The Eminent Domain

When we first started putting together this site last fall, Alyssa and I spent a lot of trying to figure out just who, exactly, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership was.

According to the organization’s website,

The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP) is a not-for-profit local development corporation incorporated in the summer of 2006 in an effort to coordinate economic development activities in Downtown Brooklyn and ensure implementation of public and private development projects in the area. The DBP works in close partnership with the City of New York to:

• expedite design and construction of public capital projects
• facilitate the development of commercial and residential real estate projects
• create strategies for corporate recruitment and the reuse of undercapitalized properties
• advance the development of cultural venues and public space within the BAM Cultural District
• coordinate transportation planning initiatives
• spearhead an area-wide branding and marketing campaign
• improve area business conditions and quality of life.

The DBP incorporates the functions of four existing not-for-profit organizations providing economic development services within Downtown Brooklyn (Downtown Brooklyn Council, BAM Local Development Corporation, MetroTech Business Improvement District and Fulton Mall Improvement Association) and has an annual operating budget of approximately $8 million.

The DBP has a staff of approximately 25 and is overseen by a Board of Directors comprised of leaders from Downtown Brooklyn’s corporate sector, academic institutions and cultural community.

A little vague, right? And what about that $8 million budget? Only $2 million is coming from the City, and the BID budgets don’t add up quite that high. So who are the private funders? We placed some calls, but got no answers.

Well, we’ve gotten our hands on an internal email, dated August 16, 2007, containing a complete listing of contributors (after the jump) and amounts paid. We figure it’s in the public interest to know exactly who has been financing the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s activities, and therefore has former Bloomberg administration economic development officials at their disposal to advocate for their projects.

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Real Estate Slump Hits New York (Gotham Gazette)

Negotions Over CBA for Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment (Daily News)

Bronx Residents Rally Against Plans to Turn Armory Into Mall (NY1)

Delays in $4 Billion Brooklyn Development Are Challenged in Tenants’ Lawsuit (NY Times)

An Open Letter to President Bollinger (Columbia Spectator)

Residents Say Campus is Not Always Welcoming (Columbia Spectator)

Just when you thought it was over…

Less than two weeks after City Council member Inez Dickens negotiated an agreement granting her approval of the controversial 125th Street rezoning plan in exchange for more affordable housing and decreased building heights, VOTE People plans to file a lawsuit tomorrow to stop City Council from voting on the plan Wednesday.

VOTE People, which you may remember as the group that tried earlier this month to halt the rezoning process using an obscure section of the City Charter, is now contending that the City has not given area residents ample notification as required by law. More details when the full text of the suit becomes available tomorrow.

According to Director Craig Schley, VOTE People was unsuccessful in collecting the necessary signatures from 20% of property owners in the area to be rezoned. He says the group hit a roadblock when trying to determine exactly which properties were considered part of the rezoning area, and precisely how many signatures would be needed to force an approval by a three-fourths majority of the Council.

But this latest tactic, he said in a phone conversation, is part and parcel of the group’s earlier action.

“It’s all about notice, due process, and transparency,” said Schley.

VOTE People’s attempts to stop the Harlem rezoning plan from passing are especially contentious because the city has made a conspicuous effort to involve “the community” throughout the process; beginning in 2005, Community Boards, local business owners, elected officials, civic groups, and BID members were invited to participate in advisory workshops on the future of Harlem. Notes from one of these workshops, with a list of Advisory Committee members attached, are available here.

This is not to say that VOTE People are the only ones unhappy with the way the proposal turned out; Community Board 10 voted to give its Conditional Disapproval to the plan, saying that the Environmental Impact Statement underestimated the adverse effects of the rezoning on the area. The Board’s Resolution called for “Real Community Benefits,” including income-targeted housing, incentives to support local businesses, an arts bonus, environmental protections, a prohibition on the use of eminent domain, and a number of amendments to the zoning text.

That was in December. Community Boards 9 and 11, also affected by the proposed rezoning, both gave Conditional Approval, citing a number of problems with the plan as it stood. Borough President Scott Stringer joined CB10 in rejecting the plan. None of it made much difference, though; the City Planning Commission ignored all three boards’ input and approved the rezoning in March, to much public outcry. So did the City Council’s Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee. Then, two weeks ago, before the plan could go before the full Council, Inez Dickens forged a compromise promising her approval if the plan were amended to include more affordable housing and more stringent building height limits. The two other Council members representing the area — Robert Jackson and Melissa Mark-Viverito — signed on as well. Now, VOTE People hopes to prevent the City Council from hearing the proposal this Wednesday, as is currently scheduled.

So where did it all go wrong? Schley maintains that the “appointed boards to the community,” as he calls Community Boards, are not representative of the people, because members are appointed by the Borough President. But that explanation isn’t satisfying. The Boards didn’t approve of this rezoning, and neither did Stringer. No one was playing along to try to ensure reappointment. The bigger question here is why, following what by all appearances was a rigorous process of community input, are local City Council members standing with the Bloomberg administration and not with their own constitutents?

City Says Kingsbridge Armory Will Become a Shopping Center (NY Times)

Redevelopment Plan Hurting Willets Point (NY Daily News)

Willets Point Project Faces City Council Stonewall (Queens Gazette)

Affordable Housing Programs in New York Get Record Boost (AM New York)

Results Are Mixed for Mayor’s PlaNYC Program (NY Sun)

Downtown Brooklyn Still Hot, But “Under-Retailed” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Pols: Stop Bruce Now (Brooklyn Paper)

Macy’s Shopping for Harlem Site (The Real Deal)

O’Donnell Files FOIL Request (Columbia Spectator)

Compromise is Reached on Harlem Rezoning (NY Times)

City’s Coney Island Design Revised to Break Deadlock (NY Times)

Housing Policy: Politics as Usual (Columbia Spectator)

Harlem Fights for Victoria Theater (AM New York)

Answers About Brooklyn Architecture (City Room)

Introducting Planning for All New Yorkers: An Atlas of Community-Based Plans (Community Based Planning)

Willets Point Locals Sue City Over Neglect (Gothamist)

The Manhattanville Project (The Eye)

New Myrtle-Flatbush Tower to be Called “Toren” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Gehry to Brooklyn Paper: Miss Brooklyn Ain’t Dead (Brooklyn Paper)

South Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance Ready to Go (Gowanus Lounge)

Despite Rezoning, a Net Loss of Office Space in Downtown Brooklyn (The Real Deal)

Harlem Councilwoman Opposes Rezoning Plan (NY Times)

Fighting a New 125th Street, Using a 110-Year-Old Law (NY Times)

Alumnus Governor May Impact the Fate of Manhattanville (Columbia Spectator)

Atlantic Yards May Prompt 9 to Revisit Eminent Domain (NY Sun)

Going Fourth: Brooklyn’s Boulevard Seems Ready for Retail (Brooklyn Paper)

An Atlas of Local Plans: Pointing the Way Forward? (City Limits)

More from VOTE People and this morning’s City Hall press conference on the 125th Street rezoning:

Chief Counsel Norman Siegel said that he has found no existing case law interpreting the section of the City Charter that the group seeks to use to block the City’s current 125th Street plans. However, according to General Counsel Erica Razook, the group has consulted several experts from past Charter Revision Commissions who have assured them that the clause — which hasn’t been invoked since the 1940’s — applies to this case.

VOTE People is contending that the City Council cannot vote before April 10, because doing so would encroach on the 30-day window the group has to collect signatures. If the City Council votes before then, Siegel says, his clients will sue.

VOTE People has two chief demands: first, that the city refrain from using eminent domain to conduct the rezoning; and secondly, that the city place a cap on commercial property rent increases, in order to protect “mom-and-pop stores.”

After Siegel finished outlined the legal logistics, a number of speakers came to the podium and fired up the small crowd of activists standing behind the reporters and photographers.

Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council said that the current action should inspire all New Yorkers: “The radical makeover of Harlem is just the beginning for working-class neighborhoods,” she said. “This lawsuit will set the tone for resistance to come. Harlem’s fight is your fight!”

Next up was Councilman Charles Barron. “Harlem is not for sale!” he boomed, prompting a rash of applause and cheering. “I am from the People’s Republic of Brooklyn, but Harlem is the Black Mecca…. The city is using development as a new form of Jim Crow-ism,” he said. “Race and class are always at the bottom of this kind of development.”

He then commended Councilman Tony Avella of Queens, who is white, for his opposition to the 125th street rezoning plan: “I’ve decided to make Tony Avella an honorary black,” he joked.

Avella took the cue to come to the mic. “The people have lost power in New York City,” he said. “The only way to have recourse is to sue your own government. How sad is that?” He cited the example of the controversial Columbia decision, saying that the city has already “failed” the people of Harlem once. “I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen here. I gotta tell you, I’m not optimistic,” he said.

When I spoke to VOTE People executive director Craig Schley after the press conference, though, he emphasized that this legal action is only the beginning. He assured me, speaking of the rezoning plan: “This is not going to happen.”

VOTE People, a Harlem-based group that has been vocal in its opposition to the proposed 125th Street rezoning, is scheduled to hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall at 9 a.m. today. The organization will be announcing that it has filed a official protest — co-signed by Harlem business- and land-owners — against the proposal.Apparently those business and property owners have power to make more than a symbolic gesture. With the help of attorney Norman Siegel, VOTE People unearthed an obscure clause in the New York City Charter, which requires the Council to pass a rezoning by a three-fourths majority if a certain number of property-holders in an area to be zoned insists on it.

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Sprayregen Brings Up Environmental Issues in Lawsuit Against Columbia (Columbia Spectator)

Proposed Move of Historic Grange Divides Residents, CB9 (Columbia Spectator)

MTA Votes to Sell West Side Land Rights to Tishman-Speyer (City Room)

As Builders’ Grand Visions Dissolve, So Does Our Faith (NY Times)

Atlantic Yards Stalled, but Arena Remains Goal (Brooklyn Downtown Star)

Desperate City Reconsiders Coney Builder (NY Post)