The tweeding never ends

From DNA Info:

In the past two years, two city councilwomen went to bat for nonprofits employing their family members, writing letters of support for the groups to city officials deciding on their proposals to develop public land, records show.

City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo and ex-city Councilwoman Diana Reyna each penned letters to officials at the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development backing affordable-housing proposals, records obtained by DNAinfo New York show.

Arroyo's June 14, 2013, missive supported a Bronx nonprofit that had hired her ex-convict nephew six months earlier, while Reyna's Aug. 27, 2012, note praised a proposal by a Brooklyn nonprofit where her mother-in-law worked as a director.

What a tangled web they tweed

From the NY Post:

Brooklyn’s borough president and a top deputy spent 11 days traveling in China at the expense of a nonprofit run by one of their own volunteer staffers, The Post has learned.

The Sino-America New York Brooklyn Archway Association Corp. shelled out nearly $7,000 for Beep Eric Adams and his deputy, Diana Reyna, to visit seven Chinese districts between May 22 and June 1.

The Chinese government kicked in an additional $787 for hotels, meals and travel in the city of Yiwu.

Winnie Greco, Borough Hall’s honorary ambassador to the local Chinese community for the past several years, formed the corporation as a noncharitable group in October 2012 — meaning it’s not required to file annual reports with the state attorney general.

Adams’ staffers say the trip, which was intended to promote economic development and tourism by signing two sister-city agreements and by securing a “Friendship Archway” for the Chinese community in Sunset Park, was cleared by the city’s Conflict of Interest Board one day before the departure date.

But they refused to provide a copy of the board’s letter clearing the trip, citing a policy of not releasing “interagency communications regarding official counsel.”

An itinerary of the trip shows the delegation, which included Greco and several members of the nonprofit, toured local schools on five of the six days that listed planned events — but the visits produced just a single proposal for a “teacher exchange and classroom learning exchange through Skype.”

Discussions for securing the archway, which would be donated by the Chinese government, but installed and maintained at Brooklyn’s expense, took up just one day.

IBZ funding nixed

From Crains:

Mayor Bill de Blasio's budget proposal eliminates a $1.1 million allocation for industrial business zones, a decision that did not shock those familiar with the program but casts doubt on the new administration's approach to preserving manufacturing jobs in the outer boroughs.

In 2006, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated 16 industrial business zones across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The thrust of the plan was to keep industrial and manufacturing businesses operating in the city by using tax credits and city funding and to signal that the areas would not be rezoned for residential or other uses.

But the roughly $4 million budgeted that first year for IBZs has steadily decreased. Nothing was set aside in Mr. Bloomberg's final budget, but then-Councilwoman Diana Reyna shoehorn $1.1 million back into the city's 2014 financial plan. The money paid for the Department of Small Business Services to provide consulting for industrial businesses. EDC also has three staffers helping manufacturers, funded out of the agency's own budget.

Many of the program's supporters, including Ms. Reyna, who is now deputy borough president of Brooklyn, are still advocating for the IBZs. "We want the mayor's office to really re-commit to this program," she said. "This program needs an office and a head of OIMB that reports directly to the mayor. The Brooklyn Navy Yard has a wait list for new businesses looking for space. There is interest here."

Responding to that interest and growing manufacturing jobs would seem to be a natural fit for Mr. de Blasio, who campaign on a platform of economic opportunity for working-class New Yorkers. A spokeswoman for the city's Department of Small Business Services said in statement to Crain's that a litany of free services are available to businesses in industrial areas and "Mayor de Blasio's budget reflects his administration's values, which include preserving and growing the manufacturing sector as a key element of his economic development policy."

But by removing the last vestiges of funding from the program, the new mayor is indicating that his administration is at the very least rethinking its approach to industrial business growth. Since Mr. Hum's departure, the responsibilities of the IBZ program have been shared by a number of city agencies, none of which could confirm their number of IBZ employees.

Thought you might like to see the mayor's campaign promise on this issue:

Help Manufacturing Thrive in New York City: Bill de Blasio believes manufacturing 2.0 can be a critical part of the city economy and will build on existing programs to preserve the physical integrity of Industrial Business Zones, stop illegal conversions of industrial areas, and support better infrastructure and workforce development planning. He will replicate the success of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in other industrial areas owned and managed by the city.

So much for that.

Who's against safe jobs?

From the Daily News:

Big real estate developers, affordable housing builders and minority activists are teaming up to fight a Council bill they say will stymie local employment and economic development in the outer boroughs.

The bill, known as the Safe Jobs Act, would require all projects receiving $1 million or more in city subsidies or tax benefits to be built using state-certified apprenticeship programs.

Such programs are operated by the city's powerful construction unions — and the development coalition fears mandated apprenticeships would block minority contractors and local workers without ties to the unions.

“Minority firms are small and would be unable to devote the time and resources necessary to create approved programs," said Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP state conference. "They will be effectively barred from participating in city-sponsored projects."

The apprenticeship programs will ensure safer construction practices on these projects, supporters say.

The bill, introduced by Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Brooklyn), comes amidst a big push by union workers for a share of outer borough projects.

Vito Photoshop bust

How many differences can you spot between these 2 photos?


The top one comes from the Daily News.

The bottom one comes from a recent Vito Lopez mailer.

Miss Heather has the story and the rest of the mailer.

The Daily News goes in depth on what this is about.

This guy is either really stupid, or has cojones the size of cantaloupes.

Vito registers City Council campaign committee

From Crains:

Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez has formed a campaign committee to raise money for a possible run for City Council, records show.

For months, there has been speculation that Mr. Lopez, who is embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, might run for the seat being vacated by term-limited Brooklyn Councilman Diana Reyna. Mr. Lopez also has said that he is suffering from serious health problems, which has made him less eager to stay in the Assembly. Mr. Lopez recently said he was battling thyroid cancer and two new growths on his brain.

Several candidates are currently running for the council seat, including Antonio Reynoso, Ms. Reyna's chief of staff, who has lined up widespread labor support. Ms. Reyna is a former chief of staff for Mr. Lopez but the two have been at odds for years.

City not protecting manufacturing anymore

From the Queens Chronicle:

In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg announced that specific areas of city land would be preserved for industrial purposes solely and called Industrial Business Zones. To go along with the IBZ, the mayor also created the Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses to support the city’s ailing industrial sector.

But eight years later, the OIMB has been dismantled and slowly, more and more of the IBZs are losing manufacturing businesses, which are being replaced by residential buildings and superstores.

“Creating these zones was the correct strategy for the city,” Adam Friedman of the Pratt Center for Community Development said. “The mayor recognized that manufacturers needed stability and said they would discourage nonindustrial uses and even created an office and conducted studies on the infrastructure of the industrial areas to better implement discouraging of nonindustrial uses. Those groups have gone steadily down and now have been eliminated.”

Since Bloomberg took office, the city has lost 1,800 acres of M-zoned industrial land.

In 2009, the New York Industrial Retention Network, which has since been consolidated to the Pratt Center, studied commercial uses invading IBZs. The 10-page document lays out every commercial superstore or chain hotel to move into each of the eight zones over several years.

“I don’t believe the city is doing everything the can to protect these companies,” Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Maspeth) said. “In my tenure as a council member, I’ve always had a specific interest in the industrial sector which dates back to the fact that my mother was a seamstress when the textile industry was predominately immigrants. She eventually had to change careers because of the shrinking industry buildings.”

Reyna and others cite real estate prices as one of the key reasons that more and more buildings are becoming residential. Building owners have found that commercial and residential companies are more likely to pay higher prices than manufacturers. So when leases come up, the owners hike up rents so high that industrial companies cannot afford to remain in the area.

This year, the IBZ fund that grants industrial businesses tax incentives for remaining in the zones has been zeroed out.

Loving those lulus

From the Daily News:

About half of the City Council’s 51 members say they disagree with Speaker Christine Quinn’s blatantly wrong practice of giving cash bonuses, called lulus, to favored members.

The lulus, in theory assigned for committee chairmanships and the like, range from the yearly $28,500 Quinn pockets down to $4,000. That’s over and above the very healthy $112,500 the pols earn in salary for their part-time positions.

It’s not only wasteful, it’s corrupting — because it gives one elected official undue influence over her colleagues. No wonder that outside New York, every other legislature in America, local, state and federal, pays its members equally.

The cash comes twice a year (Jan. 18 was payday), so we present the semiannual list of who is naughty and nice and who lives by his or her word.

Stellar, as always, are Daniel Garodnick and Ydanis Rodriguez of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s Brad Lander. On principle, they refuse the money.

On the other side of the ledger are a quintet of hypocrites, members who have gone on record as opposing the practice yet keep the cash: Sara Gonzalez and Diana Reyna of Brooklyn, Helen Foster of the Bronx, Margaret Chin of Manhattan and Danny Dromm of Queens.

Then there are 15 members who take the lulus and claim to donate the money to charity. New to this list is Peter Koo of Queens. He just got a lulu for the first time and he says he is giving it away.

The other donors from Queens are Julissa Ferreras, Karen Koslowitz, Eric Ulrich, Jimmy Van Bramer and Ruben Wills. In Manhattan, it’s Gale Brewer and Rosie Mendez. Plus, Staten Island’s Debby Rose, Fernando Cabrera of the Bronx and Mathieu Eugene, David Greenfield, Letitia James, Steve Levin and Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn.

Unmentioned by name here are the 22 others who join with Quinn and who happily and shamelessly pocket thousands of dollars they think they are entitled to.

Oh come on, let's name names. The unmentioned from Queens include Dan Halloran, Jim Gennaro, Mark Weprin, Leroy Comrie, Elizabeth Crowley and Peter Vallone, Jr. The last one has a JD degree and is partners in a law firm (the all-important business experience we keep hearing about), but has been going around College Point begging for votes this September with the reasoning that he "has kids and needs a job". So while the lulus may be infuriating, think just how much members of government must collect in unreported perks since Vallone's behavior points to that being more lucrative than winning million dollar settlements and charging clients hundreds of dollars per hour...

Gropez to represent Queens?

From Crains:

Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s interest in running for the New York City Council appears to be renewed. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Lopez told The Insider that he would make a decision about a run in “two or three weeks.” And after several weeks of trudging to Albany, Mr. Lopez, who said he skipped this week’s legislative session to keep a series of doctors appointments in New York City, is strongly looking at a position closer to home.

“I will be evaluating whether I want to retire or whether I want to continue in politics and run for the City Council,” Mr. Lopez said, adding that he did not enjoy the cold weather in Albany. Previously, Mr. Lopez has cited poor health as a reason he may not run for the council.

If he does run, Mr. Lopez said, he would have support, noting that “600″ people showed up at his Christmas party this year. Mr. Lopez said a run would be for the seat currently held by Councilwoman Diana Reyna, which would require that he move into the district if he won.

Which would mean he would represent part of Queens should he win. God help us.

Bushwick wants a rezone

From the Wall Street Journal:

Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood is often compared to Williamsburg of the 1990s, where artists and young people once found a haven in cheap lofts. Now, Bushwick community leaders want it to become New York City's next big rezoning project to ensure it doesn't become the Williamsburg of the 21st century, filled with luxury developments.

"Bushwick is in the pipeline to be the next community to reassess their zoning code," said city Councilwoman Diana Reyna, who will have a critical voice on whether a rezoning moves forward, and wants to influence the development that is inevitably coming.

The Bloomberg administration has remade large swaths of the city's former industrial areas through zoning, including Williamsburg, Hudson Yards and Long Island City, Queens. But those changes have been criticized for driving out local companies and long-time residents.

She wants the rezoning of Bushwick to happen on different terms from a rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint seven years ago. There, just a couple of stops west of Bushwick on the L train, a growing number of industrial buildings have given way to luxury condos and rental buildings.

Vito's trail of tweeding

From the Daily News:

Years before his political career imploded in a sexual harassment scandal, Brooklyn political boss Vito Lopez amassed power and loyalty by awarding supporters and their families with jobs, titles and with one of the most coveted perks in New York City: cheap housing.

Using his sway in the state Assembly, the Brooklyn Democratic Party and his influence over public agencies like the city Housing Authority, he hooked up friends, allies — and several elected officials.

Among the beneficiaries: City Councilwoman Diana Reyna who started her career in New York politics as a member of Lopez’s Assembly staff.

In 1997, while Reyna was working for Lopez, her sister, Melida Gonzalez, was selected through a lottery to buy a taxpayer-subsidized multi-family home in Bushwick for only $179,000. The house included a nice property tax break that will cut her bill nearly by 50% this year.

Other beneficiaries of Lopez’s power are Councilman Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn) and his father, state Sen. Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn) who have funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to Ridgewood-Bushwick and received devoted political support from Lopez.

Lopez also combined his power as Democratic Party boss with his control of Ridgewood-Bushwick to help put favored judges on the bench in Brooklyn. One way he does that is through delegates who pick judicial candidates at party conventions. A News review found at least 11 delegates who were also employed by Ridgewood-Bushwick.

The latest in the Gropez saga

From the Village Voice:

Much to the dismay of the National Organization of Women, women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, Assembly candidate Frank Commisso Jr., and thousands of New Yorkers, we're sure, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is off the hook for his tax-payer funded coverup of allegations of sexual misconduct by his old pal/current disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics has decided to not investigate Silver's role in sweeping sexual harassment allegations made against Lopez under the rug by paying two of his accusers more than $103,000 in taxpayer money to essentially keep their mouths shut about Lopez.

From the Daily News:

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan is doing what state ethics investigators won’t – investigate Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Donovan was granted permission by a state judge Friday to “investigate allegations that funds, both public and private” were used by the Assembly leadership to settle two sexual harassment complaints against Lopez earlier this year.

Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern A. Fisher, in issuing the order, said the disbursement of funds represented possible violations of, among other things, the state penal law and public officers law.

Fisher’s order comes after it was reported that the Joint Commission on Public Ethics had decided to limit its probe on the matter to Lopez’s actions and not Silver’s decision to settle the earlier case before it was sent to an Assembly ethics committee.

Court spokesman David Bookstaver, a court spokesman, said Fisher issued the new order in order to give “more specificity” to the scope of Donovan’s investigations.

Donovan was named by Fisher to head up the Lopez investigation last week after Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes - citing his longstanding political ties to Lopez – asked that a special prosecutor be named for the case.

From the NY Post:

It sounds delusional, but besieged Assemblyman Vito Lopez has told some people he might run for the City Council next year.

“He was saying this right after he was charged with sex harassment,” said one stunned source.

Whether Lopez means it or not is impossible to tell.

Assuming he isn’t slapped with criminal charges — and that remains far from certain — there’s nothing that would stop him from becoming a council candidate in 2013.

Lopez has been obsessed for years with grabbing the Bushwick seat now held by Diana Reyna, a former aide he’s never forgiven for breaking with him, acting independently and refusing to toe his dictatorial line.

It's not just a "Bushwick seat." Part of Ridgewood is gerrymandered into council district 34.

Living Wage at Willets Point: What happened after this video was shot?

From Willets Point United:

The New York City Economic Development Corporation has solicited developer firms to implement the Willets Point development, on the basis of a Request for Proposals ("RFP") that contains NO living wage provision. However, that plainly contradicts the announcements and testimony of union officials during 2008.

This 4-minute video compilation shows union officials during 2008 announcing, and testifying to the New York City Council on the record regarding, an agreement that requires a living wage provision to be included in the Request for Proposals seeking developer firms to implement the Willets Point development.

No matter what the unions may now have us believe, it is quite clear from this video that:

(1.) The unions unequivocally state that a living wage provision is "guaranteed" and "required" to be included in the Willets Point RFP, and that this has been memorialized in a written and signed agreement (i.e., there is no wiggle room);

(2.) The agreement to include a living wage provision in the Willets Point RFP was "critical to labor's support on this [Willets Point] project";

(3.) The agreement was consistent with the ideology of the local City Council member (Hiram Monserrate), without whose consent approval of the proposed Willets Point development would have been unlikely;

(4.) The local City Council member forewarned that in the future, the City of New York might attempt to avoid implementing agreed labor provisions, but that the City must honor its commitments to labor and to the City Council;

(5.) The City Council requested, and union officials agreed to provide to the City Council, a copy of the written agreement pertaining to the the inclusion of a living wage provision within the Willets Point RFP. Therefore, that agreement is part of the record on which the City Council based its decision to approve the proposed Willets Point development.

Now that the City has reneged on its commitment to include a living wage provision within the Willets Point RFP, who will challenge this? Will the unions -- whose agreement apparently has been violated by the City -- bring a lawsuit to require a new RFP that includes a living wage provision? Will the City Council act? Will law enforcement?

Or, were union officials exaggerating, or perhaps deceiving themselves, during 2008?

Census irregularities, explained

From Metro:

Councilwoman Diana Reyna theorized that “hipsters” may be part of the cause for the inconsistency of the Census numbers, stating that some of them “only want to be counted in their home state.” She also added that they might not participate in the Census because it wouldn’t be “cool.”

Another possible reason for the apparent undercount: illegal immigrants who are simply too afraid to talk to the government. There are an estimated 500,000 in New York.

It’s also possible that people did leave the city for economic reasons and that the undercount is actually not that far “under.”

Another explanation for the oddities in the Census Bureau’s data is illegal subdivisions of housing. For example, if a person is illegally subletting his house to a family and actually lives with eight people, he is not likely to admit this to a Census worker. He would either lie about how many people he lives with, in which case the data is incorrect, or he would not bother answering the door at all, in which case his house gets counted as vacant despite the nine people living there.

Let's just say that thanks to our sanctuary city status and lax policies on illegal conversions we will never even come close to knowing how many people actually live here.

Photo from Free Williamsburg

Vito is right to scowl!

From The Brooklyn Paper:

Get a load of Assemblyman Vito Lopez at Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement on Monday that the city is helping a developer convert an old gas station into a new shopping center and luxury apartments!

The Bushwick Democrat is clearly no fan of the proposal for the long-vacant Grand Street lot, thanks to the 50 units of market-rate rentals that it includes.

The triangular-shaped lot bounded by Grand Street, Keap Street and Borinquen Place, was a Shell filling station, a theater house, and an open-air market before Queens-based mall developer Meir Babaev bought the site last year, renamed it “Triangle Court,” and unveiled plans for five new businesses on the ground floor and 57 parking spaces underground.

Babaev said that he’s had interest from a pharmacy, a mobile phone store, and even an International House of Pancakes, but that both Lopez and [Diana] Reyna have lobbied him to include more below-market units.

He has refused.

Well they have a point. Why is the city using our tax money to help a private developer build luxury units and retail? Why are we holding off on hiring cops, but padding the pockets of developers?

Council explains why Willets Point condemnation is wrong, part 2

Where are they all now? Monserrate, Gioia and Sears are no longer in office, but Leroy Comrie, James Sanders and Diana Reyna can do something about this.

The concerns expressed by Council members at the time about this were not incidental, but quite grave. The late Tom White referred to this as an "institutional issue" with implications for the Council's future retention of its power. We excerpt a few of these other prescient comments:

(1) Council Member Thomas White, Chairperson, Economic Development Committee – City Council Economic Development Committee and Land Use Committee Joint Hearing, November 29, 2007:

"After the ULURP procedure is completed, the plan is to issue a Request for Proposal to developers. … This process differs from the usual process in that the City will issue the Request for Proposal only after the ULURP procedure has been completed, as opposed to prior to the ULURP process. This can be seen by some as an encroachment of the Council Land Use authority granted as a result of the 1989 Charter Revision …"

"I think that it would be important for our colleagues, as well as the City, to understand that this is an institutional issue and not a specific issue related to who is for and who is against. The history and the Charter revision section on Land Use states in 1989 that the Supreme Court ruled that the Board of Estimate violated the one person one vote mandate. In response, the new Charter abolished the Board of Estimate and provided for the redrawing of the City Council district lines to increase minority participation on the Council. It also increased the number of members from 35 to 51. The Council was then granted full power over the municipal budget, as well as authority over zoning and Land Use and franchises. Under the 1990 Charter revision, the Council acquired the power to review Land Use issues and approve zoning changes, housing and urban renewal plans, and community development plans, and the disposition of City-owned property. This power gives the Council the most significant voice in the growth and development of the City."

(2) Council Member Melinda Katz, Chairperson, Land Use Committee – City Council Economic Development Committee and Land Use Committee Joint Hearing, November 29, 2007:

"Well, just so it's clear, my issue in the last hearing and this one is clearly that if we do the ULURP process first, it takes the New York City Council out of the process as we move forward. It historically is not done that way. Historically we do the RFP first, the developer is chosen, then you do the ULURP process, and the reason that the community and the Council and the community boards are normally involved in the process, is because we have to vote on it. And, so, what's happening now, and the fear that I have, is that as we move forward and we do the ULURP first, I'm not sure what mechanism will be in place to assure community involvement. And to assure that the project goes forward in a way that makes everyone satisfied."

(3) Council Member Helen Sears – News conference statement, April 9, 2008:

"What we are being asked to do, is to bypass a very key part of the process; allow the certification of what they wish to do, and not do what we have to do to make that certification viable; to have it comply with the law; and move on to another step in the process. Now I ask you: Can any one of you give us a reason why the City Council should give up that major prerogative, which has a major effect on anything future in the development of the City? To give that up, which is a key part of the checks and balances of the government of the City of New York? Any one of you – Can you give me a reason, why? And none of you can, so as a result, you know why we are standing here today. Because when you begin to chip away at what those pieces are that weigh the scales of justice, you begin to chip away at what the rights are of everyone in the City of New York."

...the EDC end around Phase I gives the council the opportunity to undo the damage that was done in 2008. It should treat this de novo- from the beginning, as it were. But first an oversight hearing that brings in EDC to explain itself-its thinking and its plans. From there, a demand for a new SEQR review that sees this new phase of EDC's-along with the entire plan-with new eyes. It's not the same world in 2011 as it was when the council wrote the mayor that ill fated check, and there's no reason why it can't cancel it now-legitimately so-for insufficient funds. - Neighborhood Retail Alliance

City willing to pay $175 million for a park over the BQE

From Architect's Newspaper:

A new park design is moving forward in Southside Williamsburg, thanks to a plan to cap the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) trench running through the neighborhood. Brooklyn Councilwoman Diana Reyna first proposed the idea in 2005, arguing that building a cohesive park in the area would help remedy health issues affecting local children, including asthma, obesity, and diabetes. Early last spring, Brooklyn-based dlandstudio was selected to research strategies for building atop the trench.

“The kids who play there have to play by a six-lane highway,” said dlandstudio principal Susannah Drake. As for Southside Williamsburg’s existing park areas, Drake said, “They’re not well-equipped, they’re disconnected, and they’re often difficult to get to.” Drake and her team spent the better part of 2010 helping Councilwoman Reyna drum up support for the plan from community organizations and government agencies, relying on scientific evidence about noise and air pollution to gain public and private interest. The team is drawing upon several California studies that linked the proximity of major highways to asthma rates, and spurred state legislation prohibiting construction of schools within 150 feet of heavily trafficked arteries. According to dlandstudio, there are five public elementary schools and two junior high schools within the general vicinity of the proposed park area.

As part of a Phase 1 to be carried out over the next two to five years, the new decks require approval from the city and state departments of transportation, both of which have already expressed support. “Many of the moves we identified in the first phase can be done right now and without much money,” said Drake, who has been given an estimated budget range of $85 to $175 million for the full scope of the project. But some of the park’s components—a large community center, for instance—could be completed at a later date, once the initial groundwork has been laid and more public and private funding secured.

So the Bloomberg Administration can get a $175M park done in Brooklyn but are balking at the price of a much smaller project in Jackson Heights?

Council worried about Walmart

From Crains:

With Walmart officials making it clear they intend to open stores in the five boroughs, the City Council has scheduled a hearing next month to review the impact the mega-retailer would have on small business and communities across the city.

The hearing, set for Dec. 14, has been titled “When Wal-Mart Comes to Town” and will offer a “historical and prospective view” of the Arkansas retail giant's impact, according to a Council notice. It will be a joint hearing of the Small Business, Community Development and the Economic Development committees.

“We're excited to have this hearing and get all the information out in the open so it can be debated,” said Bennett Baruch, deputy chief of staff to Councilwoman Diana Reyna, D-Brooklyn, who chairs the Small Business Committee.

The Council has historically opposed Walmart, largely because many of its members rely heavily on support from organized labor, which is worried that the retail giant would eat into the market share of unionized grocers should it enter the New York City market.

But after earlier defeats in Queens and on Staten Island, the retailer has grown more sophisticated in its approach and is now looking at as-of-right sights that would not require Council approval. One such location, the Gateway II complex in East New York, Brooklyn, already received its land-use approval.

Teacher & students lead Bushwick landmarking effort

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Community leaders are scrambling to landmark the historic stretch of Bushwick known as “Brewers Row” before the buildings are sold and further altered.

Bushwick high school teacher Adam Schwartz has partnered with Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D–Bushwick) to landmark several iconic buildings on Bushwick Avenue and create a historic district around the blocks near Linden Street, Gates Avenue and Bushwick Avenue.

“Identifying buildings and blocks could … preserve Bushwick’s history and culture as well as encourage neighborhood pride,” said Reyna.

The street was once home to beer makers, doctors, a former mayor and even a famous explorer of the North Pole — but the buildings have deteriorated or been altered.

With the help of his 11th and 12th graders at the Academy of Urban Planning, Schwartz has been identifying and documenting buildings for landmark consideration.

Does Lopez have greased palms?

From the Brooklyn Paper:

The Queens-based developer and Bronx financial partner who won a bid from the city to redevelop the defunct Greenpoint Hospital into affordable housing, contributed thousands of dollars to the neighborhood’s powerful assemblyman and his political allies in what opponents say was a naked ploy to win the bid.

Last year, as city housing officials were deciding the fate of the coveted Greenpoint Hospital project, Great American Construction Corporation and TNS Development Group donated $1,500 to the re-election campaign of Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D–Williamsburg), who is also the Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman.

In 2008, Great American President Samuel Gaccione kicked in $1,000 of his own money to Lopez’s unopposed campaign to go with another $1,000 that Gaccione gave to Lopez in 2004.

Gaccione’s financial partner, Bronx-based Lemle & Wolf, has been similarly active in Brooklyn politics, giving Lopez $2,000 since 2008. Last year, the company’s president, Frank Anelante, supported Lopez-backed Council candidates Steve Levin and Maritza Davila with contributions of $500 each, while his wife, Lorraine Anelante, chipped in another $250 to each candidate.

And if that weren’t enough, Lemle & Wolff’s Political Action Committee, Affordable Housing PAC, has given Lopez’s Assembly campaign $4,400 since 2006 to ensure that the Housing Committee chairman stays in office. The PAC also gave $350 to Lopez’s party organization.

So what has Great American Construction and Lemle & Wolff gotten in return?

In April, the two housing development partners were awarded the site, beating out the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation, and the Bushwick-based Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, which Lopez founded.

Great American’s plan to bring 240 below-market-rate units to the Kingsland Avenue site was nearly identical to the Greenpoint group’s plan, whose group’s members had worked on the proposal for more than two decades.

Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D–Williamsburg), a rival of Lopez’s, believes that the Assemblyman steered the city toward Great American’s bid for the Greenpoint Hospital in retaliation for her objection to his Broadway Triangle rezoning plan.