ESDC OK'd AY Without Seeing a Business Plan
So, get this. Assemblyman James Brennan has been trying for months to get the Empire State Development Corp to cough a copy of the business plan, finally suing the state agency last month. Turns out all the effort was just a waste of time since the ESDC never had a business plan from Ratner for…
So, get this. Assemblyman James Brennan has been trying for months to get the Empire State Development Corp to cough a copy of the business plan, finally suing the state agency last month. Turns out all the effort was just a waste of time since the ESDC never had a business plan from Ratner for the project. Instead, the agency now admits, it relied solely on a consultant’s report: “We brought in KPMG to take a look at all the forces involved,” says ESDC spokesman Errol Cockfield. “We feel very confident that that data allowed them to take a thorough look at the project in its long-term value for taxpayers.” One problem with that, though: KPMG says it never saw a comprehensive financial model either. Former city planning commissioner Ronald Shiffman summed up the common-sense position when he said, “One would believe they should look at it with a lot of due diligence, particularly with the amount of money they’re putting into this. It’s been a done deal from the beginning without anybody really looking at it.”
State Never Saw Business Plan For Atlantic Yards Project [NY Sun]
“IMHO, the ESDC in hiring an independent third party to review the facts did everything above board…”
Except for the fact that KPMG says it never saw a comprehensive financial model either!
FOUR PAGES of financial projections? That’s all you have to provide the State to receive a billion dollars in public subsidies???
Again, if everything was so above-board and by the book, with the ESDC simply doing its job, then why did it take the ESDC months to acknowledge to Assemblyman Brennan that the ESDC never saw a business plan for AY? Why the obfuscation? What wasn’t this elected representative simply told right off the bat — we never saw a business plan, we relied on an outside auditor?
Why did Brennan have to threaten to sue to get this information?
4:17 AM.
Can you not read? Posters clearly addressed the article and stated their opinion that there was no corruption. This is not news. This info came out over a month ago when ESDC released the four page financial model that Ratner DID PROVIDE! The article or the opposition did not deleneate any acts of public corruption by any official at ESDC. If so, where and by whom? What laws or ethic rules where violated? The ESDC simply did its job as it has in thousands of other cases. If the ESDC had accepted Ratner’s financial plan at face value and did not rely on the review of an independent auditor, the opposition would have cried foul. Furthermore, what is a comprehensive business plan? You mean 25 pages of fluff (FCR provided ample literature to ESDC) that would have also included the same four pages of financial projections that Ratner DID PROVIDE! Did any of you idiots ever attend business school? IMHO, the ESDC in hiring an independent third party to review the facts did everything above board, stuck to its fiduciary responsibilities and provided ample oversight in a manner that represented taxpayer’s interests. You can cry foul all day long and say corruption occurred until you are blue in the face but that my friend does not bolster you case one iota. State officials thoroughly fulfilled their obligations under the law. This is a dead issue.
What do the Hagan sisters have to do with the corruption of the city and state government which is detailed in the original article. Please address the topic at hand and don’t just criticize the opposition. It shows the weakness in your logic, when you don’t have anything on your side try to demonize those who oppose you.
-mous
I’m agains corruption but can’t be bothered to do anything about it.
I know! I’ll criticize the anti-AY contingent. Ahhh — that’s so much easier.
-mous
I’m in favor of corruption but can’t be bothered to do anything about it.
I know! I’ll criticize the anti-AY contingent. Ahhh — that’s so much easier.
The Hagan sisters also protested against the transition home on the corner of Pacific and Carlton about five years ago. What a shit show that was! I encourage everyone to Google this case and research the plethora of news articles on the subject matter. What an abomination! They called everyone in that complex thieves, dealers, addicts and hookers and used every dirty trick in the book to stop the project, e.g., race card, fear mongering, you name it!
When Ratner presented the AY project, the Hagans immediately flipped the script and befriended the transition home offering to represent its residents in their fight to secure and protect their homes from ED designation. The audacity!!! In the span of one minute these people went from being transplanted thieves, dealers, addicts and hookers to being hardworking Prospect Heights tenants about to be uprooted from their homes by the evil Ratner, FCR and corrupt politicians. You can not trust these women. Period. Snakes in the grass.
How about the lady who posts banners on her home all the time on Lafayette Ave? Using your home as a billboard. How effective.
Objective Observer at the top of the thread has it all right. The Hagan gals as the front cover for the AY cause was totally inappropriate. Why would anyone take these alcoholic ladies seriously. Why, Shelly looks like Paul Bunyon in drag with her wherewolf pack of dogs. She once protested the laundromat on Fulton St because she has a laundry in her cabin on Downing and all the poor minority folk around her have no where to wash their clothes. Comon folks you are really foregone here and if you think the fact that this one guy Dan Goldstein was going to convince anyone that he was the voice of reason behind this mess you probably were smoking something far stronger than anything the Hagan gals could consume. Let’s be reasonable AY’s is good. If it werent you wouldn’t have retards opposing it so inappropriately. Finally, I am taking up a collection of the Brooklyn Papers for a life long supply of Cat litter trash, afterall its free and recycable.
Check out the building in the back of the picture. I think it’s 470 Vanderbilt that’s own by the Caryle Group. Talk about a great piece of property!!! Wow!!!! When developed, this is going to be an awesome loft/condo building!!!