bloomberg, who did not mention Wang by name, said, "I don't know whether it's just the owner or the team negotiating, using us as a negotiating ploy out on Long Island." The mayor said he hadn't yet talked to the Mets' owners.

Wang did not respond to calls for comment Wednesday.

Despite Wilpon's interest in the Islanders, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray said she's still focused on keeping the team in Nassau County by creating a smaller-scale zone for the Lighthouse Project, the $3.8 billion mixed-use development proposed by Wang and partner Scott Rechler.

Murray said she hopes to have that zone plan completed by June.

"I'm aiming for sooner rather than later," she said. "I'm not looking to drag this thing out, that's for sure."

Murray said she hasn't seen plans for the zone yet, but expects to "very, very shortly."

The Islanders aren't Wilpon's only option if he were to build a new arena near Citi Field. Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said Wednesday he is in preliminary discussions with Wilpon to bring soccer to the area. Said Garber: "Queens is a hotbed of soccer interest."

And the Islanders may not be a perfect match for Wilpon, either. The Mets-owned SNY network wouldn't be able to televise Islander games, because the Islanders' contract with MSG lasts through 2031.

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.

If Wilpon does build a new hockey arena and the Islanders move to Queens, it may mean the end to an arena in Nassau County, experts said. Some pointed to other ideas, from a convention center to a small business incubator for that site. Murray said an arena will be part of the recommended zone.

The potential venture between Wang and Wilpon in Queens comes more than four years after the two vied for the right to develop 77 acres around Nassau Coliseum. Their proposals were similar, although Wilpon was the first to suggest a minor league baseball stadium, which Wang later added.

Wang and Rechler won the bid. "The one thing we didn't have was control of the Islanders," Wilpon said at the time about losing the bid.

Now, with the land still undeveloped, some sources worry that if Wang and Wilpon worked in Queens together, the best possibilities for the Coliseum and its surrounding space would go with them.

"It's like the creativity leaves Long Island and goes to Queens," said Vision Long Island executive director Eric Alexander. "I hope that's not the epitaph."

With Jim Baumbach and Neil Best