According to the Daily News, Borough President Marty Markowitz is lobbying hard to jump-start developer Bruce Ratner's infamous Atlantic Yards project with cash from the federal economic stimulus package.Markowitz says that "shovel-ready" Atlantic Yards would produce lots of jobs and be "great for Brooklyn".
Markowitz is urging the MTA's Elliot Sander to use federal dollars to pay for a new railyard at the site.
In 2005, the $182 million to build the railyard was included in Ratner's winning bid to develop Atlantic Yards.
Ratner's opponents, terming it "obscene" to use stimulus funds for Atlantic Yards, have been doing some lobbying of their own, including sending a letter to Governor Paterson urging him not to give money to Ratner.
The price of the railyard was an integral part of Ratner's bid -- and may have been the basis for the award. For the city to retroactively substitute federal funds for Ratner's changes everything, putting the entire procurement in question.
If Ratner can't commence work, I think all bets are off -- and the project should be re-bid.
Markowitz, who blames the lawsuits and the recession for putting the project behind schedule, says he doesn't care if the money for the railyard was included in Ratner's bid.
But I care. This is Ratner's problem.
Forest City Ratner has hired former New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato as a lobbyist.
The article from the Daily News:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/02/20/2009-02-20_brooklyn_borough_president_marty_markowi.html
More from Gothamist:
http://gothamist.com/2009/02/18/atlantic_yards_wont_get_any_mta_sti.php
Oral argument Monday in the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case, from Gowanus Lounge:
http://www.gowanuslounge.com/2009/02/21/oral-argument-in-atlantic-yards-eminent-domain-case-monday/
In-depth coverage of all things Atlantic Yards from the Atlantic Yards Report:
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/
Ratner gets big concessions from MTA.
