In this morning's WSJ the paper reports on the questions surrounding the now two and a half year old investigation into the illegal activities of Claire Shulman's phony LDC-a group formed to advance the interests of developers:
"The New York State Department of State awarded a Queens development group a $1.5 million grant, despite a continuing investigation by the Attorney General into allegations that the group conducted an extensive lobbying effort in violation of state law.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office said last month it couldn't block the grant because the comptroller's office couldn't confirm the Attorney General is investigating the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp., a group led by former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman."
But why exactly couldn't the comptroller determine whether the AG was investigating?-and what does that say about the nature of the so-called investigation? "It was unclear why the comptroller's office was unable to determine the status of the investigation. Danny Kanner, a spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the probe remains active, but declined to comment further."
What makes this truly opaque-and raises questions about the conduct of the AG, his office, and the genuineness of his investigatory effort, is that in communications between the AG and the Department of State one Loren Kittilsen of the AG's office told DOS, in essence, and incorrectly, that no one at the AG's office knew anything about any investigation. It is not just that DOS could not confirm the investigation but rather that the AG's office affirmatively provided inaccurate information to DOS that cannot be reconciled with information it provided to WPU and now to the Wall Stret Journal.
This is beginning to look as if a special prosecutor is going to be needed to sort this all out-but Shulman, bathing luxuriously in all of her illegality, continues plowing ahead:
"Ms. Shulman's group is using the grant money to hire a consultant. The group has invited the public to attend on Tuesday a public meeting about the redevelopment plans at Flushing Town Hall. "We're going full steam ahead on this project," Ms. Shulman said in an interview. "This is really for the benefit of the community and I would hope that we will continue it—I see no reason why we shouldn't," she said. "The Willets Point people, they don't want to leave, and they will strike at whatever they can."
Benefit for the community? Don't make us laugh. Since when is TDC the community? Or the Mets Foundation? Or the Muss Organization? Shulman is the madam for a corporate capitalist brothel-and she's masquerading as the Red Cross.
And why shouldn't she act with impunity when the investigators are acting like Inspector Clouseaus? What the Journal has left out is any mention that WPU attended meetings and otherwise corresponded with AG office staff responsible for the investigation, right after Kittilsen told DOS that no one knew anything about an investigation. The irreconcilable behaviors of the AG's office are so striking; why was this salient fact omitted?
What is clear is that the AG needs to step up because it looks as if his office is either being dishonest or incompetent-not exactly how the state's chief law enforcement officer wants to be seen. As it stands now an illegal lobbying entity has now been funded by both the city and the state to advance private real estate interests-can you say crony capitalism? All to the detriment of property owners that dowager Shulman patronizingly spits on.
We'll give Jerry Antonacci the last word on this farce:
"Gerald Antonacci, who represents Willets Point Untied, wrote in a recent letter to Mr. Schneiderman that the Department of State and comptroller's office have "fiduciary responsibilities to insure that public funds are not disbursed" to a group that is the subject of a pending investigation. Without a ruling from the attorney general, he said, Ms. Shulman's group has continued "operating with impunity."
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Civics 101 and Willets Point
In the Civic Corner from the Times Ledger News paper we get the following observations from Bob Harris about Willets Point from the Kissena Park Civic Association newsletter:
"Vice President Dr. Carsten Glaeser of the Kissena Park Civic wrote a page about a public hearing related to the city Economic Development Corp.’s plan to build a new city on the 65 acres of the Iron Triangle in Willets Point...Glaeser wrote of the current concerns of Bayside and Flushing residents of the “known quality-of-life issues that already exist in this town from noise and air pollution, overcrowding in the streets and schools, garbage, filth and stench generated in commercial downtown Flushing and the mother of all quality-of-life issues, vehicle and truck traffic and pollution ....”
These concerns of course cannot be seen apart from what the city has planned for nearby Willets Point-as the good doctor pointed out: "He wrote of the concerns about the independence and accuracy of the studies which support the proposed construction, which were made by residents who testified at the latest hearing. It seems our business-oriented City Hall, wants a rebuilt Willets Point."
Concerns about the accuracy of government evidence is well founded at any time, but especially in the case of Willets Point where we have uncovered gross negligence and fraud at the highest levels of EDC. Mr. Harris for his part sees the development as unneeded and unwanted-and decries the use of eminent domain: "When this project was first proposed years ago, this column was against the proposal of the government to use eminent domain to take private property in the Iron Triangle for use by private business corporations to “improve the area.”
What this tells us is that there is a great disconnect between the civic groups of Queens and their representatives-folks who are all too willing to sell out their own communities in the name of "development." Harris' Civic Corner, them serves as a civic virtue in reminding us of how suspicious the people of Queens are about Bloomberg's Willets Point White Elephant.
"Vice President Dr. Carsten Glaeser of the Kissena Park Civic wrote a page about a public hearing related to the city Economic Development Corp.’s plan to build a new city on the 65 acres of the Iron Triangle in Willets Point...Glaeser wrote of the current concerns of Bayside and Flushing residents of the “known quality-of-life issues that already exist in this town from noise and air pollution, overcrowding in the streets and schools, garbage, filth and stench generated in commercial downtown Flushing and the mother of all quality-of-life issues, vehicle and truck traffic and pollution ....”
These concerns of course cannot be seen apart from what the city has planned for nearby Willets Point-as the good doctor pointed out: "He wrote of the concerns about the independence and accuracy of the studies which support the proposed construction, which were made by residents who testified at the latest hearing. It seems our business-oriented City Hall, wants a rebuilt Willets Point."
Concerns about the accuracy of government evidence is well founded at any time, but especially in the case of Willets Point where we have uncovered gross negligence and fraud at the highest levels of EDC. Mr. Harris for his part sees the development as unneeded and unwanted-and decries the use of eminent domain: "When this project was first proposed years ago, this column was against the proposal of the government to use eminent domain to take private property in the Iron Triangle for use by private business corporations to “improve the area.”
What this tells us is that there is a great disconnect between the civic groups of Queens and their representatives-folks who are all too willing to sell out their own communities in the name of "development." Harris' Civic Corner, them serves as a civic virtue in reminding us of how suspicious the people of Queens are about Bloomberg's Willets Point White Elephant.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Budget Cuting and Willets Point
The NYC budget prospects are looking quite grim. The Daily Politics has the story:
"Mayor Bloomberg’s budget officials notified some City Council members this morning that they plan to order across-the-board cuts of every city agency — including the NYPD and the education department. They plan to slash 2% from agency budgets in the current fiscal year that ends next June, two sources said. The cuts are expected to save $500 million for the cash-strapped city. "
Yes "cash strapped city" has an ominous ring to it, doesn't it? So why are we allowing the city to speculate with the Willets Point development when across the board cuts are chopping away at vital city services-even the police? And the shortfall is $1.5 billion: "Hizzoner also plans to propose much deeper whacks — a 6% slam — for next FY to save $1.5 billion."
But that's because Bloomberg the Mayor is such a sharp fiscal manager, right? Still, with all this cutting that's going on no one has asked the administration to put a number on the cost of Willets Point-looking more and more like Bloomberg's Solyndra.
The last word belongs to Deputy Mayor Holloway-and his observation should prompt the city council to emerge from its slumber and ask the pointed but necessary questions: “We’re looking at extreme economic uncertainty and State and Federal governments that are likely to further cut funds they return to the City. We’ve preserved services essential to maintaining safety and quality of life to this point through prudent planning and a willingness to make the hard decisions, and we’ll do that again this year," said Cas Holloway, Deputy Mayor for Operations."
"Mayor Bloomberg’s budget officials notified some City Council members this morning that they plan to order across-the-board cuts of every city agency — including the NYPD and the education department. They plan to slash 2% from agency budgets in the current fiscal year that ends next June, two sources said. The cuts are expected to save $500 million for the cash-strapped city. "
Yes "cash strapped city" has an ominous ring to it, doesn't it? So why are we allowing the city to speculate with the Willets Point development when across the board cuts are chopping away at vital city services-even the police? And the shortfall is $1.5 billion: "Hizzoner also plans to propose much deeper whacks — a 6% slam — for next FY to save $1.5 billion."
But that's because Bloomberg the Mayor is such a sharp fiscal manager, right? Still, with all this cutting that's going on no one has asked the administration to put a number on the cost of Willets Point-looking more and more like Bloomberg's Solyndra.
The last word belongs to Deputy Mayor Holloway-and his observation should prompt the city council to emerge from its slumber and ask the pointed but necessary questions: “We’re looking at extreme economic uncertainty and State and Federal governments that are likely to further cut funds they return to the City. We’ve preserved services essential to maintaining safety and quality of life to this point through prudent planning and a willingness to make the hard decisions, and we’ll do that again this year," said Cas Holloway, Deputy Mayor for Operations."
EDC Much Too Un-Phased
Crain's is reporting that a number of bidders are lining up for the extra-legal Phase I that EDC has concocted in order to end run the fact that they have still been unable to obtain regulatory approval for Van Wyck ramps that the agency swore were essential for the viability of the Willets Point project: "Two major developers and the Mets' owners' real estate firm are among the firms that submitted proposals for the right to redevelop Willets Point, sources said."
Where the hell is the city council in all of this chicanery? Hiding under their desks as Queen Quinn flexes her muscles in anticipation of a quixotic mayoral bid. Oh, we know that she's polling pretty well now but when the voters get to see her in all her political ungainliness-and her cheek to cheek dancing with the mayor will be no benefit when the time comes-they will spit her ambitions out like tainted sea food.
This is the "leader" who won't even allow a hearing for Peter Vallone's bill on tracking the mayor when he sneaks out of town-and in the case of Willets Point, leading from behind becomes her specialty. The simple fact is that Phase I may be all there is if the ramps aren't approved-and this violates what the council approved three years ago. Quinn, however, can do nothing substantive since her movements are restricted by having to carry the mayor's coat-along with his water.
But the Crain's story does bring up the elephant in the room-the fact that the at least two of the developers, but particularly TDC,were subsidized by tax payer money to lobby for the project's approval:
"The Queens-based Times Ledger reported last month that Flushing-based TDC Development also made a bid. Opponents of the development cried foul at TDC Development's proposal because the firm played a role in the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp., a nonprofit organization of private and public sector stakeholders seeded partially with city funds that advocated for the redevelopment.
“The city was paying for private developers to lobby,” said a spokesman for Willets Point United. "
Well it seems that our prosecutors are too preoccupied by all the low hanging fruit to go after the well heeled malefactors like the mayor-and possibly a governor who colluded with him to close off an investigation into the whole sordid affair.
What's missing of course is any one minding the store and watching the cost of this White Elephant. The city doesn't have the money and going forward at his juncture is irresponsible-not to mention probably illegal as well. One thing's for sure: The Mighty Quinn will not mess with the porridge being eaten by the mayor and the Queens Democratic Party-quite a change from those heady organizing days in Hell's kitchen.
Where the hell is the city council in all of this chicanery? Hiding under their desks as Queen Quinn flexes her muscles in anticipation of a quixotic mayoral bid. Oh, we know that she's polling pretty well now but when the voters get to see her in all her political ungainliness-and her cheek to cheek dancing with the mayor will be no benefit when the time comes-they will spit her ambitions out like tainted sea food.
This is the "leader" who won't even allow a hearing for Peter Vallone's bill on tracking the mayor when he sneaks out of town-and in the case of Willets Point, leading from behind becomes her specialty. The simple fact is that Phase I may be all there is if the ramps aren't approved-and this violates what the council approved three years ago. Quinn, however, can do nothing substantive since her movements are restricted by having to carry the mayor's coat-along with his water.
But the Crain's story does bring up the elephant in the room-the fact that the at least two of the developers, but particularly TDC,were subsidized by tax payer money to lobby for the project's approval:
"The Queens-based Times Ledger reported last month that Flushing-based TDC Development also made a bid. Opponents of the development cried foul at TDC Development's proposal because the firm played a role in the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp., a nonprofit organization of private and public sector stakeholders seeded partially with city funds that advocated for the redevelopment.
“The city was paying for private developers to lobby,” said a spokesman for Willets Point United. "
Well it seems that our prosecutors are too preoccupied by all the low hanging fruit to go after the well heeled malefactors like the mayor-and possibly a governor who colluded with him to close off an investigation into the whole sordid affair.
What's missing of course is any one minding the store and watching the cost of this White Elephant. The city doesn't have the money and going forward at his juncture is irresponsible-not to mention probably illegal as well. One thing's for sure: The Mighty Quinn will not mess with the porridge being eaten by the mayor and the Queens Democratic Party-quite a change from those heady organizing days in Hell's kitchen.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
WPU's August 17th, 2011 court appearance
From the Queens Examiner:
Michael Gerrard, an attorney with the law firm Arnold & Porter, which is representing Willets Point United, argued that the city deliberately misled the court when it claimed it could not go forward without the ramps, and instead began eminent domain proceedings and began moving forward on phase one without the approval.
“It should not be without consequence when the city makes a promise to the court and it violates that promise,” Gerrard told Madden.
Gerrard also argued that the city could complete phase one, and then not be able to finish the rest of the project because it never obtains approval for the ramps, a scenario which was never taken into consideration in the initial environmental impact statement.
“If phase one of the project goes forward now, and the ramps are not approved, who knows what the impacts will be,” he said. “The technical memorandum said what happens at the end of phase one, but it does not say what will happen after that.
“It doesn't say what will become of the rest of the project in the years that follow the completion of phase one,” Gerrard added. “That was nowhere analyzed.”
Sunday, September 25, 2011
NY Post's Dead Horse
The NY Post is lashing out at Comptroller Liu for fingering the profligate ways of the unaccountable EDC:
"City Comptroller John Liu dumped a bowlful of ugly on New York last week, accusing a city agency of sitting on $9.3 million meant for job creation, mostly in The Bronx, where unemployment is 12% and rising.
The bulk of the cash -- 95% -- was earmarked for The Bronx’s Harlem River Rail Yard project but hasn’t been spent by the city’s Economic Development Corp. “It makes little sense that millions intended for economic development remain unused for so long,” said Liu, “especially in The Bronx, where jobs are greatly needed.”
This observation of Liu's gets the Post into high dudgeon: "Full stop. The job-slaughtering Liu has absolutely no standing to lecture anyone about jobs in that battered borough. And if he’s looking for reasons The Bronx is so desperately starved for jobs, he should start by looking in the mirror."
What sin did Liu commit? Well it seems as if he's responsible for the fall of the Kingsbridge Armory: "Liu’s leadership as a member of the City Council helped implode a $310 million plan to build a mall in The Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory, which would have created 2,200 jobs in retail and construction.Back in 2009 he listened to union bosses -- rather than ailing Bronxites -- and voted to kill the Armory deal because developers wouldn’t buckle to labor and guarantee salaries there that were 50% above the state’s minimum wage."
This is all quite comical to us. First to label Liu as the mover and shaker for what the entire legislature decided-it's not as if Liu was the tie breaking vote on an overwhelming rejection of this form of crony capitalism-is plain dumb. But beyond dumb is the Post's view that the project would have created those couple of thousand jobs-without raping and pillaging from the existing businesses in and around the Armory. Maybe the Post didn't see the Juan Gonzales postmortem on the Gateway Mall-the one that found that those thousands of projected jobs came in at lower than 1,000-after EDC gave the property away to a friend of Dan Doctoroff!
Secondly, the Post does not discuss the role of EDC in this debacle and the decision to use millions in tax payer subsidies to make this project go forward. It was always going to be an example of the misuse of public funds which should rarely be used to subsidize retail malls that compete with local business.
So kudos to Liu for holding EDC's feet to the fire. Now the comptroller should set his sights on the Willets Point boondoggle-something that makes the misguided armory project look like little more than a candy store heist.
"City Comptroller John Liu dumped a bowlful of ugly on New York last week, accusing a city agency of sitting on $9.3 million meant for job creation, mostly in The Bronx, where unemployment is 12% and rising.
The bulk of the cash -- 95% -- was earmarked for The Bronx’s Harlem River Rail Yard project but hasn’t been spent by the city’s Economic Development Corp. “It makes little sense that millions intended for economic development remain unused for so long,” said Liu, “especially in The Bronx, where jobs are greatly needed.”
This observation of Liu's gets the Post into high dudgeon: "Full stop. The job-slaughtering Liu has absolutely no standing to lecture anyone about jobs in that battered borough. And if he’s looking for reasons The Bronx is so desperately starved for jobs, he should start by looking in the mirror."
What sin did Liu commit? Well it seems as if he's responsible for the fall of the Kingsbridge Armory: "Liu’s leadership as a member of the City Council helped implode a $310 million plan to build a mall in The Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory, which would have created 2,200 jobs in retail and construction.Back in 2009 he listened to union bosses -- rather than ailing Bronxites -- and voted to kill the Armory deal because developers wouldn’t buckle to labor and guarantee salaries there that were 50% above the state’s minimum wage."
This is all quite comical to us. First to label Liu as the mover and shaker for what the entire legislature decided-it's not as if Liu was the tie breaking vote on an overwhelming rejection of this form of crony capitalism-is plain dumb. But beyond dumb is the Post's view that the project would have created those couple of thousand jobs-without raping and pillaging from the existing businesses in and around the Armory. Maybe the Post didn't see the Juan Gonzales postmortem on the Gateway Mall-the one that found that those thousands of projected jobs came in at lower than 1,000-after EDC gave the property away to a friend of Dan Doctoroff!
Secondly, the Post does not discuss the role of EDC in this debacle and the decision to use millions in tax payer subsidies to make this project go forward. It was always going to be an example of the misuse of public funds which should rarely be used to subsidize retail malls that compete with local business.
So kudos to Liu for holding EDC's feet to the fire. Now the comptroller should set his sights on the Willets Point boondoggle-something that makes the misguided armory project look like little more than a candy store heist.
Bloomberg's Contracted a Disease
The other day we commented on the city council's move to restrict outsourcing-citing the WSJ article: "The City Council is expected to approve legislation aimed at reining in the billions of taxpayer dollars that are spent annually on outside contracts, a move that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration contends will increase government inefficiency and bureaucracy."
Well, it appears as if the stopped clock council is telling the right time on this issue because now we have found out-via the NY Times-that another city computer initiative has hit the competency shoals: "Soon after becoming mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg announced a plan to modernize the computer system that handles personnel information for New York City’s vast work force. The $66 million project was to be one of the signature technological innovations of his tenure. Nine years later, his administration has already spent $363 million — and the work is far from done."
On the heels of the CityTime scandal we have this-and how pathetic is this when it comes from an administration whose leader has amassed a freakin' fortune exploiting computer technology! But the culprit here is a lack of managerial acumen-and the use of outside contractors who apparently were left to their own devices:
"The administration has pressed ahead despite repeated warnings that the project is deeply troubled, according to a review of thousands of pages of city records, as well as dozens of interviews with officials and private contractors. The administration’s own internal monitors regularly filed reports detailing chronic mismanagement, cost overruns and rampant waste."
Mismanagement and rampant waste procured by the richest man in the room. How droll. But the most shocking accusation-from someone who was in the room and should know-is one of incompetence: "It was a runaway project,” said Raj Agarwal, a city official who managed the early stages of the new system before resigning in frustration over what he saw as the administration’s incompetence."
Is this going to be the Bloomberg legacy? That he couldn't manage to get the computers running on time-and under budget? But this gets to the heart of the outsourcing debate-and as we said yesterday it is not about who gets to do the work but the money spent and the oversight of the work:
"The administration has already weathered a scandal surrounding another sprawling project, CityTime, which was supposed to revamp the city’s payroll operations. The little-known tale of the personnel system offers fresh evidence that Mr. Bloomberg, who made his fortune revolutionizing information technology for Wall Street, has had difficulty carrying out a pledge to do the same with city government.
In both projects, the administration, bent on proving that outside consultants could improve the workings of government, ignored clear signs that the projects were foundering, the interviews and records show.
“No sense of economy, efficiency or value is evident in any area of the project,” the administration’s contract monitors wrote about the personnel system in March 2003, according to an internal report obtained under the Freedom of Information Law."
Third Term Mike has got a lot of explaining to do-and his early self praise can now be repeated as mockery: "City Council members questioned the costs, but Mr. Bloomberg saw high-tech innovation as his mandate. “The people that thought I had the skills to be the mayor at this period would say, ‘Yes, that is one of the reasons we wanted Bloomberg,’ ” he said in 2002. “ ‘He modernizes things and brings people together with technology.’ ”
Well, as far as CityTime is concerned he's probably right since a number of those contractors will be spending a lot of time together-in federal prison. But what's clear is that the mayor's management style of delegating stuff to others is lacking-and that New Yorkers should never have given him another four years.
Which brings us back to Willets Point-where we have an unaccountable development agency outsourcing consulting work that is also unaccountable-unaccountable for any degree of accuracy. Or, in our view, unaccountable squared!
Three years after the city council approved the development NYC EDC is still stuck in the mud-in a ditch right below the off ramp.-and no one in the Bloomberg camp has yet to give this fiasco a price tag. Perhaps when this hapless sucker leaves office his successor will total up the bill-get appropriate sticker shock-and send this fantasy land project to the circular file.
Well, it appears as if the stopped clock council is telling the right time on this issue because now we have found out-via the NY Times-that another city computer initiative has hit the competency shoals: "Soon after becoming mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg announced a plan to modernize the computer system that handles personnel information for New York City’s vast work force. The $66 million project was to be one of the signature technological innovations of his tenure. Nine years later, his administration has already spent $363 million — and the work is far from done."
On the heels of the CityTime scandal we have this-and how pathetic is this when it comes from an administration whose leader has amassed a freakin' fortune exploiting computer technology! But the culprit here is a lack of managerial acumen-and the use of outside contractors who apparently were left to their own devices:
"The administration has pressed ahead despite repeated warnings that the project is deeply troubled, according to a review of thousands of pages of city records, as well as dozens of interviews with officials and private contractors. The administration’s own internal monitors regularly filed reports detailing chronic mismanagement, cost overruns and rampant waste."
Mismanagement and rampant waste procured by the richest man in the room. How droll. But the most shocking accusation-from someone who was in the room and should know-is one of incompetence: "It was a runaway project,” said Raj Agarwal, a city official who managed the early stages of the new system before resigning in frustration over what he saw as the administration’s incompetence."
Is this going to be the Bloomberg legacy? That he couldn't manage to get the computers running on time-and under budget? But this gets to the heart of the outsourcing debate-and as we said yesterday it is not about who gets to do the work but the money spent and the oversight of the work:
"The administration has already weathered a scandal surrounding another sprawling project, CityTime, which was supposed to revamp the city’s payroll operations. The little-known tale of the personnel system offers fresh evidence that Mr. Bloomberg, who made his fortune revolutionizing information technology for Wall Street, has had difficulty carrying out a pledge to do the same with city government.
In both projects, the administration, bent on proving that outside consultants could improve the workings of government, ignored clear signs that the projects were foundering, the interviews and records show.
“No sense of economy, efficiency or value is evident in any area of the project,” the administration’s contract monitors wrote about the personnel system in March 2003, according to an internal report obtained under the Freedom of Information Law."
Third Term Mike has got a lot of explaining to do-and his early self praise can now be repeated as mockery: "City Council members questioned the costs, but Mr. Bloomberg saw high-tech innovation as his mandate. “The people that thought I had the skills to be the mayor at this period would say, ‘Yes, that is one of the reasons we wanted Bloomberg,’ ” he said in 2002. “ ‘He modernizes things and brings people together with technology.’ ”
Well, as far as CityTime is concerned he's probably right since a number of those contractors will be spending a lot of time together-in federal prison. But what's clear is that the mayor's management style of delegating stuff to others is lacking-and that New Yorkers should never have given him another four years.
Which brings us back to Willets Point-where we have an unaccountable development agency outsourcing consulting work that is also unaccountable-unaccountable for any degree of accuracy. Or, in our view, unaccountable squared!
Three years after the city council approved the development NYC EDC is still stuck in the mud-in a ditch right below the off ramp.-and no one in the Bloomberg camp has yet to give this fiasco a price tag. Perhaps when this hapless sucker leaves office his successor will total up the bill-get appropriate sticker shock-and send this fantasy land project to the circular file.
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