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Land-Use Committee Votes to ‘Sell’ Brooklyn Bridge
As Evidence of Impropriety between Developer Two Trees,
School Construction Authority and Mayoral Aides Mounts
Emails Revealed Via Freedom Of Information Law Demonstrate Possible Collusion Between School Construction Authority (SCA), Developer Two Trees and Senior Advisors at Mayor’s Office on School Proposed to “Sell” Condo Tower by Brooklyn Bridge.
Did $400,000 in Campaign Contributions and Lobbying By Developer to City Planning Decision-Makers “Buy” Their Votes… Even As Department of Investigations Considers Inquiry Petition from Dock Street Opponents?
New York, NY, June 5, 2009 – As members of the City Council Land-Use Committee voted today to fast track the controversial 18-story Brooklyn Bridge side condo known as Dock Street, opponents were revealing startling new information about the chain of emails between real estate developer Two Trees Management, the School Construction Authority (SCA) and, for the first time, two senior advisors at the Mayor’s Office, that have been handed over to the Department of Investigations.
On the vote, Gus Sheha, the President of DNA, the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, voiced the distress of over 25,000 Brooklynites and historians and preservationists the world over.
“Today, June 5th 2009, after 126 years of being unencumbered and on display for the world to enjoy, The Brooklyn Bridge was sold by the NY City Council Land-Use Committee,” said Sheha “This is a very sad day, as political contributions and special interests have reinforced the public’s perception that the ‘will of the people’ is an empty phrase, something rendered non-existent in our democracy in this era of checkbook politics. Collectively we say shame on all those who will bargain our national monuments and history to bankroll careers that do everything but serve the will and the voice of the people and public interest. Your legacy will leave an indelible stain on human history and world beloved landscape of our city.”
Sheha took a political tact with his next observation. “The City Council is rushing to push through this project even in the face of hard, irrefutably evidence of impropriety, not only on the part of the developer and the School Construction Authority but perhaps the Mayor’s office itself. When the full facts emerge, those who are rushing to fast-track this illegitimately vetted plan, those who are rushing to vote rather than investigate, will have their reputation and political careers painted with the outcome. While the City Council members may not have been direct players in impropriety, they are casting votes with the full knowledge that serious and potentially criminal evidence is mounting and in need of investigation. Rather than protect the public interest by calling for a halt to Dock Street pending an investigation, they are rushing forward to curry political favors and perhaps further contributions from our city’s worst pay-to-play developers. This will not escape the long-memory of the voting public on upcoming election days.”
On Monday, June 1, on the heels of stunning testimony given at a New York City Council Public Hearing regarding the questionable dealings between The School Construction Authority (SCA) and Brooklyn developer Two Trees Management and two revealing stories on campaign contributions and lobbying by the developer to key city planning decision-makers in The New York Times and The New York Post, The DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance and its supporters asked the Department of Investigations to open an inquiry into possible impropriety, corruption and criminality around the controversial 18-story Brooklyn Bridge side-condo known as Dock Street.
A copy of the four-page letter from DNA to the Department of Investigations can be found at: www.dumbo-dna.org
Speculation has mounted regarding the integrity of a proposed 43,000 square-foot middle school which is to be part of the Two Trees’ 18-story residential development, due to emails and testimony that was introduced at a New York City Council Public Hearing on May 21, obtained by Andrew Stengel via the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Many believe the school is being used as a “red herring” to manipulate the City Council into supporting Dock Street, which has given birth to a firestorm of criticism from local and national historic and preservation groups as well as thousands of Brooklynites.
What is emerging today is that the potential impropriety extends its way into the highest level of the New York City Mayor’s Office. According to the chain of emails obtained via FOIL, both Gregorio Mayers, Senior Policy Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg, and Nnenna Lynch, Senior Policy to Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, had direct email communication with the lobbyist, attorney and Two Trees head Jed Walentas regarding the project. Emails can be obtained directly from DNA by calling 917-742-6072.
It has also recently surfaced via The New York Times that developer Two Trees has spent approximately $400,000 lobbying the elected official in City Council and other important government agencies. The two City Council members yielding the most power over the development, Land Use Committee Chairwoman Melinda R. Katz and Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, have received at least $74,250 in campaign donations from the developer according to The New York Times article, perhaps coloring their objectivity on the proposed structure. According to The New York Times, “Katz, who is running for city comptroller, has received major financial support from the real estate industry, whose interests she oversees on the Land Use Committee… And Mr. Walentas and his father, David (the principals of Two Trees), were on the finance committee for a Katz fund-raiser in June.” The May 28 New York Times column followed up on details first revealed in an April 28 item at the New York Post blog which set the total Two Trees lobbying effort at $409,323 since January 2007. Read the full text
More than 25,000 individual citizens have voiced their objection via petitions, letters, postcards, emails and phone calls to governing bodies including the Department of City Planning, Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council.
DNA is committed to being the stewards of the DUMBO neighborhood and the bridges. That is why DNA is now exploring other options to stop Dock Street as proposed. In order to do so DNA needs your help. Please make donations, which are fully tax-deductible, to the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance via the web-site http://www.dumbo-dna.org or via mail:
DNA
45 Washington St.
BOX 123
Brooklyn, NY 11201
