Strange things are afoot as City Hall and Albany squabble over how much money should be thrown at Bruce Ratner's feet.
First, Michael Bloomberg, Republican mayor of NYC, steamrolls a massive amount of NYC taxpayer money to help out Bruce Ratner [1], the good friend of fellow Republican Pataki. Bloomberg not only piled over $100 million in city money for infrastructure improvement, but also $100 million in city money to buy the land for Ratner. Which means Ratner had to pay nothing for the land. This, to me, was nothing but typical Republican crony capitalism at its worst. Some more reasonable minds, including David Yassky and Tish James, objected strenuously...to no avail.
Next, Assemblyman Vito Lopez shows that in Brooklyn, some Democrats are as sleazy as Republicans. As head of the corrupt Brooklyn machine Vito couldn't be outdone by mere Republicans when it came to piling money into the pockets of developers, so Vito steamrolled $300 million in state taxpayer money to pile at Ratner's feet [2]. More reasonable minds, including Velmanette Montgomery and Hakeem Jeffries, are objecting strenuously.
All of this is to be expected. Republicans and the Brooklyn machine giving as much of our money as they can to developers. THAT'S New York. But here is where it gets strange.
Michael Bloomberg, now Independent mayor of NYC, is calling on Democratic Governor Spitzer to veto the legislation with Vito's giveaway to Ratner, threatening to withdraw the city money from the deal. This has Ratner's people whining about how unfair Bloomberg is being trying to limit their gravy train. This battle between the likes of Velmanette, Hakeem and Bloomberg on one side, and Ratner, Vito and their cronies on the other is heating up nicely [3].
But wait...how can Republican Bloomberg give away taxpayer money to Ratner then Independent Bloomberg complain about the state giving taxpayer money to Ratner? Wow! What a difference a change of party affiliation makes! Is Bloomberg abandoning crony capitalism along with the Republican Party? Boy THAT would be sweet!
This would be a good time for Spitzer to show us what he's worth. How about putting a stop to these giveaways to Ratner?
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