Bloomberg's SCA made dirty deal with developer

From The Real Deal:

The School Construction Authority allegedly colluded with a Brooklyn developer to propose a sub-standard middle school on Dock Street in Dumbo. According to Freedom of Information Law documents that Council member David Yassky's office obtained, the SCA knew that the proposed Dock Street middle school would be at a size "compromised from [the SCA's] standards with premium costs due to the mixed use with the high-rise residential building." According to a report from Yassky's office, the SCA knowingly withheld information on making the safest, largest, most cost-efficient school, while promoting the Dock Street plan.

Yeah, but then Yassky made a dirty deal with Christine Quinn to get it passed.

The Chairman of the Board speaks out on Dock Street

Frankie is shocked that the Land Use Committee of the City Council voted yes Thursday on the Dock Street proposal. For those of you not aware, Christine Quinn, who received lots o'dough from the Walentases who own the site, threatened the council members with reduction in their district funding if they voted no. The local council member, David Yassky, is against the project.


Click photo for video of Ol' Blue Eyes paying homage to the wonders of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Melinda also crapping on Brooklyn

From the NY Times:

At the very beginning, the 19th-century political boss William M. Tweed was given stock in the Brooklyn Bridge company in exchange for his support.

Ms. Katz, who is running for city comptroller, has received major financial support from the real estate industry, whose interests she helps to oversee on the Land Use Committee. So far, people from Two Trees have contributed $29,700. And Mr. Walentas and his father, David, were on the finance committee for a Katz fund-raiser in June.

“There are only so many people you can go to for donations,” Ms. Katz said. “I’ve been in tough negotiations with developers who are doing projects all over the city and have pushed them for more affordable housing” and other community benefits. Like Ms. Quinn, she said that she had not made up her mind about the new project, and that donations did not sway her judgment.

Funny that Katz said that she hadn't made up her mind. When Walentas ran into another Councilmember last week and asked whether he was going to vote for Dock Street, the Councilmember asked whether the Land Use committee was in favor. Walentas replied, "The Land Use Committee is all locked up." Katz is the Chair of Land Use, of course.

Bloomberg vs. Ognibene & DUMBO vs. Maspeth

From The Politicker:

Michael Bloomberg’s longtime critic, Tom Ognibene, is running for his old Council seat, and supporting Bloomberg. The mayor’s people did not return calls asking if they were endorsing Ognibene.

Uh, oh! Sounds like Bloomie's backstabbing already! We know how sensitive the mayor is. Maybe he read this from the Forum West and got annoyed:

...Middle Village attorney Thomas Ognibene, who recently said he will challenge Crowley in November, said Tuesday that he is considering filing a lawsuit against the city to block the [Maspeth High School].

“I’m very concerned that it is an inappropriate site with possible health hazards,” he said. “There is a lot of action you can take [to block it], and what I can do is sue the City of New York and the School Construction Authority, which is one thing I’m contemplating now and moving in that direction.”

How dare you threaten to challenge Bloomberg's grand vision for Queens!

And speaking of the School Construction Authority...here's something from The Brooklyn Paper:

Councilmembers slammed the city’s school building agency over internal e-mails that cast doubt about whether or not the city actually considered other sites for a public middle school, which is a key component in David and Jed Walentases’ proposed 18-story, 300-unit building in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) attacked SCA Vice President Ross Holden over a Dec. 8 e-mail sent from Lorraine Grillo to Kenrick Ou that seems to indicate that the agency was only humoring Dock Street opponent Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights) when the politician suggested an alternate site for a public school at 205 Water St.

So, for DUMBO, the City Council's Queens delegation finds SCA's disingenuousness to be a big problem. But for the same scenario in Maspeth, it's more like an inside joke and a tweeder's dream.

The blatant contempt these folks have for us is truly astounding. But more astounding is that we re-elect them time after time in spite of it.

Bklyn builder dumps cash on Quinn & Katz

From the NY Post:

A controversial condo project next to the Brooklyn Bridge is sailing through the city's land-use review process -- and that has caught the attention of good government groups, who say the secret of its success may lie in the lobbying megabucks the developer doled out.

The project has a staunch opponent in local Councilman David Yassky, who says the Dock Street building in DUMBO is out of scale and too close to the bridge, forever destroying historic views of the iconic span. And that adversary, says Dick Dadey, executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens Union, "should have been enough to kill it a long time ago" because the council historically backs local council members on land-use issues.

The owners of the company, David and Jed Walentas, and their top staff have doled out $29,700 in campaign donations to Councilwoman Melinda Katz and another $19,800 to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, since the project was resubmitted in 2007, records show.

Blocking the bridge view: A tale of 2 boros

Before proceeding, let me remind you that both the Queensboro and Brooklyn Bridges are official NYC landmarks.

BROOKLYN:
Councilman David Yassky (D-DUMBO), who has opposed the project from the start, called McCullough's support "a big development."

"I call it visual vandalism, and we ought not to let it happen," said David McCullough, who wrote "The Great Bridge," a book on the building of the historic span.

"We would not stand back and say it's a fine idea to put an 18-story tower right beside the Washington Monument," McCullough added.

"Would Paris allow a developer to put an 18-story tower beside Notre Dame?"

QUEENS:

Mr. Gioia said the Silvercup West plan is made possible by a mayoral administration with a grand vision for the waterfront and the removal of the political hurdles that stymie much of New York's development.

A professor of urban planning at New York University, Mitchell Moss, said that previous plans for the site lacked creativity.

"That site has been ripe for renewal for 30 years," Mr. Moss said. "But this is the first time that we're finally dealing with ideas and a design that will work on that portion of the Queens waterfront."

Preservationists have also gone apeshit over the Brooklyn plan. They have stayed eerily silent on the much larger Queens project, however. What gives?

Amazing what a little $$$ can do!

From the Real Deal:

Two Trees Management has spent $400,385 on lobbying in 2007 and 2008, more than five times what the company spent in lobbying between 2002 and 2006. Two Trees' Dock Street project, which includes a middle school and housing, entered the public review process last year, during which the company spent $225,484 to lobby the School Construction Authority, the mayor's office, the Department of City Planning, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Community Board 2 and the City Council. According to the Brooklyn Paper, city officials originally said a middle school wasn't needed in Dumbo, but after the lobbying, the city put the school into its five-year construction plans.

Will the Walentas get their way?

DUMBO TOWER BOOST
By RICH CALDER

A controversial plan to build an apartment tower right next to the Brooklyn Bridge is gaining momentum after years of stalling.

Despite civic outcry over blocking the iconic view, Brooklyn's Community Board 2 last week voted to support father-son developers David and Jed Walentas' 18-story DUMBO complex.

Their firm, Two Trees, has sought approval for the $200 million project since 2005 and last year offered to include a public middle school in hope of swaying city officials.

Critics point out that while a school could be built elsewhere, losing the view would be permanent.

The plan must survive a land-use review process involving Borough President Marty Markowitz, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

Markowitz, who'll hold a hearing on Jan. 27, declined to comment.

The area's councilman, David Yassky, opposes the plan.

The NY Times has more.