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From the
Daily News:
Two men were charged with a bid-rigging scheme to fix construction prices at a luxe Brooklyn development, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday.
Christopher Chierchio and Anthony Molohnic were arrested and charged with colluding to avoid competition on bids for plumbing, sprinkler, and heating and air conditioning at the new luxury condo building on Baltic Street.
Chierchio — a reputed Genovese mafia soldier — was also charged with tax fraud for evading $94,094 in personal income taxes since April 2016, and could face up to 19 years in prison, according to the attorney general’s office.
From the
Wall Street Journal:
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration plans to use $500 million in New York City taxpayer money to fund initiatives related to superstorm Sandy that were expected to be fully paid for with federal aid, city officials said Wednesday.
The city’s plan to infuse half a billion dollars into Sandy recovery and storm-protection programs comes as the cost to U.S. taxpayers for repairing and elevating some of the houses damaged by the 2012 storm could hit about $1 million a home, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Tishman Construction submitted a package of bids to the city earlier this month to elevate 53 homes in Queens damaged by the 2012 storm for $50 million, according to documents and a person familiar with the bids. Tishman is overseeing hundreds of properties in the Build It Back program, an initiative dedicated to assisting owners whose homes were damaged by Sandy.
Build It Back has, to date, been bankrolled with federal Sandy relief funds allocated to the city by Congress through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The federal government is also funding a number of storm-protection initiatives aimed at protecting the city in the future.
But significant cost overruns in Build It Back appear to be leaving city taxpayers on the hook for some of the storm-protection initiatives. The program is about $500 million over budget.
From
The Buffalo News:
A massive pay-to-play scheme involving alleged bid rigging of state contracts involving hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money was outlined by federal prosecutors Thursday in a case that targets longtime advisers and major donors of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s case alleges bribery, extortion and tax evasion. It also muddies a picture of ethical cleanliness that Cuomo has sought to portray of his administration since taking office in 2011.
Bharara, the prosecutor who has brought high-profile and successful cases against a lineup of state legislators, said Albany’s plague of corruption has now touched the executive branch of government.
“I really do hope that there’s a trial in this case so all New Yorkers can see in gory detail what their state government has been up to,” Bharara said in unveiling the Justice Department’s case against nine people, including Cuomo advisers Joseph Percoco and Todd R. Howe, and Alain E. Kaloyeros, president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Louis P. Ciminelli, the Buffalo developer who is chairman and CEO of LPCiminelli, also is accused in the pay-to-play scheme. But allegations stretch across the state
From
Crains:
...as BIDs grow in size and scope, so do complaints about them. "They are cartels for landlords," said Moshe Adler, an adjunct professor of urban planning at Columbia University. "Make no mistake, BIDs may help small businesses when it suits them. But their fundamental role is advancing the interests of property owners."
Big BIDS are increasingly influential players at City Hall. Carl Weisbrod, the founding president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the nation's largest BID, with $17 million in annual revenue, now heads the Department of City Planning. The Times Square Alliance was the driving force behind City Council legislation adopted earlier this year that corralled Elmo and other street performers into a designated corner of the pedestrian plaza. BIDs also lobbied the city to crack down on the fraudulent clothing- donation bins that once riddled streets and now are pressing to rein in street vendors.
Before the City Council approves a new BID, landlords must agree to perpetually fund the organization via assessments on their properties, typically a few hundred dollars per month depending on square footage and sidewalk frontage. Usually these expenses are passed on to commercial tenants through higher rents. By law, BID boards are controlled by landlords, which doesn't sit well with some business owners. "In a country that was founded by a revolution against taxation without representation, it's clear this is a huge issue," Alex Duffy, founder of a nonprofit theater in Brooklyn, said at a City Council hearing last year.
There is also evidence that BIDs hurt some retailers. A study published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research in 2014 showed that sales and employment at shops within New York City BIDs fared worse than at those outside the districts. The study's author, Stacey Sutton, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said it could be that BIDs help make neighborhoods more desirable, which attracts new shops and puts pressure on existing merchants to compete.
Yet BIDs continue to proliferate throughout the boroughs. Some 25 are currently being created or expanded, and the city plans to double the number of full-time staffers who oversee them. Mayor de Blasio lauded BIDs last February when he signed a bill expanding several of them. "It will mean more and better services locally, clean and inviting streets, initiatives that help our small businesses to attract more customers," he said.
From
Brownstoner:
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is soliciting bids from private developers to build more affordable housing at several publicly owned sites, including the Ingersoll Houses in Fort Greene and the Van Dyke Houses in Brownsville.
NYCHA issued a request for proposals (RFP) last week for building on the vacant sites, which also includes a NYCHA location the Bronx. The plan calls for buildings containing 100 percent affordable housing for seniors and families making up to 60 percent of the area median income, or $46,000 for a family of three.
The move is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to build the city’s affordable housing stock in the face of chronic NYCHA deficits and a dearth of federal funding.
“We must use every tool at our disposal to preserve public housing and create more affordable housing opportunities for seniors and families that are trying to make ends meet,” said NYCHA general manager Michael Kelly, in announcing the plan.
All told, NYCHA hopes to create around 500 new apartments at the three sites.
From the
Wall Street Journal:
A long-awaited project to overhaul a terminal at La Guardia Airport has been further delayed as its operator weighs contest submissions to redesign it and other aviation facilities.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the aging airport, won’t select a development team to remake its Central Terminal Building—Terminal B to travelers—while it awaits the outcome of a broader design competition for New York airports, said John Degnan, the authority’s chairman.
“We simply decided it would be prudent to see what the conceptual design is before proceeding with the process,” Mr. Degnan said in an interview.
That a construction project is being delayed by a redesign competition is the latest bump in the Port Authority’s multiyear effort to replace the terminal, which was built in 1964.
