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Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Atlantic Yards and the Culture of Cheating (links)
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Friday, December 06, 2013
Over the years, Shorris, incoming first deputy mayor, has warned about deferring infrastructure decisionmaking to private sector
Former Port Authority head Anthony Shorris, a veteran government hand, has been named by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio as first deputy mayor. As deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget under Ed Koch, Shorris was, to de Blasio, “one of the central architects of the Koch administration’s affordable housing program."
Of course back then the city was taking property in tax arrears and helping rehabilitate it or sell it--a very different scenario than today. Shorris, as noted by Capital New York, also served as "Koch’s finance commissioner, and then served as deputy chancellor for operations at the Department of Education in the Giuliani and Bloomberg administration."
Shorris very much has mainstream credentials, serving as a Regional Plan Association board member, co-chairing the Fourth Regional Plan, which will map out plans for infrastructure and development
In the Daily News, former Empire State Development Corporation President Avi Schick wrote A great first step for de Blasio: Anthony Shorris, a capable government manager, will be a strong right hand.
I wrote in November 2007 a post headlined Port Authority's Shorris on public works and the Robert Moses of today (guess)
Former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, now head of New York Civic, asked Shorris who were the 2007 equivalents of master builder Robert Moses and 30-year Port Authority head Austin Tobin.
Shorris said, "Well, that’s a good question… The larger answer is we sort of right now we have ceded a lot of that to the private sector. Right now, we expect developers, real estate developers, who will build our train stations and run our ferries… we’ve had a kind of almost a religious obsession with having the marketplace solve all problems, including public works."
"I think any economist would tell you it’s problematic to have public works created by the marketplace, because they’re about market failures. And our ceding all of our leadership to the marketplace in some of these I think has been a problem. So when you ask who are the great public leaders on these things, mostly the big developers right now are all people in the marketplace. In fact, the largest investors in capital are private funds… who make investment decisions about ports and airports and so on."
Shorris continued: I think right now the good news for me… is that [New Jersey Gov. Jon] Corzine, ]New York Gov. Eliot] Spitzer, [New York Mayor Mike] Bloomberg are actually about as good as you’re going to get on these kinds of issues, about being interested in creating great public works, and paying for them, and thinking about economics in a sound way. The tumblers in the lock… have turned and now the question is, can we turn the key and actually start building something again… So this is a pretty good opportunity right now, maybe not to create Moseses and Tobins again, but at least to get the public sector creating the public works the region needs.
As I wrote, Shorris may have had good reasons for optimism, but the Bloomberg administration has relied significantly on the marketplace to build infrastructure; perhaps the Port Authority head was referring mainly to his agency.
Shorris on the boundary between public and private
In April 2009, I wrote Former Port Authority head warns about deferring infrastructure decisions to private entities (and what about AY?). Shorris, then director of the NYU Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation, warned that questions of infrastructure face major and various roadblocks, including a calcified political system, boundary challenges around New York, and the need to balance short-term costs and long-term benefits.
He then made comments that, while not directly about Atlantic Yards, certainly had and have some resonance, especially given that Forest City Ratner has deferred building a deck over the Vanderbilt Yard.
"The fourth challenge that requires rethinking... is the boundary between public and private," Shorris said. "Increasingly we've deferred much of the [infrastructure] decisionmaking to the private sector"--his tone turned sardonic--"and we know by definition the public sector is incompetent and corrupt, unable to make decisions wisely; the only people who can make decisions wisely are clearly bankers."
So, Shorris said, that means we'll let infrastructure decisions be made "essentially by private investors." The future of Moynihan Station, he suggested, would thus be determined by "what's good for [developer] Related's investors. Now, we can continue to do that, and a kind of infrastructure will emerge, but whether those are public goods in the way we'd like them to be public goods, as a result of decisions made by private entities, is not clear, to me, the way we want to go."
Of course back then the city was taking property in tax arrears and helping rehabilitate it or sell it--a very different scenario than today. Shorris, as noted by Capital New York, also served as "Koch’s finance commissioner, and then served as deputy chancellor for operations at the Department of Education in the Giuliani and Bloomberg administration."
Shorris very much has mainstream credentials, serving as a Regional Plan Association board member, co-chairing the Fourth Regional Plan, which will map out plans for infrastructure and development
In the Daily News, former Empire State Development Corporation President Avi Schick wrote A great first step for de Blasio: Anthony Shorris, a capable government manager, will be a strong right hand.
Shorris is familiar face in progressive political circles, but he is not an ideologue. And Shorris is comfortable in the boardrooms of the Partnership for New York City, but he understands that the city’s population is scattered across all five boroughs.Shorris on who builds public works
He has served at all levels of government, most prominently as the city’s finance commissioner and deputy budget director and most recently as the executive director of the Port Authority. I worked closely with Tony when he ran the Port, and while the nature of life and of the jobs we had meant that we didn’t always agree, what I saw up close then will serve the city very well now.
...Tony used to keep a framed portrait of legendary and long-serving Port Authority executive director Austin Tobin above his desk. I remember asking him why, especially since modern politics makes it impossible to fathom serving even half as long as Tobin’s 30 years at the helm. Tony’s response was that it reminded him of the need to think big and grandly and to take the long-view on behalf of the city and its residents, who deserve good government and great amenities and infrastructure.
That ethos should be comforting to those concerned by the departure of the big-idea Bloomberg administration.
I wrote in November 2007 a post headlined Port Authority's Shorris on public works and the Robert Moses of today (guess)
Former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, now head of New York Civic, asked Shorris who were the 2007 equivalents of master builder Robert Moses and 30-year Port Authority head Austin Tobin.
Shorris said, "Well, that’s a good question… The larger answer is we sort of right now we have ceded a lot of that to the private sector. Right now, we expect developers, real estate developers, who will build our train stations and run our ferries… we’ve had a kind of almost a religious obsession with having the marketplace solve all problems, including public works."
"I think any economist would tell you it’s problematic to have public works created by the marketplace, because they’re about market failures. And our ceding all of our leadership to the marketplace in some of these I think has been a problem. So when you ask who are the great public leaders on these things, mostly the big developers right now are all people in the marketplace. In fact, the largest investors in capital are private funds… who make investment decisions about ports and airports and so on."
Shorris continued: I think right now the good news for me… is that [New Jersey Gov. Jon] Corzine, ]New York Gov. Eliot] Spitzer, [New York Mayor Mike] Bloomberg are actually about as good as you’re going to get on these kinds of issues, about being interested in creating great public works, and paying for them, and thinking about economics in a sound way. The tumblers in the lock… have turned and now the question is, can we turn the key and actually start building something again… So this is a pretty good opportunity right now, maybe not to create Moseses and Tobins again, but at least to get the public sector creating the public works the region needs.
As I wrote, Shorris may have had good reasons for optimism, but the Bloomberg administration has relied significantly on the marketplace to build infrastructure; perhaps the Port Authority head was referring mainly to his agency.
Shorris on the boundary between public and private
In April 2009, I wrote Former Port Authority head warns about deferring infrastructure decisions to private entities (and what about AY?). Shorris, then director of the NYU Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation, warned that questions of infrastructure face major and various roadblocks, including a calcified political system, boundary challenges around New York, and the need to balance short-term costs and long-term benefits.
He then made comments that, while not directly about Atlantic Yards, certainly had and have some resonance, especially given that Forest City Ratner has deferred building a deck over the Vanderbilt Yard.
"The fourth challenge that requires rethinking... is the boundary between public and private," Shorris said. "Increasingly we've deferred much of the [infrastructure] decisionmaking to the private sector"--his tone turned sardonic--"and we know by definition the public sector is incompetent and corrupt, unable to make decisions wisely; the only people who can make decisions wisely are clearly bankers."
So, Shorris said, that means we'll let infrastructure decisions be made "essentially by private investors." The future of Moynihan Station, he suggested, would thus be determined by "what's good for [developer] Related's investors. Now, we can continue to do that, and a kind of infrastructure will emerge, but whether those are public goods in the way we'd like them to be public goods, as a result of decisions made by private entities, is not clear, to me, the way we want to go."
After lousy Knicks blow out lousier Nets at Barclays Center, more criticism of coach Kidd
The Nets are lacking injured major plays like Deron Williams, Paul Pierce, Andrei Kirilenko, and Jason Terry, and coach Jason Kidd says evaluations should wait until the team is whole, but a lot of people are weighing in.
ESPN columnist Ian O'Connor wrote Kidd, not Knicks, is laughingstock: Jason was a Hall of Fame player, but as a coach? He's an absolute disaster so far:
Brooklyn Nets executives warned Kidd that running off his mentor/assistant/friend/former head coach Lawrence Frank a mere 17 games into a six-year commitment would make the franchise look more dysfunctional off the court than on it.Poor play vs. indifferent play
"All the consequences were laid out for him," a league source said. And Kidd went ahead and put down Frank anyway, quitting on a rocky relationship because it was the easy thing to do.
So is it any surprise that the Nets quit on Kidd again Thursday night, on national TV and on his home Brooklyn floor with the 3-13 New York Knicks in the house? Kidd isn't only coaching a lousy team. Right now, he's coaching a heartless one, too.
The Knicks won by a 113-83 count, outscoring Brooklyn by 18 points in the third quarter, the quarter that routinely serves as a bottomless pit for the Nets.
You know, the quarter that routinely follows the locker room sessions where coaches like Jason Kidd are supposed to make their halftime adjustments.
..."Lawrence Frank is the guy Jason wanted to bring in; nobody inside pushed it on him at all," the league source said. "The relationship didn't work, and as a manager sometimes you have to work through troubles in relationships. It was building for months, and Jason didn't want to try to work through it anymore.
"So the move was made. And as terrible as it looked, at least this much is clear: It's all on Jason now, and nobody else."
Post columnist Mike Vaccaro wrote Knicks least lousy team in NYC – for now:
In truth, this game reminded you there really is a difference between playing poorly and playing indifferently, not that it’s always evidenced by final box scores and daily standings. The Knicks have played poorly for most of this year, have earned the 4-13 record they carry, but even on nights when they get clobbered there is usually a run — cosmetic as it may be — that makes final scores in games like Portland and Atlanta and Minnesota less gruesome than they ought to be.
The Nets?
They have a glass jaw that is an insult to every tomato can that ever walked into a boxing ring with a glass jaw. They get down and they stay down, and they get down some more, and with one rare exception (the Lakers last week) they end up lapped like an old Pinto racing against a Lamborghini.
One more time: the Knicks led this game by 34 points and won it by 30*.
Thursday, December 05, 2013
Forest City changes modular construction plan, will deliver four mods overnight, raising questions about disruption; no progress reports on bass leaking, illegal parking
Forest City Ratner has billed the modular construction process as not just an effort to save money and time, but also as a way to build with far less impact on the surrounding community, since fabrication of modules (aka “mods”) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard means far fewer truck deliveries to the site.
Still, as Forest City in the next two weeks begins to deliver the first of 900 mods to the B2 construction site at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, the developer announced a distinct change in the delivery plan, which alarmed some neighbors at last night’s bi-monthly Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting. (Update: the deliveries are coming next week, as per Brownstoner.)
Instead of trucking one extra-wide mod--some 15 feet wide by 30 feet long--down Flatbush Avenue overnight to be deposited at the B2 site, as announced last year by Forest City construction chief Bob Sanna, Forest City will deliver four. The change came after discussions with the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT).
While that will cut down the number of daytime deliveries and potential traffic disruption on Flatbush, it also sets up a scenario of potential disruption during the night for residents on Dean Street and nearby Sixth Avenue.
And neither scenario was studied in any official oversight document, since the modular plan was announced after the project was re-approved in 2009. The B2 tower, 32 stories, will have 363 apartments, half of them subsidized, thus 50% market, 30% middle- and moderate-income, and 20% low-income.
Tense exchange
That led to a tense exchange at the meeting. After Dean Street Block Association President Peter Krashes continually questioned the potential impacts, Forest City executive Jane Marshall asked sharply, “Peter, would you like affordable housing to be built at this project?”
“We need to figure out a plan,” she said. “So instead of trying to put obstacles in our way, it would be appreciated if you'd let us do it the right way... and not demand a study on everything.”
Krashes, remaining calm, pointed out that Forest City had promised that it could build the project as proposed. “You're changing the construction process to lessen your costs,” he said, referring to the developer's effort to save on labor, among other things.
“I'm not trying to stop development, I'm trying to get a fair balance," he said. "I don't think it's fair for the community to bear the risks that you set up... by overstating what you are capable of doing... We don't know if this is going to impact the community or not.”
Other highlights
Other highlights at the meeting, held at the 78th Precinct at Sixth Avenue and Bergen Street:
Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri of the 78th Precinct said the police had written over 1200 parking summonses and more than 200 criminal court summonses regarding activity in the orbit of the arena, but there were no major crimes. There was one robbery during an event.
A resident of Pacific Street between Flatbush and Fourth avenues thanked the cops for being pro-active, placing a patrol car on the street during two recent Kanye West concerts and thus deterring noise.
This past Tuesday night, however, during the Nets game, there was no patrol car and the street was noisy, as cars fill up in the parking lot used by P.C. Richard and Modell’s.
Parking issues
While residents complain about illegal parking at hydrants, Ameri said drivers can stand at hydrants as long as they’re in the car and not idling.
North Slope resident Steve Ettlinger noted the numerous apparent violations cited on Atlantic Yards Watch and asked about Donald Powe, the NYPD Traffic Enforcement District Manager who in late October publicly said there’d be new resources devoted to illegal parking and idling.
“We invited him,” said Ameri.
Ettlinger, who along with others said he'd been unable to find contact information for Powe, said he believed there were several tactics--including foot patrols and different hours--that would help with enforcement.
“They are civilian members” of the department, Ameri said. “I'll reach out to a supervisor.”
Ettlinger advised quick action, given that the Andrea Bocelli concert on December 11 will be “a limo magnet.”
Barclays Center report
Terence Kelly, Barclays Center Community Affairs Manager, said there would be roughly 200 events at the arena over 2013. He cited “successful installation of the tower crane” at Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue for the B2 tower and said it required “extremely effective coordination between arena operations and B2 construction.”
Also, he said, additional lighting on the loading dock on Dean Street will be installed at request of the NBA for additional security.
Next week, he added, there will be new signage on the loading dock instructing vehicles not to idle and to get power from the building if needed. That seems like a response to ongoing reports of violations.
Kelly acknowledged reports on Atlantic Yards Watch of buses idling Monday night near Dean Street and Vanderbilt avenues. Still, he suggested that the overall protocol is “extremely effective,” with drivers instructed to go to the Atlantic Avenue lay-by area or the parking lot.
“We do acknowledge there are times when there are, sort of rogue people,” he said. “We continue to respond as best we can... by the time our traffic manager came out, they were gone.”
Parking issues
The 541-space arena surface parking lot, said executive Marshall, is rarely more than 50% full--and “it's not because they don't know where it is,” she added. (Some neighbors near Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street say drivers don’t know about the lot, located between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues and Dean and Pacific Streets.) The top price is $35.
“That seems low, given people are paying four or five hundred dollars” for a vehicle, Ettlinger said.
“Parking on the curb in front of a hydrant is free,” commented Tom Boast of the Carlton Avenue Association.
Leaking bass
Jim Vogel, a Pacific Street resident who also represents state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, pointed to continued problems with leaking bass. “Has there been any remediation done or contemplated?” he asked.
“I don't have any update right now,” Kelly said, his tone turning flat.
Krashes suggested stipulations be put on production contracts. He said residents have accommodated numerous inspections, by the city and by Forest City: “The community has bent over backwards to solve the problem, they've cooperated, and there's no change.”
Kelly said the arena holds “ourselves to that standard”--the city noise code’--”inside the building.”
“I don't think we see that playing out,” one neighbor said. “Jay-Z, Sensation--the bass is incredibly loud, until very late in the night.”
“It feels like the subway train going underneath your apartment for two hours,” said another.
What steps, asked Krashes, have been taken?
“I don't have an update at this time,” Kelly replied. “We're certainly aware of the reports, and we're investigating them.”
“I need to respond to this,” said Vogel in a flash of anger, addressing meeting chair Derek Lynch of Empire State Development. “Derek, our office is formally requesting that you work with the state's client... we do not find it acceptable.”
“We’re definitely working with DEP,” Lynch said of the Department of Environmental Protection..
The DEP’s Geraldine Kelpin noted that two noise violations have been issued regarding arena noise. (One didn’t stick.)
“From what I heard, Kanye West would have been a violation,” Krashes said.
“You didn't reach out to us,” Kelpin said..
“It slipped by us,” Krashes said. “The responsibility seems to keep getting shifted to us.”
Kelpin said a neighbor’s report of bass on the ground floor “is a new one,” perhaps analogous to noise from a construction site. She said DEP would check it out.
She noted that a analysis conducted with noise consultant hired by the arena led to a decline in volume at at least one concert. “Almost what has to happen,” she said, “before each concert, they need to go through their sound check, and then they need to work back to what's acceptable... in the arena and outside.”
Loading dock
A Sixth Avenue resident pointed to middle-of-the-night idling by buses and trucks, as noted in videos on this blog.
“We lived through Justin Bieber, lived through the noise.. but the idling trucks and buses seem absurd,” he said. “To me, how this is allowed to happen is ridiculous.”
Was there a security failure?
“I can't speak to it,” Kelly responded.
Where should someone call in the middle of the night? Ameri said to call 311. Kelly said to visit the arena’s 24-hour security desk
“Is there a security number?” he was asked.
“I don't have it available,” Kelly responded. He said he’d explore alternative solutions.
“We appreciate your concerns,” Lynch said soothingly.
Moving the mods
“We have been working with city and state to come up with a plan to deliver the plan to deliver the mods, Marshall said, noting that “we'd like to have at least two floors [of mods] in advance so we can feed the crane” that will lift them.
She noted that wide-load deliveries in New York City, according to policy, are supposed to take place at night, “but we also need to build a very efficient building.
Pointing to a graphic projected on a screen, Marshall described where the four mods delivered overnight would be placed. Two would be placed in the “MPT zone,” the walled area set up for Maintenance and Protection of Traffic, which extends to Dean Street. Another would be placed in front of the MPT zone exit, and another in the area of the B3 construction site, where there’s bike parking.
[I don't yet have a copy of that graphic, and no photographs or video are permitted at the meetings/]
“In order to build a building and meet a construction schedule and get them built in eight to ten 10 months, we need six to eight mods delivered regularly to the site,” she said. “The only way we could figure out how to do this was splitting deliveries between night time and day time.” Four would be delivered between 10 pm and 5:30 am.
“Originally, we thought the most efficient thing was to do everything inside the MPT area, inside the construction fence,” she said, suggesting it would have the least impact on the community. “But we can't deliver six to eight mods during the day... Not only is it against policy, but also there are rush hours.”
“We were going to try to store one or two” overnight, she said, “and then have six deliveries during the day... but that is not acceptable to DOT [Department of Transportation], given the fact that this is a new thing... they're giving us permission to do things they don't typically do.”
She said the deliveries would be coordinated with arena activities. “We will not be having wide load deliveries when there is load in and load out of arena,” she said. And because two mods would be placed in the pedestrian path on Dean Street, that path would be closed overnight, and reopened in the morning “as early as possible.”
Construction starts at 7 am, so the first could be picked up at 7 and the second at 8. The pedestrian pathway could be opened by 8:30 am. Work typically ends at 3:30 pm.
Marshall noted the deliveries would be conducted not by “random trucks” but a “trucking company that's part of our team.” The trucks will have escort vehicles, and a police presence, working with flagmen. “It will take about 15 minutes for something to leave Navy Yard and get to the site.”
There’s no reason for trucks to idle, she said. They do have to disconnect the modules, but “I don't think that is a noisy thing” to get the mod off truck.
Marshall did acknowledge that “there are probably going to be instances and conditions” when trucks have to back up, beeping.
Change of plans
Krashes pointed out that Sanna’s presentation last year referred to only one module delivered in the early morning.
“That was our preferred plan,” Marshall said.
Krashes, who pointed out there are “homes right across the street,” asked how many nights there would be deliveries.
“The deliveries are going to be frequent,” said Marshall, though there won’t be weekend work
Krashes what the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) had said about after-hours construction work.
“This is not construction work, these are deliveries,” Marshall said.
“Some nights they'll be able to start at 10 and it might be very efficient and they'll be over by 12,” she said. Some nights, it'll be later, because the arena has to empty.”
Will there be extra lights?
“I don't think so,” Marshall said. “We don't expect this to be all lit up.”
What if there’s a back-up in construction activity; what happens to items stored int the street?
“I don't think that's a likelihood,” Marshall said. “They won't be brought if we don't think we can pick them up. Not every night we'll have four. because the work gets spread out.. we expect to to be only weeknights, not Sunday nights and weekends.” (That suggests they’ll be starting only four days a week, which seems unlikely.)
How much does the wide load cut down the road?
Chris Hrones of the DOT said the agency had reviewed the plan. In some case, it will take two lanes of traffic.
Any assessment?
Krashes looked at ESD’s Roy and noted there was never a construction plan for modular, so no assessment of environmental impacts.
“I don't know if that's accurate,” Roy responded.
“What's happening, in my personal point of view,” Krashes said, is “the risk is being shifted to the community, in terms of late night construction.”
“This is not late night construction,” Roy said.
“You're being alarmist,” Marshall said.
“We'll wait to see how it unfolds,” Krashes said. “Regardless, this wasn't studied, or disclosed.” He asked if the state would provide an environmental. monitor at the site.
“We do have an environmental monitor” during the day, Roy said, adding that “ we're looking to what the monitoring would be.” She said it’s “something we're taking very seriously” and added “we should also recognize some of the benefits,” given the lower overall impact of construction.
“There's no pouring concrete,” Marshall added, referring to the dozens of deliveries at a conventional construction site.
“What you're saying from a public documents point of view is also speculative,” Krashes said, referencing the lack of any analysis.
“As you know, it's very difficult to balance all of those needs and desires,” Marshall said. “We're presenting what we think is the best plan.”
Wide-load policy
Wide loads are typically prohibited during the day. “We’ve never done this before,” Hrones said. “By allowing wide loads greater than 10 feet for the day... A lot of people in our agency wanted all deliveries at night... we made an exception.. If we're going to make an exception, we have to minimize impacts during the day.”
The four mods during the day must be delivered in non-rush hours, between 10 am and 2 pm.
Will signs warn traffic?
“That's part of the escort vehicle,” Hrones said, adding that the DOT would look into VMS (Variable Message Signs).
What does the FEIS say about late-night deliveries, Krashes asked.
“I don't know,” Roy said.
“It says we can do night-time work, subject to appropriate permits,” Marshall said. “It's activity at the site...you can say construction or deliveries, it's activity at the site.”
(The FEIS said "a certain amount of extended hours, nighttime work, and weekend construction would likely be required," but nighttime work is defined as ending at 11 pm. The June 2009 Technical Memo prepared by ESD for the project's re-approval stated, "The general means and methods used for construction, as presented in the FEIS, are not expected to change as a result of the design development.")
Krashes then continued to raise questions, prompting Marshall’s sharp reply noted above.
Future meetings and a period of detente
These meetings have been scheduled on a somewhat ad hoc basis every two months. Lynch said at the end of the meeting that “we will try to see if we can have fixed bimonthly meetings.”
After the event, despite the periodic tension, many of the participants as well as the 78th Precinct arena detail, at Ameri’s invitation, repaired to a nearby barbecue restaurant for some holiday cheer. The one ground rule: no discussion of Atlantic Yards.
Still, as Forest City in the next two weeks begins to deliver the first of 900 mods to the B2 construction site at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, the developer announced a distinct change in the delivery plan, which alarmed some neighbors at last night’s bi-monthly Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting. (Update: the deliveries are coming next week, as per Brownstoner.)
 |
| From 11/29/12 presentation |
While that will cut down the number of daytime deliveries and potential traffic disruption on Flatbush, it also sets up a scenario of potential disruption during the night for residents on Dean Street and nearby Sixth Avenue.
And neither scenario was studied in any official oversight document, since the modular plan was announced after the project was re-approved in 2009. The B2 tower, 32 stories, will have 363 apartments, half of them subsidized, thus 50% market, 30% middle- and moderate-income, and 20% low-income.
Tense exchange
That led to a tense exchange at the meeting. After Dean Street Block Association President Peter Krashes continually questioned the potential impacts, Forest City executive Jane Marshall asked sharply, “Peter, would you like affordable housing to be built at this project?”
“We need to figure out a plan,” she said. “So instead of trying to put obstacles in our way, it would be appreciated if you'd let us do it the right way... and not demand a study on everything.”
Krashes, remaining calm, pointed out that Forest City had promised that it could build the project as proposed. “You're changing the construction process to lessen your costs,” he said, referring to the developer's effort to save on labor, among other things.
“I'm not trying to stop development, I'm trying to get a fair balance," he said. "I don't think it's fair for the community to bear the risks that you set up... by overstating what you are capable of doing... We don't know if this is going to impact the community or not.”
Other highlights
Other highlights at the meeting, held at the 78th Precinct at Sixth Avenue and Bergen Street:
- police reported continued low crime around the arena
- the police department official who purportedly was to lead a new crackdown on illegal idling and parking didn’t show up to report on the results, frustrating neighbors who'd been compiling violations
- a Barclays Center official was unable to report any improvement regarding efforts to keep bass from leaking during certain concerts
- that official said procedures at the arena loading dock had been improved, and should lead to less idling outside on the pad, after one neighbor reported several recent violations
- a representative of the Department of Environmental Protection said the agency would in fact respond to my Freedom of Information Law request by producing documents regarding arena noise issues, blaming the previous apparent denial on the way documents are coded in the system
- Paula Roy, who was announced in October as taking on the roles played by former project Director Arana Hankin, was described as Director of the Atlantic Yards project for Empire State Development.
Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri of the 78th Precinct said the police had written over 1200 parking summonses and more than 200 criminal court summonses regarding activity in the orbit of the arena, but there were no major crimes. There was one robbery during an event.
A resident of Pacific Street between Flatbush and Fourth avenues thanked the cops for being pro-active, placing a patrol car on the street during two recent Kanye West concerts and thus deterring noise.
This past Tuesday night, however, during the Nets game, there was no patrol car and the street was noisy, as cars fill up in the parking lot used by P.C. Richard and Modell’s.
Parking issues
While residents complain about illegal parking at hydrants, Ameri said drivers can stand at hydrants as long as they’re in the car and not idling.
North Slope resident Steve Ettlinger noted the numerous apparent violations cited on Atlantic Yards Watch and asked about Donald Powe, the NYPD Traffic Enforcement District Manager who in late October publicly said there’d be new resources devoted to illegal parking and idling.
“We invited him,” said Ameri.
Ettlinger, who along with others said he'd been unable to find contact information for Powe, said he believed there were several tactics--including foot patrols and different hours--that would help with enforcement.
“They are civilian members” of the department, Ameri said. “I'll reach out to a supervisor.”
Ettlinger advised quick action, given that the Andrea Bocelli concert on December 11 will be “a limo magnet.”
Barclays Center report
Terence Kelly, Barclays Center Community Affairs Manager, said there would be roughly 200 events at the arena over 2013. He cited “successful installation of the tower crane” at Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue for the B2 tower and said it required “extremely effective coordination between arena operations and B2 construction.”
Also, he said, additional lighting on the loading dock on Dean Street will be installed at request of the NBA for additional security.
Next week, he added, there will be new signage on the loading dock instructing vehicles not to idle and to get power from the building if needed. That seems like a response to ongoing reports of violations.
Kelly acknowledged reports on Atlantic Yards Watch of buses idling Monday night near Dean Street and Vanderbilt avenues. Still, he suggested that the overall protocol is “extremely effective,” with drivers instructed to go to the Atlantic Avenue lay-by area or the parking lot.
“We do acknowledge there are times when there are, sort of rogue people,” he said. “We continue to respond as best we can... by the time our traffic manager came out, they were gone.”
Parking issues
The 541-space arena surface parking lot, said executive Marshall, is rarely more than 50% full--and “it's not because they don't know where it is,” she added. (Some neighbors near Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street say drivers don’t know about the lot, located between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues and Dean and Pacific Streets.) The top price is $35.
“That seems low, given people are paying four or five hundred dollars” for a vehicle, Ettlinger said.
“Parking on the curb in front of a hydrant is free,” commented Tom Boast of the Carlton Avenue Association.
Leaking bass
Jim Vogel, a Pacific Street resident who also represents state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, pointed to continued problems with leaking bass. “Has there been any remediation done or contemplated?” he asked.
“I don't have any update right now,” Kelly said, his tone turning flat.
Krashes suggested stipulations be put on production contracts. He said residents have accommodated numerous inspections, by the city and by Forest City: “The community has bent over backwards to solve the problem, they've cooperated, and there's no change.”
Kelly said the arena holds “ourselves to that standard”--the city noise code’--”inside the building.”
“I don't think we see that playing out,” one neighbor said. “Jay-Z, Sensation--the bass is incredibly loud, until very late in the night.”
“It feels like the subway train going underneath your apartment for two hours,” said another.
What steps, asked Krashes, have been taken?
“I don't have an update at this time,” Kelly replied. “We're certainly aware of the reports, and we're investigating them.”
“I need to respond to this,” said Vogel in a flash of anger, addressing meeting chair Derek Lynch of Empire State Development. “Derek, our office is formally requesting that you work with the state's client... we do not find it acceptable.”
“We’re definitely working with DEP,” Lynch said of the Department of Environmental Protection..
The DEP’s Geraldine Kelpin noted that two noise violations have been issued regarding arena noise. (One didn’t stick.)
“From what I heard, Kanye West would have been a violation,” Krashes said.
“You didn't reach out to us,” Kelpin said..
“It slipped by us,” Krashes said. “The responsibility seems to keep getting shifted to us.”
Kelpin said a neighbor’s report of bass on the ground floor “is a new one,” perhaps analogous to noise from a construction site. She said DEP would check it out.
She noted that a analysis conducted with noise consultant hired by the arena led to a decline in volume at at least one concert. “Almost what has to happen,” she said, “before each concert, they need to go through their sound check, and then they need to work back to what's acceptable... in the arena and outside.”
Loading dock
A Sixth Avenue resident pointed to middle-of-the-night idling by buses and trucks, as noted in videos on this blog.
“We lived through Justin Bieber, lived through the noise.. but the idling trucks and buses seem absurd,” he said. “To me, how this is allowed to happen is ridiculous.”
Was there a security failure?
“I can't speak to it,” Kelly responded.
Where should someone call in the middle of the night? Ameri said to call 311. Kelly said to visit the arena’s 24-hour security desk
“Is there a security number?” he was asked.
“I don't have it available,” Kelly responded. He said he’d explore alternative solutions.
“We appreciate your concerns,” Lynch said soothingly.
Moving the mods
“We have been working with city and state to come up with a plan to deliver the plan to deliver the mods, Marshall said, noting that “we'd like to have at least two floors [of mods] in advance so we can feed the crane” that will lift them.
She noted that wide-load deliveries in New York City, according to policy, are supposed to take place at night, “but we also need to build a very efficient building.
Pointing to a graphic projected on a screen, Marshall described where the four mods delivered overnight would be placed. Two would be placed in the “MPT zone,” the walled area set up for Maintenance and Protection of Traffic, which extends to Dean Street. Another would be placed in front of the MPT zone exit, and another in the area of the B3 construction site, where there’s bike parking.
[I don't yet have a copy of that graphic, and no photographs or video are permitted at the meetings/]
“In order to build a building and meet a construction schedule and get them built in eight to ten 10 months, we need six to eight mods delivered regularly to the site,” she said. “The only way we could figure out how to do this was splitting deliveries between night time and day time.” Four would be delivered between 10 pm and 5:30 am.
“Originally, we thought the most efficient thing was to do everything inside the MPT area, inside the construction fence,” she said, suggesting it would have the least impact on the community. “But we can't deliver six to eight mods during the day... Not only is it against policy, but also there are rush hours.”
“We were going to try to store one or two” overnight, she said, “and then have six deliveries during the day... but that is not acceptable to DOT [Department of Transportation], given the fact that this is a new thing... they're giving us permission to do things they don't typically do.”
She said the deliveries would be coordinated with arena activities. “We will not be having wide load deliveries when there is load in and load out of arena,” she said. And because two mods would be placed in the pedestrian path on Dean Street, that path would be closed overnight, and reopened in the morning “as early as possible.”
Construction starts at 7 am, so the first could be picked up at 7 and the second at 8. The pedestrian pathway could be opened by 8:30 am. Work typically ends at 3:30 pm.
Marshall noted the deliveries would be conducted not by “random trucks” but a “trucking company that's part of our team.” The trucks will have escort vehicles, and a police presence, working with flagmen. “It will take about 15 minutes for something to leave Navy Yard and get to the site.”
There’s no reason for trucks to idle, she said. They do have to disconnect the modules, but “I don't think that is a noisy thing” to get the mod off truck.
Marshall did acknowledge that “there are probably going to be instances and conditions” when trucks have to back up, beeping.
Change of plans
Krashes pointed out that Sanna’s presentation last year referred to only one module delivered in the early morning.
“That was our preferred plan,” Marshall said.
Krashes, who pointed out there are “homes right across the street,” asked how many nights there would be deliveries.
“The deliveries are going to be frequent,” said Marshall, though there won’t be weekend work
Krashes what the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) had said about after-hours construction work.
“This is not construction work, these are deliveries,” Marshall said.
“Some nights they'll be able to start at 10 and it might be very efficient and they'll be over by 12,” she said. Some nights, it'll be later, because the arena has to empty.”
Will there be extra lights?
“I don't think so,” Marshall said. “We don't expect this to be all lit up.”
What if there’s a back-up in construction activity; what happens to items stored int the street?
“I don't think that's a likelihood,” Marshall said. “They won't be brought if we don't think we can pick them up. Not every night we'll have four. because the work gets spread out.. we expect to to be only weeknights, not Sunday nights and weekends.” (That suggests they’ll be starting only four days a week, which seems unlikely.)
How much does the wide load cut down the road?
Chris Hrones of the DOT said the agency had reviewed the plan. In some case, it will take two lanes of traffic.
Any assessment?
Krashes looked at ESD’s Roy and noted there was never a construction plan for modular, so no assessment of environmental impacts.
“I don't know if that's accurate,” Roy responded.
“What's happening, in my personal point of view,” Krashes said, is “the risk is being shifted to the community, in terms of late night construction.”
 |
| From Final EIS, Construction Impacts, no overnight construction traffic cited |
“You're being alarmist,” Marshall said.
“We'll wait to see how it unfolds,” Krashes said. “Regardless, this wasn't studied, or disclosed.” He asked if the state would provide an environmental. monitor at the site.
“We do have an environmental monitor” during the day, Roy said, adding that “ we're looking to what the monitoring would be.” She said it’s “something we're taking very seriously” and added “we should also recognize some of the benefits,” given the lower overall impact of construction.
“There's no pouring concrete,” Marshall added, referring to the dozens of deliveries at a conventional construction site.
“What you're saying from a public documents point of view is also speculative,” Krashes said, referencing the lack of any analysis.
“As you know, it's very difficult to balance all of those needs and desires,” Marshall said. “We're presenting what we think is the best plan.”
Wide-load policy
Wide loads are typically prohibited during the day. “We’ve never done this before,” Hrones said. “By allowing wide loads greater than 10 feet for the day... A lot of people in our agency wanted all deliveries at night... we made an exception.. If we're going to make an exception, we have to minimize impacts during the day.”
The four mods during the day must be delivered in non-rush hours, between 10 am and 2 pm.
Will signs warn traffic?
“That's part of the escort vehicle,” Hrones said, adding that the DOT would look into VMS (Variable Message Signs).
What does the FEIS say about late-night deliveries, Krashes asked.
“I don't know,” Roy said.
“It says we can do night-time work, subject to appropriate permits,” Marshall said. “It's activity at the site...you can say construction or deliveries, it's activity at the site.”
(The FEIS said "a certain amount of extended hours, nighttime work, and weekend construction would likely be required," but nighttime work is defined as ending at 11 pm. The June 2009 Technical Memo prepared by ESD for the project's re-approval stated, "The general means and methods used for construction, as presented in the FEIS, are not expected to change as a result of the design development.")
Krashes then continued to raise questions, prompting Marshall’s sharp reply noted above.
Future meetings and a period of detente
These meetings have been scheduled on a somewhat ad hoc basis every two months. Lynch said at the end of the meeting that “we will try to see if we can have fixed bimonthly meetings.”
After the event, despite the periodic tension, many of the participants as well as the 78th Precinct arena detail, at Ameri’s invitation, repaired to a nearby barbecue restaurant for some holiday cheer. The one ground rule: no discussion of Atlantic Yards.
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Around Barclays Center, illegal parking and idling persists, despite pledge to crack down; meeting tonight
Just in time for tonight's Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting, some reports on Atlantic Yards Watch from last night's Nets game suggest the problem around the Barclays Center is "same as it ever was," despite a pledge by the New York Police Department to crack down on illegal parking and idling.
Some excerpts are below.
Red Carpet Coaches block turning lane and bike lane on Dean Street
Parking in NOrth Slope
Parking in NOrth Slope 2
Illegal parking along Flatbush, etc. 2
Red Carpet Coaches block turning lane and bike lane on Dean Street
Dean Street at Vanderbilt AvenueParking along 5th Avenue
December 3, 2013 - 8:52pm
311: C1-1-915028185
Three limo/buses are blocking traffic, and the drivers are having a tailgate party, in the northbound turning lane and the bike lane on Dean Street at Vanderbilt Avenue. Two of three are idling.
The buses are associated with one company: Red Carpet Coach. They have come to the arena to drive Jewish groups associated with a Hanukkah celebration of some form during half-time. They said the arena told them to stay nearby, but they were not told about the free standing area on Atlantic Avenue between 6th Avenue and Carlton.
According to a neighbor they have been there for 2 hours. I asked them to leave and they said they would in 1/2 hour. When I told them I was going to call 311 they were unconcerned. They said a number of police cars had already driven by without taking notice.
5th Avenue from St. Marks to FlatbushFour examples observed between 7:55pm and 8:02 PM, with a follow-up saying limos were still parked at one location at 9:45 pm.
December 3, 2013 - 8:00pm
311: multiple
Parking in NOrth Slope
Near Fifth AveFour examples at St. Marks and Fifth and Bergen.
December 3, 2013 - 8:30pm
311: multiple
Parking in NOrth Slope 2
Along Fifth Ave and more....
December 3, 2013 - 8:45pm
311: multiple
Flatbush, etc.Two examples.
December 3, 2013 - 9:00pm
311: multiple
Illegal parking along Flatbush, etc. 2
Flatbush, etc.Four examples.
December 3, 2013 - 9:30pm
311: multiple
Purnick says "Bloomberg coolly makes his case based on facts," but Atlantic Yards is one clear exception
Joyce Purnick, the former New York Times reporter/columnist who wrote a notably gentle biography of Mayor Mike Bloomberg, today offers a New York Daily News op-ed headlined Mike’s a cold fish. Who really cares? We should know him by now.
Purnick writes:
3) When confronted with evidence from a New York City Independent Budget Office report that the Atlantic Yards arena would be a money-loser for the city, Bloomberg said, according to the Observer:
Purnick writes:
The idea of reassuring the public, showing the people out there that he feels their pain — or will at least pretend to: not Bloomberg’s thing. He has never mastered, or even bought into, the idea of personally cajoling and persuading the public. Bloomberg coolly makes his case based on facts and expects people to accept his statistically inarguable logic: smoking kills, so stop smoking; illegal guns kill, so get rid of them.The counter-evidence
If not the grand persuader, he has other strengths, many of them. I suspect that despite Bloomberg fatigue and the vastly oversimplified arguments about a tale of two cities, history will record him as one of the city’s most effective mayors. But somehow, we want our elected officials to conform to our view of who and what they should be, how they should behave, even what they should believe.
Bloomberg coolly makes his case based on facts? Purnick has some good evidence, but she ignores the big honking example of Atlantic Yards. (I'm sure evidence can be marshaled regarding other developments, as well.) Here are six quick AY examples.
1) Remember Bloomberg's posture toward the projects, as described by developer Bruce Ratner:
"As a matter of fact, I remember a day in 2003, in June, I went in to see the mayor to present our project, and he stood there, he looked at it"--Ratner waved his hand as if scanning the room--"he had all the deputies around, he just looked at it and he said, after a while"--Ratner waved decisively--"I want to get it done. And he used a certain extuperative [sic] and said, Get it done no matter what."
(I think Ratner meant "expletive.")
2) Recall that, at a June 2005 ceremony, as captured in the documentary Battle for Brooklyn, Mayor Mike Bloomberg imperiously dismissed questions about promised housing and jobs in the questionable Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA): “I would add something else that’s even more important. You have Bruce Ratner’s word, and that should be enough."
Four years later, Bloomberg changed his tune. “I’m violently opposed to Community Benefits Agreements,” Bloomberg told The Brooklyn Paper in August 2009.
Four years later, Bloomberg changed his tune. “I’m violently opposed to Community Benefits Agreements,” Bloomberg told The Brooklyn Paper in August 2009.
3) When confronted with evidence from a New York City Independent Budget Office report that the Atlantic Yards arena would be a money-loser for the city, Bloomberg said, according to the Observer:
“I don’t know what the IBO studies would have shown back when they tried to establish the value of Central Park or Prospect Park or anything else,” he told reporters. “These are the kinds of projects you have to do because without that we don’t have a future, and we’re going to get this one done.”4) In a January 2004 radio interview, Bloomberg claimed that "any city monies of any meaningful size will be debt issues financed by the extra tax revenues that come from this." At that point, there was a plan for tax-increment financing.
Then the city allotted $100 million in subsidies. Then, after the project was passed, the city added another $100 million, though it now says the direct subsidy total is $179.5 million.
5) In his effort to help developer Forest City Ratner gain access to low-cost capital from Chinese investors seeking green cards, Bloomberg appeared on a fund-raising video shown to such potential investors. His ambiguous statements confused the issue, suggesting to potential investors that the "project" they are asked to support is the same one about which he enthused.
6) When Ratner announced "2,000 jobs" at the Barclays Center, Bloomberg was there to endorse the figure, and the famously data-driven mayor was snippy and evasive (see video in Daily Intelligencer) when asked how many full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs that represented.
6) When Ratner announced "2,000 jobs" at the Barclays Center, Bloomberg was there to endorse the figure, and the famously data-driven mayor was snippy and evasive (see video in Daily Intelligencer) when asked how many full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs that represented.
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Shocker: NYC DEP claims it has no records regarding Barclays Center noise complaints (updated)
Update: DEP says it will produce such records, blaming the denial on the way records are coded in the system; there is a "Barclays Center" file but not a "620 Atlantic Avenue" one.
Just in time for the Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting tomorrow, I finally got a non-answer to an attempt to find out exactly how the city had examined noise problems at the Barclays Center.
My 6/11/13 Freedom of Information Law request to the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sought:
That's preposterous. The DEP has already attempted to levy more than one fine against the arena, with one such fine dismissed and another finally sticking. The problems have persisted, as have complaints about bass penetrating residences. They have to be creating some records.
This is low-hanging fruit if and when an elected official--such as incoming Public Advocate Letitia James, who currently represents the 35th Council District, or her successor, Laurie Cumbo--chooses to dig deeper.
Just in time for the Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting tomorrow, I finally got a non-answer to an attempt to find out exactly how the city had examined noise problems at the Barclays Center.
My 6/11/13 Freedom of Information Law request to the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sought:
Noise complaints and inspections regarding the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn. Documents may cite the arena operating company, Brooklyn Events Center, or the owner of that company, Forest City Ratner. I also seek copies of records, including but not limited to correspondence to/from representatives of the Barclays Center, Brooklyn Events Center, and Forest City Ratner, regarding noise inspections and complaints regarding that facility.The response, as the document reproduced below asserts, was that the DEP had no such documents.
That's preposterous. The DEP has already attempted to levy more than one fine against the arena, with one such fine dismissed and another finally sticking. The problems have persisted, as have complaints about bass penetrating residences. They have to be creating some records.
This is low-hanging fruit if and when an elected official--such as incoming Public Advocate Letitia James, who currently represents the 35th Council District, or her successor, Laurie Cumbo--chooses to dig deeper.
Jason Kidd's fine, the missing Independent Compliance Monitor, and the Culture of Cheating
As those following the Brooklyn Nets and NBA basketball know, Nets coach (and former star guard) Jason Kidd was fined $50,000 last week for creating an unofficial timeout at a time when his team had run out of them: Kidd picked up an open cup of soda, mouthed "hit me" at a player, and then "spilled" the soda, thus delaying the game for a clean-up.
The video replay was pretty blatant. And though some in the sports world praised Kidd for doing "what he had to do" to win, and Kidd surely learned such a sly tactic from other coaches over the years, the NBA had to fine him.
It's notable that the "Culture of Cheating" gets more sanction from a sports league than do other aspects of Atlantic Yards.
What about the Independent Compliance Monitor?
Consider developer Forest City Ratner's continued failure to hire the Independent Compliance Monitor required in the "legally binding" Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) the developer and supporters like Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio have so regularly touted.
There's no enforcement, because the only parties able to enforce the CBA are the eight signatories, all of which have some financial or business relationship with the developer, and some of which are moribund or even disbanded.
So we were never told how the job training component of the CBA was going--not until former participants filed a federal lawsuit, which is ongoing.
And Forest City and its partners continue to tout "2000 jobs" at the arena without specifying the hours and pay of the part-time jobs, and even misleadingly suggesting the latter are "living wage." (They once said there would be 1240 FTE--full-time equivalent--jobs, but that hasn't since been confirmed by any independent source.)
We don't even know how many FTE construction jobs there are, since the developer has said the modular factory would have 125 union jobs. Last month I quoted one account of the current modular plan
The video replay was pretty blatant. And though some in the sports world praised Kidd for doing "what he had to do" to win, and Kidd surely learned such a sly tactic from other coaches over the years, the NBA had to fine him.
It's notable that the "Culture of Cheating" gets more sanction from a sports league than do other aspects of Atlantic Yards.
What about the Independent Compliance Monitor?
Consider developer Forest City Ratner's continued failure to hire the Independent Compliance Monitor required in the "legally binding" Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) the developer and supporters like Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio have so regularly touted.
There's no enforcement, because the only parties able to enforce the CBA are the eight signatories, all of which have some financial or business relationship with the developer, and some of which are moribund or even disbanded.
So we were never told how the job training component of the CBA was going--not until former participants filed a federal lawsuit, which is ongoing.
And Forest City and its partners continue to tout "2000 jobs" at the arena without specifying the hours and pay of the part-time jobs, and even misleadingly suggesting the latter are "living wage." (They once said there would be 1240 FTE--full-time equivalent--jobs, but that hasn't since been confirmed by any independent source.)
We don't even know how many FTE construction jobs there are, since the developer has said the modular factory would have 125 union jobs. Last month I quoted one account of the current modular plan
Last year, FCR revealed the plan for B2, which now will dedicate 50% of its 363 rental units to [subsidized] tenants and will eventually employ 125 union tradesmen during construction (it currently has 72).How does that compare to the 15,000 construction jobs--1500 a year, for ten years--originally promised?
Monday, December 02, 2013
"Farewell to the King of Brooklyn": the Marty Markowitz retrospectives begin, with a shilling special section and a curious Times profile
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is taking a long goodbye, though he may not be leaving forever: he's been mentioned as a possible Parks Commissioner or commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, aka “Ambassador for NYC.”
Neither are particularly likely, since Markowitz notably endorsed Council Speaker Christine Quinn, then the perceived front-runner for mayor, over Brooklynites Bill de Blasio (the eventual winner) and Bill Thompson.
The New York Times, on 11/29/13, offered Borough President for Not Much Longer, but a Brooklynite Always: Marty Markowitz Prepares to Leave Office After 12 Years.
The retrospective was hardly softball--the first person quoted was a critic--but still left omitted key issues and in certain places gave Markowitz the benefit of the doubt.
For a more telling perspective on Markowitz, check out the recent special section (bottom) in the Courier-Life/Brooklyn Paper, and the first advertisement (right), which happens to be from "Bruce [Ratner] & Maryanne [Gilmartin]," the CEOs of Forest City Ratner, who thank Markowitz for his "support and friendship."
It's doubtful the two real estate executives truly like to hang with Marty, but it's undeniable they appreciate his unswerving support for Atlantic Yards.
No matter the issue--a change in architects, a change in affordable housing configuration, a change in timing, a need to shill for the project to Chinese investors, an opportunity to promote a profit-making arena event--Markowitz was there.
As shown in an excerpt at right from the special section, Markowitz endorsed Forest City Ratner's decision to dump starchitect Frank Gehry. Note that, contra the account in the excerpt, the decision was not inspired by the BP; he was merely publicly easing a decision that had been made months before.
In the Times
The Times didn't mention Markowitz endorsed Mayor Mike Bloomberg over fellow Democrats Freddy Ferrer and Bill Thompson, nor the Quinn endorsement. But it did mention Atlantic Yards. The article states:
As noted, the first person quoted is a critic. Even so, the Times falls back on attributing neutral facts to "opponents believed." Of course Markowitz used "all his clout to make the plan a reality." Why else would he make this video?
And while the Times touches on Markowitz's prickliness and his odd parenthood rhetoric, it doesn't capture Markowitz's unique mix of ego and anxiety, one exposed in such indulgences as his epic final State of the Borough address last April, complete with an hour-long "Brooklyn Tonight" talk show.
The BP's role
The article continues:
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer turned his office into a policy shop, producing reports with impact, and reformed the process for selecting and supporting Community Board members. Then Bronx BP Adolfo Carrion put a lot of capital money into affordable housing.
Retail politics
The article continues:
(The proclamation I once got--for volunteering at a house tour--was given to dozens of others.)
Style and substance
The article continues:
Ethics trumped?
The article cites some of Markowitz's "ethical stumbles," including two fines from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board and a 1985 campaign finance violation:
So if Markowitz dismisses suggestions that political influence had anything to do with the donations, does he deserve the last word? He doesn't.
In the Brooklyn Paper/Courier-Life
As shown at right, the Brooklyn Paper/Courier-Life special section comes to a similar conclusion, suggesting the Markowitz's love for Brooklyn trumped any ethical transgression.
Maybe it does, for most people, but the Markowitz model is a lesson as much as a legacy.
The newbie reporters working on the special section were forced to raid the clip file and, in several cases, didn't quite get it right.
Consider, for example, the claim that Markowitz "downsized" his support for Atlantic Yards.
Actually, he called for an unspecified shrinkage of a project that was inflated past what the developer wanted, and was later publicly scaled down.
In other words, Markowitz was part of the strategy.
Or consider Markowitz's purchase of a house in Windsor Terrace, which was enabled in part by the BP's successful pursuit of a questionable lawsuit.
In conclusion
Consider the conclusion to one article on the growth of Brooklyn's skyline: "It's unfortunate that anyone would get priced out of their neighborhood, but that's been the story of New York City for 200 years."
The "inevitable" meme posited by condo-owner Burkan (apparently a Republican who works in "wealth management") obscures the fact that Markowitz made policy choices.
Neither are particularly likely, since Markowitz notably endorsed Council Speaker Christine Quinn, then the perceived front-runner for mayor, over Brooklynites Bill de Blasio (the eventual winner) and Bill Thompson.
The New York Times, on 11/29/13, offered Borough President for Not Much Longer, but a Brooklynite Always: Marty Markowitz Prepares to Leave Office After 12 Years.The retrospective was hardly softball--the first person quoted was a critic--but still left omitted key issues and in certain places gave Markowitz the benefit of the doubt.
For a more telling perspective on Markowitz, check out the recent special section (bottom) in the Courier-Life/Brooklyn Paper, and the first advertisement (right), which happens to be from "Bruce [Ratner] & Maryanne [Gilmartin]," the CEOs of Forest City Ratner, who thank Markowitz for his "support and friendship."
It's doubtful the two real estate executives truly like to hang with Marty, but it's undeniable they appreciate his unswerving support for Atlantic Yards.
No matter the issue--a change in architects, a change in affordable housing configuration, a change in timing, a need to shill for the project to Chinese investors, an opportunity to promote a profit-making arena event--Markowitz was there.As shown in an excerpt at right from the special section, Markowitz endorsed Forest City Ratner's decision to dump starchitect Frank Gehry. Note that, contra the account in the excerpt, the decision was not inspired by the BP; he was merely publicly easing a decision that had been made months before.
In the Times
The Times didn't mention Markowitz endorsed Mayor Mike Bloomberg over fellow Democrats Freddy Ferrer and Bill Thompson, nor the Quinn endorsement. But it did mention Atlantic Yards. The article states:
Mr. Markowitz is not bashful about saying the idea for the Barclays Center, with its attendant N.B.A. team, the Nets, originated with him. He believes bringing a professional sports team back to Brooklyn more than 50 years after the Dodgers left is his signal accomplishment.
But his championing of the Barclays Center and Atlantic Yards project, with only a few nods to community concerns including affordable housing, crystallized criticism from those who believed he had been too quick to support developers at the expense of community needs.
For someone who peppers speeches with quips about his overfondness for Junior’s cheesecake, likes to host Valentine’s Day parties for Brooklyn’s longest-married couples and calls an African gray parrot named Beep his “son,” Mr. Markowitz can be surprisingly polarizing.
During the eight-year Atlantic Yards fight, opponents believed Mr. Markowitz was using all his clout to make the plan reality. He once declined to renew the terms of five community board members who had voted for a nonbinding anti-Atlantic Yards resolution. Unwilling to brook criticism, he turned an icy face to those who questioned him, recalled Tom Angotti, a professor of urban planning at Hunter College who opposed the project.
Atlantic Yards “was presented as a fait accompli, and the train left the station, you better get on it,” Professor Angotti said. “He was not only on the train, he was in the front of the train, leading it. And that was a problem.”
 |
| Markowitz at State of the Borough; credit: BP's office |
And while the Times touches on Markowitz's prickliness and his odd parenthood rhetoric, it doesn't capture Markowitz's unique mix of ego and anxiety, one exposed in such indulgences as his epic final State of the Borough address last April, complete with an hour-long "Brooklyn Tonight" talk show.
The BP's role
The article continues:
At other times, Mr. Markowitz has been faulted for conducting his career more like a cruise director than a municipal leader. Part of the reason his initiatives — including a boroughwide weight-loss challenge, a summer concert series and an over-40 singles event — can seem light on substance is the nature of the office itself: The borough presidents lost most of their traditional powers after the City Charter was revised in 1990.But this ignores how other Borough Presidents worked differently. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, however low-profile, devoted a significant chunk of her capital budget to libraries, which Markowitz neglected.
Mr. Markowitz said on Monday that he hoped to someday see the charter amended to give borough presidents a greater role in land-use issues, and set budgets so that they did not have to rely on the mayor and City Council for allocations.
Michael Tobman, a political consultant based in Brooklyn, said of Mr. Markowitz: “He’s done more with the office than could’ve ever been expected in anyone’s imagination. At a time when the city was heading in a direction of celebrating wealth and money as the drivers of our economy, he stayed a working-class, middle-class, ethnic stalwart.”
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer turned his office into a policy shop, producing reports with impact, and reformed the process for selecting and supporting Community Board members. Then Bronx BP Adolfo Carrion put a lot of capital money into affordable housing.
Retail politics
The article continues:
With his nostalgia for the Dodgers and the Coney Island of yore, Mr. Markowitz can seem an unlikely cheerleader for a place now better known for artisanal coffee than egg creams. But constituents, particularly those not in the gentrified corners of Brooklyn, embrace him for his boosterism and apparent delight in helping them. It is not uncommon for junior city employees to receive calls from him, inquiring after a constituent problem.I think the Times should have mentioned the simple fact of Markowitz's retail political presence: by giving out more than three proclamations a day over 12 years, he managed to reach hundreds of thousands of Brooklynites, in the Brooklyn Paper's calculation, "honoring an average of 41 different exceptional people, places, ideas, things, events, and restaurant openings."
(The proclamation I once got--for volunteering at a house tour--was given to dozens of others.)
Style and substance
The article continues:
Still, opponents say, he could have used his mastery of the limelight and his stature as a power broker to enact policy reforms that might have more impact than a basketball stadium, like initiatives to address income inequality and government transparency.What's with "opponents"? Do you have to be an opponent to recognize that Markowitz made choices, some of the them debatable?
Mr. Markowitz defended his strategy, saying that his programs and charities helped ease life for low-income Brooklynites, and that his light touch “put a smile on people’s faces.”
“I made the most of what is a modest role in government,” he said. “Some may feel the depth wasn’t there because of my lighthearted approach.” He added, “A lot of the dreams I had for Brooklyn are being realized as we speak — no question about it.”
Among his greatest achievements, he said, were several development projects he has supported — including the Barclays Center, a Coney Island amphitheater and the restoration of the Loew’s Kings Theater in Flatbush — that have helped revitalize Brooklyn.
Ethics trumped?
The article cites some of Markowitz's "ethical stumbles," including two fines from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board and a 1985 campaign finance violation:
More recently, he has been questioned about the close ties between Borough Hall and his network of charities, which have often received donations from developers or corporations — several of which subsequently earned Mr. Markowitz’s approval for projects in the borough. He has said his nonprofit organizations do important work, and dismissed suggestions that his political influence had anything to do with the donations.
These troubles have done little to dent his boisterous career. Only term limits, it seemed, could put a damper on Mr. Markowitz, who cannot say what next year will hold for him.
“I hope I could find something where I could continue putting a smile on people’s faces,” he said, “and that has a public purpose.”
So if Markowitz dismisses suggestions that political influence had anything to do with the donations, does he deserve the last word? He doesn't.In the Brooklyn Paper/Courier-Life
As shown at right, the Brooklyn Paper/Courier-Life special section comes to a similar conclusion, suggesting the Markowitz's love for Brooklyn trumped any ethical transgression.
Maybe it does, for most people, but the Markowitz model is a lesson as much as a legacy.
The newbie reporters working on the special section were forced to raid the clip file and, in several cases, didn't quite get it right.
Consider, for example, the claim that Markowitz "downsized" his support for Atlantic Yards.Actually, he called for an unspecified shrinkage of a project that was inflated past what the developer wanted, and was later publicly scaled down.
In other words, Markowitz was part of the strategy.Or consider Markowitz's purchase of a house in Windsor Terrace, which was enabled in part by the BP's successful pursuit of a questionable lawsuit.
In conclusion
Consider the conclusion to one article on the growth of Brooklyn's skyline: "It's unfortunate that anyone would get priced out of their neighborhood, but that's been the story of New York City for 200 years."
The "inevitable" meme posited by condo-owner Burkan (apparently a Republican who works in "wealth management") obscures the fact that Markowitz made policy choices.
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Not just a band and a chorus, but 2013 MetroTech tree lighting (tomorrow) adds Lemon Andersen and a Net
A press release, via Broadway World, Lemon Anderson [sic] to Perform at MetroTech Commons' Annual Tree Lighting, 12/2:
This seems a step up from last year, which, as the Brooklyn Eagle reported 11/20/12:
The holiday season comes alive at MetroTech Commons Monday, December 2, at 5:30 p.m. Join Forest City Ratner Companies Executive Chairman Bruce Ratner and President and CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin for the 24th annual MetroTech tree lighting with Santa Claus, Shaun Livingston of the Brooklyn Nets and a performance from Tony Award-winning poet and playwright Lemon Andersen.Last year's event
Residents and visitors will enjoy festive carols from the Brooklyn Tech High School Chorus and take pictures with friends, family and neighbors in the holiday-inspired photo booth. To warm up, there will be hot chocolate and cookies courtesy of Luciano's and coffee provided by Starbucks.
The event is free and open to the public.
WHEN: Monday, December 2, 2013 at 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: MetroTech Commons, in front of 2 MetroTech Center. MetroTech Center is located in Downtown Brooklyn between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue, and Willoughby Street and Tech Place.
WHO: Brooklyn Nets player Shaun Livingston, Tony Award-winner Lemon Andersen, Forest City Ratner Companies Executive Chairman Bruce Ratner, Forest City Ratner Companies President and CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin, Santa Claus, Brooklyn Tech High School Chorus.
FCRC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, Inc., owns and operates 34 properties in the New York metropolitan area. Forest City Enterprises, Inc. is an NYSE-listed national real estate company with $10.7 billion in total assets. The Company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States. For more information, visitwww.forestcity.net.
This seems a step up from last year, which, as the Brooklyn Eagle reported 11/20/12:
Today from 4:15 to 5:45 p.m., MetroTech will hold its annual tree-lighting ceremony on the MetroTech Commons. There will be holiday songs by the Catfish Stew jazz band and the Brooklyn Technical High School band. In addition, there will be a special performance by the P.S. 146 elementary-school chorus, and Santa himself will make an appearance. The Christmas Tree itself, a 45-foot Norway spruce tree, comes from the mountains of North Carolina. The event will be hosted by Bruce Ratner, CEO of Forest City Ratner (owner of MetroTech), and the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of the House of the Lord Church.
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