Develop-
don't destroy
BROOKLYN Press
Release Main Page
For Immediate
Release: March 19,
2007
In Buying Albany’s Approval and the City’s
Acquiescence
Bruce Ratner Was Number 3 Lobbying Spender During 2006
“Atlantic Yards” Developer Spent $2.11 Million on Lobbying
Without Spending a Single Cent on Acquiring Vanderbilt Rail Yards
BROOKLYN, NY—It was reported
today that Bruce Ratner’s firm Forest City Ratner was the number three
lobbying spender in NY State during 2006, spending $2.11 million to push
forward his $4 billion “Atlantic Yards” proposal. The development firm trailed
only the healthcare industry and Verizon. Forest City Ratner paid the
largest single lobbying contract in 2006, $656,520, to Fried Frank Harris
Shriver & Jacobson.
Meanwhile it was recently revealed that New York City taxpayers will
contribute $100 million in cash for Forest City Ratner’s “Atlantic Yards”
related “land acquisition.” Since, in 2005, the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) agreed
to sell Ratner the rights to the 8.5-acre Vanderbilt Railyards for $100
million it has become clear that the City’s taxpayers are paying for
the railyards so Ratner can get the yards for free.
“Forest City Ratner had $2.11 million to lobby Albany on ‘Atlantic
Yards’ but will not spend a single penny to purchase the rail yards
which comprise over one-third of the development site Bruce Ratner desires.
Instead NYC taxpayers will pay to buy the yards for Ratner. It's an exquisite
shell game,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesperson
Daniel Goldstein. “Ratner has also left NYC taxpayers holding the
entire bag when it comes to the so-called ‘extraordinary infrastructure
costs’–or blank check–necessitated by his development
experiment in extreme density founded upon eminent domain abuse. The taxpayers
are being forced to pay Ratner’s bills without any say in the matter.”
Forest City Ratner employed eight different lobbying firms in an Albany climate that is sure to change under Governor Spitzer’s reforms.
The NY State Lobbying report is available here:
http://nylobby.state.ny.us/ann_rept06/index.html
DEVELOP
DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN leads a broad-based community coalition
fighting for development that will unite our communities instead of
dividing and destroying them
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