UPDATE Oct. 27, 2011:

Watchtower’s Move to Warwick? ‘Not Any Time Soon’

by Linda Collins (linda@brooklyneagle.net), published online 10-24-2011

-------- original post -----------------

If you believe the shellfish are edible, you might also belly up to Millman, Squadron and Bloomberg's latest Brooklyn Bridge Park shell game.  Millman and Squadron coughed up their vetoes over development in BBP based on a formula fine printed with a 2-year "...DEADLINE of Jan. 1, 2014, for the Watchtower properties to change ownership; after that date, the city will release requests for proposals for the two other apartment buildings" (NY Times, empahsis mine).

I'll make a few of my own points, but more importantly, below is Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund's press release regarding this raw deal as it should come with the same warning on the menu.  Like shellfish poisoning, you swallow thinking it tastes good in the moment.  Read more...

1. "Because of the market we are not actively promoting their sale..." is the Devine word of Watchtower (Brooklyn Daily Eagle).   Also a factor is that any one of these properteries, especially the larger buildings, take some time to close and the only developer (Robert Levine) with skin in the BBP game at 360 Furman (btw, still a long way from selling out) backed out of the Bossert deal not long ago.  The market is just not favorable for the Watchtower to sell and, smart like a fox, the Watchtower doesn't liquidate, certainly not on anyone else's deadline.
   
2. The temporary veto over housing served Bloomberg et al. quite well in keeping "useful" incumbents re-elected in an extremely anti-incumbent era.  By the time a significant square footage of the Watchtower properties is sold, the deadline will have long passed with the veto and hopes of a real public park.  Things are never what they seem.  It's all about getting re-elected, not you (Brooklyn Paper).  In fact, the deal was struck by our so called representatives without consulting with community leaders or holding public meetings, "blindsided" according to the WSJ.  These are better known as backroom deals, but the Albany Pols will maintain - come next election - that they completed BBP in tough times.
   
3. Power is absolute.  If Mayor Bloomberg wanted a park funded through NYC Parks Dept. like hundreds of years of history in the public trust delivering what the private sector could not, so it would be decreed.  As fast as funds just materialized to complete the park or any one of countless scandalous deals with the Mets and Yankees (Losing $30M in annual NYC Parks revenue), private contractors and consultants (i.e. CityTime, Dept. of Ed. , etc.) or privitization of a public schools (like the trend in "charter" parks), they can and will be found even in these tough times.  Better yet, just search NYDailyNews.com for Juan Gonzalez by clicking here.  It's simply not about funding BBP's purposely inflated $16 million O&M budget.
   

HERE's BBPDF's Press Release (pass it on):

Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund             Contact:   Judi Francis, President 718-855-3982

******************For Immediate Release*******************

No Back Room Deals: Use Veto Over Housing Park Advocates Urge

The deal to approve housing on the John Street lot in Brooklyn Bridge Park, in return for a possibility that less housing would be needed on Pier 6, is a deal made without community involvement or support.

“In today’s secret, back-room deal, Mayor Bloomberg exacted a high ransom from Brooklynites,” said Judi Francis, President of the coalition of local associations that have fought private housing in this park for over 6 years. “The Mayor has also pitted one community against another in his quest to place housing inside a public park. That portends badly for all going forward. We urge Senator Squadron to use his veto over housing. Period.”

“Senator Squadron, Councilman Steve Levin and Councilman Brad Lander all campaigned on a ‘no more housing inside Brooklyn Bridge Park’ platform,” said DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance President Doreen Gallo. “Did they misspeak or did they simply lack courage at the eleventh hour to go through with their pledge to their constituents?”

“We deeply regret this inevitable result of the Mayor and the Brooklyn Heights Association's preferred ‘housing only’ alternative to financing the park,” said Cobble Hill Association President Roy Sloane. “It is especially sad given how hard community activists and former Borough President Howard Golden fought to secure this Con Ed brownfield for a park to serve the residents of DUMBO, Vinegar Hill and the Farragut Houses. Seeing park land given up to development especially when so many viable funding mechanisms were identified in the recent "Committee for Alternative to Housing " conducted by Bay Area Consultants, is especially disturbing.”

The city's previous actions reducing income for the park laid the groundwork for this new housing development Mayor Bloomberg has supported.
"After the NYC Department of Finance reduced the fist condo building's annual commitments by $1 million, and a Federal Judge removed the Empire Stores from park funding, it was a foregone conclusion that alternate means to fund this park had to be explored," said Bob Stone, Treasurer of the BBP Defense Fund. “The Mayor’s earlier mis-dealings meant that even more funds would be needed."

The latest decision for the park is considered another example of Mayoral missteps that could have been avoided with an open community process and a relook at the entire General Project Plan for the park.  The Mayor has been unwilling to engage on even the simplest aspects of this park – the dangerous playground equipment, the ill-placed carousel, a bike path that is unusable by bikers as well as those in wheelchairs, the inability to get to the park safely at key entrances.  “Why do our elected officials think the Mayor will be willing to work with them for either fewer condos or recreation when he has never shown any interest in doing it before?” said Adam Meshberg President of the Vinegar Hill Association. “Remember, this Mayor spent all the money on landscaping for condos and ran out of dollars for the basketball courts and playing fields long ago.”

“Did our elected officials have any alternatives? Yes!” said Francis. “The community developed many ways to fund the park without housing. The Jehovah Witness buildings were one idea. The Real Estate Transaction fee is used by many communities throughout the nation to preserve open space, and a Park Improvement District were options that could have been worked on today for the next Mayor’s endorsement, if not ownership.”

“ The park is not the only loser in this decision,” said Maria Pagano, President of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association. “The Mayor has now asked South Brooklyn to prioritize our end of the park over the needs of residents in DUMBO and Vinegar Hill. Is this fair? No. Did we advocate for this? No. We simply do not gore the ox of a neighbor in order to improve our own lot. This is not how communities behave. Apparently our elected officials missed this important point.”

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund is a 501C3 volunteer community organization comprised of local community associations with the support of the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club. Their mission has been to advocate for the recreational and open space needs of Brooklynites, promoting publicly accessible means to fund parks without privatization with luxury housing inside park borders. Supporting organizations include Campaign for BBP, Friends of BBP, The Cobble Hill Association, Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, Park Slope Neighbors, and Willowtown Association in addition to the Sierra Club.

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