Sunday, August 5, 2012

The return of Robert Moses

From City Limits:

Restaurants, stores, and a 200-room hotel would go up on the Willets Point side of 126th Street, just east of Citi Field, though the city does not entirely own the property. The proposed shopping mall west of the stadium may face a larger hurdle: The parking lot is part of Flushing Meadows Corona Park. State law requires the alienation of parkland before it can be used for non-park purposes.

To meet that requirement, Bloomberg has reached back to a law passed 51 years ago, summoning an uncertain ally in the ghost of Robert Moses. But questions surround this curious piece of legislation, setting up the latest in a string of disputes over city-sponsored developments on public parkland.

"Yes, this area is parkland," says Benjamin Branham, a spokesman for the city's Economic Development Corporation, "but development is permitted under the 1961 law that authorized the construction of Shea Stadium—known as Administrative Code 18-118—which also allowed for additional uses to be built on the parking lot. It's important to be clear the authorization comes from this law as opposed to a contract or other agreement of some kind."

Yet, as recently as 2001, New York's highest court ruled parkland can't be taken, even for temporary use, without an explicit act of alienation passed by the state Legislature and approved by the Governor: "[O]ur courts have time and again reaffirmed the principle that parkland is impressed with a public trust, requiring legislative approval before it can be alienated or used for an extended period for non-park purposes."

Moses presided over the 1961 groundbreaking for Shea Stadium. He had originally offered to build the municipal arena in Flushing Meadows for the Brooklyn Dodgers and resurrected the plan when the city pushed for a new National League franchise.

The state Legislature approved his building of Shea Stadium in the park, but its 1961 legislation was primarily aimed at granting the city authority to issue bonds to finance construction. It loosely laid out the permitted uses for the stadium and grounds, listing "recreation, entertainment, amusement, education, enlightenment, cultural development or betterment, and improvement of trade and commerce." The law even allowed the city to use the site for "any business or commercial purpose," so long as this activity "aids in the financing of the construction and operation of [the] stadium, grounds, parking areas and facilities" and "does not interfere with the accomplishment of the purposes referred to" above.

"The bill reads like a Robert Moses special," says Geoffrey Croft of the watchdog group NYC Park Advocates. The broad powers it conferred were a hallmark of the Power Broker, who was so well-practiced in the black art of political legislating that Al Smith once called him "the best bill-drafter I know." The Parks Commissioner could enter into agreements to use part or all of the stadium grounds, but any agreements lasting for more than a year had to be approved by the Board of Estimate, which included the mayor, the comptroller, the City Council president, and all of the borough presidents.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court found the Board of Estimate unconstitutional, because it violated the “one man, one vote” rule—for example, the borough president of Brooklyn (the city’s most populous county) had no more power than the borough president of Staten Island (the least populous county). With the elimination of the Board of Estimate, the city's Law Department says, the power of site approval under the 1961 Shea Stadium law now rests solely with the mayor. A shopping mall may not offer the "enlightenment" referenced in the text, but a Bloomberg administration spokesperson describes the new project as a "retail/entertainment complex" benefiting “trade and commerce.”


Don't you love how the city has no money for needed services for existing neighborhoods, yet has tons of cash to throw around in an attempt to justify park alienation in order to realize a Bloomberg legacy project? Why doesn't the billionaire pony up his own cash and buy out the Willets Point property owners? Then he can build whatever the hell he wants.

Leave the damn park alone.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not only should the park be left alone, but it should be a publicly accessible space. Instead, the Wilpons have erected a black wrought iron fence around the entire parking area, and there is no access. What is the point iof this being parkland, if it cannot be used as such.

Moreover, if it such a good idea to convert the proposed future Willets Point parking lot into an astroturf-coverted field for community use when the parking is not needed for events, then the same can and should be done right now, with the parkland property that is already controlled by the Wilpons. Open the gates, roll out the astroturf, and let the community in. Instead, this idea is only being dangled as a carrot as a prospective additional use of the Willets Point property.

Anonymous said...

Yes more retail and restaurants......in a crappy economy.

Anonymous said...

Knock down Gracie Mansion - it's not needed!

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg and Moses...
2 like-minded turds in a toilet!

"GUNG HO"!
Just keep on kicking ass,
you Willets Point United patriots.

A project delayed is a project defeated.

Blooomberg will be gone soon,
and his legacy to NYC will be remembered as a stinking diarrhea filled diaper.

Anonymous said...

The recently late, Gore Vidal had compared Bloomberg to Hitler.

We are not alone in our opinion of Der Mayor.

Remember that he's a German before he's a Jew.

Anonymous said...

I'll say it again. Bloomberg is apolitical and amoral. I'll add this now. He belongs to no group. He'll cut deals with whoever it takes to get ahead.

Anonymous said...

Agenda 21!!!

Anonymous said...

What the hell is "Agenda 21"...
another one of those ambiguous hare-brained international conspiracy theories?

Keep the subject more local, please.

We're getting screwed in our own backyards!

Anonymous said...

Really? Agenda 21 is a theory? It's quite obvious that you didn't do your homework. The UN's Agenda 21 is all about creating a one world government using terms like "sustainable development." If you carefully examine the projects that Bloomturd is promoting, it is right in line with the plan to usurp local and national sovereignty.

Here's something that will help readers understand the concern:

http://govtslaves.info/agenda-21-for-dummies-part-1-2/

"As Henry Lamb of Freedom 21 puts it, “Comprehensive land use planning that delivers sustainable development to local communities transforms both the process through which decisions that govern citizens are made, and the market place where citizens must earn their livelihood. The fundamental principle that government is empowered by the consent of the governed is completely by-passed in the process…the natural next step is for government to dictate the behavior of the people who own the land that the government controls.”

To enforce the policy, local government is being transformed by “stakeholder councils” created and enforced by the same NGO Agenda 21 authors. They are busy creating a matrix of non-elected boards, councils and regional governments that usurp the ability of citizens to have an impact on policy. It’s the demise of representative government. And the councils appear and grow almost overnight.

Sustainablists involve themselves in every aspect of society. Here are just a few of the programs and issues that can be found in the Agenda 21 blueprint and can be easily found in nearly every community’s “local” development plans: Wetlands, conservation easements, water sheds, view sheds, rails – to- trails, biosphere reserves, greenways, carbon footprints, partnerships, preservation, stakeholders, land use, environmental protection, development, diversity, visioning, open space, heritage areas and comprehensive planning. Every one of these programs leads to more government control, land grabs and restrictions on energy, water, and our own property. When we hear these terms we know that such policy originated on the pages of Agenda 21, regardless of the direct or indirect path it took to get to our community."

Anonymous said...

Yup! Sure looks like Agenda 21 to me. Sounds like something our local weakly investigative reporters should look into. Damn! I forgo. They're all spineless and would never write anything that might suggest alternative viewpoints. The population is better controlled when it's dumbed down.

Anonymous said...

http://occupycorporatism.com/agenda-21-micro-apartment-scheme-being-beta-tested-in-nyc/

Anonymous said...

Oops,
I think I just stepped on some Socialist malcontent's dick...LOL...Agenda #21...
LOL...really now !!!

We've just received some news that Mars is mounting an invasion of the Earth.

Replace that old aluminum foil on your windows to stop their radio waves.

Anonymous said...

Oops,
I think I just stepped on some Socialist malcontent's dick...LOL...Agenda #21...
LOL...really now !!!

We've just received some news that Mars is mounting an invasion of the Earth.

Replace that old aluminum foil on your windows to stop their radio waves.
-------------------------------------------------

Yeah. Name calling and derision really make your point. Go back to sleep like most Queens residents. You laugh while this agenda is being implemented. AND when you wake up you'll see that Agenda 21 is real and happening in this borough thanks to our mayor. The people who read the quote and followed the links are intelligent enough to make up their own minds while you're fixated on proving NOTHING!!! Way to go! Your non-sensical response speaks volumes!!!

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
Oops,
I think I just stepped on some Socialist malcontent's dick...LOL...Agenda #21...
LOL...really now !!!

We've just received some news that Mars is mounting an invasion of the Earth.

Replace that old aluminum foil on your windows to stop their radio waves."



You must be full of bliss because you got the ignorant part down cold!