Marty Golden admits that he knew that five posh NYC developments would become eligible for tax breaks as a result of what was added to a housing bill -- backroom "wheeling and dealing" costs NYC tens of millions of dollars in lost property taxes due to controversial abatements to posh projects
In typical Marty Golden fashion, while attempting to defend his actions he put his foot in his mouth by saying something very strange, “These projects were ready to go.”
According to a Daily News report, the NYS State Senate sponsor of a bill to benefit five luxury developments, Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin Martin Golden defended these tax breaks, saying the projects would create jobs and boost the economy; adding the bizarre justification, “These projects were ready to go.” When pressed about the selection of these specific projects and who had decided to give them special treatment, Golden could not say who selected the five projects for special treatment. Then Golden pleaded ignorance --- “I’m not sure where they came from.” (See "NY lawmakers mandate massive tax breaks for millionaires’ Manhattan apartments" by Daniel Beekman, 6/17/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/big-tax-breaks-mandated-millionaires-nyc-digs-article-1.1375297#ixzz2WdRYtCxb]).
Golden was then slammed for the same thing again in a followup piece by the Daily News ( See "NYC politicians blast ‘galling’ Albany tax deal for luxury apartment towers" by Daniel Beekman & Erin Durkin, 6/18/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-politicos-blast-luxury-apartment-tax-deal-article-1.1376393#ixzz2WdcmaAnz]).
The language benefiting these five luxury developments was slipped into an omnibus housing bill that had been pushed by the Bloomberg administrationto to extend tax breaks to hundreds of thousands of low- and middle-income homeowners. The specific language made these five projects eligible for a controversial abatement program called 421-a, which grants tax relief for 10 or 20 years to buildings that set aside 20% of all units for affordable housing, or in some cases sponsor such housing at other locations. However, spokesmen for the Bloomberg administration officials denied that they had requested the insertion of the special provision for the five luxury projects.
The now much-criticized provision in the state housing law made the five posh projects eligible for breaks by waiving a zoning rule blocking them from the abatement program. Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) called the provision an “end run” around the Council. “Why did they go to Albany, and why did Albany not ask for (a vote) from the City Council? I think the answer is that the powers that be wanted to bury it in an omnibus bill.”
According to the Daniel Beekman report in the Daily News, "The developers of four of the projects, their relatives and affiliated companies gave $1.5 million to various state campaign committees during 2008-12 — including $440,962 last year, records show.... The contributions included $53,000 to the state Senate Republican campaign treasury, $34,000 to the war chest of Assembly Democrats and $150,000 to the campaign of Gov. Cuomo, who signed the bill Jan. 30. Jaron Benjamin, president of the Metropolitan Council on Housing made this charge: “That real estate developers were able to win such a huge giveaway is a reflection of . . . just how broken the current campaign finance system is .... The reason Albany lawmakers agreed to spend millions subsidizing luxury housing for the wealthy is clear: Developers who contributed to their campaigns . . . expected to be rewarded.”
Clearly, neither Golden nor his staff expected this to blow up at this time, but the story has legs and was quickly picked up by various community media outlets around his district (See "Golden Backs Bill That Provides Massive Tax Breaks For Developers Of Luxury Manhattan Apartment Buildings" by Willie Simpson, 6/18/13, in Sheepshead Bay Bites [http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2013/06/golden-tax-breaks-developers/] and in Bensonhurst Bean [http://www.bensonhurstbean.com/]).
So far, nobody has asked this question: What do citizens, constituents and voters in Brooklyn's 22nd State Senate District have to do to get State Senator Martin Golden to do the same kind of "wheeling and dealing" in Albany's back rooms on their behalf ?
9 comments:
Gale, this is true Marty Golden Pay To Play Politics at its very best....someone should investigate all of the Bils Marty Golden submitted over the past ten years and then investigate Kassar's role in all the back room deals....this could be an interesting expose on real political corruption....
Also, Gale does anyone have a list of the five properties who got the special treatment...bet there are some golden friends in that mix...
He probably helps Golden friends with contracts with certain city agencies. I am sure they are grateful for his a$$i$tance.
Golden has to go....he has been there too long....
Look at all the $$$ the Real Estate Board of NY has given to both Marty Golden and the Brooklyn Conservative Party over the years....some connection here......somebody should do the research
If these projects were "Ready to go" why did they need more tax breaks ?
UPDATE & BACKFILL: The properties that received the specific benefit of the special eligibility for 421-tax abatement under the Golden-sponsored 2013 omnibus housing bill (now signed into law) are at the following Manhattan sites: One57 ( at 57th Street across from Carnegie Hall); 99 Church St.; 520 Fifth Ave.; 109 Nassau St.; and 78-86 Trinity Place.
The Met Council on Housing goes into some of the political fundraising that derived from some of these developers (See "Tax Breaks for Billionaires: How the Campaign Finance System Failed New York Taxpayers and Helped Luxury Developers" by Michael McKee, 6/13 [http://metcouncilonhousing.org/news_and_issues/tenant_newspaper/2013/june/tax_breaks_for_billionaires_how_the_campaign_finance_system_faile_0]).
You raise a good point -- if these projects were "ready to go..." like State Senator Martin Golden said to the Daily News reporter, there would be no need to give the tax breaks to the millionaires and billionaires so that the projects would create jobs and boost the economy, since that would be happening anyway. But, that would just mean State Senator Golden was being illogical --- that's no big deal, because nobody expects Golden to say things that are logical.
I don't know why Golden said it -- above in my post I called it "something very strange...." However, when State Senator Golden was quoted in the Daily News as saying “These projects were ready to go...” he just wasn't being truthful. I don't know how he thought the "ready to go..." line would work, because most of the work was already well under way. At One57 the project was nearing "topping out" when "Hurricane" Sandy caused a spectacular work-stoppage due to a dangling crane. As to the rest of the projects that Golden sponsored for tax abatements, in the first Daily News article cited above, Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, is reported to have said that in the past the City Council routinely gave the abatements to all developments, but has not done so recently; and most of these developers broke ground years ago on the assumption the Council would continue granting such abatements.
So what does Golden mean when he says "“These projects were ready to go...” ?
The five Manhattan properties given special abatements, but exempted from certain provisions of 421-a of the tax abatement law, are believe to have been covered in Section S14 of the 2013 Senate Bill S. 2320 sponsored by State Senator Golden [ the reason that I can't say that with certainty is that the five Manhattan properties mentioned in that section of the bill are described by "lot and block" and not by the street addresses mentioned in the news coverage]. However, regardless of the description of the premises receiving the special abatements, such abatements for five Manhattan luxury projects were never mentioned in any manner in State Senator Golden's release about the passage of S. 2320 on January 24, 2013, entitled "SENATOR GOLDEN DELIVERS TAX RELIEF FOR CONDO AND CO-OPS FOR NYC" that still appears on Golden's web page.
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