It’s What The Brooklyn Heights Association Wanted And Fought For: As Library-Replacing Lux Tower Gets Ready To Sprint Toward Full Height With Its Last Stack of Floors It Begins To Dominate Heights Skies

View of library-replacing luxury tower from Montague Street (crane working to add the last stack of thus boosted floors to achieve its final ultimate height)

The luxury condo tower, which in a shrink-and-sink deal is replacing the Business, Career and Education Federal Depository Library in Downtown Brooklyn, has another stack of floors to be constructed before it reaches full “stature,” if that’s the word for it.

The advertised condominium apartment views now available on the developer’s website show those views looking down on the federal courthouse across the way (once opposed by neighbors as being too tall) and looking over the top of the adjacent One Pierrepont Plaza Ratner 1988 skyscraper.  Those views are from only the height of the building’s twenty-sixth floor, round about the height the building is reaching now.  When the 400+ foot tall building is complete it will be 36 stories tall, an additional ten stories over that 26.

Looking down on the federal courthouse, a building one opposed as too big

The slightly higher than mid-level 26th Floor view gets you to the top of the Ratner skyscraper that vexed the Brooklyn Heights Association because of its size

But even at the threshold height it has now reached where it is, finally starting to leave the Ratner skyscraper below, it is now becoming clear how the building will dominate the skies of Brooklyn Heights.  We offer pictures here so you can imagine it even taller still.

It is interesting to think that this is what the Brooklyn Heights Association wanted for Brooklyn Heights, that it is what the association fought hard to bring into existence against the overwhelming consensus of neighbors who did not want to give up the second biggest library in Brooklyn, a central destination downtown library that conveniently served all Brooklynites and many other New Yorkers coming from all around the city.

It must be recognized that hugely tall buildings that leave their neighbors in the dust, at certain times, have, for many of us, a certain commanding beauty.  Sometimes you just have to begrudgingly admit that, even if and when they might make you feel small and insignificant or cast shadows onto your parks, they have an arresting way of whispering (or shouting) progress, achievement and newness while advertising human technological proficiency.  Maybe some who settled or who have dwelled enviously in Brooklyn Heights with a Manhattan-wannabe complex will feel that this building announces that Brooklyn Heights has arrived. 

Is this why the Brooklyn Heights Association fought so hard, often secretively and behind-the-scenes, to have this shiny new tower provide contrast for New York’s oldest historic district and  neighborhood by poking up into its skies where it will be seen from repeated vantages as the casual stroller meanders through local townhouse streets? . . .

. . .  Or was it that the Brooklyn Heights Association was just eager to see an important library squashed out of existence in a shrink-and-sink deal that would push the much diminished library space underground, while eliminating books and librarians, disappearing the Business Library, the Career Library, the Education library and the federal depository library resources?  Of course this means that the Brooklyn Heights Association was reversing itself from the time when it was opposing the height of the adjacent Ratner skyscraper and (in connection therewith) was negotiating for a bigger, better library.  And that bigger, better library the BHA said it wanted then is something the neighborhood finally got fairly recently, but now it's been been torn down for the luxury tower even though it was expanded and fully upgraded to be one of the best and most modern in the Brooklyn Public Library system.

. . . Of course shrinking the library and getting rid of the Business, Career and Education Federal depository resources does have the effect of evicting those who were coming from elsewhere, such as the nearby projects, to use the libraries.

. . .  Or did the Brooklyn Heights Association want to see the luxury tower replace the library because the Saint Ann’s private school was going to get a private windfall from the sale of real estate development rights it possessed provided that the city proceeded with eliminating the library?  Did it want that because the Saint Ann’s school contingent was better than well represented in the Brooklyn Heights Association’s decision making about what to do about the sale of the city land and public asset to create the luxury tower?  Moreover, the entangled Brooklyn Heights Association sidelined itself and eschewed speaking out in the name of good government, remaining steadfastly indifferent to the pay-to-play investigation scandals that emerged concerning the sale of the city owned library sale to a connected developer the de Blasio administration favored in the hand-off of the property for so much less than it was worth.  Once compromised in this regard it is more difficult to speak out in the future.

Of course all of this raises questions about what the BHA can be expected to do in the future and how reliable the BHA is, and for what (ditto an elected official like Councilman Steve Levin).  What will the BHA decide to oppose and what will it decide to promote?  There was, not long ago, a proposal to build another similar luxury tower just doors down from the library-replacing lux tower, the Pineapple Walk building.  The Heights Association, inconsistently we would say, opposed it.  That was then.  Real estate development is a long game.  No doubt that proposal will be back and when the library-replacing lux tower is fully present and accounted for it will seem even harder, seemingly sillier to oppose it. Maybe some of the new residents in the library-replacing tower will by then even be members of the BHA and arguing that it would be great to have a sister luxury Cadman Tower West building.

Then, aside from the question of what the BHA `opposes,' there is the question of what the BHA will be timely and effective at opposing.  We can note that the sale of Long Island College Hospital, The view-destroying over-construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier One Pierrehouse buildings, the building at Pier Six in Brooklyn Bridge Park of more buildings than the agreed upon formula dictated, a lot of construction period as local public schools get more crowded were all things the BHA opposed, but its opposition was ineffective.

From Henry Street seen rising behind the Supreme Court Appellate Division Building

As seen from 101 Clark Street where many meetings were held to try to stop sale of the library

As seen currently (floors to go) from Monroe Place from where impetus and support for the building came.

Go all the way to to the end of this newly landscaped Brooklyn Bridge Park pier and you will find the tower following you like the moon follows you on along a road on a moonlight night

Behind the Unitarian Universalist church on Pierrepont Street

How Brooklyn Heights looks from the 26th floor of the luxury tower

Our Defending Libraries Testimony On Councilman Steve Levin's Proposal To Change NYC Law To Pour More Money Into Mayor de Blasio's Legal Defense Fund For Fending Off Pay-To-Play Investigations

Steve Levin at the hearing on his proposal to help de Blasio pay his legal bills for being investigated for selling off public assets like the Brooklyn Heights Library

Below is our Citizens Defending Libraries Testimony on Councilman Steve Levin's proposal to change New York City's law so as to pour more money into Mayor de Blasio's legal defense fund used by him to fending off pay-to-play investigations.

If you read our testimony it will be quickly be evident what is in issue.  And why is Councilman Levin the one proposing this law change? He shouldn't be, and that's something that will be quickly evident too.

If you would like to refer to some of the minimal reporting on this as background, you can look at:

•        New York Post: Opinion- editorial-  Don’t give de Blasio a sleazy way to pay his legal bills, by Post Editorial Board, January 8, 2019.

•        Politico: City Council introducing legislation that would help de Blasio with unpaid lawyers' bills, by Sally Goldenberg, January 7, 2019.


•        Politico: De Blasio approves his own contract for legal fees after city comptroller rejects it, by Sally Goldenberg, November 20, 2018.

Video of the largely unheralded January 14, 2019 City Council hearing taking oral testimony is also available. 

Our Citizens Defending Libraries Testimony:

* * * *

January 14, 2019

Committee on Governmental Operations
Fernando Cabrera, Chair
Committee on Governmental Operations
c/o Elizabeth Adams eadams@council.nyc.gov

Re: Testimony respecting Councilman Steve Levin’s proposed change in law respecting a legal trust fund to facilitate Mayor de Blasio’s payment of legal bills related to investigation of his conduct.

Dear City Council Members and Committee on Governmental Operations:

This letter states why Citizens Defending Libraries is opposed to the current move to change the law to allow much larger scale donations for the purpose of enabling Mayor Bill de Blasio to pay his legal fees for fending off and defeating investigations of his conduct while in the office of mayor, including what appears to be pay-to-play conduct involving public assets that need to be properly protected by our public officials in office.   

Citizens Defending Libraries has called for Mr. De Blasio’s conduct in selling off the Business, Career and Education Brooklyn Heights Library to be investigated.  See our letter attached and available on-line:

Open Letter to US Attorney Preet Bharara, NYS Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, et al: Use Your Staggering Powers as Law Enforcers & Public Guardians To Immediately Halt the Corrupt Sale & Shrinking of Brooklyn Heights Library

We do not currently feel that investigation has ever been properly attended to.

We feel that passage of this change in the law to deal retroactively with this situation of concern still outstanding signals that impunity for Mr. De Blasio is acceptable, rather than the appropriate further investigation that would be appropriate and should be conducted.

As for what is signaled to be “acceptable,” we must note that while we and others think that there should be investigation as to whether criminal and/or civil laws have been broken, it is widely viewed that Mr. De Blasio’s conduct was at least improper to the degree that it skirted the law thus raising both the question of whether the law has actually been broken, and, if it hasn’t, whether the law needs to be changed.  Changes to the law that retroactively coddle this conduct sends the wrong message about what we expect from our public officials.

Next, and very significantly, we have a problem with the fact the change in this law (this change in the administrative code of the City of New York) is sponsored for adoption by another public official, Councilman Steve Levin, who worked with Mr. de Blasio to hand off the valuable downtown Brooklyn Heights Library to a developer for a pittance. (This recently enlarged and completely upgraded central destination library was Brooklyn’s second biggest library.)  Department of Education funds were also raided to push through the deal. Quite clearly, if the investigation we have called for were to be conducted Councilman Levin would be central to its scrutiny.  It is therefore a public embarrassment that Mr. Levin is the one who is proposing this change in the law at this time.

Lastly, the law as it currently stands serves a good purpose: It allows the public to deliver a verdict.  Contributions can indeed currently be made to pay fees to defend Mr. de Blasio’s conduct, it is just that they must be limited to $50.00 per person.  The reason a change is being requested in this law is because, without that change, there are too few New Yorkers with whom Mr. de Blasio’s conduct would find favor to pay these bills.  Mr. de Blasio and his administration officials represent that he is selling off valuable libraries to give the public a better deal.  But that is not actually believed by enough of the eight million-plus New Yorkers so that the minimal number will endorse the mayor’s conduct by paying his bills.  More typically, we regard such conduct on Mr. de Blasio’s part as generating public losses that hurt the average citizen.

Changing this law, allows Mr. De Blasio to turn to another, quite different, class of citizen for his verdict.  It’s a more well-healed, less democratic elite able to pay $5,000 without flinching, and they are the same class of citizen, who are more likely to be involved in schemes to sell off our libraries, turning them into real estate deals like the deals we have asked be adequately investigated.           

Accordingly, we oppose this change in the law that blesses past behavior of the mayor, which we think should be investigated rather than blessed.

Sincerely,

Michael D. D. White
Citizens Defending Libraries

* * * *

Here is more testimony submitted by Marilyn Berkon another of our activists who has long been active in our fight to defend our libraries against sale and shrinkage, the removal of books and elimination of librarians.

* * * *

Subject: Steve Levin's proposal allowing legal defense fund for public officials

Submitted on January 11, 2019 for Public Hearing scheduled January 14th, 2019 at City Hall, 10 AM

To Whom It May Concern:

Mayor de Blasio  has requested that a bill be passed allowing a defense fund to aid public officials with their legal expenses.  The names of contributors would be recorded with amounts given, so that the process would have the appearance, at least, of propriety.  But how easy it is to disguise actual names and amounts and motives for contribution!  Passing such a bill would give permission for even more corruption and would create a new, even longer list of victims.  And corrupt officials would not be deterred by the fear of personal expense in a lawsuit.  Moreover, we would be back to square one when de Blasio was under scrutiny for questionable campaign donations to him from people with business pending before the city.  Or for donations to his so-called non-profit funds, which were actually from lobbyists in disguise.  That was Campaign for One NY.  People contributing to such a fund are looking for favors in return for their donations.  Printing their names and amounts does not hinder them since they escape with a shrug, saying that they were favored simply because their project was deemed the best.  And the politicians who benefit from these contributors concur with the same explanation.

Naturally, de Blasio would request such a bill, and naturally his good friend Steve Levin would promote it.  De Blasio may have had charges of corruption dismissed against him, but thousands of people were astonished when word came through, only days after the firing of Preet Bharara by Trump, that de Blasio was exonerated of all wrongdoing!  Preet Bharara's investigation was meant to continue for a long time until all investigations were complete.  That never happened.  The prosecutors admit that although they could not indict him, it was clear that he had engaged in corrupt practices.  And I recently learned that the taxpayers, who were actually his victims, ended up paying for his legal troubles involving Campaign for One NY.  Now he is looking to pay off his remaining $300,000 debt to a private law firm.  He knows he can't get the taxpayers to do it for him again!

One example where de Blasio escaped investigation altogether regards the Brooklyn Heights Library.  Bharara had a full report of the corruption, but was fired before the investigation of the pay-for-play campaign contributions to de Blasio from the developer who tore down the Brooklyn Heights Library to replace it with a luxury condo.  What we were promised was a replacement library less than half the original size, crushed beneath the condo, half below ground, and the ugliness of construction noise and toxins, traffic tie ups, shadows over our park from a condo that no one wanted, except the people who would benefit financially from the deal.  There was hard evidence of pay-for-play with pictures, names and dates of the developer's fund raiser, and hard print evidence of other campaign donation amounts from the developer, all occurring illegally during the time his application to build was still pending.  The so-called affordable housing connected to the condo will be built two miles away in another neighborhood.

That is only one example of de Blasio's corruption throughout the city, never properly investigated.  One could cite many examples that stir up anger and bitterness against this mayor who responds by dismissing the accusations as unimportant, or nonsensical.  We remain his victims in this city.  He won the re-election on only 24% of voters, people who dutifully came out on that raw, rainy, windy day, but had no choice other than de Blasio.  No one knew who was running against him because his excellent opponent Sal Albanese was kept off the second debate on some absurd technicality.  Bo Dietl was allowed to debate him, a man that no one took seriously.  Even de Blasio's re-election created suspicion.

Now de Blasio wants a handout, and his friend Levin is providing it with bill #1325.  Levin betrayed 98% of his constituents, a percentage he himself offered in a video that revealed the fierce opposition to the condo plan.  Yet he gave us the clear impression at the final City Hall hearing that he would stand by his constituents.  We even made calls to his office to extend our praise and thanks for the way he questioned the developer there.  And in a radio interview one day before the vote, he said that he had no compromise in mind with the developer.

But clearly, he did not want to cross, or fall out of favor with de Blasio, who took the pay-for-play donations from the developer and gave permission for the library demolition and the luxury condo construction on the site.  So Levin made a last-minute backroom deal with the developer and stunned us all with his vote against us as we sat at City Hall waiting for him to save our library.  Nor did members of the council cross Levin since they feared retaliation, not getting whatever they might need for their district in the future. And, as for the STEM program he received in that deal--the chancellor, Carmen Farina, had already told him that the Department of Education absolutely did not want a STEM program, that the district already had more than enough, that he was depriving the Department of Education of funds that were much needed elsewhere for students throughout the city. So we see that even before the last-minute deal, he was already conferring with the developer about a compromise he was hiding from his constituents.  How can we possibly respect any bill Levin puts forward on behalf of de Blasio?  It is already tainted, and it would fail to be taint-free in the future. 

 Let de Blasio pay his own legal bills, and let all politicians who have to fight corruption charges pay their own bills.  De Blasio is a public official who escaped punishment, having slipped through many loopholes that were cleverly designed for him.  Our outrage is against him, not his accusers, since we are his victims.  Let public officials keep clean, and no one will be able to sully them.  If anyone tries and fails, that false accuser should be forced to pay the legal expenses incurred.

De Blasio was simply lucky that Trump fired Bharara.  He got off free because the ones aiding in Bharara's investigation perhaps could not manage all the bulk of evidence, or the heavy pressure coming from friends of de Blasio in corrupt government.  He got off free, but we remain his victims.  And he with his smug, self-important attitude, dismisses our complaints as unimportant.

Please don't set up a defense fund for him or any other public official.  It is sure to end in more corruption since the regulations applied will be no stronger than the people who oversee them. And they, too, will be easily corrupted.  Nor do the regulations, in themselves, protect against corruption.  The loopholes are huge, no different from the ones that have already eased de Blasio's path.  And it is not believable that anyone contributing to such a fund would not want a favor in return.  Levin wants the limit to be $5000!  Who would give that kind of money without a favor in mind?  Nor would anyone want to contribute even the $50.00 amount, considering that it is essentially a gift for corrupt politicians.  De Blasio has wreaked destruction here and cares nothing for our consternation. Let him pay his own legal fees..

I repeat, please do not support this bill proposed by Steve Levin regarding a legal defense fund for public officials.  It will only lead to more corruption in government, give unsavory politicians a free pass to act without regard to ethics and the law.  They will do what they do with impunity and will not have to think twice about any consequences they might have to suffer for it in an expensive law suit.  Nor will they ever have to worry about their victims and the price we have to pay.

I end by saying that there is good in everyone, in de Blasio, in Levin--but the good must not be an excuse to ignore the deeply harmful effects of corruption in our city.  That corruption will be made all the more possible, if the proposed bill is passed into law.

Thank you for your attention to this.

Respectfully submitted,
Marilyn Berkon 

Brooklyn, NY 11201       
   

Guess What? Emails Withheld By de Blasio Administration Show de Blasio Fundraiser Putting Library Developers On Wish List For Mayor- Evidence of Guilt?: “Can we take this off official thread please.”

 We Facebooked it and we Tweeted it. - And it is turning out to be fun.

We said. . . . .

DOES THIS SOUND FUN? Want to GUESS what can be found in the hundreds of pages of recently released emails between de Blasio and Berlin Rosen concerning: Deals about our libraries, David Kramer, Hudson Companies, Marvel Architects, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, the Fifth Avenue Committee, EDC, The Springer spouses, the BPL, Linda Johnson, the NYPL, the Queens Library, Steven Schwarzman, Marshall Rose, Booz Allen, Center For An Urban Future, Goldman, Rivington Nursing Home, Brad Lander, Steve Levin, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the City Planning Commission, holding back on audits?

It may take your sharp eye and some diligent searching, but whatever is available in this first batch of released emails is available here. Of course, it may be that they are tactically holding back and that there is nothing here in this initial release, but we won't know without searching through. . .

Let us know if you are looking and we'll share what we find.

Mayor's Office Releases Hundreds of Pages of Emails Between de Blasio and 'Agent of the City'
By Grace Rauh
Updated Thursday, November 24, 2016

Our Citizens Defending Library team members have been reviewing emails (you can pitch in- contact us) and finding things, like in an from a high-profile de Blasio fundraiser, Ross Offiinger to de Blasio’s chief of staff Emma Wolfe putting library developer names on a wish list.  Evidence that this was improper come when senior de Blasio advisor Peter Ragone emails back “Can we take this off official thread please.”
  
The de Blasio administration long resisted giving these emails in response to the freedom of information law, delivered what they has so far heavily blacked out with redactions, and still has not delivered more.  Expect that they will have to be forthcoming with many more. As it was, these emails were delivered using a classic age-old tactic: A massive document dump on Thanksgiving Eve, hoping that nobody would notice.

Fundraiser to de Blasio chief of staff: Developer wish list with the names of library developers David Kramer, Bruce Ratner, Jed Walentas- Click to enlarge

The emails show two developers on the wish list, Bruce Ratner and David Kramer, that are both connected to the shrink-and-sink Brooklyn Heights Library sale now under scrutiny and federal criminal investigation for a pay-to-play situation where the real estate, already being sold for a minuscule fraction of its value to the public, is being given to an inferior bidder, David Kramer, sending contributions de Blasio’s way.

“Can we take this off official thread please.” - Apparently a demand, not a question from senior de Blasio advisor Peter Ragone.

As things currently stand, David Kramer is expecting to be the principal developer of the site if the library is torn down.   Bruce Ratner, already owning part of the overall development parcel (transferred to him by the city in 1986) is a gatekeeper of the transaction involved in the transfer of development rights being used.

Footnote on Ratner: Breaking news on Ratner presents some losing-the-devil-we-know news- Ratner is being kicked off the board at his company and the Ratner family may be on the road to losing control.  See: Atlantic Yards Report: Forest City Realty Trust reverses itself, will drop family control; Bruce Ratner to leave board (Pacific Park loss a factor?), December 07, 2016.

There is another developer on the email wish list involved who is involved with library deals, Jed Walentas.  His tower across from BAM, BAM South, has been involved in shifting plans respecting the libraries.  Originally, he was being assisted in getting a variance for his building (which he originally bid to get form the city as a parking lot) based on the idea that it would include a library paid for by selling the Pacific Street Library across the street from Ratner’s Atlantic Yards, thus freeing up the land next to the Ratner’s mega-monopoly for redevelopment.  Last time other developers and real estate owners were competing near his turf in the area Ratner used the city government to kick them off their land.

We have more we expect to publish here.  Our team is has a lot to look at.

MEDIA ADVISORY/PRESS RELEASE- US Attorney and DA Investigate de Blasio's Sale of Brooklyn Heights Library- Statements of Citizens Defending Libraries in Response

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York City

WHAT: The New York Post broke a major story on Sunday with a first follow-up today- In another new probe into into the de Blasio administration's `pay to play' activities and culture, US Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance have issued subpoenas to investigate Mayor de Blasio's sale of the Brooklyn Heights central destination library in Brooklyn (the second biggest library in Brooklyn), to a developer reportedly offering an inferior bid $6 million below one of the two higher bids for the property.  The recently enlarged and fully upgraded library is being sold for way below its value to the public, less than its vacant lot value and just a minuscule fraction of what it would cost to replace.  For more than three years Citizens Defending Libraries has been opposing this scheme and the similar sale of other New York City Libraries.  This is the kind of investigation Citizens Defending Libraries has been calling for and, accordingly, it is issuing statements in response.
WHEN: Sunday, Tuesday, May 22, 2016 & Monday May 23, 2016 (Original article and follow-up)
WHAT ELSE?:  Citizens Defending Libraries has available tons of information about this library sale, why is should not go forward as well as what needs to be investigated.  We also have information about other libraries under similar threat.

Links to the New York Post article and follow-up reporting about the investigation into the de Blasio administration library sale are available on the following page that also has links to coverage by other outlets (it was NY1's top story all Sunday).

•        Subpoenas Are Issued By US Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance In Investigation of de Blasio's Apparent `Pay to Play' Sale of Brooklyn Heights Library

http://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com/2016/05/subpoenas-are-issued-by-us-attorney.html

The revelation of the subpoenas investigating the library deal comes just two and a half weeks after Citizens Defending Libraries joined collectively with other community groups on the steps of City Hall for a press conference asking US Attorney Preet Bharara to investigate this and other 'pay to play' activities of the de Blasio administration sacrificing public assets to the real estate industry.  See:

 •    PHOTO GALLERY & VIDEO LINKS: May 4, City Hall Press Community Groups Conference- Call to End de Blasio's "Pay To Play" Developer Deals- Bharara Please Investigate

http://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com/2016/05/subpoenas-are-issued-by-us-attorney.html

Facts being investigated in the library sale case closely parallel another investigation that the City Comptroller Scott Stringer is involved in investigating, mentioned by the CBS News reporting of the new library investigation:

Also under scrutiny is a city-approved deed change that led to the conversion of the Rivington House nursing home on the Lower East Side into luxury condominiums.

The investigation will likely is likely bring much to light.  In September of 2014 Citizens Defending Libraries announced its Citizens Audit and Investigation that the BPL and city officials have been stonewalling since that time.  With criminal subpoenas they won’t be able to do that any longer.  See:

•    Monday, September 15, 2014, Press Release: Citizens Audit and Investigation of Brooklyn Public Library- FOIL Requests

The New York Post's follow-up story reports that it is not just the library being sold to bestow favors on the developer: In addition, NYC Department of Education Funds have been raided, blank check style, in an unspecified amount, as part of the deal concocted in the office of de Blasio's development mayor, Alicia Glen.  The backroom deal was unveiled at the last minute, further aiding the developer to push his deal through.

Here are statements from Citizens Defending Libraries about the investigation:

    •    The investigation points to the fact that the de Blasio administration, exemplifying all the wrong motivations, was willing to make its decision to sell the library to this particular politically connected developer and shaft the public with a super low price. . . .  Those way off target motivations on the part of the mayor confront us with the far bigger question: Why should we be selling this recently expanded, fully upgraded, central destination library, the second biggest in Brooklyn, at a minuscule fraction of its value to the public, netting only the tiniest sliver of what it would cost to replace?

    •    We should all be alarmed at this incredibly skewed system where, with the influence of money trammeling the public good, a de Blasio deputy mayor focused on real estate development [Alicia Glen- previously of Goldman Sachs] concocted a deal to sell off a valuable central destination library, the second biggest in Brooklyn at a minuscule fraction of its value to the public, a fraction of what it would cost to replace . .  Plus, as should also be another obvious component of the investigation, we see a blank check raiding of Department of Education funds to push this indefensible plunder along.

    •    When de Blasio officials are already netting such a very small amount to sell the library, the Brooklyn Public Library’s acceptance of $6 million less blows out of the water any pretext officials were offering as a reason to sell such a valuable library.  It’s clearly just about making deals with the real estate industry.

    •    There was an appalling lack of public process and colossal de Blasio administration arrogance displayed by the way that deputy mayor for development raided Department of Education funds, blank check fashion, with a backroom deal unveiled at the last minute to push this deal through on behalf of the developer.  Nobody from the de Blasio administration ever stopped to consult the public about what it wants . .  But you can bet they knew exactly what the developer’s needs were.

    •    One thing will be very interesting as this investigation unfolds: We have seen so often in these corruption investigations a narrative unfold that real estate industry developers are the `innocent’ victims of corrupt politicians like de Blasio who shake them down.  Here, however, there is a clear record, including in the minutes of the Brooklyn Public Library, that this corrupt deal was generated by those interested in dishing out real estate deals and planning to snare into service whatever elected officials came along afterwards.  Our hapless mayor was just too dumb, too cynical and too greedy to walk away from the trap. He should have done the right thing and represented the people who voted for him.  . . . . He should have heeded his own words spoken when he stood with us in July 2013 on the steps of the 42nd Street Central Reference Library calling for a halt to this other library sales around the city:

 It’s public land and public facilities and public value under threat. . . and once again we see, lurking right behind the curtain, real estate developers who are very anxious to get their hands on these valuable properties. 

CONTACT:
Carolyn E. McIntyre, Michael D. D. White
Michael White, 718-834-6184, mddwhite [at] aol.com
Carolyn McIntyre, 917-757-6542 cemac62 [at] 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 two and a half+ years since its founding, see:

PHOTO GALLERIES- PAST EVENTS

                                                                  #   #   #

Subpoenas Are Issued By US Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance In Investigation of de Blasio’s Apparent ‘Pay to Play’ Sale of Brooklyn Heights Library

NY1 Reports on Post's story as its top story appearing "In the Papers"

This page will be updated.

Here is big news.  This page will collect the links.

The New York Post has reported that US Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance have issued subpoenas to investigate Mayor de Blasio’s apparent “pay to play” sell off of the Brooklyn Heights Library to a developer, David Kramer’s Hudson Companies, making an inferior bid to acquire the Brooklyn Heights Library at a minscule fraction of its value to the public.  Why?  Apparently because de Blasio likes the developers who has sent contributions his way.

(If you would like to read Citizens Defending Libraries statements about this investigation go to the end of this page.)

The story is getting picked up and promoted by other outlets including by NY1 which ran it as its top story this Sunday.

Here are links to the reporting on the story (comments are possible at many of the sites):

•    New York Post: Feds, DA probe de Blasio's $52M deal to turn library into condo, by Aaron Short, May 22, 2016.

Here is the Post's next day follow-up article-

•    New York Post:  De Blasio pal's library deal gets even fishier, By Aaron Short, May 23, 2016

The Brooklyn Heights library-redevelopment deal under investigation for being awarded to a de Blasio pal who was outbid for the site includes a provision requiring the Department of Education to lease the basement and build a huge science lab there, The Post has learned.

But the DOE - which has to foot the unspecified costs of leasing the basement and building the lab - never asked for it, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

"This was not their idea. They didn't want it," the source said. "If they were going to be forced to take space like this, they wanted a gym."

* * * *

Levin acknowledged Sunday that he was the man behind the lab plan, saying it "would be a great addition to Downtown Brooklyn."

"The DOE didn't really object to it. They went back and looked at it and said, `Yes it's possible,' and we worked through for how much space would be viable," he added.

•    NY1: Brooklyn Heights Library's Sale Investigated as Part of Probe Into the de Blasio Administration, By NY1 News, Sunday, May 22, 2016

•    NY1: In The Papers 5/22/16, By Kristen Shaughnessy, Sunday, May 22, 2016

•    CBS New York: Report: Investigators Probe De Blasio Administration Deal That Turned Brooklyn Library Into Condos, May 22, 2016

The CBS report makes this link to a relate investigation in which the City Comptroller Scott Stringer is involved in with some remarkably parallel facts:

Also under scrutiny is a city-approved deed change that led to the conversion of the Rivington House nursing home on the Lower East Side into luxury condominiums.

First Picture that went up on Real Deal's article.  It was photoshoped from our "Library Squasher" edition of the photo

•    The Real Deal: Prosecutors allegedly investigating De Blasio sweetheart dealDe Blasio was accused of awarding bid to Hudson Companies despite lower offer, May 22, 2016

•    The Brooklyn Heights Blog: U.S. Attorney and Manhattan DA Probing Library Deal, By Claude Scales on May 22, 2016

•        Brooklyn Eagle/& Heights Press: De Blasio administration defends sale of Brooklyn Heights Library- Denies knowledge of investigations, by Mary Frost, May 23, 2016

 •        Progress Queens: Council approval of Brooklyn library sale now subject of investigation raises questions about Van Bramer's judgment, by Louis Flores, May 24, 2016.  (This is a good longer form article that does extra research and provides extra background on the story.)

When Councilman Steve Levin sent out an announcement of a Brooklyn Heights Town Hall he was hoping the community would forget his betrayal on the library sale and just want to talk about trash can designs- Instead he got News12 Coverage trashing his handing the de Blasio a "pay to play" deal.

Steve Levin getting an earful about his betrayal on the "pay to play" Brooklyn Heights Library sale

  •        News12 Brooklyn: Critics want probe into `pay to play' developments, May 26, 2016

  •        AM New York: Library-condo deal heightens mayor's plight, By Liza Featherstone June 1, 2016.

 
 •         Curbed: Brooklyn Heights Library Redevelopment Plan Probed By Feds- The chosen developer didn't have the highest bid or provide the most affordable housing, by Zoe Rosenberg, May 23, 2016

    •    Gothamist: City Hall Insists Nothing's Fishy About $52 Million Library-To-Luxury Condo Deal, by Emma Whitford, May 23, 2016.

•    Bay Ridge Journal: DeBlasio Administration Investigated in BPL Re-Development Deal, May 22, 2016

•    Eastern News Feed:  Prosecutors investigating alleged De Blasio sweetheart deal at Brooklyn Heights library- e Blasio was accused of awarding bid to Hudson Companies despite lower offer, May 22, 2016



•    True News: Library investigation stories.

A picture of our protest appeared in the Post article

 Later in the evening NY1 ran their story with some fancier graphics and a denial fo wrong doing from a de Blasio spokeperson, Austin Finan.

As yet we don’t know whether any subpoenas went to a number of people who would  necessarily have been involved in implementing the selection of the inferior bidder, theoretically decision makers themselves.  The list would include officials working at the NY City Economic Development Corporation, Brooklyn Public Library President Linda Johnson, maybe people working under her, and BPL trustees like, for instance, BPL trustee and board treasurer Peter Aschkenasy, one of three people to whom making the now very suspect selection of Hudson Companies was reportedly delegated.

Marvel Archietitects guiltily tried to remove this frm the web.  Click on the link below for details.

Was Marvel Architects subpoenaed?  They are the architect part of the developer’s bidding team involved in the library deal.  We know that they were recently guiltily scurrying to remove from the web what they had previous put up on the web about their fundraising with the David Kramer.  See:

•    As Feeding Frenzy Elevates NY1 Covers DeBlasio "Pay To Play" Violation: Taking Campaign Contributions From Kramer's Hudson Companies While Handing Out Brooklyn Heights Library Deal- Marvel Architects Runs But Can't Hide

The above also includes links to stories that make clear why these subpoenas should likely have been coming.

As yet we also don’t know if other things related to the sale of the library for far below its value are being investigated.  High on that list of what ought to be investigated is the de Blasio administration’s raid on Department of Education funds to help push through the sale of the library with a backroom deal unveiled at the last minute that, conferred these extra benefits on the developer, blank check style for a black box “STEM” or “STEAM” facility.

More that ought to be investigated?  There is all the suspicious stuff that the BPL has been stonewalling our FOIL request about concerning whether their air conditioner repairs and related contracts really make sense. . .  A lot more.

For instance, consult our Citizens Audit and Investigation that the BPL has been stonewalling.  With criminal subpoenas they won’t be able to do that any longer:

•    Monday, September 15, 2014, Press Release: Citizens Audit and Investigation of Brooklyn Public Library- FOIL Requests

These unfolding events naturally bring to mind the ‘pay to play’ press conference where we recently joined with other community groups to call for a halt to de Blasio’s ‘pay to play’ shenanigans.

•    PHOTO GALLERY & VIDEO LINKS: May 4, City Hall Press Community Groups Conference- Call to End de Blasio's "Pay To Play" Developer Deals- Bharara Please Investigate

CITIZENS DEFENDING LIBRARIES STATEMENTS ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION

Below are things Citizens Defending Libraries has to say about the deal being investigated:

    •    The investigation points to the fact that the de Blasio administration, exemplifying all the wrong motivations, was willing to make its decision to sell the library to this particular politically connected developer and shaft the public with a super low price. . . .  Those way off target motivations on the part of the mayor confront us with the far bigger question: Why should we be selling this recently expanded, fully upgraded, central destination library, the second biggest in Brooklyn, at a minuscule fraction of its value to the public, netting only the tiniest sliver of what it would cost to replace?

    •    We should all be alarmed at this incredibly skewed system where, with the influence of money trammeling the public good, a de Blasio deputy mayor focused on real estate development [Alicia Glen- previously of Goldman Sachs] concocted a deal to sell off a valuable central destination library, the second biggest in Brooklyn at a minuscule fraction of its value to the public, a fraction of what it would cost to replace . .  Plus, as should also be another obvious component of the investigation, we see a blank check raiding of Department of Education funds to push this indefensible plunder along.

    •    When de Blasio officials are already netting such a very small amount to sell the library, the Brooklyn Public Library’s acceptance of $6 million less blows out of the water any pretext officials were offering as a reason to sell such a valuable library.  It’s clearly just about making deals with the real estate industry.

    •    There was an appalling lack of public process and colossal de Blasio administration arrogance displayed by the way that deputy mayor for development raided Department of Education funds, blank check fashion, with a backroom deal unveiled at the last minute to push this deal through on behalf of the developer.  Nobody from the de Blasio administration ever stopped to consult the public about what it wants . .  But you can bet they knew exactly what the developer’s needs were.

    •    One thing will be very interesting as this investigation unfolds: We have seen so often in these corruption investigations a narrative unfold that real estate industry developers are the `innocent’ victims of corrupt politicians like de Blasio who shake them down.  Here, however, there is a clear record, including in the minutes of the Brooklyn Public Library, that this corrupt deal was generated by those interested in dishing out real estate deals and planning to snare into service whatever elected officials came along afterwards.  Our hapless mayor was just too dumb, too cynical and too greedy to walk away from the trap. He should have done the right thing and represented the people who voted for him.  . . . . He should have heeded his own words spoken when he stood with us in July 2013 on the steps of the 42nd Street Central Reference Library calling for a halt to this other library sales around the city:

 It’s public land and public facilities and public value under threat. . . and once again we see, lurking right behind the curtain, real estate developers who are very anxious to get their hands on these valuable properties. 

Here is our Press Release with statements:

Monday, May 23, 2016- MEDIA ADVISORY/PRESS RELEASE- US Attorney and DA Investigate de Blasio's Sale of Brooklyn Heights Library- Statements of Citizens Defending Libraries in Response