DA's probe will not stop at crimes

The Downtown Express reports that the borough's District Attorney will not only report on crimes committed by the public authorities and other agencies involved in the controversial state projects, but will rebuke public officials for wrongdoing as well.

Obviously, we're not talking about Brooklyn here. It's the Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau who will report on the disastrous fire at the Deutsche Bank fire. Here's a bit from Morgy’s Deutsche probe will not stop at crimes:

Prior to the fire, L.M.D.C. [Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the public authority in charge of the World Trade Center site] officials had repeatedly assured residents the demolition would proceed safely. Over the years, Community Board 1, environmental activists and local politicians raised concerns over many aspects of the project including the L.M.D.C.’s hiring of a contractor with alleged mob ties, John Galt Corp.; falling debris from the building; and fire safety violations.

At the end of last year, the L.M.D.C. passed direct supervision of the Deutsche building to its subsidiary, the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center and it has taken it back since the fire.

Last week, it was revealed that Charles Maikish, the former executive director of the Construction Center, wrote a memo in May warning L.M.D.C. Chairperson Avi Schick that Maikish did not have enough staff to properly supervise the project.

The failure of the public authorities to adequately follow environmental laws is a familiar story to people following the Downtown Brooklyn redevelopment. The NYC Economic Development Corporation ignored relevant experts in its environmental review of the neighborhood, which in the case of Duffield was the respected academics hired to review the part of the environmental review that includes historical resources.

Manhattan is lucky to have someone from the borough-wide government willing to take a hard look. Hopefully someone from the Brooklyn Borough President's office will speak out in favor of protecting the Duffield Abolitionist homes.

Firemen dying & crystal baseballs: Your tax dollars at work

It's hard to know where to start—there are just so many examples of pathetic and embarrassing abuse of the public trust by public authorities. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is always worth a few groans, and here are a couple examples from the last few days:

• A former LMDC employee was berated for talking about the safety conditions that lead up to the deadly Deutsche Bank fire. See TOWERING FEUD by the NY Post 9/27/07.


• LMDC denies ever hearing about the safety complaints, according to several articles, including Memo: Months before fatal fire, state help sought for WTC tower.


• In Firefighters Didn't Know Of Deutsche Bank "Escape Plan", Gothamist outlines how there was a plan that the LMDC had to deal with fires, but they just never bothered to make sure the Fired Department knew.
  
• The NY Times first reported on the LMDC's failure in An Escape Plan Stayed Hidden at a Fatal Fire.

But don't think the LMDC is the only agency that parties hearty on the public dime. The AP reports that Taxpayers Footing Bill For Yankees' Lavish Spending, Group Says. The Yankees deny the allegations:

“Elected officials are turning a blind eye to the fact that the Yankees seem to have unfettered access to the public trough,” Damiani said. “It goes to show how the Yankees will stop at nothing to squeeze every penny from New Yorkers for this project.”

In 2001, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani authorized the Yankees to deduct up to $5 million a year on planning costs for the new stadium for five years for rent payments to the city, Good Jobs said.

...and the subsidies for "rent payments" went for things like crystal baseballs, according to Good Jobs New York.

So the NYC EDC's plan to destroy the Duffield Abolitionist homes to build an underground parking lot is pretty much par for the course. So is the NY State ESDC's failure to hire an ombudsman for the Atlantic Yards, despite a promise made 149 days ago.

The Atlantic Yards is the most visible fight against public authority abuse, but it is part of an even bigger problem. Are New Yorkers finally getting some guts to fight for good government? The answer is up to you, dear reader.

A city without leaders

"It's time Mayor Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta stopped ducking and dodging."

This is how Juan Gonzalez begins asking tough questions about the tragic Deutsche Bank blaze and other incidents. He continues in "Where have you gone, Scoppetta & Bloomy":

Both men have gone into virtual hiding since Saturday's tragic Deutsche Bank blaze that killed hero Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joe Graffagnino.

How do you face a catastrophic fire at one of the most scrutinized buildings in this city, watch two of the men under your command get killed, and then refuse to speak?

Clearly, Bloomberg and Scoppetta realize the city and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., owners of the Deutsche Bank site, face enormous liability problems now for their failures to properly monitor safety at the tower.

For those of us who have seen the LMDC and other public authorities in action, their inaction is no surprise. Here's how the Downtown Express describes the LMDC in "Early Warnings":

Kathleen Moore asked officials last year what they would do if the former Deutsche Bank building caught fire after the painstaking demolition work began next door to her.

“That’ll never happen,” she remembers Charles Maikish telling her at a Community Board 1 meeting. Maikish, who until recently was the executive director of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, came up to reassure her, but to Moore it sounded like he was saying “don’t worry little lady, we’ll take care of you.”

The meeting was one of dozens the community board had over the years in which officials with the building’s owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, or its subsidiary, the construction center, told residents their fears and concerns about the project were unfounded.

But telling residents their concerns are unfound does not make it so. The NYC Economic Development Corporation takes the same attitude with evidence that there was Underground Railroad activity on Duffield Street- any evidence contrary to theirs is considered baseless. The opinions of experts (historians, neighbors or engineers) is not really important.

The LMDC and the EDC have brazen in their disregard for environmental concerns, and Bloomberg and Spitzer have proven themselves part of the problem, not the solution.