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tel/fax:
718.362.4784
Please note our new postal address when sending
contributions to the legal fund:
121 5th Avenue, PMB #150
Brooklyn, New York 11217
About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and
there are 51 community organizations formally
aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.
DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000
subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition
signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB
to form our various teams, task-forces and committees
and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person
volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our
retained attorneys.
We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large
and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.
We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual
donors.
More about
DDDB...
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The Ratner Clause Lives
The 421-a property tax reform bill's special carve-out provision for Forest City
Ratner's Atlantic Yards (the Ratner
Clause) has been slightly altered in the latest round of negotiations over
the bill. What's the alteration? Instead of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project receiving
an exclusive 25-year tax break estimated to be worth about $300 million
the "negotiations" have resulted in a "compromise" where the
developer would get an exclusive 15-year tax break estimated to be worth
about $200 million. Under this bill Ratner would still be the only developer
who can build exclusively market rate condo buildings and receive the tax break
for those buildings.
Media coverage says that the bill will go to the legislature as is and go to Governor's
desk in September.
Governor Spitzer should veto this bill as long as this indefensible, special and
exclusive tax break for Forest City Ratner remains in the bill. We're not the
only one's who have criticized the Ratner carve-out. ACORN's Bertha Lews has called
it "bad public policy," and state Assemblyman Hakeem
Jeffries has called for it to be removed from the bill, and has called it
"economic segregation.
The Ratner Clause exempts Ratner from providing the same affordable housing that
any other developer would have to provide. Ratner got this exemption for providing
affordable housing even though a supposed purpose of Atlantic Yards is
to provide affordable housing. Though not providing this housing, the developer
is now going to be getting additional millions in tax benefits only he
will be entitled to.
How bad is the Ratner Clause? It is bad enough that those working on pushing it
through did not report it accurately to the press . Rather than reporting that
this was a new version of the clause still exempting Ratner from providing affordable
housing, the press was told that the Ratner provision had been eliminated as called
for by many elected officials. (see Crain's
article below).
Special catering to Ratner's project has now held the City's housing agenda hostage
by resulting in a bill with less positive reform than the the City originally
intended. (see Atlantic
Yards Report below).
Either the Ratner provision needs to be eliminated entirely, or the bill must
be vetoed by Governor Spitzer.
Here is the press coverage (Crain's article got it wrong on the special
Ratner provision, the article says it was pulled entirely from the bill but that is not the case):
Atlantic Yards Report
AY
carve-out shrinks, value halved (?), in city-brokered 421-a reform
Crain's
City
reaches 421-a agreement
NY Sun
Housing Options
Added to Development Tax Bill
NY Times
Bill
Aims to Spur Housing for New York’s Poor
NY Post
CITY
OKS NEW RATNER DEAL
Posted: 8.08.07
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