Flushing Business Improvement District criticized as "politicized" and "abused"

Two BID officials jump ship amid debate over sprawling development

BY LEIGH REMIZOWSKI
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Wednesday, June 2nd 2010, 5:33 PM

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Caught in the middle of an acrimonious debate over a sprawling development set for downtown Flushing, two of the local Business Improvement District's top officials have jumped ship.

Chairman Jim Gerson quit Thursday, two weeks after Executive Director Mabel Law announced she would step down. Both have held their posts since 2003.

"I think I'm better off outside the BID at this point," Gerson said yesterday. He has been a vocal opponent of Flushing Commons - a 5-acre complex of condos and stores to be built on the site of a municipal parking lot on Union St. Gerson's resignation came moments after the BID voted down a proposal to commission an economic impact study of the project.

The city has allocated $2 million to a business assistance program, but the study would have determined how much each of the area's hundreds of small businesses would need to withstand construction, Gerson said.

The objection to the study was made by project developer and BID member Michael Meyer. "The BID mandate is for street cleaning, marketing and tourism," Meyer said. "It's not for political lobbying."

Now that he has cut ties with the BID, Gerson said he will be able to "speak more candidly" about his objections to the project. He has hired lobbyist Richard Lipsky and is meeting with City Council members as the project makes its way toward a Council vote at the end of the summer.

"I honestly think that the project could destroy the community," Gerson said. Law, who did not return calls for comment, has not been quite as vocal about her reasons for stepping down. But in the months leading up to her May 13 resignation, Law helped the BID draft resolutions calling for a business assistance plan, among other things.

Both Gerson and Law threw their support behind the resolutions, much to the dismay of project supporters. "After we passed the resolutions, they made Mabel's life very, very difficult," Gerson said. Meyer called the measures further evidence of the BID's politicization.

"The purpose of the BID was being abused," he said. Law has said she will not leave the BID until her successor is appointed, which means she will likely still be in office when the city Economic Development Corp. unveils its plans for the business assistance program. Councilman Peter Koo has also secured between $100,000 and $300,000 in additional funding for a supplemental assistance program, said spokesman James McClelland.

"This project is the biggest project that has come to Flushing in a while," Law told the Daily News last week before Gerson's resignation. "How can you really tell who is going to lose business?"

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2010/06/02/2010-06-02_two_bid_officials_jump_ship_amid_debate_over_sprawling_development_.html#ixzz0po5qqgnZ

The Lodownny covers the Council hearing on intro 1063

This is from Ed from www.thelodownny.com , thanks Ed for sharing this with the Chinatown community :

City Councilmember John Liu grilled a Department of Transportation official this morning about the agency's dealings with the community in Chinatown over the reconstruction of Chatham Square. Liu, chair of the Council's transportation committee and almost certainly NYC's next comptroller, was presiding over a hearing to consider two bills that would require the DOT to notify residents about major construction projects and seek out feedback from impacted communities.

The bills, proposed by Councilmembers Alan Gerson and Vincent Gentile, are meant to address concerns that in cases like Chatham Square and the controversial Grand Street bike lanes, the DOT has kept residents in the dark and has made changes that are potentially dangerous and harmful to local businesses.

DOT spokesman David Wallach defended the agency's outreach efforts, saying they have gone to extraordinary lengths to solicit opinions from residents and get the word out about ongoing projects. He said the DOT is concerned the proposed bills would delay necessary road work, and possibly put lives at risk. Wallach said he was confident the Council was not advocating a "rigid and parochial approach," but suggested that's the impact these bills would likely have.

Liu said he found that point of view "disturbing." He acknowledged that there have been projects in which the DOT has worked well with communities. But in a tense exchange, he argued that Chatham Square has seriously damaged the city's credibility in Chinatown:




Earlier this year, the city declared it was going ahead with the Chatham Square plan, in spite of widespread opposition in Chinatown. Then, in June, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, speaking at a private political gathering, indicated the project would be delayed. Finally, last month, the DOT announced it would be shelved for two years because the Brooklyn Bridge revamp was a higher priority.

Jan Lee, a Chinatown community leader, isn't buying the DOT's shifting explanations. He's convinced the delay is all about election year politics. And he was especially critical of the way the decision to delay was revealed - in Sadik-Khan's closed-door meeting.







The Council is in the preliminary stages of drafting these bills. With John Liu's impending departure, the fate of the legislation is uncertain. Another complication: Alan Gerson, having lost his bid for re-election, will not be able to see his own bill through the Council. His (all but certain) successor, Margaret Chin, was highly critical of the DOT's outreach efforts during the campaign - but has not yet weighed in on specific legislation. She was present in City Council Chambers for some of this morning's testimony.

Councilman Gerson Delivers over a hundred petitions to LMDC office

At 1:00pm today, NYC Council Member Alan Gerson, NYC Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., public advocate candidate Norman Siegel and residents, community leaders and business owners from Chinatown, rallied at the offices of the Lower Manhattan Development (LMDC) Corporation to demand that LMDC funds allocated for the NYC Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Redesign of Chatham Square be withheld, based on widespread community disapproval of the plan.





Council member Gerson delivered a petition to the LMDC, signed by the boards of directors of several local residential buildings including Chatham Towers, Chatham Green and Southbridge Towers, representing over 5500 residents. Over 140 local businesses also signed the petition demanding the embargo of the funds. The Chatham Square Redesign has been formally rejected by Community Boards 1 & 3, and is “untested, unpopular and unsafe,” according to community leaders, who have created an alternative plan, which was vetted by a professional traffic engineer, Brian Ketcham.



The planning process for Chatham Square was initiated by the LMDC in 2003 to address issues of traffic congestion, pedestrian safety, increasing public space as well as re-establishing the connections that were cut off when Park Row was closed. Subsequently, a sub-recipient agreement allocated $30,690,000 in LMDC funds to the project, none of which has been invoiced yet.



Gerson, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, said “The NYC Department of Transportation must listen to the concerns of the community before it proceeds with major traffic reconfigurations. The Chatham Square area community is united in its opposition to this misguided plan, and we will do everything in our power to stop it from moving forward. The Lower Manhattan Development
Corporation has an excellent track record of stewarding federal funds.

It was demonstrated clearly at a City Council joint hearing that the NYC Department of Transportation is in violation of several community input requirements of the sub-recipient agreement. Therefore, the LMDC has a fiduciary responsibility to demand that the community review process fulfill the contractual agreement before funds are disbursed.”



NYC Council Transportation Committee Chairperson John Liu said, "We convened a joint oversight hearing on February 5 to examine the City's proposed Chatham Square Reconfiguration. Despite substantial objections from area residents and businesses to the plan, including formal resolutions from Manhattan Community Boards 1 and 3 rejecting the plan, the City had indicated the project will move forward. Chairperson Gerson and I had called for a full community review of the DOT's plans, including a six-month breathing-period delay in the plans to commence construction, because little information and opportunity for feedback has been afforded to the community. The City cannot disregard the community objections and outcry formally submitted today by way of petitions."



“I fully support this petition, and hope that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will heed the call by the community and elected officials to reconsider its funding of the Chatham Square / Park Row Improvement Program,” said New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. “This ill-conceived plan, developed by the City, has completely failed to take community concerns into consideration. Furthermore, if it moves forward, small businesses in Chinatown will loose significant amount of business at a time when they can least afford it. If the City will not step in and address these concerns, then I urge LMDC to take immediate action and stop this program from moving forward.”



Community leader Jeannie Chin said, “The LMDC must follow their own charter mandate in considering the tremendous effect that the reconfiguration of Chatham Square would have on the lives of thousands of residents and businesses surrounding Chatham Square and on the thousands more who use this critical major cross-town intersection in Chinatown and Lower Manhattan. With three other nearby cross-town streets shuttered either for reconstruction or permanently -- Fulton Street until 2014 and Park Row/Pearl Streets -- one cannot begin to imagine the traffic congestion, air quality and emergency access issues that our community will face in the next 4-5 years. We challenge the DOT to examine the community alternative and the LMDC to look before funding this white elephant.”



Several other community leaders including Danny Chen, Jan Lee and Margaret Chin also spoke passionately against the proposed traffic plan. Gerson then carried the petitions to the LMDC.

Where's John?

We've heard from Councilman Alan Gerson (see posting below for his transcript) and we've heard from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (see his transcript below) who have both weighed in on Chatham Square. Their message is united with the Chinatown community : "we reject this plan" "it needs more community input" "Open Park Row".

Both Councilman Gerson and Speaker Silver have been in constant contact with community leaders on Chatham Square's reconstruction, and they vowed to continue a dialogue.

Notably absent from this discussion is Councilman John Liu, the Chair of the Transportatin Committee of the City Council.

John Liu, as Chair of Transportation, was there to hear testimony on illegal placard parking rampant in Chinatown, but on this issue he is silent and perhaps deaf.

Consider this the first of many "Shout outs" John.