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A Rift Among Bronx Democrats at Annual Dinner

In many ways, Thursday night’s Bronx Democratic County dinner at the Marina Del Rey waterfront catering hall was typical. The powerful figures of Albany — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo — were there to honor the party chairman, Assemblyman Jose Rivera. Various aspirants for citywide office were there, too.

But the dinner was as notable for who didn’t attend as for who did — exposing a deep rift in the Bronx party.

Among those who declined to appear were State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. and his son, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. Also absent were Assemblymen Carl Heastie and Michael Benjamin as well as City Councilwoman Helen Foster.

Many dissidents fault the leadership of the 72-year-old Mr. Rivera, explaining that they are upset he chose to endorse Maria Matos for a Civil Court judgeship, selecting her over their choice, Elizabeth Taylor. Another point of tension is Assemblyman Diaz’s plan to run for Bronx borough president next year — with his strongest competitor being Mr. Rivera’s son, City Councilman Joel Rivera.

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Talks Focus on Bronx Golf Course

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. announced on Monday that the city had started talking with Sanford Golf Design to design and build a championship-caliber golf course over a former garbage dump at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, potentially giving new life to a project that has been dogged by years of delay and problems. The project’s price tag has nearly quadrupled since it was proposed in 1998, to well over $80 million, by one estimate.

The proposed 18-hole, links-style Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course would be built using city capital funds, with an estimated completion by the fall of 2010. A public hearing on the proposal has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on June 26, 22 Reade Street in Manhattan. After construction has begun, the city plans to seek proposals from businesses to operate the golf course and make additional improvements, including a clubhouse and restaurant.

However, New York City Park Advocates, a community group that has often been critical of the Parks Department, quickly issued a statement criticizing the proposed deal. The group said that the city had not completed a study of the project’s environmental impact, noting that the site included a former landfill.

The project has a long and troubled history.

In 1998, during the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Parks Department announced plans to have a developer, Ferry Point Partners, build a golf course. It would have received a 35-year lease in exchange for financing the $22 million project, which was to be completed by 2001. The 222-acre site called for a driving range, a clubhouse, two playgrounds, a banquet hall and a restaurant overlooking the East River, as well as a waterfront esplanade.

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For Bronx Water Plant Being Built 10 Stories Down, a Towering Price Tag

In a city of big projects, it ranks among the biggest. New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection is building one of the largest water filtration plants in the world in a 10-story-deep hole it blasted out of bedrock in the Bronx. When completed in 2012, the plant, capable of purifying 300 million gallons of water a day, will be buried there.

But the plant, which will filter water from the Croton watershed in Westchester County, is no Bronx treasure chest. Even as construction moves forward, questions about soaring costs and delays continue to plague the project.

The cost is now estimated at nearly $3 billion, a huge jump from the $660 million city officials estimated when they announced an audacious plan in 1998 to build the plant below the surface of Van Cortlandt Park. They vowed that the park would be made as good as new, even if that meant replacing whatever was lost during construction. They now plan to rebuild a driving range on top of the buried plant.

Some officials and others fear the final tab could climb even higher, and in the process push up water rates. On April 1, the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., announced that he was starting an independent audit to determine whether city officials understated the original price, to get the plant built in the Bronx rather than Westchester. Besides scrutinizing the complicated accounting, Mr. Thompson will have to sort through accusations by some residents and officials of deliberate distortions of costs, and intimations that the project has been tainted by mob influence, though nothing has been proved.

His would not be the first effort at monitoring the expenses since work on the big hole began in late 2004. The city’s Independent Budget Office examined the project and came up with a cost estimate last September of $2.8 billion, significantly higher than the Bloomberg administration’s last previous estimate of $2.1 billion. The budget office is now comparing its cost estimate with the city’s earlier projections and is expected to report on it in the next few months.

The city’s Department of Investigation hired a law firm, Stier Anderson L.L.C., last year to monitor the progress of the construction. The law firm is now affiliated with Thacher Associates, a fraud detection company. Keith Schwam, a spokesman for the department, said the firm was keeping track “of various contractors, subcontractors and personnel” at the Bronx site.

While the plant’s opponents concede that it is too late to stop the work in Van Cortlandt Park, they say that shining more light on the project’s financing will reveal whether there was any wrongdoing in the site selection process. Read more..

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How Carrión I Plan To Make It All Better As Comptroller

by Adolfo Carrión
February 25, 2008

After five years of booming development and growth, the economy is at a crossroads. The crisis in the housing and credit markets is expected to result in a slowdown in growth nationally this year and in lower city tax revenues and jobs generated by our financial services industry.

If the credit crisis expands to other segments of the financial markets and causes a full-blown recession or long-term slump in the U.S. stock market, the city could see an abrupt end to our development boom and suffer major job and revenue losses.

The potential threat to New York City requires us to think ahead, but to prepare now. While we hope for the best, our responsibility is to prepare for the worst. This means we need to make the wisest possible use of city resources in the near term. Facing city budget deficits as high as $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2009, $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2010 and $6.3 billion in fiscal year 2011, we will confront tough spending decisions. Coupled with a recession, spending decisions on education, social services, infrastructure and economic development will be even tougher.

Regardless of how difficult those decisions may be, several fundamental goals must always be pursued. As I have said on many occasions, the best social program is a job. During my tenure as Bronx borough president, I have had a leading role in efforts that have resulted in the borough enjoying a dramatic resurgence in economic development, affordable housing and employment. Being a part of this resurgence has convinced me that smart development policies, improved schools, safe streets and the maintenance and expansion of decent housing for working people will better ensure job opportunities during good and bad times.

If elected city comptroller I will fight for policies that support these goals and manage the city’s fiscal affairs so that the maximum resources are available to attain them.
Protecting City Pension Funds

As financial advisor to the city’s five pension funds, the city comptroller carries the immense responsibility of producing the best possible investment returns on the $112 billion of assets currently in the funds. The failure to do so not only hurts future payouts to retired city employees but can also increase the city’s annual contributions to the funds (which are projected to reach more than $6 billion in each fiscal year from 2009 to 2011). While investment returns have been stellar in recent years, the economic downturn poses a significant hazard to the funds and the city’s fiscal health.

Through my role as a trustee of the New York City Employee Retirement System for the last six years, I have become intimately aware of the complex decisions involved in investing in global financial markets and am prepared to take on the role of financial advisor. One of the first actions I would take as comptroller is to direct more staff and resources to this function of the office to meet the challenges posed by current economic conditions. I would also continue and accelerate Comptroller William Thompson’s policies of protecting our pension investments through shareholder rights initiatives.

Debt and Infrastructure Policies

The city is facing a debt burden that will increasingly restrict our ability to pay for school, housing and economic development initiatives, and other pressing capital needs. This burden will only intensify in an economic downturn. As comptroller, I will advocate for solutions to this problem that include, among other things, increased “pay-as-you-go” financing and a harder look at what capital projects really need to be financed.

Sound Budget Policies

The current law that allows city budget surpluses to be rolled over only into the next fiscal year and not beyond masks serious imbalances between our revenues and expenses and deprives the city of the chance to salt away money during the good years.

In the bad years, the city has often resorted to “one-shot” infusions of cash that only exacerbate future budget deficits. The city needs authority to establish a rainy-day fund, in addition to the city’s retiree health care trust fund, that can be tapped for general expenses during the kind of economic downturn we are about to face. While it is not the function of the comptroller’s office to create budget policy, I will work for statutory changes that would allow us to create such a fund and avoid the use of one-shots.

Contract and Program Accountability

The comptroller’s power to review and audit city contracts and agencies is essential to ensuring a well-managed, efficient city government. During an economic downturn, it is even more important that the city comptroller require city vendors to deliver what they promise and city agencies to eliminate wasteful spending.

As Bronx borough president, I have led the charge in the development of green, energy-efficient buildings in the borough and will vigorously support the movement to more energy-efficient city facilities. I will also continue Thompson’s push to increase the accountability of businesses receiving city tax subsidies from the New York City Industrial Development Authority.

A Housing Crisis

The city comptroller’s office also plays a limited, but important role in providing direct services to constituents and weighs in on policies having a major effect on city residents. Of particular concern to me is the sub-prime mortgage debacle and the increasing loss of Mitchell-Lama housing in the city. In the Bronx, I have been leading an effort to better coordinate information and services among the various institutions that provide assistance to Bronx homeowners unable to make the payments on their sub-prime mortgages.

As comptroller, assisting homeowners to keep their homes will be a top priority. I will use the bully pulpit to demand that the federal, state and city governments expand their housing programs in the city and create new financing options that help city residents remain homeowners.

I believe that by addressing these issues we can continue to grow a stronger economy and improve the lives of all New Yorkers.

Adolfo Carrión, a Democrat, has served as Bronx borough president since 2002.

SOURCE: GothamGazzette.com

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Mike Murphy Ditches Carion For Manhattan Development Corporation

Adolfo Carrion’s communications director, Mike Murphy, is leaving for a job with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

While it’s a loss for Carrion, it’s something of a win that Murphy wasn’t hired by another city comptroller candidate.

That’s more or less what happened with John Collins, who was hired by Anthony Weiner, a likely mayoral candidate.

Collins had recently worked for two possible mayoral candidates before going to Weiner: Christine Quinn and Betsy Gotbaum (who had been considered a longshot candidate until this interview put that notion to rest).

Here’s the email Murphy sent to friends:

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be leaving The Borough
  President’s Office at the end of the week. It was a great year and a
  half!!!

I have accepted a job as the new Press Secretary for the Lower
  Manhattan Development Corporation. I look forward to working with
  everyone in my new capacity. I will start at LMDC on next Tuesday. I
  can be reached at this email ### (once I get my new
  email I will send it around) and on my cell 646-###-####. Thanks talk
  to you soon and remember only 48 more days to Opening Day of MLB….GO
  RED SOX!!!!

SOURCE: Observer.com

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