Weekly Digest: Related Ramps Up Lobbying; Atlantic Yards Advisory Board Set to Meet
Weekly Digest: Related Ramps Up Lobbying; Atlantic Yards Advisory Board Set to Meet
Will the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corp. learn any more about the future of the project?
This digest offers a way for people to keep up with my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog, as well as my other coverage in this newsletter and elsewhere.
OK, I haven’t published as much as I’d hoped this week, not because I don’t have much to write about, but because, well, I have some other obligations.
The biggest story is one that is looming: I uncovered evidence that Related Companies has been lobbying New York State officials regarding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park for more than four months.
Which raises a question: what concessions might they be seeking—extended deadline for affordable housing? extra density?—before they commit to entering the project in a joint venture with the entities controlling six tower sites over the Vanderbilt Yard.
Should Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, grant such concessions before any public process?
Perhaps we’ll learn more at a recently announced meeting of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), scheduled for Thursday. But there’s no agenda yet, and such agendas are typically vague.
From Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
Sept. 17: State reports show Related Companies first started lobbying on Atlantic Yards in May/June, ramped up efforts in July/August.
Also note my Twitter/X exchange with Gib Veconi, a key AY CDC board member and a leader of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, which has the ear of local elected officials.
Bottom line: I agree that, as Veconi put it, “the board appointed to oversee project commitments operates in a constrained environment,” but I think they should have pushed harder to make sure the parent ESD justified going into an executive session at a meeting last month.
Sept. 18: After concert last night, a mess on the Barclays Center plaza (video).
Sept. 19: Brooklyn Nets (and arena company) owner Joe Tsai's not accused of taking bribes to serve the Chinese regime. But how different is his public posture on "contentious issues" from some of those charged?
Sept. 20: While long-running lawsuit versus landlord (and developer) percolates, McDonald's at corner of Vanderbilt & Atlantic invests $60K on interior renovation.
Sept. 20: Barclays Center announces two more events: New York Liberty playoff games on Sept. 22 and Sept. 24. Guess what? They won today, against the bottom-seeded Atlanta Dream, and there was lots of seafoam near the arena.
Sept. 21: Advisory Atlantic Yards CDC set to meet next Thursday, finally back in Brooklyn. Will they now discuss, in public, Related's bid for six railyard sites?