Governor Andrew Cuomo supports taxpayer ripoff to help developers
Last edited Fri May 18, 2018, 03:25 PM - Edit history (1)
In New York City there’s been a decades-long dispute about the future of the Hudson River and its waterfront. Increasing attention is being paid to the way that the State and City are misusing their powers to aid well-connected commercial developers instead of emphasizing a public park and environmental protection.
The Village Voice has a good article by Jake Offenhartz about the impact of a bill that Cuomo signed: “Hudson River Development Could Stick Taxpayers With Cost of Storm Repairs”. The main feature isn’t surprising – the private developers stand to reap the profits while shifting much of the cost to state or city taxpayers. Another feature of the bill is the fanciful notion of selling “air rights” (i.e., transferable development rights) for the area over the Hudson River itself. The whole thing, besides the fiscal issue, has great potential to harm an important ecosystem.
I’m one of the people quoted in the article. The reporter got a response from the quasi-government agency that’s handling this, and followed up with me to get a comment. I explained to him why the response was fundamentally dishonest. It was, in fact, such a crock that he didn’t even deem it worthy of mentioning and refuting in his piece.
