DailyHeights

Image: set speed

Thanks to set speed aka onehansonplace.com for giving us the link to his coverage the Atlantic Yards public hearing last night (Tuesday, Oct. 18):

“Billed as one of the few chances the tax-paying public has at speaking to the Empire State Development Corp., tonight’s public hearing … (was) not without many dull moments … the partisan crowd was split into anti-Ratner community members and pro-project construction workers…”

“… Marty Markowitz spoke, then councilman David Yassky, then Letitia James… Impassioned community members spoke of the need for the impact review to be held on a larger scale…”

“Then came the brusque member of the sheetmetal workers union and another construction worker, both of whom were yelling into the mic, much to the jolly of their fellow blue-collar brethren. One speaker pleaded with the crowd, saying that Ratner actually paid union wages, while other surrounding Brooklyn projects used low-cost workers, specifically naming the developer of 176 Johnson St., a.k.a. Toy Factory Lofts and Two Trees in Dumbo…” Read more…

Discuss: Prospect Heights Message Boards

Thanks to anon_brooklyner for keeping his/her finger on the pulse of “The Community.“ The report comes from last week’s meeting of Community Board 8, featuring the ubiquitous and omnipresent Man Standing Behind Ratner (MSBR):

“James Caldwell told everyone to go to ‘his’ (i.e. about him) two new websites, dailyheights and nolandgrab. He claims some of the info on the site about him was wrong and that people should read what ‘the opposition’ is saying …”

“… he rambled along, and said these websites have misinformation: ‘my wife was not sick, she had open heart surgery.’ and ‘I did not have a quad-bypass, i had a triple bypass.’ and ‘my brother did not die, it was my cousin.’ he also ranted about the usual stuff, but I was pleased to see that he didn’t get that much vocal support … the only person loudly clapping was, hmmm. Marie Louis [also of BUILD], although, I think she abstained from the vote on CB8’s comments about the draft EIS for the ratner site…”

What is this all about? Read the Prospect Heights Message Boards.

Image: Develop Don’t Destroy

Captain M reports on Monday night’s 77th Precinct Community Council meeting: “I did not see Letitia … I did get see see James Caldwell speak, and it is my opinion he is a charlatan of the largest caliber …”

“He hijacked the beginning of the meeting to use it as his soapbox where he responded to ‘people talking in the neighborhood’ about how he is a racial divider, and talked about himself a lot:

1. He’s had a quaduple bypass
2. He served in the army for 6 years
3. He was proud to be wearing the American flag
4. His wife had recently been sick
5. Not ashamed to work for the community/get jobs for the community
6. He told us his birthdate

“He left some photocopies on all the chairs… one was a Daily News article from 1999 about the girl that got stabbed … James proceeds to talk about how he set up the candlelight vigil, how he talked to the mother … he dropped horrid detail about the crime that happened on ‘Park Avenue’ … all that and he forgets it’s Park Place?”

“He went on and on about how great the people were (at the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, which hosted the council meeting), how it was a great place for the community how his brother recovered from lung cancer there….and then he forgot the name of the place. People from the audience had to fill him in.”

“Then he waent to discuss a horrible shooting that occurred on Lincoln Place …He really pulls on the emotions of the crowd…but then he forgets the name of the kid that got shot…”

“While other people were talking, James Caldwell could be seen talking on the phone, sorting through pictures, and at one point I thought he dozed off.”

“James invocates God a lot and gives up a LOT of personal information to gain support … I never thought he was a divider … I just wanted to hear what he had to say about taking $5 mil from Ratner.”

Full report: Prospect Heights Message Boards

JCaldwell writes in the Daily Heights Message Boards: “To all of those concerned about the next upcoming meeting for the 77th Precinct Community Council, the proper location is the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at the corner of Classon and Park and not the 127 Utica Ave address as posted earlier.”

“We invite all to attend.”

Link: Will Caldwell Turn Tish Out on Her Ear? [Prospect Heights Message Boards]

Image: NoLandGrab

Wowie… no surprise here, since Letitia James is one of the Atlantic Yards project’s fiercest opponents, and James Caldwell is the project’s cheerleader-in-chief. But still… come on!!

Random_person told Daily Heights: “We were walking down the Flatbush Street Festival on Sunday and ran into Tish James… she said James Caldwell ‘banned’ her from the Community Council meetings at the 77th Precinct, and said he would throw her out if she tried to show up.”

[Oh yeah… in addition to being the CEO of BUILD, Caldwell also happens to be the President of the 77th Precinct’s “Community Council,” which is supposed to be some sort of interface between NYPD and “The Community.”]

Random_person continued: “She said she is going anyway, and they are public meetings, and they can’t kick her out. And they refunded the money she gave to the kids organization that they run. I think they have a youth police athletic-type thing.”

“You may want to ask her about it… She didn’t seem afraid to bring it up.”

Will do. Thanks for the info! This month’s 77th Precinct Community Council Meeting is next Monday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 PM. 127 Utica Avenue.

DISCUSS: Will Caldwell Turn Tish Out on Her Ear? []

UPDATE: Daily News is now reporting that IRS records show a $5 million contribution from Forest City Ratner to BUILD. See below for a PDF of relevant pages.

Hoo boy… Sorry for the long lead-in, but this one needs some space. And if you’re an accountant or a “follow the money” type, you may be especially interested in bearing with us. We promise to bold the important parts so you can skim ahead.

The apparently non-profit group BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development) is clearly the biggest and loudest bunch of cheerleaders for the Forest City Ratner (FCR) Atlantic Yards Project, the multi-billion-dollar stadium/condo-skyscraper development that will bring the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn, casting a long shadow over Prospect Heights and making developer Bruce Ratner even more obscenely wealthy than he already is.

Here in Prospect Heights, some stadium opponents suspect that BUILD is a mouthpiece front bankrolled by FCR. And it doesn’t help appearances to see somebody flaunt their stuff in front of BUILD’s likely-very-expensive storefront office on Vanderbilt Avenue. Lucas wrote this a while back on Daily Heights:

“let me throw out a point for the debate: The *brand-new* massive silver Cadillac that pulls up in front of BUILD each day… what better instrument to contrast the ‘extreme rates of poverty, unemployment and underclass entrapment’ in the surrounding neighborhood?”

(Previously, we joked that the real source of BUILD’s wealth is 65-cent color copies (see picture).)

Meanwhile, BUILD portrays itself as a scrappy, grass-roots, faith-based community group that champions the interests of the poor and downtrodden. In fact, they flat out deny financial support from Forest City Ratner on the BUILD website:

So naturally we were shocked to see this comment here on Daily Heights about a week ago (held and not published until now): “I have a copy of BUILD’s 501(c)(3)tax exemption application. In response to ‘what are or will be the organization’s sources of financial support? List in order of size.’ The response was ‘real estate developers, individual private contributions” in that order.”

Well, interesting… but even if it’s true, that doesn’t prove anything, does it?

The commenter continued: “In addition, on its form 1023 filing, it shows that President Caldwell receives annual compensation of $125,000 while CEO Marie Louis and Chief Administration Officer Shalawn Langhorne each receive annual salaries of $100,000. Not bad for a small not-for-profit. Maybe I’m in the wrong business.”

While we were mulling this over, we got the follow-up comment: “Lo and behold, question 12B on form 1023 lists ‘FOREST CITY RATNER COMPANIES’ as making a $5M contribution. I guess that mystery is solved.”

How could this possibly happen? It all seems so cut-and-dried. We’re talking public records here… if it’s in the public record, why on earth would they turn around and call it a “myth” that “BUILD is financially supported by Forest City Ratner”? Here’s a scan of some relevant pages [click for PDF] so you can judge it for yourself, sent in by Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.

So… FCR and BUILD… care to explain yourselves?

READ REACTIONS FROM BUILD and FCR: Source of Build’s Wealth Revealed? [Prospect Heights Message Boards]

Ben points out this quote from Brooklyn Papers: “Borough President Marty Markowitz has urged that developer Bruce Ratner downsize his Atlantic Yards mega-development, a project vigorously supported by Markowitz since 2003.”

Is Bruce Ratner’s biggest cheerleader putting down his pom-poms? Is this some calculated political move? Ben’s take: “…I wonder if he’s been planning it all along…”

Read More:

Ooh… forget about Daily Heights Presents: BUILD/DDDB Debate 2005… we got us a good old fashioned Ratner Fight on our hands.

-Is Develop Don’t Destroy taking credit where credit is not due?

-Did Dan steal a lifetime of press contacts from Patti?

-Will YEAH RIGHT every turn off his/her CAPS LOCK BUTTON?

-Or at least divulge his/her secret identity?

Click to find out.

Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn To Request Finder’s Fee From MTA
Community Group Seeks $6.0008 Million for Raising Ratner Bid

“Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) … will seek a finder’s fee from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the group’s efforts which led to the $50 million increase of Ratner’s low-ball offer.”

“‘We got the MTA $50 million more than they would have gotten without us,’ said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein. ‘At a 12% finder’s fee that comes out to $6 million. Plus it cost us around $800 in printing and mailing to alert developers to the property sale, which the MTA didn’t really do. That comes out to $6.0008 million, which we would accept in cash or check.”

“We know that may sound like a lot of money, but its not much less than Bruce Ratner’s $10 million down payment for the Vanderbilt Yard.'”

Discuss: DDDB Develops Sense of Humor

Tony Limuaco is trying to get the word out that The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS) will be down at Freddy’s tomorrow (Tues. Aug 23) at 6:00-ish 6:30-ish “to investigate the impact of the Ratner curse”:

“Rinse out those softball shirt and represent, or just show up. I’m making a selected set of prints from Sunday’s softball game. If you know any of the musicians that have played at Freddy’s they should show up too.”

He asked if dailyheights.com could do another Rock Paper Scissors competition. It’s too short notice to put on something major. But I can suggest that people meet there spontaneously to hang out, drink beer, and participate in spontaneous games of chance and skill, including, but not limited to, Rock Paper Scissors.

Happy hour, anyone? Read more.