To the Shed

I've always said that in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill you.
--Ann Richards


One of the amazing things about City Agencies is the fact that almost no one ever gets around to investigating them. Investigations are very time consuming ---and corruption is so pervasive that it becomes almost a ho-hum obviousness.

Downtown politicians know about the corruption and it's almost institutionalized at some agencies. Take the Department of Buildings, for example, where Inspectors routinely are so chummy with landlords and supers that it's practically a joke calling 311 to complain about illegal construction by building owners. Some residents complain about Housing Inspectors, for example, reporting that suddenly just before an Inspector is about to come to the door to “investigate” a potential violation, the landlord wants to fix their problems. Who was it that said, there are no coincidences?

But, Buildings, under the tutelage of Commissioner Lancaster has earned the enmity of downtown residents for yet another reason. While there has been legislation, dating back to the Vallone days in the City Council, providing for big fines over the illegal billboards that has destroyed the cityscapes of SoHo, NoHo, Tribeca and the lower East Side, none of it has been enforced.
Lancaster cancelled meetings that Alan Gerson called to discuss the problem, she has circulated phony objections to implementation of the law, and she has recently signed on to a new initiative by Councilmember Melinda Katz of Queens.

Katz had been helpful to SoHo and generally has been a charming and knowledgeable City Council member who is currently campaigning for the Comptroller slot. She is ambitious and intelligent.
But, we fear, she has been pushing for yet another objectionable advertising venue, the sidewalk shed.
This really annoying addition to the streetscape, one that especially SoHo has been blighted with, is now rearing its ugly head in a bill introduced by Melinda Katz. It provides for the ground rules that would allow companies like VanWagner – the most egregious offender downtown – to legally affix advertising to the temporary sheds, which are placed over sidewalks during the construction phases of many buildings. Often, the sheds are left in place simply to provide companies like VanWagner with the ability to unendingly continue advertising as has happened with Frost Myers', "The Wall." Community organizations have fought to have these additional huge signs removed – and they continually pop up – and are removed after enough complaints are made.
The Katz proposal, Intro 623, would legalize this advertising and provide for yet additional locations for companies like VanWagner to annoy residents. The Department of Buildings, of course, would administer this additional cash cow, for the delight of residents.
And, what is disturbing about the bill being introduced has been the fact that VanWagner has been a large contributor to many political campaigns – Katz included.
According to some reports, Richard Schaps, the CEO of VanWagner, has been the largest contributor ($70,000) to the Katz campaign with numerous maximum limit checks from family members. Apparently, he had “no comment” when queried about his affinity for Ms. Katz political style in running for NYC Comptroller.

While In fact, Bloomberg prances around City Hall with his Harvard boys, figuring out how to knock off Spitzer (despite his protestations to the contrary), he and Doctoroff have been following the tradition of the original inhabitants from Manhattan. From the Related Pier 40 cram-down (our throats), to the Gansevoort racism ploy, to the Pier 76/Convention Center project, and to the imposition of the gargantuan Trump SoHo condo-hotel project on Downtown – the new Robert Moses wannabee (Doctoroff) and Bloomberg dynamic duo has not seen a deal they could resist in the selling out of Manhattan.
Bloomberg and Trump were practically giddy over each other’s billions when the Trump condo-hotel was first announced – laughing and scratching over the bucks from Dubai flowing through Chicago and the Bovis-Lend Lease boys into Manhattan.

Katz is now following in this tradition of selling Manhattan for cash and political advantage – whether she is conscious of it or not. Hopefully, she will pull this bill and give VanWagner back his money and he can stick it where he sheds.

Moving On.

The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived.
--Oscar Wilde,

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
--Plato



While news pieces have been probing the Deutsche Bank fiasco, some of the subterranean activities are more relevant to Downtown people - including the Community Board and who's who in local politics.

One thing is for sure, two firemen died as a result of a questionable clean-up contract which was awarded by LMDC to Bovis Lend Lease which then subcontracted the asbestos removal job out to the John Galt Corp., a company reputed to have mob ties.

Whatever the truth is as to why the contract was awarded to a questionable company, it is well-known that LMDC is a rubber stamp entity. The protestations that are coming from some of that Board's members, that certain individuals sought to nix that contract choice - are coming a little too late. There are also rumors that anonymous threats have also been made to keep this whole thing quiet.

Morgenthau is rumored to be very involved in this case personally and that he may, in fact, be the guy in the Operations room making sure it goes well.

The fact that the Corporation Counsel is still meeting with people and before they get to the D.A.'s office - is not being appreciated. It's the kind of pre-interview "trial run" that creates the possibility of suborning perjury.

It is also known that the Mayor's Office has hired criminal counsel, should things not go well.


Apparently, Douglas Durst, the developer/head of Friends of Hudson River Park has seen fit to give Al Butzel his walking papers. Within the last six months or so, things have not been hunky-dory at FOHRP and there has been some gnashing of teeth at the community response to Butzel's particular charms.

There is no doubt that Al is one of the most knowledgeable people downtown when it comes to Waterfront issues. He has been liked and disliked by many an activist and bureaucrat but he did know his stuff.

However, a few public verbal fisticuffs have tarnished his usually charming patina, particularly at a recent Board #1 meeting where he and David Reck had "words."

What is being discussed in lieu of his present position as President is a "consulting" role.


The Truth Will Out is essentially the message from Andrew Berman of GVSHP in his commentary on an interview over the Trump SoHo project.

Apparently, contrary to the party line by politicians downtown that the project was going to be built whether it was a "condo-hotel" or a hotel -which could have been built as of right - was not what the developer planned.

As Steve Cutler asks in his interview with Julius Schwarz, the developer:

"So why not a straight luxury hotel? "It's a financing mechanism," said Schwarz, who added that financing is tough to come by. "You can't model it out 10 years. Right now, there's a shortage of hotels, so people are going to be building hotels, and the rates will eventually come down." Hotel rooms will always be in high demand, said Schwarz, "but you can't rely on the $1,200 a night rates. Even with a very high-end luxury hotel like this, where rates are going to stay high, you have to convince a lender. That's the most important thing; otherwise, the deal doesn't get done (emphasis added)."

Schwartz also says "I had to fight for so long against the notion that this is somehow a disguised residence...It was never a residence." And yet it was he who the Villager in 2006 said described the project as "more pied-a-terre than short-term stay hotel...every unit ...will be sold individually to buyers who might live there year-round, from time to time or seasonally. All owners will be free to offer up their Rockwell Group-designed units as hotel rooms, if they so choose (emphasis added)"

What the Mayor's Office, including Bloomberg and Doctoroff, the Buildings Department and Speaker Quinn's office -- would have us all believe that there was no way that this Project could have been stopped.

And, here we have the developer telling us himself that without the special treatment by the City - it would not have made sense to be built.

Remember that the next time you go to the polls.


So, is Trump SoHo really in SoHo after all?

Well, look at it this way.

According to the Friends of Hudson Square, the organization behind the "charrette" or vision for Hudson Square whose title of "unofficial Mayor" is claimed by David Reck, Hudson Square begins at the River and ends at Hudson Street - from Houston to Canal Streets. With several condo owners, St John's and the apparent support of Christine Quinn, the Friends have essentially established their turf and no one appears to disagree.

Trump SoHo seems to feel that Spring and Varick Streets are part of SoHo. The fact that their sales office is on Wooster Street does not preclude them from claiming SoHo residence for a project on Varick Street.

And, the SoHo Alliance under the tutelage of Sean Sweeney recently commented that people as far west as Greenwich Street used to consider themselves SoHo residents.

His view is that from 6th Avenue to the eastern side of Hudson Street is really SoHo West, or western SoHo. Several restaurants have touted their SoHo presence at locations as far north as Carmine Street and Varick.

Of course, those who live below Houston Street and west of 6th Avenue have been known to claim this area as part of the South Village.

Given the fact that the Hudson Square residents have by choice cut off their territory at Hudson Street - partly to limit their expectations and expenses (presumably also not to piss off Trinity Church who owns a lot of Varick Street) - Sweeney may have a point.

It may be one of the few times the Donald and Sean Sweeney agree.

We'll see how this plays out.

This Week in SoHo

The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too.
--Oscar Levant

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
--Ronald Reagan


The demonstration this week occurred as Ivanka and guests were filing into the new Trump SoHo building among jeers from residents who found the experience distasteful and maddening.

From across Spring Street, Sean Sweeney and members of the SoHo Alliance, supporters of Andrew Berman and the GVSHP, David Reck of the Friends of Hudson Square and even Tony Avella of the City Council - watched as the glitterati were ushered into the speedily constructed condo-hotel.

The police, commanded by Chief Paragallo and Officer Turco, aided by a suit from the Intelligence Unit who would not identify himself, were abrupt and threatening towards the demonstrators - who followed the law and moved away. The hundred or so residents with placards were there to emphasize the sell-out by the City in permitting an illegal building for "The Donald" who apparently allows his daughter to be used as bait for the selling of the condos. And, the police basically told the residents to move across Varick Street so as to be out of sight for the "opening" of the building to viewers. As if to replay the Republican Convention, anyone not moving back and forth like the clay ducks in the Coney Island shooting gallery or background walkers on a sidewalk movie set was threatened with arrest.

When asked questions, Chief Paragallo simply said, "I'm busy, get moving."

So much for Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Expression - or, dare we say, Freedom of the Press.

The Police were there - just as the City has been there - to support developers like Trump. The sell-out has been accomplished. And, to add insult to injury, Dan Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor, and the Robin to Batman Bloomberg - is rumored to be stepping down from his current post in order to run for Mayor.

Now, the question is this.

How does this affect the well-known intentions of Christine Quinn? She has been known to covet the position of heir-apparent to Bloomberg. And, we have all been groomed to accept the fact that Mr. Mike and she enjoy a very cozy relationship - even bordering on affection for each other.

Given the fact that Quinn has been saving her nickels and enjoying campaign contributions from developers (according to Crain's) in order to pursue these election plans - what does Doctoroff's plans do to this agenda?

One would suspect that Mr. Mike has more interest in Robin than Ms. Speaker.

Speaker Quinn is known as a politician who keeps a black book and does not like criticism but all politicians have the same blind eye when it comes to political aspirations. The more complex the political spin, the further from the truth the observer becomes.

When you shun the voters who rely upon your position in office, you run the real risk of being rejected.

It was no surprise then that the demonstrators were heard chanting, among other things, on Varick and Spring Streets, "Who's out, who's in, where the hell is Christine Quinn." - even though they were pushed a block away.

While Quinn may be no more responsible for the failure of the City and its agencies - in allowing big developers to destroy our urban landscape - it is still her district and the voters wanted to know why was she not on the picket lines with Toney Avella?


Community Board #2 entertained its audience this week as a liquor license bit the dust on the floor of the Full Board.

A good segment of Chinatown came out for a liquor license application that has seen more twists than the old Peppermint Lounge.

Forty Deuce, was a bar/restaurant/burlesque application for Kenmare Street that Business Committee Chair Ray Lee allowed to slip through, despite the initial opposition from the community.

Hoylman had allowed Lee to remain Chair of this committee and has slowly allowed former members like Roscia Sanz return, to the annoyance of others on the newly configured Board.

Apparently, there are some, like former Board member and Business Committee Chair Bob Rinaolo, who never saw a bar that he didn't like. Or, at least those in SoHo and NoHo felt that this was the M.O. of that committee.

At this week's Full Board, not only did Rinaolo appear for a cameo performance - kissing and shaking the hands of his friends still on the Board - but also the voting was faintly familiar.

Almost in a block, those members who had been part of the Board #2 "self-interest" cabal - those who never saw a liquor license submitted by friends and Chamber of Commerce associates and cronies alike that they didn't like - seem to have returned.

Phil Mouquinho, who is now Vice Chair of Zoning, Roscio Sanz, former Youth Committee Chair Shirley Smith, Carol Yankay, former Chair of the Board Maria Derr, and Ray Lee - greeted Bob Rinaolo with smiles and salutes of comrades. Those new members on the Board who do not know their agenda and those on the Board who do remember the games and political treachery - must all understand that reform is a continuous process. This was a well-understood principle of the political game in Tammany Hall. It's still true today. Reform must be ongoing to be successful.

Meanwhile, in a telling performance -- it took a tremendous effort to block a bar on one NoHo street and Herculean effort to stop one bar on the periphery of Chinatown at Kenmare Street.

The community still must exert tremendous effort to protect itself from special interests, which never rest.

Mr. Hoylman still has a lot of work to do if he is to gain the respect of the community, not just the Community Board - and, as smart as he is, he must never underestimate the intelligence of the voters - not just the fundraisers.

Housing on the Hudson

"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game."

Donald Trump (1946 - )

There are unconfirmed rumors that Community Board #2 Chair Brad Hoylman may decide to pursue an initiative aimed at dealing with the pathetically weak response from City agencies towards rent-control/rent stabilized complaints and tenants. The number of allegations that landlords have been harassing and retaliating against tenants who complain about housing conditions with impunity -- have increased dramatically – as have illegal efforts to evict them or litigate them out of their homes.

Instead of helping tenants, however, the HPD, DHCR and Department of Buildings have more or less cooperated with landlords by ignoring dangerous conditions and instead have been focusing on complaints by landlords about tenants. HPD prosecutors have been lax to the point of incompetence and Judges have appeared to be indifferent when tenants have instituted HP actions. The 311 system has been so ineffective that many tenants no longer bother to register serious housing complaints – which may weaken a tenant’s legal defenses -- but has become an irrelevancy with regard to action by the City to coerce landlords into making repairs.

A community forum, much like the Town Hall meetings that affected the S.L.A. response to over saturation of liquor licenses could have a beneficial affect on the “legal method” of evicting tenants in Manhattan through financial intimidation. You can’t fight a phony eviction and pay rent without being forced to accept a buyout at some point.

While Speaker Quinn has been criticized for inaction on some downtown issues, it is Hoylman’s view that she has been an advocate of tenants rights and effective in dealing with landlord abuses.

Organizations like the newly formed UNYTE may choose to make their views more focused and present them to Quinn’s office.

Trump SoHo is moving upward and the controversy does not seem to quit.
Stu Klein, the SoHo Alliance attorney, has advised the Buildings Department that there are serious violations that need to be addressed and that the permit to build should be pulled.

After having outlined his reasons in a letter to D.O.B., he waited for their response.

He’s still waiting.

And, the wait is really the answer. It never ceases to amaze activists downtown how completely rude and insensitive this City distraction is to residents.

The lack of response and avoidance of even a feigned community-relations pretense is what has become the hallmark of the Bloomberg Administration.

Essentially, Klein’s objection cites three reasons why the Trump project should be stopped. For one thing, the Restrictive Declaration is a joke. There is no way that the Department of Buildings will enforce the restrictions that have been written. There is no enforcement unit in place that will stop hotel-condo tenants from exceeding their stay. Currently, no owner of one of these condo units can occupy a unit continuously.

Who’s going to put them out if they stay over?

Which is exactly why they are selling so well. A recent piece reports:

The Co-Exclusive Marketing and Sales is Prodigy International Development Sales and Core Group Marketing. The Post ran the following article on 8/16:

Early demand for developer Donald Trump's condominium hotel in Soho is impressively high, says the New York Post. Sources claim that 2,800 applications have already been received for 500 units, catching prices of nearly $2,700 per square foot. The units have an occupancy limit of 120 days per year. Trump's condominium hotel project has been controversial from its inception. Opponents have criticized what they believe is a manipulation of the neighborhood's designation as a manufacturing zone.

The Department of Buildings, by allowing the project to continue, also appears to be violating Federal Security laws.

When a condominium has substantial restrictions on its use, it is treated as a “Security” in the eyes of the S.E.C. In this instance, the restrictions on the use and temporary occupancy rise to the level of being substantial – thereby relegating the sale of condominiums to the level of selling an investment instrument that is considered a security.

It appears that further legal challenges may occur – which could result in the project being stopped by the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating Federal securities laws.

Stay Tuned.

The Bigger Easy

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
-Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)

While New Orleans has been known by that moniker, Manhattan is also starting to become “The Bigger Easy.” Developers, and developments that are known to have contributed to local politicians campaigns and projects that offend downtowners are rapidly expanding.

The politicians and government are appearing to be selling lower Manhattan for a nice price and thumbing their noses at residents.

What seems to be happening is a sense that local government, from the Mayor and his appointees down through the City Council has disconnected from the electorate – and is bent on selling off to the highest bidder.

Trump SoHo continues upwards towards it 42 stories on a parcel on Spring and Varick streets where contextual zoning would not have permitted anything higher than an 18-20 story structure either as a hotel or commercial building – or 8 to 10 stories as a condo development. Under current zoning there is no community input.

A 17-story hotel is nearing completion on Watts street that may a stopping point where tourist buses flood lower Manhattan and in a location where traffic congestion is so bad that it is like adding open sewers to the 19th century streets of Calcutta.

The Department of Sanitation has chosen Greenwich Street for a 10-story garage and fuel storage depot instead of placing it on 30th street (block 675) even though it has obtained approval to build it there -- long before Joe Rose (former head of City Planning) and his family have been attempting to obtain approval to build. There is already a condo development in close proximity to that site. Do you think there is any connection with the City's decision to instead dump the project in Hudson Square -- despite the fact that the project was approved and even accepted by that area's Community?

Pier 40 is under siege with the probable selection of Related’s “Vegas on the Hudson” development – despite the fact that the community, kids, parents, ballfield supporters AND politicians feeling the pressure – because the Trust Board clearly wants to see the project built. There is no doubt that the Hudson River Park Trust Board, using the excuse that the infrastructure needs repair, is clearly in favor of the Related proposal. Spitzer is weakened and Doctoroff may have the upper hand since he is reportedly the real de facto Chair with Bloomberg the other major Trust controller at this point. And, there had been rumors afloat that Joe Rose had in interest in the appointment as Chair of the Trust Board -- but it has just been awarded to Diana Taylor, Bloomberg's "friend." It will be interesting now to see how this plays out for the community.

The “we know better about what’s good for you” approach was most evident at the last public meeting of the Trust Board where Marc Ameruso, Chair of the Advisory, reported on the community suggestions largely extruded by Arthur Schwartz (as Chair of Waterfront at CB2 and previous Advisory Chair). The Trust Board received the Advisory’s report with ho-hums. It speaks reams that Doctoroff said nothing at all at that meeting. He may not have needed to – since whatever needed to be said had already been communicated – behind the scenes. The connections between the Related proposal, the Trust Board, and government may need to be delineated more clearly at some point.

The Gansevoort Recycling plan has been kicking around for years. Under the tutelage of the EDC (Economic Development Corporation) via the efforts of Kate Ascher. The most recent PR plan, however, involved using a kid suffering from asthma in a commercial to support Bloomberg and Doctoroff’s push to get Albany to push through the plan for Pier 52 – by emphasizing the need to protect our children from pollution. Of course, there was no mention of the huge increase of truck and vehicle traffic downtown caused by the Verazzano toll reversal that gives free rides in and out of downtown to New Jerseyites and Staten Islanders. Of course, since Staten Island created the Republican win for both Giuliani and Bloomberg, that was never mentioned.

The other part of the Gansevoort deal was a political push to win quid pro quo from North Manhattan politicians who found it necessary to use the NIMBY theory of waste disposal. The rational location for a downtown recycling site was, and still is, Pier 76. But that would interfere with another Bloomberg/Doctoroff redevelopment site – the Convention Center and its cross-West Side Highway overflow.

Selling out the West Village and inundating them with diesel particulates is acceptable. Impeding a development site is not.

So, what is really going on?

It appears that there is just so much money around – although liquidity may soon start to ebb as a result of the current banking crisis – that financial pressures are just too hard to resist.

For one thing, Hudson Square is still a “No-man’s-land” that bears a resemblance to the Great Plains of the 1930’s and the resulting dust bowl from which that term emanates.

With no coherent zoning, the foot dragging from the Speaker’s Office where pressure for change should come from, and the gleeful selling off of downtown by Bloomberg/Doctoroff’s Batman and Robin team – there is clearly no interest in stemming the new Homestead Act for Manhattan. Parcels can’t be given away for development fast enough. The pressure to give downtown away makes Robert Moses and his sell-out of the Brooklyn Dodgers look mild by comparison.

The fact that Speaker Quinn has accepted at least $262,000 toward her mayor campaign already, is a significant signal as to what we have in store.

Tony Avella, Council Member of Queens joined the picket line in front of Trump SoHo. Where was Speaker Quinn – at a site that exists in her own district? What does that say about representation?

From Trump SoHo to the Gansevoort Recycling proposal, to the Pier 40 development, to the DSNY project, residents are being treated as children who don’t really know what’s good for them -- and maybe they don’t. Even scarier, maybe they shouldn’t know what is really going on.

As Jack Nicholson said, while playing Jessep from A Few Good Men, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Maybe residents need to consider candidates who represent them instead of those that represent their own interests and the interests of developers.


Note: As a postscript to the discussion on development pressures, there is a new tenant push to address the issue of development and lack of enforcement by that corrupt of all city agencies -- The Department of Buildings -- an agency that is in the business of making money from all comers. And, it is the agency that politicians would have us believe will scrupulously watch how the Trump SoHo people restrict usage at their new heinous condo-hotel. The new organization, called UNYTE is meeting on August 15th and they deserve your attention.

Dysfunctionality

"In politics, absurdity is not a handicap."
-Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)

After the dust has started to settle in Albany we find that the Prosecutor as Governor is no longer the fair-haired warrior who will right the wrongs for New Yorkers. Last year, the SoHo Journal, wrote an article in support of Tom Suozzi for Governor. There was criticism for that - not the least of which pointed out that Spitzer was going to win and being on the winning team is key to political survival.

But, as Jim McManus, the respected leader (McManus Midtown Democratic Club) once pointed out, winning is not everything - even in politics. What is most important is integrity and fidelity. At lunch, McManus told Spitzer - when he was asked for his support - "Eliot, I'm supporting Tom Suozzi. This is a race for Governor but you're a prosecutor."

Spitzer was not happy and basically told McManus that he was going to win big even without his support.

But, McManus knew that Spitzer, like Aeschylus, had his head in the clouds and was not really a man of the people. He was, and is, at heart a bully and a prosecutor.

Joe Bruno has taught him a lesson. A very expensive and likely, a terminal political lesson. The degree to which this lesson will contribute to the end of his political career will be played out in the months and possibly years to come. Who could have imagined that anyone would be sympathetic to Joe Bruno? But, here we are.

Of course, how this plays out should be instructive.

Giuliani is calling for a Special Prosecutor and thinks that Cuomo might just be the right guy. Cuomo, of course, would love to be Governor, and it would seem quite plausible for him to step further into the limelight.

Giuliani, a Presidential hopeful, is actually getting some sympathy from Democrats in New York for tiptoeing around the issue without verbally nailing Spitzer. While Police and Firefighters don't buy the hero routine over 9/11, Giuliani might actually hit a nail on the head with the Bully and his abuse of power.

No one, of course, believes that Spitzer didn't know what going on. The idea that his "Haldeman and Erlichman" told him nothing about what they were doing - is ludicrous on its face - with a politician who bragged about his micromanagement style.

We are left with what threatens to be a political witch-hunt and a Mexican standoff - while the important matters of appointments and funding goes begging. The HRPT for example, is just one agency that Board Chair appointment is being held up by the prior Bruno/Sptizer antagonism. Many think that Spitzer did not do his homework on political appointments but the fact of the matter is that Bruno was holding them up.

We now have a Governor consumed with his political survival and who knows when these necessary slots will be filled. Even more disturbing - would we really want the positions to be filled by Spitzer's people?




The unpopular Business Committee of Community Board #2 has been the focus of its new Chair, Brad Hoylman - who has acted quickly after hearing from some of his Board members.

The application for a new bar/restaurant/burlesque location on Kenmare Street ("forty deuce on kenmare") was approved by the Business Committee and slipped through the Full Board. This occurred despite the fact that several Asian community members appeared in prior meetings to protest the excessive number of liquor licensed establishments - arguably 30 in a radius of 500 feet. Normally, this would automatically trigger a "500 foot rule hearing" required by the Padavan Law.

Sensing that the Board, previously under the control of Maria Derr and her anti-community, pro-bar Board Chairmanship - was being perpetuated by this decision - Hoylman decided to take action.

The matter is now being reviewed by a group of Board members in conjunction with the Borough President's Office.

Questions as to the wisdom of retaining Ray Lee as Chair of this committee - someone who was an associate of Bob Rinaolo, Phil Mouquinho, Roscia Sanz, Judy Paul and Lisa Canistraci - bar owners who often voted as a bloc with other supporters when a liquor license was being proposed - is being questioned by the community.

The cozy relationship between those Business committee members who also enjoyed Chamber of Commerce membership and consequent business respect for being able to be helpful to applicants - while no impropriety is being suggested - is not a good situation.

Hoylman has made a good start and will hopefully balance business interests with the demands of the community.

Matters of Some Concern

"Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat."
-John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, 1981-1987

After throwing away an old t-shirt, it was clear that its inscription was still quite valid. In a corner, on the breast pocket read, "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished." This is especially true in politics. It may be one of the reasons why "Scooter" Libby was, essentially pardoned. He was doing his job - and did it too well. And, if you hate Cheney, even a Democrat could sympathize with an employee who was doing what he was told to do - and did it well.

In politics, even community politics, we all make choices. While there are rewards (Community Board #2 mail, for example, addresses all of its members with the title "Honorable"), most of them are illusory and none of them pay. If you join the Community Board, keep your day job. It's not likely to lead to much income. Graft is frowned upon; even "Good graft" as George Washington Plunkett described it, is eschewed. And, this brings us to the issue of service on Community Boards - a forum for debate and an entity with only advisory power. Albeit, with some respect.

A big point is made of Conflict of Interest. Essentially, the concept means that if you are going to make a profit or have an interest that could potentially translate into some sort of personal gain - as a result of an issue being decided in a Community Board committee or Full Board decision - it should be divulged and you should not participate in voting on the matter.

But, there are gray areas. And, respectable Board members get caught up in the machinery when things go awry.

Tobi Bergman, current Chair of the Parks Committee, for example, found himself in the midst of a controversy several years ago and there was an investigation over the C&K matter by the COIB and Department of Investigation. Someone dropped a nickel on Tobi after nasty rumors persisted involving the prior Pier 40 RFP. His trip to Paris to meet with the C & K plan architects over one weekend -- involved more jet lag than Follies Bergere, but created shrieks from the floor of the Community Board. Jealousy and envy in Greenwich Village is naturally green; in SoHo it turns black. Arthur Schwartz also had to answer questions from investigators. The Friends of Hudson River Park and Al Butzel was viewed askance, Tobi was questioned and ultimately the plan to develop Pier 40 went nowhere - the Trust Board voted to reject it. Looking back, with the current Working Group and Advisory to the HRPT about to tell us that we should do nothing (again), the C & K plan wasn't all that bad. It was a far cry from the current Related "Vegas on the Hudson."

Prior to this, P3 had been involved with a lawsuit initiated and settled by Schwartz because C & K (which had the Pier 40 lease) had not afforded Pier, Park and Playground, which is a true kid-friendly organization in a sea of condo developments, the space that they were entitled to via the Hudson River Park Act. The lawsuit was settled by C & K and P3 was awarded $5000 monthly, which benefited the kids. Since he was an employee of P3, it also benefited Tobi.

In a subsequent Community Board vote involving C & K, after this settlement, Tobi participated and did not recuse himself. In retrospect, Tobi acknowledges that this was at least a mistake in terms of its appearance of impropriety.

But, does this rise to the level of say, Bob Rinaolo, being Chair of Business Committee -- overseeing votes on his own liquor license - or selling his Houston Street garage to the Village Nursing Home after contacting other Board members to "suggest" that they vote in favor it - never stating the fact that he owned it at a Full Board meeting that approved a variance for the buyer?

What is to be learned from this? What is to be learned from community service when a mistake (obviously Tobi thought that everyone knew about the lawsuit and settlement with P3 and C & K) - is investigated by prosecutors who have deep pockets and interrogated by, to quote a lawyer who defends people against prosecutorial zeal, investigators and police that are "not your friends." Tobi, is paying a $1000 fine, rather than spend multiples of that continuing to defend against the claim of conflict of interest.

Be careful rangers, think twice about community service, think three times about taking a stand in public, think four times about voting your conscience in an unforgiving environment - because even if it only appears that you could gain a nickel - the vultures may descend. It does not bode well for activism.


Any day now, any day.
Actually, it will be any day.

The SoHo Alliance and its attorney Stu Klein will soon be requesting that Trump SoHo move to Cleveland. Well, not exactly.

What will happen, in fact, is that the Department of Buildings will be asked to terminate the permit allowing Trump SoHo to be built. And, the response will be --- the same response that activists have received from the D.O.B. involving the illegal signs which have been plastered all over SoHo, NoHo and Hudson Square - they will either deny the request or ignore it.

That's when things are going to get interesting.

Sean Sweeney, Executive Director of the SoHo Alliance and the unofficial "enforcer" of SoHo -- is no stranger to controversy. And Stu Klein is an attorney to be reckoned with. Keep your eyes peeled on this one, but don't expect the cranes on Varick and Spring Streets to be idled just yet.

With Speaker Quinn reportedly kowtowing to Real Estate interests, Bloomberg eyeing a third-party race for President, and D.O.B. Commissioner Lancaster taking her cue from Robert Moses Doctoroff and the developer/fundraisers who employ her - don't expect an easy resolution to this sell-out of Hudson Square and SoHo. Only a change of zoning, an issue that is avoided by Quinn, will preserve Hudson Square in time to prevent these huge, completely out-of-context condo-hotel monsters from being built.


A matter of some concern has arisen at Community Board #2.

It appears that the Business Committee may be up to some of its old tricks. This periodically renegade committee, which is responsible for approving liquor licenses, seems to be reverting to methods and actions that had caused controversy in the past.

In its prior life, it was Chaired by Bob Rinaolo, a bar owner, and was packed with liquor license holders like Rosia Sanz, Judy Paul, Phil Mouquinho and packed with their friends and associates like Lee and Rosenwasser and Derr. It was a club that controlled who got a license and what community suffered from bar saturation. Tricks abounded under Rinaolo, and later Derr's tutelage. What used to be a Community-oriented Board became a Chamber of Commerce-oriented Board. Liquor license applicants were given priority over implementation of the 500-foot rule (Padavan Law) - which put the responsibility on the license applicant to justify his/her need, as opposed to the overriding community welfare.

Under Ray Lee, the current Chair, who was a Rinaolo and Derr stalwart - despite the fact that the newly configured committee is less heavily weighted with bar owners (still Sanz and Paul are bar owners) - questions of fairness have arisen.

A recent matter by "Forty Deuce on Kenmare" is a bar and burlesque application which has been floating around Community Board #2. A few community people appeared several months ago, strenuously objecting to yet another bar in this mostly Asian location - having difficulty with their English - but clearly making the point that "enough is enough" when there are 30 bars within 500 feet of the site.

Recently, the application was heard with only one-day notice - yet people appeared - but the committee approved the application nonetheless.

Apparently the Full Board let it ride through based upon the committee's report.

What we have here, folks, is a failure to communicate.

Brad Holyman, the new Chair of Community Board #2, has wielded a very soft knife and has tried to cut away softly at the corrosion on the Board. He has wended his way between the layers of presumed power bases and removed people who are incompetent and allowed people to stay in positions of some power because they are potential rivals or liabilities.

Ray Lee was allied with the Rinaolo/Derr/Mouquinho/Sanz bar owner/Chamber of Commerce group, which gained favor and power from the ability to grant liquor licenses to friends and associates.

Lee was their front man when the seat of the Chair of Business got too hot for the obvious players. And, he did what he was told - and may still be doing just that. He is conflicted and the committee is still conflicted.

Until the Community comes first, until the Padavan Law (500 foot rule) is appropriately applied and taken seriously so that it becomes the job of the applicant to justify why ANOTHER bar is allowed to open in a liquor license saturated location -the Community Board is NOT doing its job.

It is ironic that the current S.L.A. is more community friendly than the Community Board.

Crosscurrents II

As we anticipate those Dog Days of August, political junkies search for material in a summer that seems bereft of hot issues. Yet, there are a number of current, essentially New York, problems needing attention.

On the waterfront, the ILA (International Longshoremen Association) at Pier 92 fight for their lives amidst the onslaught from the Economic Development Corporation - with Kate Ascher out and Madelaine Wils in - which wants to support trade organizations instead of allowing passenger ships to arrive from abroad. In other words, the Princess Lines show Manhattan in their brochures as the point of arrival - when, in fact, they wind up in Red Hook where the City has decided to receive its international celebrities.

Can't you see it now? You're watching a news report of crowds awaiting a billion dollar Queen arriving in Manhattan but reality is that the Mayor diverts his limo to Brooklyn -- Red Hook no less -- to receive his visiting dignitaries. Of course, some go to New Jersey, where the EDC is trying to steer the ILA. They've spent millions in Red Hook but won't repair the peeling paint on Pier 92. Billy Cox, secretary of the ILA, thinks that the City is pushing them out so that the piers can be taken over for more trade shows.

The numbers show that passengers arriving spend upwards of $500,000 per day on their visits ashore and that local business suffers when ships are diverted. After all, what was the last Broadway show you attended in Red Hook; which used to be more famous for the "Canal" and some powerful odors, not to mention gang brawls?

There have been allegations that the trade shows and organizations who now employ Ascher, formerly Vice President of EDC, seem to be a little too cozy. EDC pushes the ILA out, the trade organizations pick up the piers. A little thought should fill in the blanks. Oh, did we say Doctoroff is on the Board as well. While the Longshoremen are hardly choirboys, it's ironic that Marlon Brando and a former union president, who was machine-gunned down, have been upstaged by politicians.
Brando and the union in "On the Waterfront" may have portrayed rubes by comparison the the trade show games now being played in trying to evict the union.


The current thinking about downtown politicians give us this scenario:

Borough President Scott Stringer, who has gotten high marks from Community Board members is clearly running. He is running in place and running for the future. His high energy translates into the realistic speculation that he makes a run for Public Advocate or Comptroller in '09 - for Bill Thompson's current job which is term-limited. While Stringer would undoubtedly win re-election, it is a dead end job for the next curtain. If he were to term limit out, there would be no slots with an upwardly mobile life in sight at the end of that run.

Thompson is widely expected to run for Mayor when Bloomberg is buying his way into a presidential race - which he is eyeing as a third party candidate. He is rumored to be cautiously studying Ross Perot's roadmap and subsequent faux pas.

While he could also make a detour towards Albany the year after, with all that money, he seems to be more interested in the gold ring. The Steeplechase Carousel in Coney Island always drew the biggest crowds.

Thompson has Weiner and Carrion to be concerned about - although some believe, (wishfully some say) that Quinn has a second-tier chance. Quinn has a following but has managed to alienate some Downtown voters who hoped for guidance and support on issues such as the Hudson Square re-zoning in her own Council seat area. Picking up Bloomberg's Staten Island supporters could be a pipe-dream.

While race and gender are never supposed to enter into politics, a New York Jew does not always play well for President in Peoria and Gay politics are not as popular in Queens as they may be in Manhattan. Spitzer bucked the trend when he managed to take Albany, but the heartland is more visceral than P.C. in the voting booths.

Melinda Katz, Queens Councilwoman, is also a popular candidate who is rumored to be angling for the Comptroller position and she is a strong and attractive candidate - politically and personally. The Hevesi furor was gone but has recently returned with what appears to be mostly prosecutorial heavy-handedness than an issue for the people. He was re-elected after all. Katz was irresponsibly associated with Hevesi simply because she was a friend. She is warm and personable and this was used against her.

She is a very successful fundraiser and has been a staunch supporter of SoHo when it came to land use.

Arthur Schwartz, the ultimate downtown political survivor has been "sharing" his Pier 40 statement with everyone. While the downtown electeds have demurred in signing on to the Advisory (HRPT) document that has been generated, he is still looking for a media outlet. Any day now a press conference should be held to discuss the findings and suggestions for the development of Pier 40. Any day, now.

Essentially, this compilation of Trust information, Board #1 resolutions, Little League suggestions and former Board #2 discussions - augmented by input by the electeds and the members of the Advisory - the document suggests how Pier 40 should be allowed to develop in great detail. In other words, the ball fields should be left alone, the parking should be left alone, and money should be generated by the Legislature or private funds to develop it in a community friendly way. That part we all got.
But it should be lost on any of us that the elected officials refused to sign on to it. Although, this may simply have been because they did not want to be responsible for having to come up with the money to support the new "plan."

After by-pass surgery, removal as District Leader by Duane and Quinn in favor of Brad Hoylman (current Chair of Board #2), and fired by Aubrey Lees from the Board #2 Waterfront Committee four years ago - he has risen from the ashes of defeat and has arrived as Waterfront Chair of Board #2, Chaired the HRPT Advisory, and become a State Committeeman. The press conference will be center stage with a spotlight. The question is, does it matter?

The Advisory of the HRPT has become a suspect entity - not because of its membership but because the Trust Board is led by a lame duck Chair (Trip Dorkey) while the real control is reportedly in the hands of Dan Doctoroff - Bloomberg's Robert Moses wannabee. Spitzer is too busy being a prosecutor and trying to bring down Bruno in Albany to appoint many of the positions needing leadership. Bruno, in a characteristic power play, pissed off at being the target of our prosecutor-Governor has been instrumental in holding up many of these appointments. So, the HRPT goes adrift and current history shows us that the real political and financial decisions are made behind closed doors while community people spend their time believing that their opinions will matter in all of this "decision-making."

There is speculation that the Trump SoHo project may run into trouble soon. Apparently, the I's and T's were not handled properly and some activists are saying that the project groundwork is not fully legal. You didn't hear that here.

Investigations are continuing downtown. There are several focusing on the waterfront.

Some are ongoing and making not a few people nervous.

The D.A.'s office refuses to comment but there are rumors that there may a few frowns out there that are not just the result of wedgies.

Oh, and just to keep it light. The Mayor of Quogue, George Motz, who was investigated by the S.E.C. for "ticket-switching" is currently dealing with a possible U.S. Attorney's office consideration of a criminal investigation.

It seems that Georgie, big with the Quoguedelytes where his wife Kitrick Motz is also the Judge (keeping it in the family) avoided being written about in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal as well as local papers for this cute little maneuver. The SoHo Journal, however, did cover the delectable matter a few months ago.

Finally, Brad Hoylman, the new Chair of Community Board #1 seems to have configured the new Board without alienating most of the members.

He has elevated several new members, such as Phil Mouquinho, who is now a committee Chair as well as a Vice Chair, he has allowed people like Ray Lee (a Rinaolo holdover) to remain Chair of Business, where years of community opposition to the self-serving Chamber of Commerce/Bar owner crowd saturated downtown with new bars and nightclubs. The committee, so far, seems to be balanced, however. A few of the Board's dowagers are also relegated to the background - something that no one has had the guts to do. Committees have been folded into others in a deft move that relegates problem members to a position of lesser importance with smaller mouthpieces.

Mouquinho may turn out not to be a die-hard Rinaolo holdover, although he was close to the bar owner cabal, but he clearly is also a community activist - putting his time in on the DSNY issue in Hudson Square and the redesign thrust headed by David Reck and the Friends of Hudson Square. Part of his ascendance is due to Hoylman's desire to have avoided competition for the race for Chair to which Mouquinho is known to be aspiring.
However, he has Jo Hamilton and a sleeper, David Gruber, to be concerned with over the next two years. After that, Hoylman exits and runs for City Council.

Considering the fact that Stringer may only be BP for another two and a half years, it will be interesting to see who's behind Curtain number three for those political slots on Board #2.

Meanwhile, the race is already shaping up for Alan Gerson's seat -- who is term-limited out in another two years. The names so far seem to be Julie Menin of Board #1, David McWaters of Board #3, Madelaine Wils (currently of EDC and former Chair of Board #1), and Pete Gleason, an activist-attorney.

That's not the end of the list but it is the end of this week's diatribe.

As Joe Kane, one of Joseph P. Kennedy's trusted sidekicks, once said: "There are no friends in politics, only co-conspirators."

Quiet before the Storm

Yet another development site is being proposed in Hudson Square. The King Street parcel at 179 Varick Street is the next known site for a 16 story hotel proposed for Hudson Square. While activists and community organizations have been pounding the tables at the offices of elected officials, City Planning has been looking over the rainbow. In fact, there seems to be no concern whatsoever at that agency as parcels are devoured and Hotel/Condos and Hotels rush to the planning boards to turn the west side of lower Manhattan into a set for the remake of that famous cult horror movie Motel Hell - now Hotel Hell. Hudson Square is about to become the location for "Short stays" replete with billboards and fast exits through the Holland Tunnel.

Such a bad precedent -the equivalent to the destruction of a community in transition would never be tolerated in SoHo or Tribeca, certainly not Greenwich Village or even NoHo. And, the fact that Christine Quinn, Speaker of the City Council and representative for this area, is taking no obvious action to stop the accelerated development in Hudson Square - is indicative of the money and power behind this anschluss:

Trump (Spring Street), Marc Epstein (515 Greenwich), Wingate (179 Varick), and the just completed 17-story hotel on Watts and Avenue of the Americas.

So, in the midst of this sell-out, while Amanda Burden and City Planning order their second round of watercress sandwiches, Chris Quinn fiddles with her next fundraiser for Mayor and Bloomberg checks his compass for directions to Pennsylvania Avenue - Hudson Square is being lost.

No other burgeoning community has had to suffer at the hands of this influx of BIG money for the simple reason that the zoning classification has been purposely left vague. This is a money decision, make no mistake about it.

Andrew Berman of GVSHP basically has laid this issue on the steps of City Planning and made the issue one that cannot be mistaken. His letter to Amanda Burden, which he has written in response to her very weak logic, deserves to be read and appreciated.

Other letters have also been written as this travesty is allowed to unfold. The pressure to adopt contextual zoning for this area is now critical. It is no longer a manufacturing zone and only hotels and hotel/condos are being built in this no-mans-land of development without limits. The natives are definitely getting restless.


The update on Gansevoort is that no action has been taken in Albany. A reliable source predicts that the recycling center will be killed.

According to this source, there were many who didn't want to piss-off the Mayor on this issue for partisan reasons, and that it will be formally abandoned in the Special Session that starts on July 16th. If true, it's good news for Downtown - and should spur some hard decisions on the use of Pier 76.


The details of the D.S.N.Y imbroglio which have Friends of Hudson Square, squaring off against the City in its attempt to build a parking garage and fuel storage facility in the Greenwich and Spring streets location - have been getting more interesting.

One of the logical sites for this facility is "Block 675" located at 29th street and 11th avenue. In fact, that location was slated by D.S.N.Y for a garage after having completing condemnation proceedings two years ago. However, rumors have been swirling about that a certain developer will shortly be applying for a variance to develop the site for a residential tower and would accept a tow pound but not a garage under the planned building, according to public statements by Ann Weisbrod of the Hudson Yards Development Corporation.

The rumored developer is Georgetown Associates, related to the still powerful Joe Rose who was formerly Chair of City Planning. And, he purportedly still has tremendous influence over this agency's decisions.

According to one activist, in reporting on this situation at Block 675, he said,

"All of the approvals have been in place (including condemnation) since January 19, 2005 for the City to build a park over two DSNY garages and a NYPD tow-pound. There is an urgent need to mitigate 24 million sf of development across the street (30th-33rd Streets Eastern and Western MTA railyards) with some public open space requirements. At one point another developer purportedly offered to build a 70 story residential building and throw in the DSNY garages for free in the basement. Bottom line is that we are told that it is more cost-effective, more efficient for DSNY and would take less time to build this facility privately (avoiding the Wicks law)."

Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser.

On the Waterfront

The events of this week were significant for many reasons. The defection of Adriano Espaillat, upper Manhattan Assembly Member who decided to support Bloomberg and Doctoroff to get the Gansevoort Recycling plan underway was a negative event for many. While many of the reasons for attempting to locate a sanitation facility in the Hudson River Park are logical, although contrary to the rules of the Act and its intentions, many of them are misguided. The fact of the NIMBYism (Not In My BackYard) charges belies some other misconceptions about the attempt to locate a facility on that site. Some of them are environmental, some scientific, some racial, many political, and a few are sensible.

The most uncomfortable comments for the predominantly white, left of center, gender and orientation diversity-sensitive community in Greenwich Village (where the Gansevoort pier is located) - is that all of those strong feelings which many fought to preserve in the name of racial and gender equality - were now being challenged by a garbage dump. In the name of political expediency and Environmental Justice, Downtown was being charged with attempting to push the dump off onto poor black and Hispanic residents by avoiding having it Downtown.

With the media attention that the Bloomberg administration, the City Council, and the Assembly managed to generate, there were many aging Freedom Riders looking in the mirror and seeing perplexed faces. Liberals suffer from introspection guilt - Republicans know this, and so do political strategists. The fact that this was used by the Bloomberg administration to get the deal done was not appreciated.

In fact, the NIMBYist approach was being floated 5 or 6 years ago by some of the environmental groups. It was basically brought to the community boards using the same stock phrases - that "after all we have to start accepting our share of the garbage."

So, this was an adopted approach that has been a long time coming. Then Bloomberg bought the party line and used it to force-feed Downtown.

The problem is that all of this buries the objections of Villagers and other residents of SoHo and Hudson Square - who have felt that this Republican administration has been waging an all out assault against them. There's the Pier 40 attack by Doctoroff and Company to ram the Related proposal through when Downtown's kids need ball fields and passive space that is not turned into what Andrew Berman of GVSHP calls "Vegas on the Hudson;" there is the Trump SoHo development allowed by a passive Department of Buildings, a docile City Council, and an oblivious City Planning; and a D.S.N.Y. garage and fuel facility plan looking to place 43,000 gallons of combustible fluids near the Holland Tunnel tubes and a 15 story parking garage in the middle of a residential renaissance. It is as if His Honor and his Robert Moses wanabee sidekick Dan Doctoroff, can't give away our turf fast enough to make political points. Or, is it "if you throw enough shit at the wall some of it will stick" after the Olympics failed. Whatever the problem is, people are distinctly not amused.

The coup de grace here is the appearance that the boys incited, or at least signed on to, the NIMBYist position and then sat back to see if it would work. The EDC (Economic Development Corporation) had been pushing the Gansevoort deal for some time and the NIMBYist race card appears to have been the ticket to get Albany to accept a change in the Hudson River Park Act for the recycling plan and transfer station.

Rumors had circled to the effect that Shelly Silver would support the change in the Act and was turning a deaf ear to Deborah Glick, Dick Gottfried and Linda Rosenthal, all of whom had misgivings about the wisdom of changing the Act and locating a garbage facility in the Hudson River Park. There were suggestions that if Gansevoort did not get done Silver might have to accept the site in his territory on the East side.

Tom Duane was rumored to be trying to get the ear of Bruno in order to foil the attempt.

Ultimately, some facts escaped that make the political machinations all the more of a concern.

First of all, Downtown is not Shangri-La when it comes to breatheable air. Locating a garbage facility (yes garbage - recyclables stink too) on Gansevoort would simply add more pollution to some of the worst air in the county. It is a Black zone on environmental maps. Hudson Square residents are routinely killed or maimed by traffic rushing for the Holland Tunnel entrance and children and pregnant mothers pushing strollers are common targets. (Hey, how about some Traffic Enforcement, Mr. Bloomberg?)

Seventh Avenue, its Varick Street extension, 14th Street, Houston Street, Canal Street and all of the feeder streets to the Holland Tunnel are a nightmare of trucks, wall to wall vehicles and intense diesel-particulate-spewing pollution. To this, Gansevoort would add hundreds of daily garbage truck trips to the mix. And, folks, let's not delude ourselves into believing that low-sulphur diesel engines on the upgraded vehicles promised would change anything. As former Chair of Community Board #2's Environmental Committee, Ann Arlen observed:

"Mayor Bloomberg has tried to fool us into abrogating our responsibility to the children who use this Park with smoke-and-mirrors talk of fair share, a recycling education center, and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. With ULSD the proposal does not mention that the filters that are key to reducing the toxins in ULSD clog up in the start-and-stop operation of sanitation trucks so it cannot be used. (That is true also of the construction equipment on the WTC site, despite Councilmember Gerson's City Council law.) So the reduction is only that of the ULSD fuel, just 10%, leaving the worst toxins in the exhaust."


Pier 76 is a viable alternative which is north of 34th street and is located in Community Board #4 - and is a sound location for a transfer station. It is not parkland and it is not in a sensitive residential location. It should be seriously considered for this site.

But what is most important is the fact that the use of rail for transport of garbage is now recognized as the preferred and most efficient means of getting the job done.

Even Manhattan Citizen's Solid Waste Advisory Board, has backed away from its support of the Gansevoort Transfer Station to study rail shipping as a more efficient solution.

And, the latest reports indicate that the Black and Latino caucus are no longer supporting the Mayor or Assembly member Espaillat on the Gansevoort site but are taking a wait and see approach to the whole issue.


Oh, and by the way - with reference to responsibility of a fair share of garbage -- consider the fact that Downtown welcomes workers every day from all 5 boroughs as well as Long Island and New Jersey who have lunch, dinner and party in the area (in addition to the tourists and visitors) - who all leave their trash behind.

Is that our fair share of garbage?

Pressure

When you've got multi-billion dollar companies looking to cash in on the newly discovered development mines Downtown, people start to see what they want to see - or, rather, what they are paid to see. Or, fail to see.

Two of the most objectionable projects that are currently in the process of being foisted up residents of Hudson Square and SoHo are Trump SoHo and the Related development of Pier 40. While the sell-out involving Trump SoHo is well known and currently in progress - with both the construction and the anticipated legal action against it -- few really have a feel for the complexity of the Pier 40 deal.

Thus far, the Hudson River Park Trust Board has not made any decision. At least, not publicly. The Advisory to the Trust, a group of community leaders, a mixture of representatives of the Elected Officials, and Community Board members from Boards 1, 2 and 4, -- has had numerous meetings and hosted a Town Hall style hearing which has all added up to a consensus. The two potential developers, Camp Group and the Related Companies proposal miss the mark for a number of reasons. Camp Group seems to be on shaky financial ground; and, Related seems to want to build something like an adult Disneyland to draw even more tourists Downtown.

The insanity of trying to draw more traffic through Manhattan streets to Pier 40 when congestion pricing is high on the Mayor's fast track list - seems maniacally absurd. Unless, of course, the $8 per day fee is really only about generating more money and not about reducing traffic or clearing the pollution.

The essentials from the Trust viewpoint is that Pier 40 needs repairs. Roughly 10 percent of the pilings holding up the pier need to be replaced or substantially repaired. Over time, the usable space on the pier has been reduced as a result of deterioration. While it's not going to fall into the river, repair work needs to start relatively soon. We are not into year 4 of the two recent rounds of RFP's and proposal reviews. The prior hearings resulted in much ado about nothing and the $30 million dollar hole in the previous community-approved plan, is once again raising its ugly head. The number repeatedly used by the Trust officials, when asked what it will cost to renovated the pier is $30 to $35 million dollars - plus.

This is where the two plans on the table - Camp Group and Related - start to part ways. Camp Group is fuzzy on the numbers for pier renovation and restoration. Related clearly has the money. Camp Group is clearly more community oriented (and certainly more kid-friendly). Related sings to the tune of Disneyland for adults. Or, as Andrew Bergman of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) calls it, "Vegas on the Hudson."

This plan involves an entertainment center with Cirque du Soleil, plus an 1800 seat concert hall, a 3500 seat banquet hall, 12 movie theaters, 5 large restaurants, and 40,000 square feet of retail. There is also provision for ballfields that initially replaced what is currently on the pier - but now maintains, in essence, what is there now.

Well, but, not exactly.

Instead of the $5 million dollar ballfield renovations that were completed less than 2 years ago - which the kids have just started to use - Related wants us to move them onto the roof and they can continue to play ball while the construction gets underway.

Now, have you ever tried to live in your apartment while renovation was going on? Have you ever lived next door to a construction site? Have you ever been downwind of the new building going up next door?

Well, picture hundreds of kids on the roof of a pier, or worse, on the same level, with the wind off the water and the dust and debris blowing in their faces as construction begins on a pier built with materials that were legal, from 50 years ago. You're right, "Not my kid." And, then, try to get them there among construction rigs and trucks.

A straw poll taken at the Advisory to the HRPT, a group which admittedly has only an advisory capacity in relation to the Trust decision - had no members in favor of either plan. Community Board #1 has come out against the plans. The community has rejected the Related plan with hundreds of families and kids appearing at the PS 141 hearing. The Related plan, especially with the attempt to keep the ballfields open during construction is merely putting lipstick on a pig.

But what is more of a concern for Downtown residents is the marginally subtle attempt to force-feed the residents. There is now a big push to get this deal done.

The belief of many activists is that this is Doctoroff's particular pig. Not only is he a member of the Trust Board, which is a concern, but some interesting "consultants" have recently come out of the closet to join the process.

Shep Messing and Jay Kriegel, both part of the 2012 Olympics effort which was killed, are now part of the Related team, reportedly with the help of and as a favor to Doctoroff - who may feel that he owes them as a result of the failed bid for the Olympics.

As an added push, Jim Capalino, a smart, folksy Village PR guy has been contacting people in the community to sing the praises of Related to those who are unaware of how good this will be for all of us.

But, just so everyone does not get too misty-eyed for Related, consider this.

Hudson Square and SoHo families have NO parks for their kids. We spent $5 Large on ballfields and have parking for cars that have practically nowhere else to go since development is quickly depleting garage space. And, don't kid yourself, once a contract is awarded, the changes will come fast and furious. Things that were promised will disappear as fast as that last Pringle's chip.

Whether a Conservancy is established, or there is an appeal for State and/or Federal funds, or there is an increase in income from parking and fees, or appeal is made to the Legislature to allow a bond issue - we need to keep Pier 40 for the ballfields that exist there now, parking that is there now and community passive space that will be there as the pier is reclaimed. As the Trust considered just after the previous round of plans failed, the Pier could be repaired over time and uses should be added as the structure and community review approves each new use.

This is not a site where the Community should be pressured to sell off another prized asset to a developer. No matter who stands to benefit from the deal.


Unless it is the community.

The 64-Dollar Question

As a kid, $64 dollars actually was quite a lot of money. If you had that much money you got a lot of respect. Of course, that was before the Dollar slid into the abyss of multiple wars, from Kennedy's foray into Vietnam, to Johnson's War as a follow-up, to Reagan's Arms race designed to bankrupt the Soviet Empire and winding up with Bush's "Nation Building" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes, we have been prolific and have been revving up those printing presses for nearly fifty years. Now, gas is nearly $4 a gallon.

But, again, $64 dollars once meant something. And, the phrase, "The $64 dollar question" came to mean a tantalizing question referring to, as yet, unknown information. So, here's the $64 question that the community is pondering:

Among the activists who spent a lot of their time making their wishes known about the over saturation of liquor licenses, where do they stand with the new Community Board #2 which is about to take office in June?

For several years, the Business Committee was headed by Bob Rinaolo, who himself had two liquor licenses in at least as many restaurant/bars in Greenwich Village. There was controversy and charges of conflict of interest and eventually Borough President Fields ruled that he should step down as Chair of that committee. Eventually, he did. But, he remained on the committee and many of the members of the committee remained with him - so that, in fact, nothing had changed.

Interestingly enough, one of the applicants that came before his committee when he was Chair was the controversial applicant known as "Lola." Despite the fact that Rinaolo appeared to have never met a bar he didn't like, he approved the license at committee level but did not fight its denial at the Full Board because he felt that he had been lied to by the applicant - especially, when it came to the issue of live music in an outdoor area behind some very expensive condos in SoHo.

After many twists and turns of the legal system and two and a half years later, Lola is about to open. This, despite a Herculean effort on the part of the community in SoHo, despite the rejection by the Community Board, and despite the tens of thousands of dollars expended in stopping just one bar from opening in an area saturated with bars. While the legal effort is not completely over, it seems likely that Lola will open - with or without live music. In front of Judge Marilyn Sheafer, Lola's lawyer, Eric Sherman, assured that judge that if the application went back in front of the Community Board - there would be no problem in getting a resolution supporting their efforts.

Now, the $64 dollar question for those in the community who have fought the over saturation of bars, held Town Hall meetings to educate the new S.L.A. about this issue and lobbied for meaningful changes at the Community Board - is this: Why did Mr. Sherman state, in front of a sitting judge, on the record, that he could easily and quickly get a resolution passed supporting the Lola application? Especially, now, after such efforts by residents to curtail new licenses?

Is it possible that Brad Hoylman's (pictured left) choice to run the Business Committee - Ray Lee - an appointee of Maria Derr and Bob Rinaolo, a friend of the Chamber of Commerce influences that still hail from the Virginia Fields days - is known as someone who will be helpful? The fact that Lee is a holdover from the pre-reform days when the Business Committee ran roughshod over the wishes of residents and then was made Chair of that committee, is not relaxing activists. In fact, some of his methods of settling disagreements in committee are to tell residents who object to an applicant in their neighborhood to "work it out" is contradictory to Board policy. It's not the job of the Chair to let others do the work - especially, to put residents in the position of having to negotiate their objections with an applicant. The Community Board has an obligation to protect the community.

The other, potentially disturbing, aspect of Lee as Chair of Business committee is that he Is likely part of the "negotiation" spearheaded by Arthur Schwartz(pictured left), the new phoenix of the downtown political junkies and Ray Cline's man at VRDC. All of the Rinaolo/Derr people moved over to VRDC two years ago in order to take over a political party that would accept heavy donations with open arms. Having won State Committeeman, in spite of the antipathy of the Glick/Quinn/Duane preference for Larry Moss - Schwartz is rumored to have made the kind of deal that is reminiscent of a scene from The Godfather by making Hoylman an offer he couldn't refuse. That's Schwartz for Waterfront, Phil Mouquinho for Vice Chair of Zoning, and retains Ray Lee on Business. If not, the rumor goes, Schwartz would run for District Leader (which Hoylman recently took away from Schwartz) and VRDC would not support Hoylman for City Council two years from now. (Not that Hoylman should really believe that, if it were offered.)

So, after years of trying to clean up the inside deals on the Business Committee, restructuring the S.L.A. and reforming the Board - we still potentially have the same crew operating the show. The $64 dollar question is this: Did Mr. Sherman know what he was saying in front of Judge Schaefer? Is there an inside track to liquor license approvals on Community Board #2?


Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has been one, among several, who have been in the forefront of the battle to change zoning downtown so that it reflects the history and wishes of the community -- not only the Empire building aspirations of Bloomberg and Doctoroff. The most egregious example of the need for such change has been the Trump SoHo development which is now proceeding. The community in Hudson Square, where Trump SoHo will be built has been very antagonistic towards this unwanted invasion of a 45-story building. Legal action is in its early stages of discussion and planning and it proves to be an interesting fight.

The essence of this issue is, of course, the need to change zoning in Hudson Square and parts of SoHo so that it reflects the surrounding area - in short, a change to contextual zoning. It has been discussed for ten years and it has been continuously -- well, discussed. Only now, after the situation has become clearly dire, discussion is no longer enough.

What is disturbing is the fact that awareness of or interest in the problem is non-existent at the Mayor's Office and is just now getting attention at Speaker Quinn's office. At City Planning, however, they believe that things are quite satisfactory as they are. Andrew Berman recently received a letter explaining that nothing further needs to be done.

So, the $64 dollar question is this: Will the Electeds act to quickly change the zoning or will we have to litigate the 30, 40 and 50 story buildings that threaten to destroy our neighborhoods disguised at "condo-hotels?"

Issues and Politics

As Community Board #2 awaits the results of deliberations and voting by the Nominating Committee, Board Members as well as residents of SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, Hudson Square and Greenwich Village watch in anticipation of a reformed Community Board.

While Brad Hoylman is widely expected to be the only candidate for Chair and Jo Hamilton and Bo Riccobono for 1st and 2nd Vice Chair are running with Sheelah Feinberg - there are always surprises. The difference this year is that a reform slate is likely to be the slate recommended by the Nominating Committee. It is no longer an uphill battle to root out entrenched, self-interested, business Members of the Board.

But, the problem with reformers is that they are driven by a desire to correct inequities and unethical behavior. Once the threat to Democracy has subsided or has been reduced, reformers relax and don't push as hard - just when they should pressure for even greater improvements. Tammany Hall, for example, counted on that fact of life and would simply wait out the reform movement. Community Boards are tremendous vehicles for pushing change. An effective Board can pass resolutions in tandem with sister Boards, which can give elected officials a clear and effective message. "Get to work to solve this problem or face being thrown out of office." With dangerous air pollution caused by a choking level of traffic congestion, a lack of police interest in controlling quality of life issues, a rapidly expanding influx of bars in some neighborhoods, the proliferation of illegal billboards, and the threat of over-development to entire neighborhoods - the need for leadership has never been greater. SoHo and Hudson Square have no parks for their children, yet the HRPT may allow "Vegas On the Hudson" to take away the ball fields on Pier 40. Washington Square Park is slated to be renovated but leadership in brokering a truce with the community is sadly lacking. The NYU co-generation plan is tearing at Greenwich Village and NoHo while more and more of the community is eaten up by the University. And, zoning in Hudson Square has been so ignored that Trump is building a 45-story hotel/condo in an area where commercial and residential buildings are less than half that size.

It is also rumored that Trump's brother is involved in a behind the scenes attempt to assemble a parcel on Watts, Broome and Varick Street for yet another colossal development - not unlike the Mark Epstein hotel/condo project in the works for 515 Greenwich Street. Speaker Quinn's office, as yet, has no credible time table for what activists are demanding for this area - a change to contextual zoning for Hudson Square and the western part of SoHo.

Maria Derr, the current Chair of Community Board #2 is a politician. Her two-year stint was primarily a political move. As the heir to a political family name, her objective was, and is, to take a first step towards being taken seriously as a political candidate. Whether she was effective or not, liked or not, interested in her job or not - is an irrelevancy. She became Chair of Community Board #2 for two years and can now focus on her next political move - which is rumored to be taking a shot at Deborah Glick's Assembly seat.

Derr could never be classified as a reformer. She ran for Chair at the suggestion - some say, the instructions of - Bob Rinaolo - previously known as the self-appointed Godfather of Community Board #2 who advertised the fact that he sometimes carried a copy of The Prince in his back pocket when he went to meetings. While currently off the Board, some believe he is still running the show for some people still on the Board.

Derr and Rinaolo, as well as a number of their bar owner/Chamber of Commerce allies controlled the Board for political gain and influence, and also for occasional financial gain through business dealings.

They were politically driven and had power. They were not driven by issues that affect the community even when it appeared that they were immersed in controversies. It was always the politics and the power.


Now, with the ascent of Brad Hoylman, who is widely expected to become the next Chair, there is some anticipation that Issues will once again become the focus for decisions made on the Board.

Candidly, however, Holyman is also well known as someone who wishes to run for City Council. He previously ran for the seat currently held by Alan Gerson in District #1. He is both highly intelligent and ambitious.

He is also known as someone who wants to heal old wounds and reach out to those on the Board who have been at loggerheads throughout the Bar/Chamber of Commerce vs. Community maelstrom that lasted for a few years. While reform of Board membership has proceeded, there are still remnants of the Tammany-style club and hangers-on that still listen for whispers from Rinaolo & Co., to give them their marching orders. Ray Lee, a Derr associate, is expected to remain in a sensitive post as Chair of the Business Committee -- the source of tremendous community contentiousness over liquor licenses. And, Phil Mouquinho is expected to become Vice Chair of the Zoning Committee. Arthur Schwartz, another of the Rinaolo/Derr team, is rumored to have been awarded the Chair of Waterfront.

While the Board weighs Issues that beg to be addressed, Political animals are still quite active.

Arthur Schwartz, formerly a District Leader was displaced by Brad Holyman. Despite the fact that less than a year ago Holyman decapitated Schwartz as District Leader -- with the help of Tom Duane, Deborah Glick and Speaker Quinn --Schwartz resurrected himself by winning the largely ceremonial position of Democratic Committeeman after spending heavily on the campaign. None other than Allen Roskoff (of Arty Strickler's CB2 Anonymous Letter fame) was rumored to have helped him spin the web of words that carried the day. Larry Moss and the politicians who supported him were stunned when it happened and Schwartz is still reaping the benefits. He is now "advising" political aspirants to fall in line lest there be consequences for their actions.

While Schwartz has arguably done a decent job with his committee work and in running the Advisory to the HRPT, he, too, is a supremely political animal. Issues are secondary to political moves. And, having blown off the Speaker, the Assemblywoman and the Senator, he's flexing his muscles.

Has Brad Hoylman responded only to the politics of the situation? Is Schwartz's ascendancy (by remaining a committee Chair on the new Board in spite of a vicious political rivalry) a measure of Hoylman's reaching out to the various factions on the Board? Or, is this about the realities of local politics - about control and balance of power via County Committee slots on downtown clubhouse political tickets?

What we will all have to ponder is this: Will the community see its Issues addressed and confronted or will residents have to sit by and watch another two year long Dog and Pony show as personal political goals are fulfilled?

Attention should now be carefully paid to the process. Issues should now move the Board, not Politics and personalities who wish to accumulate power.

Stay tuned Rangers.

Issues of the Day

The current issues of importance Downtown are many and varied.

The Department of Sanitation garage and fuel storage proposal at Spring and Greenwich is an ongoing community issue that clearly will not be quickly resolved. The destruction of Hudson Square as a viable community is at stake and activists and organizations such as the Friends of Hudson Square have weighed in and it appears that this will be a long litigious road. While a breakthrough is possible and certainly to be hoped for, there is nothing currently to suggest that.

Pier 40 is another community focus that has been a difficult matter for SoHo, Hudson Square and Greenwich Village - as well as Tribeca. Over the last 5 years at least five development proposals have been seriously considered. In fact, nearly three years ago Community Board #2 supported one plan to develop the 14-acre pier only to be rejected by the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT). The reasoning behind the rejection by the Trust was that the plan had a financial weakness involving a $30 million hole that needed to be plugged with public money.

This week a public forum was conducted at PS 41 in the Village to review and comment upon two new RFPs (development plans) that made it through the HRPT initial review and was also discussed by the HRPT Advisory Committee, a community-oriented group which makes recommendations to the HRPT. It is purely advisory, however, and has no decision-making power.

The public meeting, which had to turn people away at the door, was packed with over two thousand people, 300 of which were children hoping to emphasize the need to keep the ballfields in an area with virtually no park space.

Activists, youth sports organizations, environmentalists, elected officials and residents made their feelings known about the two proposals.

The Camp Group proposal was aimed primarily and providing sports fields, swimming, and kid-friendly uses, in addition to parking.

The Related proposal provided for a multitude of venues, not the least of which was Cirque Du Soleil, restaurants, entertainment facilities and sports fields.

While neither developer won the audience hands down, there was no doubt that maintaining the existing ball fields (which cost the HRPT $5 million less than 2 years ago), was primary in the minds of the hundreds of young people that came out for the hearing.

The Camp Group came closer to what is near and dear to the hearts of those with kids downtown but was still not an overwhelming success.

The Related proposal, described by Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) as "Vegas on the Hudson" and clearly an unsuitable location for such a $600 million business deal.

The pier needs to be repaired and that is one of the reasons why the development of Pier 40 is becoming more urgent. While it may not fall into the water soon, at least 10 percent of the 1500 pilings needs serious attention. As time goes on, less and less of the pier will be functionally able to be used. Ergo, the need for a developer - or, an infusion of cash to properly replace the infrastructure. To the tune of about $35 million.

The search for a developer is partly driven by the need for the infusion of cash to do the work necessary to repair the pier.

But, as Al Ferrer, representative of Greenwich Village Little League, Downtown United Soccer Club and P3 (Pier, Park and Playground) has recently pointed out - the search for public or private funds to repair the structure of the pier is what is most important here. That should be the focus - not the seemingly unending search for a developer in hopes that a plan, any plan, will somehow be acceptable to the community and residents, and drag along that $35 million to get the job done.

The Electeds, residents, the non-profits, the philanthropists and perhaps Wall Street needs to get together to solve this problem. Whether it be bonds (with an exception in the HRP act), a massive fundraiser or a conservancy - the $35 million should be found so that Downtown has a park and ball fields.

What had once been considered by the HRPT (after the most recent previous round of developments had failed) uses could be added to a fundamentally sound pier. To augment the ball fields and parking with other uses - once the structure is sound. The ballfields at $5 million and parking should stay as they are to provide uninterruped use. SoHo and Hudson Square have no parks for its young children.


The Trump SoHo site is buzzing again after lying dormant for many weeks. The Department of Buildings issued a building permit for this mega-structure as was anticipated and now the fun begins.

Having negotiated a restrictive declaration that ostensibly prevents the owner of a condo unit in this hotel from staying for more than 29 days in a row, the City allowed the beginning of the end of Hudson Square.

One community observer wrote about this "deal" made with the Trump people, saying that....

"the voluntary restrictive "Declaration" that Bayrock/Sapir made last week is what the Department of Buildings claim was the basis for their affirmative decision. It's a self-policing sham! The declaration is full of holes and needs to be attacked systematically. The whole thing hinges on self-regulation. The managing company is to maintain a database that blows the whistle on the inhabitants. But the inhabitants via their condo board is who hires the managing company. This is like the fox guarding the hen house.... The check on the managing company is if complaints are received by the city then the city's Independent Private Sector Inspector General provision can kick in and an IPSIG can be hired by the condo to look into it. That's like the wolf guarding the fox guarding the hen house... If anybody were ever prosecuted for overstaying under this procedure, I'll eat my hat...."

Of course, there are a few issues here.

The immediate issue surrounding the entire distasteful scenario is that the City was asleep at the switch. While people like David Reck of Friends of Hudson Square and Andrew Berman of GVSHP have been lobbying for years to change the zoning in Hudson Square - it has not served the Bloomberg administration's purpose to limit development or business.

That's why we have movie crews jamming our streets, billboards plastered all over our architecture and why we have a Trump SoHo going up.

It's money in many pockets. While Bloomberg may have enough of his own, Governor or Presidential campaigns are done with OPM. And, then there are the many Doctoroffs that don't have $4 Billion of their own to play with.

So, key people were not asleep at the switch, they were just dozing.

Trump, money, influence, favors, money.

One phone call could have killed this project. But, it was never made.

With one eye on his bank account and the other on either the Governor's Mansion or Pennsylvania Avenue, there is no third eye to protect communities downtown.

The real issue, for the future, since there's another not yet announced 38-story condo/hotel in the pipeline only two blocks from Trump SoHo (by Mark Epstein) - is contextual zoning for Hudson Square and western SoHo.

Since the Trump deals have already been made and the arrangements, wink-wink, nod-nod, have been set in stone, it is the speed with which downtown residents can push through a change in zoning that matters most.

When a community is sold out, the ripples are felt a long way away.

Borough President Stringer came out early against this project, as did Deborah Glick. Speaker Quinn has begun to address the issue, which lies within her City Council seat district. Tony Avella, of the Land Use Committee at City Council actually walked the picket line protesting the development - talk about guts.

But Bloomberg has been all smiles over a fellow billionaire that is destroying our City.

And, while the Molinari Republicans have purchased the last two mayors of New York, Giuliani and Bloomberg (and continued to pollute downtown by virtue of the Verrazano one way toll), think about how happy Staten Islanders would be with a 50-story condo-hotel located on Bay Street.