Pols Criticize Forest City Ratner's Promises at Rally
Elected officials gathered outside of Barclays Arena to express frustration over lack of jobs and delays in affordable housing at Atlantic Yards site.
Photos
Yesterday afternoon, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman Karim Camara, all D-Brooklyn, held a joint press conference in front of the under-construction Barclays Center, urging developer Forest City Ratner to make good on promises of job creation and affordable housing at the site.
“Less than 100 people from this community have received any meaningful employment,” Jeffries said, referring to well-paying construction jobs, and not the low-wage retail jobs that have been secured through BUILD.
The Atlantic Yards website touts that the project would create “more than 16,000 union construction jobs plus over 8,000 permanent jobs,” but a report by Merritt & Harris said that as of November there were 645 construction workers on the job.
At the press conference, Jeffries also continued: “Over 2,000 units of affordable housing were promised. We haven’t seen a single unit of affordable housing.”
The first of three residential towers to be built at the site, B2, won’t start construction until early next year.
Jeffries also used the conference to drum up support for the Atlantic Yards Governance Act, a bill that would require the Empire State Development Corp. to create an independent board that would negotiate with developers and better keep community interests in mind.
“From the very beginning … there was not the appropriate government structure that was put in place to make sure there was transparency, and accountability and meaningful public input,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries said that neither he nor Adams were in office when Forest City Ratner signed the Community Benefits Agreement (available for view here, thanks to Atlantic Yards Report), which included a clause for an Independent Compliance Monitor to report on the projects progress.
According to a report for The Brooklyn Bureau, AYR’s Norman Oder says that the Forest City Ratner has avoided fulfilling that clause.
“Our goal was to see jobs come to this community and housing come to this community,” said Adams, adding “as legislators, we’re saying that enough is enough.”
Norman Oder
3:28 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
Additional coverage, including video, here:
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2012/01/finally-fed-up-adams-jeffries-camara.html
Joe Gonzalez
6:05 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
I am not surprised Bruce Ratner has not fulfilled his word in regards to the Atlantic Yards Project. I want to see these politicians go after the various religious leaders & self-appointed civil rights leaders who gave Ratner political cover over the years.
There ought be a law that mandates all religious leaders & civil right leaders open their financial books & expose their holdings. I have long questioned why its hands off religious leaders who are taking money left and right and never are held accountable to anyone to explain where the money goes and the various positions they take.
Grand Army
9:13 am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Joe, I agree. Reverend Herbert Daughtry's support has allowed Ratner to claim he had both the support of the African-American community and the local community, neither of which has been true. Daughtry will receive free tickets to every Net game. I don't doubt he'll make good use of them -- he has talked about using them to motivate/reward school kids or for hospital patients. He'll also get to hold 10 events per year at the arena. That's nice for him and his congregation, but it's not jobs and it's not affordable housing. Infact, it sounds like old fashioned horse trading to me.
Marc
9:19 am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Where are the politiicians (Markowitz?) who supported the project? Why aren't they still defending their positions? Have the facts finally silenced them (and how much in the way of political support and money did they get from Ratner and his colleagues)?
anna constantino
10:38 am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Since Ratner is obviously in breach of contract as the saying would go, why is he still allowed to continue this project. His work should be suspended and other contractors and developers sought to complete the project.
Norman Oder
10:43 am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
He's *not* in breach of contract. He promised--and the state approved--a plan that anticipated a project buildout over 10 years, with attendant benefits
But the contract to actually require performance imposes much longer deadlines--25 years to build the whole project--and significant penalties only for delays on the first few buildings.
See: http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/01/despite-promise-of-ten-year-ay-buildout.html
Similarly, Forest City promised that half the affordable units--in terms of floor area--would be devoted to larger (2BR & 3BR) units. But the first building would be mostly studios and 1BR units. And yes, they can get away with it.
More here: http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-many-subsidized-apartments-for-low.html
anna constantino
8:56 pm on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
thank you Norman for the courtesy of a response. I like to view responses to my opinions as an educational tool to either broaden my own views or to educate myself as to how the other person thinks or to what is truly occurring. I will check your your suggested blogspots.
Gib Veconi
2:13 pm on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
As Norman says, they can get away with it--for now. That's why the Governor must be pressed for the type of oversight structure advocated by these State legislators. Write to him at http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.