“Sponge Park” on Gowanus May Become Reality

Over a year ago, the Gowanus community heard the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s plan to create a “Sponge Park” on a Verizon parking lot near the highly-polluted canal.  Today, the Brooklyn Paper reports that Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Carroll Gardens) has earmarked $300,000 to implement a pilot version of this community-based plan.

The Conservancy envisions the park as a tool to help reduce runoff into the canal, and to help soak up toxins from the waterway, which is so polluted that the EPA is currently considering it for federal Superfund status.  (The City opposes this pottential designation, arguing that it could manage the cleanup more effectively.)

The $300,000 is not enough to implement the full park, the Brooklyn Paper reports, but could potentially result in a one-block esplanade.

MTA Approves Renegotiated Deal for Ratner at AY

As expected, the MTA Board voted 10-2 yesterday to allow Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner to make payments for the Vanderbilt Railyards over 22 years, and to build a smaller railyard worth $100 million less than originally promised.  Read all about it at Atlantic Yards Report.

As Crain’s reports, however, this may not be the end of the story:

“Forest City’s next major agenda item is selling bonds to finance the project’s centerpiece: an arena that where the company’s basketball team, the Net’s will play. The company hopes to begin selling $490 million worth of bonds to finance the $772 million arena this fall. Legislation allowing Forest City to issue tax free bonds expires at the end of the year so timing is critical. If Forest City fails to secure those bonds or other financing by early next year, the MTA deal falls apart.”

Wednesday: Fifth Ave. Committee Screens “Some Place Like Home”

The video above is the trailer for the documentary Some Place Like Home – The Fight Against Gentrification in Downtown Brooklyn, produced by Task Force member organization Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE). The Accountable Development Working Group and the Fifth Avenue Committee host a free screening on Wednesday, June 24 at 7pm at the Fifth Avenue Committee’s office, 621 DeGraw Street, near 4^th Ave., Brooklyn.  From 6-7pm there will be an abridged meeting of the Accountable Development Working Group – the last monthly meeting until autumn.

Admission is FREE and refreshments will be served!  Small business owners and residents interviewed in the film will be on hand for Q & A.

To RSVP (not necessary but helpful) or further info, contact FAC at 718 237-2017, ext 148 or dpowell@fifthave.org.

Tonight: Open Forum on NYU 2031 Plan

Tonight, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the Greenwich Village Block Associations, and other community groups will hold an open forum on New York University’s proposed 2031 expansion plans.

According to GVSHP, the plan indicates, “the potential for a very large expansion of the university in and around its core facilities in the Village, East Village, and NoHo during that time period — roughly double its rate of expansion over the last several decades.”

The forum will be an opportunity to find out more about the plan from the perspective of community groups, including concerns regarding how NYU is adhering to its commitments to a set of planning principles developed with community input.  It is also an opportunity to find out more about the process by which this plan is being reviewed and how you can be a part of it.

A flyer for the forum can be found here, and more background information can be found here.

Senator Perkins Demands Answers From MTA on Atlantic Yards

Via our friends at Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the following is a letter from Senator Bill Perkins to the Acting Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the MTA. It’s long, but definitely worth a read. The MTA’s Board meets June 22 and is expected to vote on an renegotiated agreement with developer Bruce Ratner for the rights to the Vanderbilt Railyards.

_____________________________________________

Dear Ms. Williams:

I write to follow up on the hearing that was held on May 29th regarding the Atlantic Yards project.

At the hearing you testified that MTA was engaged in renegotiations with Forest City Ratner regarding the development rights over the Vanderbilt Yards. The original deal required FCR to make various infrastructure improvements and remit 100 million dollars at closing. You reported at the hearing that the developer now wants to significantly scale down its commitments both in terms of infrastructure and money. It has been reported that the new terms of the deal will be voted on at the MTA’s next board meeting, scheduled for June 24th.

I write to request that the MTA immediately fax me a copy of any proposed amended agreements between MTA and FCR. There is already a great deal of public concern about the terms of the various deals at Atlantic Yards, in particular MTA’s acceptance of a substantially below-appraisal offer. Given MTA’s deep financial problems, its reliance on public bailout, and the many concerns raised about the viability of the Atlantic Yards project, MTA must make every effort to engage the public now, so that no new Vanderbilt Yards deal is ratified without the public having a substantial opportunity to review and comment.

Public engagement is always important, but it is particularly critical now that so many of the alleged public benefits of the Atlantic Yards project have diminished or vanished altogether. For example, the state of the art rail yard FCR was to build is no longer on the table as the new yard would have fewer tracks than are currently in place and that were originally promised; the IBO has concluded that the arena will now be a money-loser for the city; promised office space has been scrapped, substantially reducing revenue and jobs; there are no concrete or near-term plans to build the bulk of the promised affordable housing, which is contained in Phase 2 of the project plan, which has no timeline; the “world-class” Frank Gehry design has been scrapped for a cookie-cutter alternative; the much-touted “Urban Room” public space has been discarded; the remaining so-called public space is all contained in Phase 2, which again has no timeline; and then ESDC CEO Marissa Lago stated publicly that the project will take “decades” to complete, which will continue or even exacerbate for a generation the so-called blight the project was intended to resolve, and significantly delay or deny the public’s accrual of benefits.

The public needs to know that it is getting the best deal possible and that the MTA is not granting sweetheart deals to developers at the expense of taxpayers, straphangers and the local community. To that end, in addition to immediately providing a written copy of the renegotiated terms, please provide detailed written answers to the following questions:

1) Why is MTA renegotiating terms with FCR rather than demanding performance or rescinding the agreement and re-issuing the RFP in order to determine whether there are other interested parties?

2) In renegotiating the terms, did MTA consider that most of the alleged public benefits it considered in 2005 have since substantially diminished or vanished altogether?

3) Has the MTA contracted an independent appraiser to appraise the Vanderbilt Yards to determine their current Fair Market Value? If not, why not? What is the current Fair Market Value of the Vanderbilt Yards?

4) Given that the new agreement will be substantially and materially different from the original, making it a new agreement, does not the Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005 now apply and impose a fiduciary duty on MTA board members and require that the sale of property for fair market value be supported by an independent appraisal? If not, why not?

5) What are FCR’s obligations to the MTA if the deal closes but the developer does not proceed with the project?

Time is of the essence. These answers need to be known and made public prior to the MTA board considering any new deal regarding the Vanderbilt Yards. Therefore please provide a written response to my office no later than Friday June 19, 2009.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Senator Bill Perkins

Cc: Governor David A. Paterson
Dennis Mullen, Acting CEO and President, Empire State Development Corp.
H. Dale Hemmerdinger, Chairman, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith
Senator John Sampson, Democratic Conference Leader
Senator Martin Malave Dilan, Chair Transportation Committee
Senator Velmanette Montgomery
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries

Planning Commission Approves Coney Island Rezoning

NY1 reports that the City Planning Commission approved its proposed Coney Island rezoning this morning in an almost unanimous vote (one new Commissioner abstained).   The plan calls for development of hotels and housing (4,500 market-rate units and 900 affordable units), “entertainment retail,” and more City control of the amusement area, as part of the boardwalk would become mapped parkland.

Issues remain with the City’s development plans, however.  Developer Thor Equities still owns much of the land within the proposed rezoning area, and the City needs State approval to alienate parkland before it can arrange the land-swap deal it hopes to use to purchase Thor’s land.

The rezoning will go before City Council for final approval within 50 days.

Your Community Board Needs You!

Each and every one of our city’s community boards is currently facing a budget cut of $35,000. Your community board provides a range of services vital to your community’s welfare, from overseeing essential municipal services, to ensuring that you have a voice in local decision-making, to serving as a place-based provider of constituent services. Community boards are the public’s interface with New York City’s enormous and complex government, and they are also government agencies’ conduit to the public.  Meaning, for example, that when the Department of Health needs to update a community on the spread of the H1N1 virus, it asks the community board for help with outreach.

Boards already suffer from underfunding, and cuts this deep mean that the public loses out the most:  fewer resources will mean tough choices about how to prioritize the many demands made on community boards every day as they struggle to both perform City Charter-mandated responsibilities and attend to the growing needs of constituents.

On Tuesday, June 9, at 11:00 a.m., on the steps of City Hall, join all five of New York’s borough presidents, all 59 of New York’s community boards, and community advocates of all stripes, in calling on the City Council for the restoration of community board budgets for the coming fiscal year. (This rally has been organized by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office.)

Community Meeting on Atlantic Yards: June 9

Following up on last week’s Atlantic Yards hearing, project opponents Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn will hold a community meeting to provide updates on the plan: Tuesday June 9, 7pm at Lafayette Avenue Church, 85 S. Oxford Street in Fort Greene.  Speakers will include Council Member Letitia James, Pratt Institute’s Ron Shiffman, Develop Don’t Destroy’s Daniel Goldstein, (all of whom are members of the Community-Based Planning Task Force) and others.

Task Force Submits Testimony on Atlantic Yards

On Friday, the State Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions (chaired by Sen. Bill Perkins) held a hearing on the Atlantic Yards project.  The scene was hectic, with both pro- and anti-development factions representing in large numbers.  Norman Oder has a thorough recap at Atlantic Yards Report.

The Community-Based Planning Task Force prepared testimony, to be delivered by Executive Committee member Molly Rouzie of the Red Hook Civic Association.  While she was not able to deliver oral testimony because of the chaotic nature of the hearing, the following testimony was submitted in writing to the State Senators present:

Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award Podcast Series Continues

On the Municipal Art Society website, Sideya Sherman of MAS talks with former Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award recipient Elizabeth Yeampierre (shown at left receiving the award in 2007) about her organization UPROSE, how and why she became involved in community activism and environmental justice, and why global climate change is a major issue in this field.

To highlight community-based planning in New York ahead of this year’s YCGP award, this podcast is the second in a series of three interviews with previous award recipients. If you would like to nominate someone for this year’s award, visit www.mas.org/awards by June 6!