Councilman Bill DeBlasio has seemed to have never met a developer dollar he didn't like. Rumor has it he has admitted as much. But it is certain that he by and large sides quite proudly with any developer who pays lip service, no matter how far fetched, to affordable housing.

The New York Times, front page, this AM: Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards.

The slowing economy, weighed down by a widening credit crisis, is likely to delay the signature office tower and three residential buildings at the heart of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the developer said.[...]

But Mr. Ratner has yet to secure an anchor tenant for the Miss Brooklyn building, and now plans to phase in the residential buildings slowly.

When this bill of goods was sold to the public, it was as a shot in the arm for downtown Brooklyn's economy (which is why a lot of public money is being thrown into the hole). The displacement of residents was to be offset by new construction, including a (debatably defined) number of affordable units to maintain some cohesion between existing neighborhoods and new construction. That's now being delayed, but you'll still get that arena, grateful Brooklynites.

Seems Councilmembers Letitia James and David Yassky are teaming up to oppose the massive tax giveaways to developer Bruce Ratner. Here's the press release:

[Councilmembers] Yassky and James to Proposed Atlantic Yards Amendment to MSG Tax Resolution

Today at the Finance Committee hearing, the committee will review and vote on Proposed Resolution 90, which asks the State of New York to end the twenty-year-old property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden. If the Council thinks subsidizing MSG is a bad deal fort the City and State, they should take another look at the tax breaks and subsidies being offered to the proposed Atlantic Yards Development: they are even worse.

Brooklynites concerned about Bruce Ratner's overdevlopment plan for Brooklyn might want to pay attention to a lawsuit MIT has filed against Ratner's architect, Frank Gehry.

Frank Gehry is a controversial figure, though I have always kind of liked his architecture. He has been criticized for wasting space and designing buildings that are too large and inconvenient for the people who use them. But to me his architecture always had a touch of the same playfulness I always have liked in the archtecture of Antoni Gaudi. Of course Gaudi was ridiculed early in his career, too.

Here is the latest from Lambda Independent Democrats:

Thumbs Down on Atlantic Yards, Noach Dear

At its meeting held October 22, 2007, Lambda Independent Democrats, Brooklyn's LGBT Political voice adopted a resolution opposing the Atlantic Yards Project of the Forest City Ratner Development Company.

The club also contined to express it's disappointment in the Brooklyn Democratic party's support for Noach Dear. LID co-President Chrisopher Murray said "Brooklyn's LGBT community and the thousands of LGBT Democrats we represent feel that Noach Dear's lack of courtroom experience and bar associations' assessments and his past statements and actions against the interests of our community deem him an unsuitable candidate for the Civil Court bench. We continue to be disappointed in the leadership of the Democratic party of Brooklyn over their support of his candidacy."

Here is the resolution Lambda adopted opposing Bruce Ratner's overdevelopment of Brooklyn:

Resolution Item: Atlantic Yards. Date Voted: 10/22/07

In the ongoing battle over Atlantic Yards, one central critique of good government advocates has been the abject failure of the legislature to do its due diligence and examine whether this project is indeed in the public interest, and therefore worthy of public dollars.

One of the myriad lollipops being thrown at Bruce Ratner is this: a 421-a tax reform bill just passed by the Assembly reformed the 421-a tax break given to developers; now, one must actually build affordable housing to receive tax breaks for it. From Develop Don't Destroy:

The Assembly passed a bill reforming the 36-year old 421-a property tax break. No longer will developers building new construction receive tax breaks when they build all market rate buildings. Now they must provide 20% of the units at "affordable" rates in each building, based on a cap set at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). AMI for New York City is about $71,000 for a family of four (AMI for Brooklyn is about $35,000).

But Bruce Ratner gets a special deal written in clause 13 of the bill. For his Atlantic Yards project, he gets the tax break for his market rate condos. No other developer in the 421-a "Geographic Exception Areas" (which include Central Brooklyn where the project is proposed) will receive tax breaks if they build all market rate.

Mayor Bloomberg has called for a veto of the bill, and now, the two legislators who represent Atlantic Yards in the legislature, Velmanette Montgomery and Hakeem Jeffries, have made their displeasure known in no uncertain terms.

[Editor's note: While I am on vacation I am reposting articles that I consider important, relavent and interesting. This one remains relavent, unfortunately. I would add that among the Corrupt Crony Capitalists I mention in this article, I should add Marty Markowitz and Vito Lopez]

I've been insanely busy, so it seems that Michael Bouldin has been covering Atlantic Yards, an issue that I covered extensively before. But I finally find the time to sit down and put into words the disgust and forboding that I feel as our state government green lights one of the most un-American, corrupt and poorly conceived development plans in American history: the Bruce Ratner plan to profit from the exploitation of Brooklyn, with the help of tax money from NYC and NY State.

In a short article in The New York Times, you'll find a snapshot of New York State's biggest challenge: the withering of an entire region, upstate New York, by a slow process of industrial decline, economic stagnation and, flowing from that, population loss.

Buffalo, the state’s second-largest city, lost 16,114 residents, or 6 percent of its population. Rochester, the third-largest city, lost 10,352 residents, or 5 percent. Yonkers, the fourth-largest city, grew by 1 percent, or 1,524 residents. Syracuse, the fifth-largest city, lost 5,574 residents, or 4 percent.

That kind of population loss normally occurs only in wartime. By way of illustration: if New York City had lost six percent of its population of eight million since 2000, that would work out to a bit less than half a million, a catastrophic loss. That's what's happening upstate.

This comes from the Municipal Art Society: (I can't make it...will be doing the final practice run of my talk for the International C. elegans Meeting at UCLA, but sounds good!)

New York’s waterfront is being transformed. From Brooklyn Bridge Park to Throg’s Neck on the East River alone, over 1000 acres of redevelopment is slated to occur over the upcoming years. This scale of development is an enormous opportunity - and a risk. Too much waterfront development in recent years has created sterile, privatized places that don’t do justice to New York.

Now is the time to set an agenda to ensure we create an East River waterfront that reflects the diversity, vibrancy and future sustainability of New York. Responding to the Mayor’s bold plan to reclaim 90% of New York’s waterways for recreational use, the Municipal Art Society and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance are part of a coalition of over 40 groups that is launching the East River Agenda on next Thursday, June 21st on East River Day.

The New York Times reports this morning on a settlement between developer Larry Silverstein, the Port Authority, and a consortium of insurers that provides an additional $2 billion for redevelopment at Ground Zero, settling all outstanding insurance claims. Because the agreement removes the uncertainties over how much money will be available for rebuilding, and when, the developers of the 16-acre plot now can access the capital markets to raise additionally needed funding.

In short, the full restoration of the World Trade Center site can now finally happen, five and half years after the 9/11 attacks. The deal was brokered by the Spitzer administration, demonstrating once again what a difference Eliot has made in Albany. It's true - Democrats govern better.

[Update]: Too funny - today just had to be the day on which Fred Dicker of the Post describes the Spitzer administration as being 'in chaos'.