ESDC OK'd AY Without Seeing a Business Plan

And who are YOU, anon at 3/28? And why are you apparently unable to write like a normal person? Who writes likes this: “something as grand and visionary at Frank Genry’s Atlantic Yards!” Visionary? This is ad copy speak.

And who are you to write this?
“As typically is the case in hundreds of ESDC reviews, ESDC relies on a combination of interviews, presentations and consulting reports in making board decisions. I’ve been privy to many of these proceedings and I’ve encountered numerous instances where there were no business plan to speak of but rather an extensive report from a hired consultant.”

Please. As I have said before, we all know that FCRC has people on payroll to monitor the web and post comments. I mean, if the NYPD had such in anticipation of the Republican Convention, I am sure FCRC can manage the same. A publicity operation that sends out mailers to everyone in Brooklyn that conveniently do not depict the project itself is certainly not going to let the free space of a blog go to waste.

Why has it been so hard for elected representatives to get information out of the ESDC? Just who does the ESDC work for? By its behavior, I’d have to say that whoever it is, it isn’t the public interest. When public officials, like the ESDC, try as hard as possible to hide their operations, then corruption is a reasonable assumption.

Please stop the nonsense and get the facts before hurling outlandish assertions of public corruption and malfeasance. These baseless accusations represent the exact reprehensible actions that anger the public, diminish credibility and render the opposition ineffective. A comprehensive business plan is not required by law and as such no laws were violated or broken. As typically is the case in hundreds of ESDC reviews, ESDC relies on a combination of interviews, presentations and consulting reports in making board decisions. I’ve been privy to many of these proceedings and I’ve encountered numerous instances where there were no business plan to speak of but rather an extensive report from a hired consultant. For the most part, business plans (especially those that extend 20years out) are fairly inaccurate and are riddled with facts and numbers that can be easily manipulated to support the desired outcome or goal – remember these are assumptions we are taking about. Whether ESDC received a comprehensive business plan or not the state provided appropriate oversight by hiring an independent consultant in KPMG to run its own objective analysis of the project. What did they discover? The KPMG report showed that the AY project would result in less city and state taxable revenue then previously estimated (this is public information). The truth of the matter is that the development corp. spent months reviewing all of the relevant facts and came to the objective and rational decision that the project was in the best long term interest of taxpayers. I agree with that decision wholeheartedly (and so does most of Brooklyn for that matter) and I’m happy to see that my considerable tax dollars are being put to such great use. It’s a damn shame that Brooklyn’s vast waterfront is underdeveloped and under the control of the special interest. At the very least, the borough deserves something as grand and visionary as Frank Gehry’s Atlantic Yards!

The focus on this non-material issue is yet another dead end for AY opponents.

People “tried to step in and help” on AY very late in the game. IIRC Brooklyn Speaks was not organized until just prior to the ESDC environmental hearings. Contrast to the organizational effort on the West Side re the proposed football stadium. A big part of this is that Brooklyn has never rated much attention until very recently. Were this project going on in Manhattan, it would never have gotten as little scrutiny as this.

anonymous at 12:53. yes, lets rely on an anoymous blog commenter quoting an anonymous source.

point is. there is no profit loss statement for Atlantic Yards and the state signed off. unbelievable.