Developer bribes community with school

From DNA Info:

A proposal to build a $1 billion waterfront development in Hallets Point may include a new K-8 school, according to plans presented last week at a public meeting.

Developer Lincoln Equities Group wants to transform seven acres of the Astoria waterfront, constructing seven residential buildings with more than 2,000 apartment units, retail development and a landscaped public esplanade along the East River.

The latest plans for the site now include the possibility of a new school, according to an environmental planning consultant working on behalf of the developers. The school might be necessary to accommodate the influx of families expected to move into the area once the development opens, planners said.

"Having done some preliminary analysis of what this project means, in terms of new demands on the various services, we are also studying the potential for a new K-8 public school," said Linh Do, of the consulting firm AKRF. "At this point, we are thinking it will be located on the NYCHA campus."

Lincoln Equities is working with NYCHA and the city's School Construction Authority to see if a school would be viable on land that now serves as parking spaces for residents at the Astoria Houses, Do said.

Some NYCHA residents present at last week's meeting say they're thrilled to hear a school is being considered for Hallets Point. The closest public elementary school at the moment is P.S. 117, which is over capacity, enrolling 207 more students last year than designed, according to DOE statistics.

"We want to ensure that the school is a mandate," said Ronnie Minor, who identified himself as a community activist. "The school has to be built."

Andre Stith, a lifelong Astoria Houses resident who works with the local nonprofit Zone 126, said a new school would bring more educational opportunities to the neighborhood's children.

"Right now we have a situation where our children are getting into a lot of things, and it’s as simple as they have no options," he said.

And how does this change the game for electeds?

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who has been on the fence about the Hallets Point proposal, said the inclusion of a school in the plan is a step in the right direction.

"That's something that I've been asking for, and I'm glad that they're seriously considering it," he said.

His main concern with the project is that the neighborhood doesn't have the existing resources to accommodate the number of residents the new development would bring.

"Schools for the children there is one of my concerns," Vallone said.

Vallone and other neighborhood stakeholders also worry about transportation, with several calling for a ferry service to Manhattan to be included in the plans.

What about the flooding, stupid?

A bit of a conflict, don't you think?

From the Times Ledger:

A Manhattan consulting company often tapped for city development projects plays dual roles in Queens, having supported a nonprofit that advocates for the redevelopment of Willets Point, but also preparing the study that helps determine whether or not that development will go forward.

AKRF is a Manhattan-based environmental consulting firm that operates in several states around the Eastern Seaboard and specializes in environmental impact statements — studies on how development projects will affect the surrounding area by taking into account factors like changes to traffic, pollution and noise and the character of existing neighborhoods.

In New York City, these studies are used to inform legislative decisions on whether to grant approvals for projects like the $3 billion redevelopment in Willets Point, where private developers hope to replace the collection of junk yards and auto body shops with a large, mixed-use development.

AKRF is preparing the environmental impact statement for Willets Point. At a Sept. 27 public hearing in Corona, Linh Do, senior vice president at AKRF, walked a crowd through how the statement would proceed and solicited input on what the company should consider when preparing it.

But AKRF was also hired by the Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC, a nonprofit headed by former Borough President Claire Shulman.

The LDC has received state grant money to try and revitalize development along the Flushing waterfront west of downtown and across the Flushing River from Willets Point. After a bidding process, it selected AKRF to lead a team to perform environmental consulting and analyze ways the redevelopment of the area could move forward.

But according to 2011 filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC’s stated mission is to “conduct outreach and obtain support for economic initiatives in the redevelopment of Willets Point, Flushing and Corona.”

And on the nonprofit’s website, AKRF is listed as one of its community supporters under a heading that reads: “Thanks to their generous support, the LDC is able to vigorously pursue exciting development initiatives for the greater Flushing Willets Point Corona area.”

In 2009, AKRF was a sponsor of a gala put on by the LDC, according to Nicholas Roberts, a project manager at the nonprofit, and Do said she volunteers time to brief the nonprofit on the progress of the Flushing waterfront project.

Yeah, it's gonna be Shangri-La... Look, we already know what "revitalized" means to these folks. See Downtown Flushing. See Jamaica. What's with the obsession of this city to kick out manufacturers and commercial activity and replace it with lameness?

Photo from Yelp.

This smells worse than the Flushing River at low tide!

From the Queens Chronicle:

Along the waterfront, there are only two active businesses: the U-Haul building and a Korean supermarket. Most of the other properties are vacant.

Consultants from several firms were quick to assure that landowners will not be forced to build anything they don’t want, nor will eminent domain be considered.

“This is not a land grab,” said former borough President Claire Shulman, who heads the LDC. “We are not taking over property.”

Lynn Do, one of the consultants from AKRF Inc., said the purpose of the grant is to develop “a flexible master plan” that will be community-based and “will enhance waterfront access.”

She noted that Flushing is “bursting at the seams” and “we need to go west to create a place to visit and live.”

EDC knows all there is to know about the lying game...

From the Daily News:

As the controversial Flushing Commons development inches closer to a vote in the City Council, shopkeepers and elected officials alike are waiting for the city to reveal the details of a business assistance program that could make or break local retailers.

The available information is in the city's Environmental Impact Statement, required for any large land-use project. It states Flushing Commons will not directly displace businesses nor will many be pushed out by competition with Flushing Commons' stores.

A group of skeptical locals - the Flushing Coalition for Responsible Development - recently commissioned its own study to fact check the city's Environmental Impact Statement.

"We wanted to do an economic study so we could determine what made sense for a business assistance program," said coalition member Jim Gerson.

The main discrepancy between the two analyses is that the city counted 970 storefronts within a 1/2-mile radius of the project and the other, prepared by Hunter College, tallied 2,100 businesses.

"If you use the 2,100 figure, that $2 million would amount to only $26 a month for each business over the construction period," said Brian Paul, a fellow at the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development.

EDC officials discounted the Hunter College study.

"Our EIS was conducted by experienced consultants over the course of several years and followed a rigorous and approved methodology," said David Lombino, an agency spokesman.

The Hunter College report "was written by a group of graduate students in a matter of weeks, and significantly misrepresents aspects of the EIS," he said.

Oh yeah?

"The City's Economic Development Corporation as represented by Mr. Lombino apparently has not consulted the Hunter College report which they dismiss. The title page notes that it was prepared not by a bunch of students but by myself (Professor of Urban Planning at Hunter College) and Hunter College Fellow Brian Paul, who did most of the work under my direction. The fact that EDC consultants spent years and couldn't even get the number of local businesses right raises the question about who the amateurs are. Those of us familiar with the work of EDC's consultant, AKRF, are not surprised at the size of their mistakes and the equally inflated size of their bills to the taxpayers. The fact that we could turn up such a basic error in such a short time with limited resources should be disturbing. The number of businesses affects so much of the rest of AKRF's conclusions in the EIS and thus calls into question the entire study."

- Tom Angotti, Director, Hunter College Center for Community Planning

Told you EDC lies pathologically.

AKRF archaeologist giddy over downtown artifacts

From Metro:

Pointy shoes, oyster shells, clay pipes and other detritus of the Dutch who founded New Amsterdam, the British who followed and the early New Yorkers were among the 65,000 artifacts uncovered during construction of the $400 million South Ferry subway terminal.

A sampling of the remnants, including segments of the 18th-century battery wall that gave Battery Park its name, are now on display at the New York Transit Museum’s annex at Grand Central Terminal.

Diane Dallal, archaeology director for AKRF, a firm that analyzed the artifacts, was excited to find yellow Dutch bricks that once lined walkways.

“A lot of times you see these black-and-white drawings of New York,” she said. “But it must have been very colorful.”

Her attitude is interesting considering Dallal works for AKRF, the firm the city and state hires whenever it wants to do something particularly dastardly, such as Columbia University expansion, Atlantic Yards, etc. She is the one who probably gave the green light to the MTA to start digging despite the fact that it was an archaeologically sensitive area, just like she did at the St. Saviour's site in spite of the LPC stating that there was a strong likelihood of finding similar archeologically sensitive material and graves at the site. This gal really gets around!

When blight ain't right

From the NY Observer:

State Senator Bill Perkins is apparently not happy about the state's choice of consultants.

One consultant, specifically: AKRF, the New York–based firm that has established itself as the unchallenged king of environmental review in the city and state, dominating the field of government contracts.

The source of angst for Mr. Perkins is Columbia University's proposed 17-acre expansion into West Harlem and the state development agency's selection of AKRF to do a blight study. The blight study is a necessary step for eminent domain in the project, though the state's selection of AKRF has taken significant heat from the courts, which recently dealt the school a tremendous blow by blocking the use of eminent domain for the expansion. Among other factors, the use of AKRF was cited as a concern given that Columbia also used the firm to do its environmental review (the state intends to appeal the ruling).

A sampling of the testimony:

Mr. Perkins [on AKRF]: Have they ever come back with a determination that was, from your point of view, not blighted?

Anita Laremont, Empire State Development Corporation counsel: No.

Mr. Perkins: Have they ever given you a determination that you could prove was not blighted?

Ms. Laremont: No.

Mr. Perkins: So from your point of view, they're 100 percent blight?