Category: Linked

Joe Lentol Endorses Lincoln Restler

I knew Lincoln was a better candidate but I knew what a thorn in the side to the county leader he’s been. But this is the time now to move forward. We’ve been living in a district where there’s always political strife. We should be moving forward to get more parks, housing, in the district. I’d like to try to unify the district and work together in peace and harmony.

Good on Joe.

(Don’t forget – the primary is next Thursday, September 13th.)

Congresswoman Time-Travels, and Eyebrows Are Raised

Long before television, much less Comedy Central, Karl Marx opined that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, the second time as farce.

That about sums up Representative Yvette D. Clarke’s appearance on “The Colbert Report” on Tuesday night.

An embarrassment (or a particular inept comedienne, if her handlers are to be believed).

2 Women Received $32,000 From Assemblyman, Beyond Money From State

The terms of the agreement, however, suggest that the Assembly could have proceeded with an ethics committee investigation, though it is clear nobody wanted that to happen. “The parties desire to resolve this matter without resort to litigation or any administrative proceeding of any sort,” the agreement says.

The Vito Lopez saga gets more sordid with every new revelation, proving that sometimes, it is the crime and the cover up.

If Lopez harassed women as he is accused of doing, he should resign his seat in the Assembly. But by all rights, Sheldon Silver should lose his leadership position over his cover-up of Lopez’s actions. Of course the odds of that happening aren’t looking that good:

The [State Joint Commission on Public Ethics] has begun a preliminary review of the matter, according to a person who was told of the review, but a vote of the panel’s 14 commissioners will be required before a full investigation can proceed and before subpoenas can be issued. The support of at least one of the three commissioners appointed by Mr. Silver will be needed to proceed with the investigation.

NYC Housing Construction on Slow Road

According to REBNY, the decade is starting out slow in terms of new housing construction.

Williamsburg seems to be holding its own, however. Walking through the Southside today, it seemed as though every soft site between Broadway and Metropolitan was under active development.

City Seeks Developer to Finance Parks on Greenpoint Waterfront

The Daily News is a bit confused about the air-rights sale at 65 Commercial Street.

The sale of the air rights themselves is not a “new plan” – it was one of the points of agreement between the Bloomberg administration and the City Council back in 2005. What is new is that those same points of agreement earmarked the funds from the sale of the air rights was supposed to go towards a $2 million tenant legal fund and a $10 “waterfront affordable housing and infrastructure fund”. As I understand it, the tenant legal fund was funded by the City a few years back, when it became clear that the air rights transfer was not imminent. But I don’t believe the infrastructure fund was ever funded.

The headline of the News, and some of the quotes from “a developer who asked to remain anonymous” in the article also imply that this is a wide open RFP. It is actually quite a narrow one – there are only two developers who can reasonably use the air rights from 65 Commercial, and they are the owners of the adjacent properties to either side: 77 Commercial Street to the east and the massive Park Tower site to the west. A small market, indeed.