PRESS RELEASE & NEWS ADVISORY- (For photos and video of press conference click here.)
New York City
WHAT: Citizens Defending Libraries announces commencement of a Citizens Audit and Investigation of Brooklyn Public Library- Issuance of Freedom of Information Law requests
WHEN: Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 5:00 P.M.
WHERE: Grand Army Plaza Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York, 11238 (Take the 2, 3 train to Grand Army Plaza).
Citizens Defending Libraries will hold a press conference and rally Tuesday, September 15, 2014, at 5:00 PM outside the Brooklyn Public Library Grand Army Library (just prior to the BPL’s trustees meeting) to publicize that . . . .
. . Citizens Defending Libraries is commencing a Citizens Audit and Investigation of library sell-offs and shrinkages in Brooklyn. To launch its audit and investigation Citizens Defending Libraries is, this week, issuing Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to the Brooklyn Public Library together with similar requests to a number of government agencies and entities.
The purpose is to probe more deeply into recent disclosures about the BPL’s secret real estate and development plans; those recent are revelations themselves the result of diligent citizen inquiry.
A citizens’ review of a decade’s worth of minutes of the Brooklyn Public Library trustees meetings obtained for the benefit of Citizens Defending Libraries recently disclosed far more than was ever previously publicly known or revealed to the press, including many
shocking revelations about how the BPL has been secretly planning for many years to sell off and shrink Brooklyn public libraries pursuant to creation of a
“Strategic Real Estate Plan.” See Noticing New York: Sunday, August 31, 2014,
Mostly In Plain Sight (A Few Conscious Removals Notwithstanding) Minutes Of Brooklyn Public Library Tell Shocking Details Of Strategies To Sell Brooklyn's Public Libraries.
The FOIL requests that Citizens Defending Libraries is issuing seeks further significant details about the many matters that the history chronicled in the BPL minutes bring to light, including:
• Links back to Forest City Ratner. How a firm run by a former Forest City Ratner Vice president was hired in 2007 (apparently without bid) to put together the BPL’s “Strategic Real Estate Plan” and how the BPL trustees specifically wanted more work to be done by that consultant to “strengthen the argument” for the real estate plan, making it more convincing. (The two libraries the plan prioritized for sale with announcements at the beginning of 2013 were both next to Forest City Ratner Property.) The initial payment to the firm run by the former Ratner Vice President was $925,000.
• Many Highly-paid Consultants. How many highly-paid consultants were hired with, or without competitive bid, in efforts to support and implement the BPL’s library real estate plans and how much, in total, were they paid? FOIL request to the BPL asks about more than nine consultants and what they were paid, including Booz & Co, which was involved in vouching for the NYPL’s real estate plans when it sold the beloved Donnell Library for a pittance and implemented the Central Library Plan that collapsed embarrassingly last May.
• A New “Economic Development” Mission For the BPL. It asks about the Ivy Group, a consulting firm, who in doing a “community needs assessment” assured the BPL that “economic development” should be part of its mission.
• Affected Libraries. The FOIL request asks for details about plans for the following libraries that have been discussed as being for sale, shrinkage, “redevelopment,” or otherwise already specifically mentioned as being part of the BPL’s real estate plans:
• Brooklyn Heights Library
• Pacific Branch
• Sunset Park Branch
• Red Hook Branch
• Williamsburg Branch
• Brower Park Library
• Midwood Library
• Gravesend Library
• Clinton Hill Library
• McKinley Park Branch and another seven or eight leased libraries being acquired with or without the formal threat of eminent domain.
• Enforcement of Secrecy. Information is requested how the library sales, no doubt expected to be objectionable to the public, were kept secret, including from those public officials responsible for funding the libraries, with the New York City Office of Management and Budget being informed of which libraries were affected by the real estate plan only after its objection to being kept in the dark and only after the BPL trustees decided to require OMB to hold such information in “strict confidence.”
• Plans to Lock In new de Blasio Administration. Communications about the BPL goal of locking the next elected administration into the Bloomberg administration pursued real estate plan per BPL president Linda Johnson’s reminder to the trustees that the intention was for the plan be “deep in progress” so that the next administration “will not derail it.”
• Breakdowns and System-wide Air Conditioning Contract. The public has been suspicious about how widespread air conditioning breakdowns and problems have been cited as an excuse to sell and shrink libraries. The FOIL request asks about a system-wide air conditioning contract with a particular firm that was given a system-wide five-year contract for the BPL's HVAC needs before the breakdowns started.
• Parallel Library System Plans/The Offensends. The FOIL requests communications between the library systems about the plans being pursued in parallel by the NYPL and BPL for the sale and shrinkage of libraries, including asking for communications between David Offensend overseeing library sell-offs and sales at the NYPL as Chief Operating Officer and Janet Offensend, his wife, a key trustee added to the BPL’s board at the same time the BPL was getting underway with very similar plans.
There is much more covered* in the FOIL requests which Citizens Defending Libraries is making
available on its web pages, together with section headings in bold for ease of reference purposes.
Citizens Defending Libraries is strongly of the opinion that these matters ought to be under investigation by our public officials (as in some cases they may already be), including the following:
• The new Mayor’s Office
• The New York City Comptroller
• The State Comptroller
• The New York State Attorney General
• The New York City Public Advocate
• The City Council
• The New York State Department of Education
• The State Legislature
• The Federal government.
Nevertheless, Citizens Defending Libraries does not believe it should simply assume that any of the public officials or offices above will be investigating these matters soon enough or with sufficient vigor that the public, Citizens Defending Libraries included, should not itself undertake immediate and vigilant follow-up to investigate further what has already been uncovered.
(* Other matters asked about in the on-line FOIL requests being submitted by Citizens Defending Libraries FOIL requests include: * Communication with New York City Landmarks Commission for its inventory and survey of BPL libraries that are potentially eligible for designations as landmarks, * Communications with NYC's Department of Design and Construction respecting the condition of the Brooklyn Heights Library and DDC's several repeated assessments of the adequacy of the air conditioning system, * Communication- or the absence thereof- with NYS Department of Education pursuant to regulations about BPL's intent to transform its libraries and system through real estate plans and transactions, * Communications with select individuals (including certain politicians) or groups about promoting the library sales and shrinkages, * Communications about legislation enacted in 2007 reconstituting the boards of the BPL and its foundation and effectively giving Mayor Bloomberg more control (S6233/A9160 introduced June 2007 and signed into law by the governor as Chapter law 569 on August 15, 2007), * Drastically diminishing book counts, * Communications respecting conflicts of interest and their handling, * Communications about Spaceworks, the private company created by the Bloomberg administration in 2012 which has as one of its principal missions the privatization and shrinkage of New York City public library space it characterizes as "underutilized," * Communications with development agencies about economic development and real estate plans of the BPL, including communications with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York about issuing bonds, * Communications with respect to the fact that BPL president Linda Johnson does not have the qualifying credentials to be a library director under the state education law, * Communications with respect to the BPL's accommodation of Mayor Bloomberg's desire for the BPL to sell Snapple on at Brooklyn's libraries.)
CONTACT:
Carolyn E. McIntyre, Michael D. D. White
Michael White, 718-834-6184, mddwhite@aol.com
Carolyn McIntyre, 917-757-6542 cemac62@aol.com
Follow us on Twitter: @defendinglibraries
For photos and videos of prior Citizens Defending Libraries rallies opposing the sale, shrinkage, underfunding of New York City libraries, and elimination of books and librarians in the year and a half since its founding, see:
PHOTO GALLERIES- PAST EVENTS
http://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com/2014/01/photo-galleries-past-events.html
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FOIL REQUESTS MADE TO BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
FOIL REQUEST MADE OF BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY
I hereby request the following pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law. (Please note that section headings
in bold are for ease of reference purposes only and not intended in any way to limit or otherwise substantively modify what is requested below).
Consultants hired in connection with the justifying, promoting, shaping or otherwise advancing library real estate deals and transactions, including sale, redevelopment or shrinkage of library property and/or the elimination of books and librarians.
Karen Backus & Associates, the firm run by former Forest City Ratner Vice President hired to prepare “Strategic Real Estate Plan”
Please supply the
“Strategic Real Estate Plan” prepared by Karen Backus & Associates, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of that document. (Karen Backus & Associates should be deemed to include any successors to that firm, including but not limited to U3 Advisors.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with Backus and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied-in each and every case in this request communication with any party refers, not by way of limitation, also to all those communications on which they have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include, including but not limited to, communications to the Backus firm in furtherance of the noted information in the February 2009 minutes that the BPL board wanted the Backus firm to continue its
“analysis” to
“strengthen the argument for” the
“Strategic Real Estate Plan.”
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the Backus firm, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the Backus firm was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of Backus was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If the Backus firm was not to be engaged by such a competitive process, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to, communications with outside parties such as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the Backus firm including and in addition to the $925,000 authorized to be paid to the Backus firm at the February 8, 2011 trustees meeting and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Ivy Group, firm that delivered a “Community Needs Assessment” telling the BPL to adjust its primary goals and engage in "support for economic development"
Please supply the
“Community Needs Assessment” prepared by the Ivy Group, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of that document. (The Ivy Group should be deemed to include any successors to that firm.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with Ivy and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the Ivy firm, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the Ivy firm was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of Ivy was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If the Ivy firm was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the Ivy firm and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
“The Revson Study” slating and identifying libraries for potential sale and redevelopment
Please supply all reports and work done in connection with the
“The Revson Study” identified in the February 2009 minutes as identifying the Sunset Park library as being a likely subject of redevelopment, all iterations thereof (indicating dates), including but not limited to all drafts of that document.
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with those authoring that document or otherwise associated with it, including, as the case may be, the Revson Foundation, and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about how the study was generated, what terms applied to the generation of that document and how it was to be determined whether the study was to be done by its authors or by others, including all communications about whether the engagement or retention of the author was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor in that process. If others did other such studies, please furnish those as well.
If the Revson entity was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the Revson Foundation, in compensation, reimbursement or otherwise and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Booz & Co. the same firm previously hired by the NYPL the summer of 2007, not long before its sale of the Donnell Library for a pittance, to advise the NYPL on its real estate “strategy.” (NYPL COO David Offensend emphasizing the Booz firm’s experience to the NYPL Board.)
Please supply all reports and assessments of Booz & Co., pursuant to its engagement as referred to in the February 8, 2011 minutes, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of those documents. That includes, but is not limited to all such documents with respect to “right-sizing” the library system. (Booz & Co. should be deemed to include any successors, predecessors or other incarnations of that firm including but not limited to Booz Allen Hamilton.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in those documents or otherwise made a part of them.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with Booz and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to those documents or what their content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the Booz firm, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the Booz firm was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of Booz was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process. Please include among other things:
• the information furnished by Booz based on which Linda Johnson represented to the BPL board that Booz came to BPL “with extensive experience with libraries”
• All representations that the Booz firm made about their involvement with the NYPL’s Donnell sale, Central Library Plan and other real estate strategies.
If the Booz firm was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the Booz firm and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Any other additional consultants hired after Booz & Co. was already hired (per February 8, 2011 minutes) as refereed to in the Tri-li letter sent to Patricia Harris by the three library systems after the March 7, 2011 Gracie Mansion summit for the “Shared Technical Services initiative” referred to in that letter as a firm “with no perceived ax to grind.”
Please supply all reports and assessments of any other additional consultants hired after (and in addition to) Booz & Co. was already hired for the
“Shared Technical Services initiative” as referred to in the letter to Patricia Harris from the three library heads after the March 7, 2011 Gracie Mansion summit.
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in those documents or otherwise made a part of them.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with those consultants and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to those documents or what their content might include.
Please also supply all communications about those consultants, what consultants were considered to be engaged, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether those consultants were to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of those consultants was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If those consultants were not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to those consultants and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Please also include all communications with the other library systems and other parities about including in the letter to Patricia Harris any reference to the “substantial value of retaining a consulting firm for the Shared Technical Services initiative” and inclusion of the phrase “with no perceived ax to grind.”
Berlin Rosen, the politically connected public relations firm specializing in “crisis management”
Please supply all reports on work done for the BPL by Berlin Rosen.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with Berlin Rosen. and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied).
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the Berlin Rosen firm, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the Berlin Rosen firm was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of Berlin Rosen was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If the Berlin Rosen firm was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the Berlin Rosen firm and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
IA Interior Architects and Stephen Furnstahl, the firm hired to do an analysis of repair needs at the Brooklyn Heights Central Library when the BPL was electing not to present previous analysis by Karen Backus Associates or, as requested, the previous analysis of the New York City Department of Design and Construction.
Please supply all analyses and reports prepared by IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of that document. ( IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl should be deemed to include any successors or predecessors to that firm.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to IA Interior Architects and/or Stephen Furnstahl and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
WSP Flack & Kurtz
Please supply all analyses and reports prepared by WSP Flack & Kurtz, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of that document. ( WSP Flack & Kurtz should be deemed to include any successors or predecessors to that firm.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with WSP Flack & Kurtz and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of WSP Flack & Kurtz, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether WSP Flack & Kurtz was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of WSP Flack & Kurtz was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If WSP Flack & Kurtz was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to WSP Flack & Kurtz and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
K&K Property Solutions
Please supply all analyses and reports prepared by K&K Property Solutions, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of that document. ( K&K Property Solutions should be deemed to include any successors or predecessors to that firm.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with K&K Property Solutions and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the K&K Property Solutions, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether K&K Property Solutions was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of K&K Property Solutions was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If K&K Property Solutions was not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the K&K Property Solutions and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Ed Tettemer and Mo (Maureen) Craig for branding and PR Advice
Please supply the branding and PR presentations prepared by Ed Tettemer and Mo (Maureen) Craig.
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with Ed Tettemer and Mo (Maureen) Craig and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of the branding consultants, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the branding consultants were to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of the branding consultants was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process.
If the branding consultants were not to be engaged by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the branding consultants and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Libraries that are part of the “Strategic Real Estate Plan” and/or “The Revson Study” or are otherwise proposed to be the subject of real estate transactions.
Please supply copies of all sale or development plans and/or proposals with respect to any and all libraries in the Brooklyn Public Library system, including all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts, plus all communication with developers or communications on their behalf about such plans and proposals or their possibility. Include, without limitation, as amongst those communications, any communications on which developers have been copied. Include also all communications with other outside parties about such plans, proposals or possibilities, including but not limited to communication with the mayor’s office, any deputy mayor’s office, the New York City Office of Management and Budget the New York Economic Development Corporation and/or the New York City Department of Design and Construction.
In any case where you are choosing to invoke an exception to not immediately so provide such information due to currently ongoing negotiations with respect to certain libraries, please specify which libraries are the subject of such currently ongoing negotiations and please furnish the requested information as soon as such negotiations are no longer ongoing.
Please include the above, without limitation, the requested information and communications with respect to the following:
Brooklyn Heights central library (this means whenever mentioned herein, the library both in its entirety and all its consistent parts, including the Business and Career library and branch library portions)-
One of the libraries the BPL has prioritized for sale that is immediately adjacent to Forest City Ratner’s One Pierrepont Plaza and for which development rights, some still unused, were transferred to Ratner.
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications about potential development with Forest City Ratner plus all communications with St. Ann’s School.
Pacific Branch- One of the libraries the BPL prioritized for sale that is immediately adjacent to Forest City Ratner property (across the street from “Atlantic Yards” and yards from the “Barclays” arena).
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications about potential transfers of development or air rights, including any discussions about purchasing the adjacent Park Slope Medicaid Office Building.
Sunset Park Branch- The library for which the BPL board considered denying a renovation in 2009 (per February 2009 minutes) because of its place as an emerging mixed-use real estate opportunity in “The Revson Study.”
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications with respect to pursuing objectives for this property considered by “The Revson Study.”
Red Hook Branch- The library substantially renovated after Superstorm Sandy and reopened again in April 2014, now proposed to be shrunk via a re-renovation from a an already small 7,500 square feet to a much smaller 5,000 square feet with the lost space privatized and turned over to the private company Spaceworks, futhering its mission of treating library space as underutilized.
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications with Spaceworks and any competitor to Spaceworks considered for similar acquisition of space in the library and also include all communications with Mr. Spenser Robertson and or the Robertson Foundation and/or the Pave charter school.
Williamsburg Branch- The library substantially renovated and reopened with fanfare at the beginning of 2005, where Spaceworks intends to take over the second floor.
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications with Spaceworks and any competitor to Spaceworks considered for similar acquisition of space in the library.
Brower Park Library- The library considered in 2007 for redevelopment into a 7-floor residential condominium (per the September and December 2007 minutes).
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications concerning the first proposals to demolish the building and build a 7-floor residential condominium, communications about funding to be obtained from the city therefore, the developer’s agreement to submit to BPL a proposal outlining an offer for a new branch library on the site in a more formal and detailed manner, and any such follow-up submissions.
Midwood Library- The library for which the BPL board and Executive Committee considered a proposal with respect to its sale in 2005 (per the April 19, 2005 minutes).
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications concerning the proposal including anything communicated respecting any belief that libraries of the BPL were to be put up for sale.
Gravesend Library- The library that the BPL considers to be part of its “strategic real estate plan,” for which it has been invoking the prospect of eminent domain, and for which, in connection therewith, City Councilman Domenic Recchia found money for that purpose.
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications with City Councilman Domenic Recchia and other public officials concerning how the city funds being obtained were part of the BPL’s
“strategic real estate plan.”
Clinton Hill Library- The library that was written about in Browntstoner (10/24/07) as being proposed for redevelopment into a mixed-use real estate project.
In addition to any other communications, please include all communications concerning the proposal including the proposed new size of the library including, but not limited to any estimations of what size the library could potentially be shrunk down to and what portions could be shifted underground.
McKinley Park Branch and any other of the seven or eight leased libraries being acquired with or without the formal threat of eminent domain- Libraries that could, like Gravesend, be similarly part of the BPL “strategic real estate plan” while being acquired more cheaply for redevelopment by eminent domain.
Communication with New York City Landmarks Commission respecting inventory or survey of BPL libraries that are potentially eligible for designations as landmarks (per description of April 28, 2009 minutes).
Please furnish all communications with the New York City Landmarks Commission respecting any inventory or survey of BPL libraries potentially eligible for designations as landmarks, including, not by way of limitation, the communications identifying eight libraries that are potentially eligible for designations as landmarks. Please include, not by way of limitation, all communications respecting which libraries might or should be prioritized or not for such review, the BPL’s telling Landmarks that it wanted landmarking of library sites to wait or be otherwise deferred, plus communications referring to the comprehensive analysis of the BPL’s real estate portfolio the Landmarks commission was informed the BPL was conducting.
Please also include all communications with the Landmarks Commission made at any time respecting the potential landmarking of the Pacific Branch and Brooklyn Heights library.
Air conditioning contract with Performance Mechanical Corporation, the “Brooklyn-based” (or actually possibly New Jersey and Long Island based) company that was given a system-wide five-year contract for the BPL’s HVAC needs (per June 15, 2010 minutes) with a 22% increase in expenditures after which air conditioners around the system started breaking down and were cited as reasons to sell and shrink BPL libraries.
Please supply the contract with Performance Mechanical Corporation, all iterations thereof (indicating dates) including but not limited to all drafts of that document. Similarly, please supply all previous contracts with the firm. (Performance Mechanical Corporation should be deemed to include any successors or predecessors to that firm.)
Please, in each case, include all component or attached documents included in that document or otherwise made a part of it.
Please also supply all communications exchanged with Performance Mechanical Corporation and/or other outside parties (including, but not limited to, those where such parties have been copied) respecting changes or modifications made to that document or what its content might include.
Please also supply all communications about the engagement of Performance Mechanical Corporation, what the terms of that employment were to be and how it was to be determined whether the Performance Mechanical Corporation was to be engaged, including all communications about whether the retention of Performance Mechanical Corporation this time or at any prior times was pursuant to a competitive process and, if so, all communications and submission by any competitor firm in that process. Please also include all communications respecting the 2010 renewal of the contract, including, not by way of limitation, communications with respect to any increase or change in compensation for that contract.
If the Performance Mechanical Corporation was not to be engaged or its contract renewed by such a competitive process or at any time considered not to be so engaged, please supply all communications and documentation with respect to what method or justification was intended to substitute for such competitive process. Such communications should include, but not be limited to communications with such outside parties as the mayor’s office.
Please provide all communications Performance Mechanical Corporation, including, but not limited to instructions about works to be performed and problems with air conditioners in the system. Not by way of limitation, this should include communications since the current renewal version of the contract went into effect and all communications before that time. Among other things, please include the communication upon which the representation to the trustees in the minutes that Performance Mechanical Corporation was Brooklyn-based.
Please include documentation of all amounts paid to the Performance Mechanical Corporation firm and all information and communications about amounts to be owed that are not yet paid.
Communications with (and related to) New York City Department of Design and Construction respecting the condition of the Brooklyn Heights Library, renovations thereto (including the air conditioning system) and its several repeated assessments of the adequacy of the air conditioning system.
Please furnish all communications with the NYC Department of Design and Construction about the condition of the Brooklyn Heights Library and renovations thereto, including, not by way of limitation, the air conditioning system.
Please include communications describing the renovation of the library done approximately 1991/1992, including information about what new air conditioning was put in at that time and all information about asbestos removal and asbestos conditions at that time. Please also furnish all communications to any members of the public that the air conditioning equipment put in place around 1991/1992 was as delivered and installed perfectly operational
Please furnish all the documentation exchanged with DDC and with the public and elected officials that the air conditioning system was functioning well, (whether optimally or not) from 1996 to 1998.
Please furnish all the information about the new chiller units installed around or about June 2002 including all of the documentation that this installation was fully adequate and appropriate and upon which representations were made that a completely new cooling system was installed. Please furnish all communications made to this effect to the public, elected representatives and other public officials, and as the case may be, the press.
Please furnish all communications to the DDC informing it that the BPL intended to repudiate the DDC’s many prior assessments of the air conditioning system design adequacy.
Please furnish all communications with the DDC about the BPL real estate plan, real estate strategy (including any actual or tentative predecessor plans), “The Revson Study,” the work of Karen Backus and Associates and the community needs assessment ultimately done by the Ivy Group.
Communication With New York State Department of Education- Pursuant to compliance with filing and regulation requirements and communications respecting BPL’s intent to transform its libraries and system through the implementation of real estate plans and transactions.
Please furnish all communications with the New York State Department of education about the BPL real estate plan, real estate strategy (including any actual or tentative predecessor plans), “The Revson Study,” the work of Karen Backus and Associates and the community needs assessment ultimately done by the Ivy Group.
Please also furnish all required filings with The New York State Education Department including any annual reports, submission with respect to requests for state aid and any five year plans of service.
Communications with the New York City Office of Management and Budget about identifying and holding “in strict confidence” names of libraries affected by the BPL’s “real estate plan” (per the May 17, 2011 minutes).
Please furnish all communications with the NYC Office of Management and Budget respecting the BPL real estate plans and BPL’s furnishing it to OMB. Not by way of limitation, please include all of OMB’s expressions of reluctance to give funds to libraries based on the fact that because the BPL had not identified libraries affected by the real estate plan, OMB did not know how libraries might be used. Please furnish all communications to OMB identifying the affected libraries and all communication with OMB respecting BPL expectations that OMB would coordinate or help the BPL to build god will for the plans. Please include all communications with respect to BPL communications to OMB that identification of the libraries affected by the real estate plan was to be kept in
strict confidence.
Communications with government officials, elected officials and stakeholders to promote the Karen Backus developed (including those key government officials, elected officials and stakeholders mentioned per April 28, 2009 minutes when the Backus plan was requested to be further worked on to strengthen it as an argument for the real estate plans.)
Please furnish all communications, related to exploratory conversations or otherwise, with government officials,
“key” or otherwise and elected officials and stakeholders promoting the real estate plans including, not by way of limitation, those reflective of the “short-term and longer-term communications strategies for Trustees and staff” developed for such promotion.
Not by way of limitation, please include all such communications with the following, their office or their representatives:
• Brad Lander
• Jimmy Van Bramer
• Vincent Gentile
• Christine Quinn
• Marty Markowitz
• Urban Librarians Unite, or any of its representatives.
Communications about the BPL goal of locking the next elected administration into the Bloomberg administration pursued real estate plan (per Linda Johnson’s reminder in the October 11, 2011 minutes of conversation concerning the intention that the plan be “deep in progress” so that the next administration “will not derail it”).
Please furnish all communications with all other parties, related to the goal of preventing the next administration from derailing the real estate plan sought to be advanced with the Bloomberg administration. Not by way of limitation include communications concerning executing a contract with a developer for the Brooklyn Heights Library and taking other actions with respect to it before December 31, 2013 and what ways the BPL would attempt to lock in a sale of the Pacific Branch library.
Not by way of limitation, please include all such communications with the following, their office or their representatives:
• Mayor Bloomberg
• First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris
• Daniel Doctoroff, whether working for New York City or later for Bloomberg, L.P.
• Brad Lander
• Jimmy Van Bramer
• Vincent Gentile
• Christine Quinn
• Marty Markowitz
Please also be sure to include such conversations as were had by any and all trustees including
(whose names came up in this regard) Board Chair Crowell and Trustee Kimball.
David Offensend and Janet Offensend communications.
Please furnish all communications concerning Janet Offensend’s potential assumption of the position of trustee and/or any postion on the board of either the BPL or its foundation. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications with or on which David Offensend is copied.
Please furnish all communications between the Offensends about BPL or NYPL libraries, operations or management, including, not by way of limitation all communications about the proposed sale or change in size of any libraries including, not by way of limitation, the Donnell Library, the NYPL Central Library Plan, the Brooklyn Heights Library, the Pacific Library, the Visual and Performing Arts Library, the BAM South library, the Grand Army Plaza library. Please also, not by way of limitation, include communications about the operation of libraries and not by way of limitation the elimination of books, librarians. Include communications about digitization.
Please also include all communications between the Offensends about board changes at any of the three library systems and wishes of the mayor or anyone working for him or his deputies.
Communications about legislation enacted in 2007 reconstituting the boards of the BPL and its foundation and effectively giving Mayor Bloomberg more control (S6233/A9160 introduced June 2007 and signed into law by the governor as Chapter law 569 on August 15, 2007).
Please furnish all communications about legislation enacted in 2007 (S6233/A9160, Chapter law 569) that reorganized the boards of the BPL and its foundation including, not by way of limitation, all communications with lawyers communicating what was to be accomplished by such legislation and what was to be effected after its enactment plus all communications with legislators about it.
Please also furnish all communications with the mayor’s office, the borough presidents office or representatives thereof respecting the implementation of appointments to the board once the legislation was adopted.
From the beginning of 2007 forward, communications with Friends of the Brooklyn Heights Branch Library, Inc. and Deborah Hallen, Friends of the Brooklyn Heights Branch Library, Inc being the friends group that went through reorganizing moves in 2012 and thereafter as key for its role supporting and condoning the proposed sale and shrinkage of the Brooklyn Heights Library and Ms. Hallen being the figure who took a leadership role in that regard.
Please furnish all communications with the Friends of the Brooklyn Heights Branch Library, Inc. and Deborah Hallen respecting, in any way, the status of the air conditioning or repair needs at the Brooklyn Heights library or its proposed sale and/or shrinkage and/or any proposals to relocate its Business and Career Library. Not by way of limitation, include all communications from BPL spokesperson Josh Nachowitz or other BPL representatives with respect to plans to:
• Announce the sale/shrinkage of the library
• Have a meeting (hosted by the Friends group or otherwise) to present the plans to the public.
From the beginning of 2004 forward, communications with the Brooklyn Heights Association of any of its board members about the Brooklyn Heights Library, the BHA having coordinated with the Friends of the Brooklyn Heights Branch Library to take similar positions paving the way for the sale and shrinkage of the Brooklyn Heights Library.
Please furnish all communications with the Brooklyn Heights Association or any of its board members (including, not by way of limitation, David Offensend who resigned from that board February of 2001) respecting, in any way, the status of the air conditioning or repair needs at the Brooklyn Heights library or its proposed sale and/or shrinkage and/or any proposals to relocate its Business and Career Library. Not by way of limitation, include all communications from BPL spokesperson Josh Nachowitz or other BPL representatives with respect to plans to:
• Announce the sale/shrinkage of the library
• Have a meeting (hosted by the Friends group or otherwise) to present the plans to the public.
• The position the BHA will take with respect to the sale and any coordination that will be done with the BPL and the Friends group.
Information about plans for teeny-tiny (1,700 square foot) prototype model library referred to as “Out-Post” library discussed as being located in DUMBO neighborhood (per the minutes of September and December of 2007 and February of 2008).
Please furnish all communications about plans for the design, purpose and location of the first new model
“Out-Post” library, including, not by way of limitation, all instruction and communications with any designer, architect, library expert, elected official or their representatives, not by way of limitation City Hall, the NYPL or Queens Library, any prospective landlord, and any community groups (for instance the DUMBO Neighborhood Association) about what was proposed and/or to be accomplished by these plans. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications about what was an adequate or appropriate size for this library.
Information about shrinking the Brooklyn Heights Library and decommissioning it of its central library and destination library functions by shutting down the Business and Career Library functions at that site.
Please furnish all communications with any external parties concerning decisions or the formulation of plans by the BPL to shut down Business and Career Library operations at the Brooklyn Heights Library and/or relocate such functions elsewhere. Not by way fo limitation please include all communications respecting the amount of shrinkage in the size of the Brooklyn Heights Library that could result.
Book Counts (observed to be significantly shrinking): Both library by library and for the BPL system as a whole. (It was not observed via any notation in he minutes that such information was given to the board trustees, but presumably tabulations exist in FOILable form.)
Please furnish tabulations, at least for every year, from 2003 through the latest in 2014, of the count of books in the BPL system, both overall and for each individual library in the system. If the information is available please indicate both books readily available to public on the shelves and such books and materials that may be in storage, retrievable at certain library locations like the Brooklyn Heights Library and the Grand Army Plaza Library.
Communications with NYPL, the Queens Library and/or Booz and Co. about the calculation of cost savings, or the lack thereof, from the implementation of Book-Ops and other collaborative efforts, operation or opportunities.
Please furnish all communications with outside parties and not by way of limitation with the NYPL, the Queens Library and/or Booz and Co. about the calculation of cost savings, or the lack thereof, from the implementation of Book-Ops and other collaborative efforts, operation or opportunities.
Not by way of limitation, please include communications with respect to and in any way coordinating information given to the Wall Street Journal for its 2013 article concerning Book-Ops, the statements of David Offensend and the BPL and the disagreeing statements from Mr. Galante of the Queens Library.
Please also include any communication respecting any possible merger of the library systems.
Please include all communications about the bills of Booz and Co. and how such charges and related expenses were to be divided up between the three library systems.
Communications with Bruce Ratner, Forest City Ratner, Forest City Enterprise or their representatives about the Pacific Street Library- across the street from Atlantic Yards near the arena, the Brooklyn Heights Library- whose development rights are combined with Forest City’s own adjacent property, the BPL’s proposed partnership with Ratner concerning the Nets basketball team, the BPL’s hosting of “Footprints: Portrait of a Brooklyn Neighborhood," the show that free-speech advocates claimed the BPL censored to further Ratner’s interests and any solicitations or communications respecting prospective donations from Ratner, including with respect to the proposed Visual and Preforming Arts Library across from the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Please furnish all communications with “Ratner parties” (Ratner parties means Bruce Ratner, Forest City Ratner, Forest City Enterprise or their representatives or any of their many related real estate entities and companies involved in running the Nets and “Barclays” arena). Not by way of limitation, please furnish all communications concerning:
• Pacific Street Library
• the Brooklyn Heights Library
• the BPL’s proposed partnership with Ratner concerning the Nets basketball team
• the BPL’s hosting of “Footprints: Portrait of a Brooklyn Neighborhood"
• any solicitations or communications respecting prospective donations from Ratner including with respect to the proposed Visual and Preforming Arts Library across from the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
• Air conditioning at any BPL library.
All communications with Saint Ann’s School respecting development rights and the Brooklyn Heights Library.
Please furnish all communications with Saint Ann’s School and/or any of its representatives or trustees respecting development rights transferable to the BPL’s property and/or any proposed sale or redevelopment of the Brooklyn Heights Library. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications with Matthew Bloom, Director of Finance and Administration for Saint Ann's School.
Communications with New York City Conflicts of Interest Board and state conflicts of interest board respecting actual or potential conflicts of interest and their handling.
Please furnish all communications with any external parties including the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board and any other similar state entity about actual or potential conflicts of interest and their handling.
Not by way of limitation, please include:
• Communications in regard to the request and response for an opinion from the Conflicts of Interest Board respecting whether it would be a conflict of interest for Anthony Crowell to perform activities on behalf of the BPL (case number 2006-041, dated February 6, 2006). Please also include any communications respecting Jordan Barowitz in this regard.
• Communications respecting the exemption from disclosure filing rules sought by the BPL and Queens Library from the Conflicts of Interest Board in 2008.
• Any communications with respect to the formation of Spaceworks and possible lack of compliance with the ethics rules.
Communications about Spaceworks, the private company created by the Bloomberg administration in 2012 which has as one of its principal missions the privatization and shrinkage of New York City public library space which it characterizes as “underutilized” not withstanding greatly increasing use of the library system.
Please furnish all communications with any external parties including, not by way of limitation, the mayor’s office and Spaceworks company and those involved in forming it, respecting the creation of Spaceworks and its proposed relationship and interactions with the BPL and other NYC library systems. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications respecting which libraries Spaceworks should consider looking at for its purposes. Also include all communications about any competitive process utilized or considered to select and identify Spaceworks as a potential partner for the BPL in any way.
Communications with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York about issuing bonds for the BPL’s or other libraries.
Please furnish all communications with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) since the beginning of 2005 about the possible issuance of bonds or provision of other DASNY financing to fund the BPL, its libraries or other New York City libraries.
Not by way of limitation please include:
• All communications respecting or in any way in connection with Linda John’s request to BPL board members that they fill out the questionnaire from DASNY in order to receive funds from it.
• All communications about legislation enacted in 2014 (Assembly Bill 9241 and Senate Bill S6931, introduced April 2nd, signed into law by the governor August 11, 2014) that authorized DASNY financing for the BPL. Not by way of limitation, include all communications with lawyers communicating what was to be accomplished by such legislation and what was to be effected after its enactment plus all communications with legislators about it. Please also furnish all communications with the mayor’s office about this legislation.
Communications with development agencies about economic development and real estate plans of the BPL (of special interest to the public on the theory that the BPL would only be communicating with development agencies and city development personnel about matters not directly related to the main core of the BPL’s mission to provide library services).
Please furnish all communications since the beginning of 2003 with the following, and as the case may be their staff and representatives:
• The New York City Economic Development Corporation. Not by way of limitation, please include all information about the transfer of employment from EDC to BPL of Josh Nachowitz, all communications from trustees Sharon Greenberger, Laurel Blatchford and Anthony Crowell.
• Daniel Doctoroff. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications from trustees Sharon Greenberger, Laurel Blatchford and Anthony Crowell.
• First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications about the approvals for the sale and/or shrinkages of libraries, (not by way of limitation those of the NYPL and Queens Library), Booz & Co., the Revson Foundation, the “Revson Study,” potential mergers of the libraries and their operations, and the potential landmark status of any libraries and the withholding and/or delay of capital repairs for Brooklyn Libraries, and the March 7, 2011 summit at Gracie Mansion and other similar meetings.
Communications with the NYPL about the sale of libraries and plans for the shrinkage of libraries and the conversion of libraries into real estate deals (that would explain how and why the BPL and NYPL, unlike the Queens Library, wound up with such very similar plans with respect thereto, including having sale and shrinkage of the Brooklyn Heights Library closely replicate the sale for shrinkage for the NYPL’s Donnell Library and similarities between the NYPL’s Central Library Plan and BPL’s master plan for the Grand Army Plaza Library.)
Please furnish all communications with the NYPL, and as the case may be the Queens Library, since the beginning of 2004 relating to the sale and shrinkage of libraries and other real estate transactions concerning libraries and the Central Library Plan and the master plan from the Grand Army Plaza Library.
Communications with respect to qualifications to run the Brooklyn Public Library and the fact that BPL president Linda Johnson does not have the qualifying credentials applicable to library directors under the state education law.
Please furnish all communications with external parties including, not by way of limitation, the New York State Education Department and the Mayor’s Office concerning the absence of qualifying credentials on the part of Linda Johnson to be a library director and how the BPL could or intended to cover that deficiency.
Communications with respect to BPL intent to be the first public library to build on Mayor Bloomberg’s effort to create New York City's partnership with Snapple by installing Snapple Machines in the BPL’s libraries (per the November 15, 2005 minutes).
Please furnish all communications with external parties about the BPL intent to build on New York City's partnership with Snapple. Not by way of limitation, please include all communications with respect thereto by Daniel Doctoroff, Anthony Crowell, the mayor’s office and the City's Marketing Office and any communications about how the Queens Library and/or Queens Library head Thomas Galante had previously indicated that the Queens Library was not interested in participating in this partnership together with any communications about objections to the partnership by the New York City Comptroller.
FOIL REQUEST MADE OF NEW YORK CITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (9/16/2014)
I hereby request the following pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law.
Please furnish all communications between the Economic Development Corporation and other parties since the beginning of 2003 about the sale, shrinkage and/or redevelopment of New York City libraries including, not by way of limitation, communications with the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library and Queens Library, the Mayor’s Office, Spaceworks and, as the case may be, their staff and representatives. (Not by way of limitation, communications include any communication on which a party is copied.)
Not by way of limitation, please include all information about the transfer of employment from EDC to BPL of Josh Nachowitz, all communications from trustees Sharon Greenberger, Laurel Blatchford and Anthony Crowell, First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris, David Offensend and Janet Offensend and all communications from Daniel Doctoroff.
In any case where you are choosing to invoke an exception to not immediately so provide such information due to currently ongoing negotiations with respect to certain libraries, please specify which libraries are the subject of such currently ongoing negotiations and then, in addition, please furnish the requested information as soon as such negotiations are no longer ongoing.
FOIL REQUEST MADE OF NEW YORK CITY LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION (9/25/2014)
I hereby request the following pursuant to the freedom of information law.
Please furnish all communications between the New York City Landmarks Commission and/or its staff and representatives and the Brooklyn Public Library respecting any inventory or survey of BPL libraries potentially eligible for designations as landmarks, including, not by way of limitation, the communications identifying eight libraries that are potentially eligible for designations as landmarks (sometime probably prior to and around the time of April 28,2009). Please include, not by way of limitation, all communications respecting which libraries might or should be prioritized or not for such review, the BPL's telling Landmarks that it wanted landmarking of library sites to wait or be otherwise deferred, plus communications referring to the comprehensive analysis of the BPL's real estate portfolio the Landmarks commission was informed the BPL was conducting.
Please also include all communications with the Landmarks Commission made at any time respecting the potential landmarking of the Pacific Branch, the Brooklyn Heights library and (by the same architect as the Brooklyn Heights library) the Grand Army Plaza library.
Please also include any communications with any City Hall offices about such communications with the BPL including, not by way of limitation, any communications with First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris and her staff.
FOIL REQUEST MADE OF NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION (9/25/2014)
I hereby request the following pursuant to the freedom of information law.
Please furnish all communications of DDC with the Brooklyn Public Library about the condition of the Brooklyn Heights Library and renovations thereto, including, not by way of limitation, the air conditioning system.
Please include communications describing the renovation of the library done approximately 1991/1992, including information about what new air conditioning was put in at that time and all information about asbestos removal and asbestos conditions at that time. Please also furnish all communications to the BPL or any members of the public (or forwarded thereto) that the air conditioning equipment put in place around 1991/1992 was as delivered and installed perfectly operational.
Please furnish all the documentation exchanged with the BPL and with the public and elected officials that the air conditioning system was functioning well, (whether optimally or not) from 1996 to 1998.
Please furnish all the information about the new chiller units installed around or about June 2002 including all of the documentation that this installation was fully adequate and appropriate and upon which representations were made that a completely new cooling system was installed. Please furnish all communications made to this effect to the public, elected representatives and other public officials, and as the case may be, the press.
Please furnish all communications to the DDC informing it that the BPL intended to repudiate the DDC's many prior assessments of the air conditioning system design adequacy.
Please furnish all communications which the DDC was included in about the BPL real estate plan, real estate strategy (including any actual or tentative predecessor plans), "The Revson Study," the work of Karen Backus and Associates and the community needs assessment ultimately done by the Ivy Group.
Please furnish all communications with Performance Mechanical Corporation hired by the BPL for all its HVAC needs and al information with the BPL about Performance Mechanical Corporation.
Please also include any communications with any City Hall offices about such communications respecting BPL libraries or matters including, not by way of limitation, any communications with First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris and her staff.
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