The battle over a living wage has heated up with all of its supporters trying to pressure Speaker Quinn to let the bill come to an up or down vote at the Council. As the advocates of the legislation point out, "Yet because there is virtually never a contested vote in the overwhelmingly Democratic chamber, the bill's future may hinge not so much on a counting game but rather on whether Speaker Christine Quinn makes it a priority in negotiations with the mayor. The number of backers is not inconsequential, but it will take more than widespread support to give the bill traction."
That being said, it is important to point out that Quinn and the Mayor, or is it the mayor and Quinn, have already supported a living wage when it suits them-on Willets Point, for example: "More recently, the city has entered into agreements linking higher minimum wages to subsidized projects in Greenpoint/Williamsburg and Coney Island in Brooklyn and Willets Point in Queens.
“We're already using wage standards for large-scale projects, and there's no indication they're impeding development,” says Paul Sonn, legal co-director of the National Employment Law Project, citing, for example, the 29 responses the city has received to its request for proposals to redevelop Willets Point."
So, when it comes to the mayor's legacy project, Bloomberg's allegiance to principle is ruled by expedience-as even a Willlets Point supporter understands. Jack Friedman, the head of the Queens Chamber of Commerce feels that a living wage will kill any chance to develop the Iron Triangle, a development that he supports:
"Jack Friedman, executive VP of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, tells GlobeSt.com that the measure would all but kill development, which has already been hit hard in the region. “I can’t imagine Willets Point going forward if the living wage mandate goes forward,” Friedman says. “Because what retailer in their right mind is going to agree to sign leases in a place where they’re going to have to pay their employees 50% more than the people down the block?”
Well Jack. There are a lot more uncertainties surrounding Willets Point than the eventual wages that may be paid to retail workers at the projected mall at the site. Maybe he should be more concerned with the billions of dollars of tax payer money that will go to waste.
In our view, Willets Point-with or without a living wage-is still a boondoggle. But we get a grim kick out of people like Friedman who allege to represent Queens businesses but have no problem with the city condemning the properties of real life local firms-and use billions of tax dollars to do so.
The facts here are that if the city throws enough tax dollars into the Willets Point deal there will be enough gravy to allow for some of that money to do to pay low wage retail workers. But the idea of such a wasteful and environmentally unsustainable effort is an example of crackpot planning-and it should have been tabled long ago.
It was, however, deals like living wage that were crafted in 2008 that allowed the project to be approved by labor-just ask Stu Appelbaum of the RWDSU who threw his support to the development when a living wage was approved. For Friedman to no come out opposed to living wage because it might kill Willets Point is truly an ungrateful act.
But then the entire development reeks of ingratitude to those businesses who have invested so much blood, sweat and tears to the Iron Triangle for decades.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
EDC Phase I Completely Contradicts ULURP Application
We have been discussing why the partial, segmented development of Willets Point is illegal. What we haven't yet discussed, however, is the extent to which city officials-and other supporters of the project-have made the full, comprehensive and complete development of the 62 acres of the Iron Triangle an absolute necessity.
In the following embedded video you will get to see just how strenuously the city argued against any partial development of the Willets Point area-with serial prevaricator Robert Lieber leading the charge claiming that, because of the flood plain nature of the land, the "high water table," and the years of soil contamination, the project could not be developed in a piece meal fashion. Lieber told the city council that developing Willets Point was a, "transformative exercise," that must be dealt with, "in its totality."
Not to be outdone, EDC's Senior Vice President Thomas McKnight told CB #7 that because of the extensive nature of the environmental clean up, "those kinds of comprehensive things can't really happen with the businesses there...We want to redevelop the entire Willets Point district."
Queens BP Helen Marshall, reading from the EDC script given to her, told the City Planning Commission that Willets Point, "must proceed comprehensively, and Not be phased in." Finally there's UpChuck Apelian, the chair of CB#7, who told his board that, "the site Must be remediated as one complete site."
Well what has changed, and why is EDC proceeding in a manner that it said was environmentally proscribed three years ago? The only possible answer to this is the fact that WPU's intervention on the ramps introduced a high level of uncertainty for the city's crack development team-and the new Phase I was and is a desperate attempt to end run, not only proper traffic reviews,but EDC's own prescriptions for an environmentally sound development plan.
It is hard to conceive of how this will all pass a legal challenge from WPU. In the end the city and EDC's own words will serve to convict them of a fraudulent attempt to rewrite history in order to promote an environmentally unsound development at the expense of small property owners.
In the following embedded video you will get to see just how strenuously the city argued against any partial development of the Willets Point area-with serial prevaricator Robert Lieber leading the charge claiming that, because of the flood plain nature of the land, the "high water table," and the years of soil contamination, the project could not be developed in a piece meal fashion. Lieber told the city council that developing Willets Point was a, "transformative exercise," that must be dealt with, "in its totality."
Not to be outdone, EDC's Senior Vice President Thomas McKnight told CB #7 that because of the extensive nature of the environmental clean up, "those kinds of comprehensive things can't really happen with the businesses there...We want to redevelop the entire Willets Point district."
Queens BP Helen Marshall, reading from the EDC script given to her, told the City Planning Commission that Willets Point, "must proceed comprehensively, and Not be phased in." Finally there's UpChuck Apelian, the chair of CB#7, who told his board that, "the site Must be remediated as one complete site."
Well what has changed, and why is EDC proceeding in a manner that it said was environmentally proscribed three years ago? The only possible answer to this is the fact that WPU's intervention on the ramps introduced a high level of uncertainty for the city's crack development team-and the new Phase I was and is a desperate attempt to end run, not only proper traffic reviews,but EDC's own prescriptions for an environmentally sound development plan.
It is hard to conceive of how this will all pass a legal challenge from WPU. In the end the city and EDC's own words will serve to convict them of a fraudulent attempt to rewrite history in order to promote an environmentally unsound development at the expense of small property owners.
EDC UnPhased
As the NY Daily News is reporting, NYC EDC is proceeding with its segmented development of Willets Point-still claiming, against all evidence and logic, that this mall intensive phase doesn't need the as yet unapproved Van Wyck ramps:
"The city has started its search for a developer to transform Willets Point from a gritty industrial zone into a bustling mix of retail, housing and hotel space.
The Economic Development Corp. issued a request for proposals yesterday inviting developers to submit plans to turn a portion of the 62-acre site - known as "Phase 1" - into a "mixed-use, sustainable community and regional destination."
Take a look at the description of this phase: "The plan for Phase 1 includes 680,000-square-feet of retail space, up to 400 housing units, a hotel and 2 acres of open space and parking, EDC officials said. The agency estimates that Phase 1 of the project will create 1,800 permanent jobs and 4,600 construction-related jobs."
So EDC is cramming more retail into this partial development than either of the Gateway Malls that Related has built in Brooklyn and the Bronx, but the traffic will be fine. How do it know? Well, it knows because that the same charlatans over at URS/EngWongTaub/AKRF say that it is so and everyone is well aware of just how righteous these folks are. After all, the ramp delay is a direct result of their stellar analysis.
All of which makes Wrong Way Ferreras's support of this Phase all the more comical. She knows what the traffic will be like but she chooses to ignore this so she can be rewarded by the mayor and speaker with a half loaf of bread, How sad that the people of Corona and East Elmhurst are represented by a marionetta.
But make no mistake about it. This Phase is an illegal segmentation and the "Technical Memo" used to support it is as bogus a document as EDC has ever utilized to justify its land grab-and that saying a lot if you have ever taken a look at the original ramp report.
What we are discovering from all of this sleight of hand is that there is nothing that this Blooomberg-data-driven mad-government will do to falsify stats for its own self service. A day of reckoning just might be coming for these frauds-as well as their liars for hire.
"The city has started its search for a developer to transform Willets Point from a gritty industrial zone into a bustling mix of retail, housing and hotel space.
The Economic Development Corp. issued a request for proposals yesterday inviting developers to submit plans to turn a portion of the 62-acre site - known as "Phase 1" - into a "mixed-use, sustainable community and regional destination."
Take a look at the description of this phase: "The plan for Phase 1 includes 680,000-square-feet of retail space, up to 400 housing units, a hotel and 2 acres of open space and parking, EDC officials said. The agency estimates that Phase 1 of the project will create 1,800 permanent jobs and 4,600 construction-related jobs."
So EDC is cramming more retail into this partial development than either of the Gateway Malls that Related has built in Brooklyn and the Bronx, but the traffic will be fine. How do it know? Well, it knows because that the same charlatans over at URS/EngWongTaub/AKRF say that it is so and everyone is well aware of just how righteous these folks are. After all, the ramp delay is a direct result of their stellar analysis.
All of which makes Wrong Way Ferreras's support of this Phase all the more comical. She knows what the traffic will be like but she chooses to ignore this so she can be rewarded by the mayor and speaker with a half loaf of bread, How sad that the people of Corona and East Elmhurst are represented by a marionetta.
But make no mistake about it. This Phase is an illegal segmentation and the "Technical Memo" used to support it is as bogus a document as EDC has ever utilized to justify its land grab-and that saying a lot if you have ever taken a look at the original ramp report.
What we are discovering from all of this sleight of hand is that there is nothing that this Blooomberg-data-driven mad-government will do to falsify stats for its own self service. A day of reckoning just might be coming for these frauds-as well as their liars for hire.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Develop This!
Both Crain's and the WSJ are reporting on EDC's decision to put out an RFP for developers for the phony Phase1 at Willets Point-and the city has yet to put a price tag on this white elephant for New York's beleaguered tax payers. As WPU's Jake Bono told the Journal:
"The people here don't want to sell their land," said Jake Bono, whose family has owned property in the area for more than 70 years. "The whole thing is going to be subsidized by city and taxpayer money" while the city is preparing for budget cuts that will result in teacher and firefighter layoffs, Mr. Bono said. "Where is the priority for the city?"
EDC is playing with fire-exercising a kind of brinkmanship that may ultimately get it into trouble with the courts. This phased development is a violation of every assertion that EDC made when the project was approved. As WPU's lawyer Mike Gerrard told Crain's:
“We think this is premature,” said Michael Gerrard, senior counsel of Arnold & Porter, who represents 10 businesses that have been fighting for years to halt the Willets Point redevelopment. Some of Mr. Gerrard's clients are actually located in the first phase, he noted. “The project is still in legal limbo due to continuing uncertainty over whether the city will receive approval for the Van Wyck ramps that are essential to the project, which was approved as a whole, not something that could be broken into chunks or phases.”
Remember that Deputy Mayor Leiber had told the city council that this development could simply not be segmented because of the need to remediate the entire 62 acres all at once-just another self serving lie in a long list. And the WSJ recognizes-without much elaboration-that the city has other hurdles remaining-those stinkin' ramps again:
"The Willets Point plan has other legal issues outstanding. Critics of the plan contend that the city isn't allowed to build entrance ramps to the Van Wyck Expressway that is needed for the project. In August 2010, the New York Supreme Court denied the property owners request for an injunction to block the project. The city and the property owners head back to court in July. Michael Gerrard, an attorney representing businesses in Willets Point, said it was "premature" for city to move forward given the legal challenges unresolved."
Gee, shouldn't the Journal have elaborated on this point and the fact that we're going back to court because Judge Madden issued an Order to Show Cause? Kinda left its readers in the dark over the fact that the judge was peeved by having been lied to by the former deputy mayor-a story that the paper decided wasn't newsworthy when it broke last month.
We're glad to see, though, that EDC still has its finely honed sense of humor: "We're confident in the timeline for development that we have laid out," a spokeswoman with the EDC said." Which timeline is that? The one that the city had originally laid out with the ramps being approved in the winter of 09?
In our view the fat lady hasn't even begun to gargle on this development-and we anticipate that EDC is throwing itself into a briar's patch that only a certain rabbit could extricate himself from. Don't know what EDC's timeline is, but we think they should publish it forthwith so we can all laugh at its presumption down this road to perdition.
"The people here don't want to sell their land," said Jake Bono, whose family has owned property in the area for more than 70 years. "The whole thing is going to be subsidized by city and taxpayer money" while the city is preparing for budget cuts that will result in teacher and firefighter layoffs, Mr. Bono said. "Where is the priority for the city?"
EDC is playing with fire-exercising a kind of brinkmanship that may ultimately get it into trouble with the courts. This phased development is a violation of every assertion that EDC made when the project was approved. As WPU's lawyer Mike Gerrard told Crain's:
“We think this is premature,” said Michael Gerrard, senior counsel of Arnold & Porter, who represents 10 businesses that have been fighting for years to halt the Willets Point redevelopment. Some of Mr. Gerrard's clients are actually located in the first phase, he noted. “The project is still in legal limbo due to continuing uncertainty over whether the city will receive approval for the Van Wyck ramps that are essential to the project, which was approved as a whole, not something that could be broken into chunks or phases.”
Remember that Deputy Mayor Leiber had told the city council that this development could simply not be segmented because of the need to remediate the entire 62 acres all at once-just another self serving lie in a long list. And the WSJ recognizes-without much elaboration-that the city has other hurdles remaining-those stinkin' ramps again:
"The Willets Point plan has other legal issues outstanding. Critics of the plan contend that the city isn't allowed to build entrance ramps to the Van Wyck Expressway that is needed for the project. In August 2010, the New York Supreme Court denied the property owners request for an injunction to block the project. The city and the property owners head back to court in July. Michael Gerrard, an attorney representing businesses in Willets Point, said it was "premature" for city to move forward given the legal challenges unresolved."
Gee, shouldn't the Journal have elaborated on this point and the fact that we're going back to court because Judge Madden issued an Order to Show Cause? Kinda left its readers in the dark over the fact that the judge was peeved by having been lied to by the former deputy mayor-a story that the paper decided wasn't newsworthy when it broke last month.
We're glad to see, though, that EDC still has its finely honed sense of humor: "We're confident in the timeline for development that we have laid out," a spokeswoman with the EDC said." Which timeline is that? The one that the city had originally laid out with the ramps being approved in the winter of 09?
In our view the fat lady hasn't even begun to gargle on this development-and we anticipate that EDC is throwing itself into a briar's patch that only a certain rabbit could extricate himself from. Don't know what EDC's timeline is, but we think they should publish it forthwith so we can all laugh at its presumption down this road to perdition.
Monday, May 9, 2011
WPU Questions Eligibility of Claire Shulman’s Funding Lackeys
Given the fact that EDC has now issued its RFP for the illegal Phase 1 development of Willets Point, WPU is raising the issue of the legality of developers who are members of Shulman's LDC, and who financed illegal lobbying, participating in the RFP announced by NYCEDC.
This is not a minor point be any means. The NYS Attorney general is investigating the legality of using LDCs to lobby on behalf of city projects and if the office decides to chastise EDC for its funding efforts it would raise serious issues as to whether those firms who have partnered with Shulman’s group should be allowed to munch on fruit from their poisonous tree.
During testimony on October 17, 2008 before the New York City Council Subcommittee on the potential disqualification of LDC Members Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber could not rule out the possibility that "members of the board of the LDC" – presumably Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation ("FWPCLDC"), which unlawfully lobbied to influence legislation contrary to § 1411, and which also unlawfully concealed its lobbying activities – would be prohibited from bidding to become developers of the proposed Willets Point development, when NYCEDC would eventually issue its Request For Proposals ("RFP") pertaining to that development.
Hearing Transcript - Planning 101708
All of this was deliciously captured on video as a visibly perturbed Lieber answered the question from CM Monserrate. As those board members in part financed FWPCLDC activities which have been shown to be unlawful, the board members now must not be permitted to profit from any ill-gotten gains, especially by being awarded the developer contract for a project on behalf of which FWPCLDC unlawfully attempted to influence legislation which embodies the project's approval.
Of the 29 respondents to NYCEDC's prior RFQ concerning the Willets Point development -- which was a precursor to today's RFP, and from which NYCEDC was to select firm to receive the RFP -- the following respondents were full-fledged "Members" of Shulman's LDC:
(1) Ciampa Organization
(2) Muss Development LLC
(3) Sterling Equities (Mets)
(4) TDC Development (F&T Group)
In addition, the following RFQ respondents are identified as "Supporters" of Shulman's LDC, at the web site of Shulman's LDC:
(1) Albanese Organization, Inc.
(2) CPC Resources, Inc.
(3) Douglaston Development
(4)Triangle Equities
The press needs to ask EDC who its select group of bidders may be, and if these colluders with the development corporation have been made eligible to bid in spite of their collusion. Our exit question: What would happen if all of this was subject to a RICO indictment?
The Perfidy of Julissa Ferreras
It was once said by Karl Marx that history repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. It might have been referring to CM Julissa Ferreras. Nothing could be more emblematic of Marx's observation than the replacement of CM Hiram Monserrate by Julissa Ferreras. When we last saw the council member she was supposedly advocating for an oversight hearing on Willets Point-apparently convinced that the review process was not adequate and that the project might have a deleterious impact on her district.
That was then and this is now. CM Ferreras has a statement that is included in the EDC RFP press release-of all places: "This project has been delayed for too long and we must move forward so my district gets much needed relief thru jobs and affordable housing. This RFP is the start in making it a reality. Phase 1 is essential in furthering the economic growth of my district and I look forward to working with all parties every step of the way," stated Council Member Julissa Ferreras."
Et tu Julissa? There is no question that the ethically challenged Monserrate had his problems, but the citizens of Corona are ill served by his double talking replacement-someone who is now willing to put dialing for dollars with the mayor over independent and honest representation of all her constituents; including the workers she has pretended to champion.
Ferreras knows what a traffic knighmare Willets Point will mean for her district in the long run, but puts her own short term advantage over the public good. As Marx might say, what a farce she is.
That was then and this is now. CM Ferreras has a statement that is included in the EDC RFP press release-of all places: "This project has been delayed for too long and we must move forward so my district gets much needed relief thru jobs and affordable housing. This RFP is the start in making it a reality. Phase 1 is essential in furthering the economic growth of my district and I look forward to working with all parties every step of the way," stated Council Member Julissa Ferreras."
Et tu Julissa? There is no question that the ethically challenged Monserrate had his problems, but the citizens of Corona are ill served by his double talking replacement-someone who is now willing to put dialing for dollars with the mayor over independent and honest representation of all her constituents; including the workers she has pretended to champion.
Ferreras knows what a traffic knighmare Willets Point will mean for her district in the long run, but puts her own short term advantage over the public good. As Marx might say, what a farce she is.
Response to EDC's RFP on Willets Point
In keeping with its heavy handed, unethical and quite possibly illegal behavior, EDC has issued an RFP for developers for the bogus Phase I on Willets Point. This spit in the face of SC Justice Joan Madden, who has scheduled a hearing on the city's phased end run of its pledge to not move forward until ramps off the Van Wyck are approved, is not surprising, since any agency that would lie to the court in the first place is not one that should be expected to act either prudently or ethically in any of its actions.
Put simply, EDC cares not one whit about the Judge's hearing and appears certain that it will have its ramp approval before the July 20th hearing is scheduled to be held. We'lll see about that. EDC is also wrongfully sanguine about the legality of the segmented Phase I itself-and appears confident that it can simply bully ahead as if its prior statements, pledges, and environmental assertions are of little concern-tossed into the memory hole never to be seen again.
Interestingly enough, EDC will not tell anyone who among the development community is actually invited to bid on this illegal phase. We understand that only a select elite are invited from among those who answered the original RFQ-and the city refuses to disclose any of the relevant responses to the RFQ so all can see what the "qualifications" are of any of the developers invited to respond.
Given the fact that a cadre of developers have been funding Claire Shulman's illegal LDC, it would serve the public interest to know which among them is included among the invitees. And while we're discussing Ms. Shulman could there be a more disgusting display of cronyism than State Senator Toby Stavisky's paean to the former BP that EDC included in its press release?
We don't know what is worse, the fact that Lickspittle Stavisky made the homage to the illegal lobbyist, or the fact that EDC had the chutzpah to include it in its release. After all, EDC was the sponsor of the illegal effort and includes this in what appears to be a direct affront to the attorney generals office that still has an open investigation of the entire affair.
Our advice to the developers is to keep your powder dry and hold your money until the legal dust clears on all of this. EDC will be held to account for its underhandedness, and we plan to be around to see it happen.
Put simply, EDC cares not one whit about the Judge's hearing and appears certain that it will have its ramp approval before the July 20th hearing is scheduled to be held. We'lll see about that. EDC is also wrongfully sanguine about the legality of the segmented Phase I itself-and appears confident that it can simply bully ahead as if its prior statements, pledges, and environmental assertions are of little concern-tossed into the memory hole never to be seen again.
Interestingly enough, EDC will not tell anyone who among the development community is actually invited to bid on this illegal phase. We understand that only a select elite are invited from among those who answered the original RFQ-and the city refuses to disclose any of the relevant responses to the RFQ so all can see what the "qualifications" are of any of the developers invited to respond.
Given the fact that a cadre of developers have been funding Claire Shulman's illegal LDC, it would serve the public interest to know which among them is included among the invitees. And while we're discussing Ms. Shulman could there be a more disgusting display of cronyism than State Senator Toby Stavisky's paean to the former BP that EDC included in its press release?
We don't know what is worse, the fact that Lickspittle Stavisky made the homage to the illegal lobbyist, or the fact that EDC had the chutzpah to include it in its release. After all, EDC was the sponsor of the illegal effort and includes this in what appears to be a direct affront to the attorney generals office that still has an open investigation of the entire affair.
Our advice to the developers is to keep your powder dry and hold your money until the legal dust clears on all of this. EDC will be held to account for its underhandedness, and we plan to be around to see it happen.
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