Activists protest de Blasio, Mark-Viverito, Van Bramer at REBNY Gala

Protesters against de Blasio outside REBNY "A Tale of Two Cities" Gala at Midtown Sheraton

#rebny120 protestors against excessive development in NYC outside the Hilton. REBNY rebny gala ensues. pic.twitter.com/HBk3eapXbx #NYC #RealE…

— Mark Anthony Lebron (@TheDonLebron) January 21, 2016

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer support Mayor de Blasio's gentrification plans that are responsible for displacement of working families and the endless upward spiral in rent costs. Welcome to #rebny120! The cocktail party is picking up steam. Is that the @billdeblasio with Honoree, Jeff Levine? pic.twitter.com/AMFTWWF92j — Real Estate Board NY (@REBNY) January 21, 2016 With Speaker @MMViverito and the Suna family at the @REBNY gala! #LIC @SilvercupNYC pic.twitter.com/hYFVH540rV — Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) January 21, 2016

RELATED City Comptroller, Department of Investigation mum on controversial NYCHA sale (Progress Queens) A lack of democracy in New York City's land use process (Progress Queens)

de Blasio has allowed real estate developers to game land use in New York City

view this map on LittleSis

The Affordability Scam : de Blasio calls $1,900 rent on a Crown Heights, Brooklyn studio affordable

A lack of democracy in New York City's land use process

"It's a lie anyway." To some progressive activists, seeing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s land-lease proposal to construct buildings on the property of the New York City Housing Authority following so closely on the sale of several NYCHA Section 8 buildings, with plans for further expansion of land-lease opportunities on NYCHA lands, amounts to a full-throttle assault to privatize large parts of NYCHA, essentially opening the floodgates for private real estate developers to stampede toward a land rush of city real property in exchange for the administration receiving credit for the construction a miniscule number of new affordable housing units. It seems like a huge price to pay for perhaps constructing an initial 500 new affordable housing units within a larger goal of creating 80,000 units over a ten-year span. These and other major city land use decisions are not being made with prior public input, much less without a specific mandate from voters. Although more and more tenants and activists are recognizing Mayor de Blasio’s pro-real estate agenda, what is missing is tenant and activist consensus about what to do about this. Some activists have been fighting the sale of public library branches to real estate developers, thinking that each sale is a singular transaction, independent onto itself, and not part of a larger, pro-real estate agenda by the de Blasio administration. Activists think that if they can just defeat the sale of one library, then the larger cause can be won. Efforts by developers and city planning officials to subject small fights to the arduous ULURP process, while sidestepping larger projects, has the impact of narrowing activists’ focus at the same time that they can be worn down. About the role of Community Boards in allowing the public to participate in New York City's land use process, the Brooklyn tenant activist Alicia Boyd said, “It’s a lie, anyway, but we know politically that the political machine needs that lie .... They need the lie. They need the lie, so that the people will not stand up and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute ! That means that we have no power ? There’s no democracy here ?’ They need the lie.” As activists look to hold the administration accountable to activists’ expectations for a course for a post-Occupy Wall Street city that was not aligned with big business, there are many issues to consider. Firstly, how do activists plan to educate each other on a complete and accurate picture of how much of the political landscape in the de Blasio administration has been influenced by the real estate industry ? Secondly, will activists reject Mayor de Blasio’s incremental and inadequate remedy to the affordable housing crisis, and, if so, what can the community demand in its place ? And thirdly, what should be done about the veal pen nonprofit groups, which willingly deëscalate calls for political, social, and economic reform, based on the messaging emanating from City Hall ? Other issues undoubtedly also exist, but organizing cannot take shape about where we want to go as a city until everybody first agrees on what is actually happening now.

RELATED A Special Investigation : A lack of democracy in New York City's land use process (Progress Queens)

NYC nonprofit groups say they are fighting to end 421a tax breaks. Can we believe them ?

With about three weeks to go before the New York State legislature decides what to do with the 421-a tax breaks for developers, which are set to expire on June 15, government reform activists are waiting to see if an array of nonprofit groups advocating for an end to the scandal-tarnished tax abatement program will stay true to their word.

• Read more :  As deadline for 421-a expiration nears, activists fear electeds are clearing path for renewal [UPDATED] (Progress Queens)

#Stop421a

It's URGENT That We End 421--a Tax Breaks This Year

Tell Mayor de Blasio (212) 788-3000 and

Gov. Cuomo (518) 474-8390 that 

we can’t afford to give tax breaks 

to the rich that cause our rents to go up !

Stop421a Tax Breaks

Stop 421a Tax Breaks

Bill de Blasio's war on public housing

Cash-strapped NYCHA sold apartment buildings that had been recently refurbished

NYCHA claimed that it needed to sell 900 Section 8 apartments, because it could no longer afford to maintain them.

However, a Progress Queens investigation has revealed that four buildings that were sold were recently refurbished by NYCHA, seemingly refuting claims that these buildings were too dilapidated for NYCHA to maintain.

Before NYCHA sold the buildings 1780 and 1782 Madison Avenue in Manhattan to private real estate developers, the city housing agency spent an unknown amount of money making unspecified refurbishing or repairs to the buildings.

Before NYCHA sold the building at 903 Halsey Street in Brooklyn to private real estate developers, the city housing agency spent an unknown amount of money making unspecified refurbishing or repairs to the buildings.

Before NYCHA sold the building at 55 Saratoga Avenue in Brooklyn to private real estate developers, the city housing agency spent an unknown amount of money making unspecified refurbishing or repairs to the buildings.

Conflicts of Interest : Administration officials were either paid to lobbying in support of the sale of approximately 900 NYCHA Section 8 apartments, or else they had prior relationships with some of the developers. A controversial structured finance transaction originated by the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, to create a special purpose vehicle to offload some Section 8 buildings to private developers is coming into greater view, according to an analysis by Progress Queens. The portfolio of project-based, Section 8 buildings that NYCHA sold to a consortium of private investors named Triborough Preservation LLC included four buildings that had recently been refurbished. The portfolio of buildings that were sold were situated in neighborhoods, where there was a great potential for real estate value appreciation due to recent trends in gentrification, begging the question whether real estate developers had cherry-picked some of the best properties amongst NYCHA's roster of buildings. Two principal de Blasio administration housing officials, Gary Rodney and Vicki Been, have had prior close ties to two of the developers in the consortium, BFC Partners, L.P., and L&M Development Partners, Inc., respectively. A third de Blasio administration official, Jonathan Greenspun, who serves as a commission on the city's Commission on Human Rights, was a lobbyist for BFC Partners, L.P. Administration officials defended the controversial sale by arguing that NYCHA did not have the financial resources to maintain the dilapidated buildings. However, as documented in archival photographs published by Google Street View, four of the buildings had had scaffolding encircling the buildings, with one photograph showing workmen suspended along the front of one building doing exterior construction or repair work. Some government reform activists told Progress Queens that the de Blasio administration disenfranchised taxpayers and NYCHA tenants by sidestepping the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or the ULURP process, when it sanctioned NYCHA’s sale of the properties. According to one source, a lawyer with expertise in city legislation, Section 197-c of the City Charter requires that any disposition of city real property must be made through the ULURP process. City housing officials have suggested that they may seek to sell other NYCHA buildings in order to offload the responsibility of upkeep and maintenance for the buildings, a potential backdoor for for-profit real estate developers to raise the rents on tenants living in public housing. According to a reading of some of the transaction agreements, the city conveyed rights to the consortium of developers to building residential and non-residential units on developable land that was also sold along with the project-based, Section 8 buildings. Officials with NYCHA, City Hall, and the developers, who bought the Section 8 apartments, declined to answer questions about the transaction in time before the publication of Progress Queens report.

RELATED Cash-strapped NYCHA sold apartment buildings that had been recently refurbished (Progress Queens) Councilmember Torres : A public housing puppet on REBNY's strings (Progress Queens) Activists worry that de Blasio administration will keep selling NYCHA to developers, undermining regulated rents (Progress Queens)

Bill de Blasio voted for "poor door" before he was against it

Extell Development Company, the developer behind the building that won permit to operate segregated entrances based on tenant income, was the target of a subpoena of the now-defunct Moreland Commission.

Now that the U.S. Attorney's Office possesses the Moreland Commission's investigation files, will it expand inquiry into how Extell won approval for de jure segregation at its building at 40 Riverside Blvd. ? One of the wealthy real estate developers that was the target of a subpoena issued by the now-defunct Moreland Commission was Extell Development Company, a developer with notoriously close ties to the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY). Extell is also the developer of the controversial building in the Upper West Side of Manhattan that now segregates tenants to use different entrances, based on income. The use of the "poor door" was approved by the Democratic Party-controlled City Council in a 2009 vote. In a report in The New York Post, it was said that Mayor Bill de Blasio voted for the provision that allowed Extell to force low-income tenants to use the "poor door." During last year's mayoral race, Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly accepted over $18,000 in campaign contributions from Extell, according to calculations prepared by Mayor de Blasio's rival, Sal Albanese. Mr. Albanese's calculations were published last year by Crain's New York Business. Last year, Extell became the subject of interest for Moreland Commissioners investigating the pay-to-play corruption in Albany. It was reported that Extell made over $300,000 in related campaign contributions to the campaign committee of Gov. Cuomo in the time leading up to when Gov. Cuomo signed into law tax breaks reportedly worth $35 million over a ten-year span for another of Extell's developments, the $2 billion super luxury condominium tower on West 57th Street known as One57. If the corruption-fighting investigators of the Moreland Commission were interested in the corrupt pattern of pay-to-play in politics that invited large campaign contributions to fix legislative outcomes, then will the way Extell won its de jure segregating "poor door" provision approved by the City Council merit the same kind of scrutiny as did the $35 million tax breaks signed into law by Gov. Cuomo ?

RELATED Bill de Blasio voted for luxury building ‘poor door’ (The New York Post) Sal Albanese Blasts Rivals For Accepting Corrupt Real Estate Donations (Crain's New York Business) In Mayoral Race, Attacking Real Estate Industry but Taking Its Cash (The New York Times) Extell, Silverstein, Thor hit with subpeonas over tax breaks (The Real Deal) Extell upped Cuomo donations during tax bill talks : State law granting One57 an abatement could shave $35M in costs (The Real Deal)

This Week In Bill de Blasio Conflicts of Interest : Rafael Cestero

Bill de Blasio transition advisor may be creating conflict of interest : The New York Daily News

Dick Dadey, a Christine Quinn loyalist who never confronted Quinn's administration of the City Council over corruption, is now coming forward to charge that the incoming de Blasio administration is guilty of more conflicts of interest.

The affordable housing developer Rafael Cestero is vetting possible agency heads for the New York City Housing Authority and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, The New York Daily News is reporting, adding that, "Cestero's role creates the possibility that one day he might be lobbying or doing business with the appointees he's helped to select, creating a conflict of interest, experts said."

However, Cestero's role has been being hidden from voters and the media, and in the opaque shadows of developers and lobbyists controlling government leadership positions, the only thing that can result is corruption.

If the de Blasio administration doesn't do something to stop all these conflicts of interest, maybe we just have to wait for Cestero to rig development deals with NYCHA and NYCHPD, resulting in the kind of embarrassing scandals that will perhaps lead to reforms in how the mayor-elect will choose his deputies ?

Hard to forget how @deBlasioNYC's new deputy for dvlpmt okayed one of Giuliani's most blatant giveaways to a crony.. http://t.co/GwdDORSbzn

— Tom Robbins (@tommy_robb) December 23, 2013

Real estate interests continue to open checkbooks for Bill de Blasio

Corruptive Influence of Money in de Blasio campaign

• A pro-Bill de Blasio union funded "Anybody But Quinn" front group
• Bruce Ratner's Forest City Ratner paid Bill de Blasio $73,000 in campaign contributions
• The 99% Mayor : Bill de Blasio’s promise may also be his problem (New York Magazine)
• Bill de Blasio flouting filing rules on $1.1M rental pad (The New York Post)
• Bill de Blasio’s connection to the David Dinkins era is the potential dalliances with lobbyists (The New York Daily News)
• James Capalino, Other Lobbyists Lined Up To Help Host Million-Dollar Bill de Blasio/Hillary Clinton Fundraiser (Daily News Daily Politics)
• Bill de Blasio Praised on Wall Street Even With Plan to Tax Wealthy (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Loopholes

de Blasio Uses Campaign Loophole	Developers Have ‘Bought’ de Blasio
Bill de Blasio has taken advantage of a campaign finance loophole that allows unions not representing municipal workers to contribute without limit, accepting contributions from unions across the country thanks to a bill he helped pass. (Bill de Blasio reaps union donations thanks to campaign finance loophole * The New York Post)	At a press conference by the new Barclay’s arena, Joe Lhota accused Bill de Blasio of trading his silence on affordable housing in the controversial Atlantic Yards development exchange for developers’s campaign contributions. (Lhota Says Developers Have ‘Bought’ de Blasio’s Silence on Atlantic Yards * The New York Observer)

Money in Politics. Despite Mr. de Blasio's claims that he was the true progressive in this year's mayoral Democratic primary, he's certainly embraced the role of money and lobbyists in electoral politics, an apparent contradiction of core progressive values. A spot financed by a pro-Bill de Blasio “super PAC” in the New York mayoral race charges that Joseph J. Lhota wants to help big corporations and developers. The campaign commercial will be broadcast in a $1 million media buy could be used by Mr. Lhota to suggest that Mr. de Blasio, who has spoken out against super PACs, is acting hypocritically by not renouncing their support. (The Ad Campaign : Group Backing de Blasio Tries to Shackle Lhota to Tea Party * The New York Times)

Money is King in NYC Mayoral Politics : Bill De Blasio Campaign Rakes in $3.7 Million http://t.co/ng3a0ddQcs

— Informed Voting (@informedvoting) October 25, 2013

Real estate opens checkbook for de Blasio ;
de Blasio's reformer credibility in doubt

From Crains :

Several real estate heavyweights­ as well as a few luminaries from the tech world­are ponying up big-time for Bill de Blasio, as the Democratic front-runner for mayor nears the finish line in what is shaping up to be a historic blowout of an election.

John Arillaga, one of the largest landowners in Silicon Valley, donated the maximum amount of $4,950 to Mr. de Blasio on Oct. 26, newly released records show. Mr. Arillaga's $151 million donation to Stanford University last July is said to be the largest gift ever given from a living donor. He is estimated to be worth $1.8 billion.

Mr. de Blasio also received a maximum donation from hotelier Ian Schrager, the co-founder of the legendarily hedonistic Studio 54. Mr. Schrager is often credited with co-creating the "boutique hotel" category of accommodation, typified by the Hudson Hotel on West 58th Street.

Raphael De Niro, son of the famous actor and head of the "De Niro Team" at real estate powerhouse Douglas Elliman, also maxed out to the Democratic frontrunner. Leonard Steinberg, who leads the firm's luxury real estate team, and Darren Sukenik, a downtown broker at Douglas Elliman, have contributed as well. (Mr. de Blasio has railed against "luxury condos" being built at the expense of affordable housing.)

Other real estate big shots to throw their support to Mr. de Blasio include Ken Colao, president of CNY Builders; Karen Heyman, a top real estate agent with Sotheby's; Aaron Jungreis, founder of Rosewood Realty Group; and Kyle Blackmon, a successful broker with Brown Harris Stevens.

Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist and founder of LinkedIn, a social network for businesses, also chipped in the maximum amount.

Real estate has long been a supporter of Mr. de Blasio, who despite his populist rhetoric has treated the industry practically, even voicing support for projects that are deeply controversial in their communities, including Atlantic Yards.

With a de Blasio victory over Republican Joseph Lhota on Tuesday looking all but inevitable, many in the real estate world are trying to get in while the getting is good. But several real estate insiders wondered whether the donations were too late in the game to matter to the candidate, who has drawn the ire from some in the industry from his positions on affordable housing, taxes and city subsidies.

"Somewhere in de Blasio's camp, someone is keeping tabs on who gave what and when," one real estate source said. "And there is no chance whatsoever that money now is worth what money was in June when he was at 10% in the polls. That certainly applies to the late-arriving unions, as well businesses and some real estate. The real winners are the early endorsers and early donors. Buying de Blasio stock at its 52-week high isn't going to produce a bonanza of goodwill."

Another real estate insider agreed.

"He's going to be the mayor whether they like him or not," the insider said. "A third wants bragging rights that they supported him, a third thinks it's an insurance policy against him coming after them and a third thinks it gives them the ability to call him up and yell at him."

Last week, Mr. de Blasio reported almost $50,000 in donations in a single day. On Oct. 26, he raked in over $33,000. His Republican opponent, Mr. Lhota, has trailed in both fundraising and the polls.

Mr. de Blasio has denied (as all politicians do) being influenced by campaign donations.

Sal Albanese Withholds Endorsement From Bill de Blasio In Mayor's Race

From Capital New York :

Sal Albanese explains his non-endorsement of Bill de Blasio

Last week, Anthony Weiner became one of the last former Democratic candidates for mayor to endorse Bill de Blasio for mayor, joining Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson and John Liu in backing the winner of their primary.

Not joining them: Bay Ridge Democrat Sal Albanese, the former councilman who ran an iconoclastic campaign for mayor based on the belief that his principles and experience would win the day.

Albanese thinks that sort of "knee-jerk endorsement" is merely evidence that the endorsers in question are part of the "party apparatus."

"I don't want people saying to me, a year down the road, 'you supported this guy,'" he told Capital on Friday afternoon. "I want to make sure he's really committed to doing the right thing."

In 1997, then-councilman Albanese ran for mayor on a "tale of two cities" platform and won 21 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. This year, he earned less than one percent. During the campaign, he publicly yearned for an election cycle with a little less "bullshit," and frequently targed de Blasio with his criticism.

So as far as the prospect of endorsing de Blasio is concerned, Albanese isn't quite there yet.

"Well, first of all, I'm concerned about his general saying one thing and doing another," he said, adding, "I think he's a very, very smart political operative, but I have concerns about his ability to lead the city."

Albanese points, by way of example, to de Blasio's early-in-the-campaign claim to be the outer-borough candidate.

"When he was running on that mantra ... he was undermining the expansion of taxi service to the outer boroughs," said Albanese, referring to de Blasio's energetic opposition to the Bloomberg administration's outer-borough taxi plan and his collection of more than $250,000 from industry donors. "Just recently he went before a business group and said he was a fiscal conservative, when he's promoting higher taxes for city residents. ... So my point is, I am a big believer in having a mayor who his word or her word counts for something."

Also, Albanese thinks de Blasio is "naive about public safety" and has "the thinnest resume of any mayor in recent memory."

De Blasio, who for the record has not asked for Albanese's endorsement, had no comment for this article.

Also for the record, Albanese doesn't plan to endorse Joe Lhota, the Republican candidate, either.

Bill de Blasio already owned by REBNY. That was fast.

Real estate group doesn't fear de Blasio, won't spend for Lhota  

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/10/8534537/real-estate-group-doesnt-fear-de-blasio-wont-spend-lhota?top-featured-image 

BY SALLY GOLDENBERG
11:48 am Oct. 10, 2013

Bill de Blasio's tough talk on real estate during the Democratic primary isn't helping Joe Lhota with deep-pocketed developers.
The president of the powerful Real Estate Board of New York, which spent $4.9 million on its preferred City Council candidates this cycle, said recently the board doesn't intend to do a similar independent expenditure to support Lhota in the general election.

"There clearly are no plans and not even any discussion about any campaigning on behalf of anybody for mayor," said Steven Spinola, the REBNY president, in an interview.

Spinola, a close ally of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, shrugged off de Blasio's rhetoric during the competitive Democratic primary, when the public advocate painted rival Christine Quinn as a tool of the real-estate industry and called the mayor's pro-development approach " incredibly counterproductive."

"People say a lot of things in the campaign," Spinola said. "We go through campaigns all the time."

"I know Bill de Blasio," Spinola added. "He's not somebody that there's any reason for us to be frightened of. We've worked with him. We have no reason to believe he won't work with us."

Spinola said de Blasio's camp always stayed in contact with REBNY members, even as the candidate promised to "drive the hardest bargain possible" for developers to include affordable housing in new projects.

"I've heard it before and we don't mind a hard bargain," Spinola said.

De Blasio has taken a much more pragmatic approach to development than his primary rhetoric might suggest, and while one source in the real-estate industry said de Blasio was not REBNY's preferred candidate, the board opted to sit out the divisive primary.

De Blasio spokesman Dan Levitan declined comment for this article.

REBNY's decision is another financial blow for Lhota, who has struggled to convince some of his own donors that he's capable of overcoming de Blasio's 50-point lead in public polls.

De Blasio raised more than twice as much as Lhota in the most recent fund-raising period, and Capital reported this week that a coalition of local unions is planning to spend $2 million in support of de Blasio's campaign.

Will Bill de Blasio Fight For A New Hospital To Replace St. Vincent's ?

Bill de Blasio made campaign stops in front of the luxury condominium and townhouse complex that Rudin Management Company is constructing on the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital. These campaign stops were meant to highlight the healthcare injustice of the spree of hospital closings in New York City. Will Bill de Blasio lead the charge to call for a full-service hospital and Level I Trauma Center to replace St. Vincent's, or were all those campaign stops just exploitation of the issue to drum up votes ?

To get a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's, Bill de Blasio has to feel that he's *not* going to stride to an easy finish.

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) September 11, 2013

Instead, Bill de Blasio's going to put on a pair of skates and then take to the same thin sheet of ice that Quinn just got yanked off of.

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) September 11, 2013