Scruffing Things Up As Fast As Possible, De Blasio’s Pay-To-Play Developer Starts Trashing Brooklyn’s Still Publicly Owned Second Largest Library

This week on Wednesday, David Karmer’s Hudson Company sent a crew of men out to start trashing the still publicly owned Brooklyn Heights Library.

This very important destination library is still city-owned.  It’s Brooklyn second biggest and with the substantial enlargement and full upgrading it got in 1993 it is one of the most technologically advanced and up-to-date libraries in terms of supporting computers and modern technology.

Why would the de Blasio allow his pay-to-play developer, apparently granting the developer a license, to come in and start wrecking, scuffing up and trashing a still publicly owned building?  Bear in mind that allowing this wreckage before the developer has closed on or acquired rights to the property violates the oft touted promises of Mr. de Blasio and his representatives and people like Councilman Steve Levin that the library and its public property would suffer no destruction until a full set of protections was put in place to ensure that the luxury condo and the teeny replacement library (a much more underground library) would be built.

Here are some thoughts on why this is occurring now.

    1.    De Blasio, the developer and the BPL board and honchos don’t want a pristine and perfect piece of public property sitting grandly and obviously unused on Tuesday, November 8th the day that people are supposed to go out to vote for Hillary Clinton (not Trump, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson according to de Blasio).  The library’s public auditorium has been a key neighborhood polling spot for sometime.  With its doors sealed there isn’t currently an adequate replacement which has caused considerable public complaint about the failure to use this obviously still available valuable public asset.  You don’t want people going to the polls in November more angry than they have to be.  And Hillary surely doesn’t want Democrats showing up angry or not showing up at out of disgust or discouragement–   This library is, after all, given the intersection of the streets where it is located, the “Tillary Clinton Library.”  It is, furthermore, immediately adjacent to the Forest City Ratner owned building where Hillary has her national campaign headquarters.  The building is even, for development purposes, part of the same real estate development parcel as Hillary’s headquarters thus constituting Hillary’s Forest City Ratner landlord a gatekeeper to the library sale, shrink and sink transaction.  Notwithstanding, Hillary did not answer our calls to come forth and oppose this privatization of public assets that was laying at her doorstep. – It is important to note that while Hillary can be scolded for how this library sale lays uncriticized by her at her very doorstep, Trump has much the same problem: The shrink-and-sink sale of the Brooklyn Heights Library was modeled on the shrink-and-sink sale of the Donnell Library (there was an overlap of the people behind both) and one of the principal financial beneficiaries of the sale of Donnell for a pittance was Jered Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top campaign advisor.

    2.    Via the symbolism attendant with a cavalier degradation of the still publicly owned library, the city wants to help the Hudson Companies prove to banks and those from whom the developer is seeking financing and guarantees that the developer isn’t afraid of the investigations into his deal, including the criminal pay-to-play investigation by Preet Bharara’s US Attorney’s office.   The impunity with which the developer hopes to vandalize the library before he owns it is like a thumb in the eye of the investigators to proclaim that he doesn’t fear them or being held financially responsible for the astronomical losses that will be engendered for the public when he proceeds.  It’s a risky ploy.  The developer is not a good faith purchaser for value of this property and the world is adequately on notice so that the developer and the property can be directly proceeded against resulting in substantial losses sustained by those who do business with him on this property.

    3.    As an extension of number 2 above, the developer wants, with a toe-in-the-water or camels-nose-under-the-tent, to show that no one is going to stop him even as promises are not kept.  While he may not be taking final steps here, the developer would surely like to demonstrate that no one is going to stop him, even as he imitate without keeping promises.   He’d like to show that community won’t stop him and that public officials like Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Tish James won’t let out a squeak of opposition.  We buttonholed Comptroller Stringer just the other day and complained about his non-investigation of the library together with his failure to produce the BPL library audit he promised.  “I don’t investigate libraries,” he said.   We responded that his website, his press releases and public statements all represent that he does investigate corruption, fraud and abuse and the waste of city funds.  And Comptroller did produce an audit of the Queens Library where he went into details about much less significant matters comparatively involving just a few dollars: How the former Queen Library head improper used his library credit car to put gasoline in his other family members’ cars.

The head of the crew of men trashing the library didn’t want pictures taken or people walking on the public property near the library.  “You can’t do that!” he said, “they gave us the library!”

PRESS RELEASE: Combined Power of Law Enforcers/Public Guardians should halt corrupt library deal

PRESS RELEASE- Law Enforcers and Public Guardians, Preet Bahara, Eric Schneiderman and Scott Stringer Included, are asked to use the combined authority of their five extraordinarily powerful offices to halt the imminent, tragic and corrupt loss of Brooklyn's second biggest, most important library

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York City

WHAT: Citizens Defending Libraries, in a letter issued yesterday, has asked the five most powerful law enforcers and public guardians in the city to intervene to prevent the indefensible loss to which Mayor de Blasio (violating his campaign pledge plus now under investigation) would cynically subject New Yorkers by shrinking and sinking Brooklyn's second largest and most important library.  The request comes in the wake of the opening of the so-called "replacement" for the Donnell Library that starkly demonstrates, by example, the extent of the pending loss.

Citizens Defending Libraries has asked the officials to intervene immediately to prevent the imminent and drastic loss of the Brooklyn Heights Library rather than simply prosecuting public officials for the harm to the public after the fact.

Citizens Defending Libraries has asked Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General State of New York, Scott M. Stringer, New York City Comptroller, Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Letitia James, Public Advocate for the City of New York, to coordinate to use their powers collectively, as is often done in such situations, to avoid any problems with gaps in authority or jurisdiction or skips in handling, believing that some other office was already taking actions necessary.

BACKGROUND:

It has previously been reported that Mayor de Blasio and his administration is under investigation by United States Attorney Preet Bharara and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance for a "pay to play" hand-off of the library to a developer, Hudson Companies, making an inferior bid for the library, a bid $6 million less than one of the two other higher bidders.  NYC Comptroller Stringer is involved in the related, very similar investigation of the Rivington nursing home scandal.

The library deal and preferential hand-off necessarily implicates in the "pay to play" fact pattern trustees and officials of the Brooklyn Public Library who were not only willing to hand off the library to the developer sending contributions to de Blasio campaigns, but were also willing to sell the recently expanded and fully upgraded library for less than the value of the property as a vacant lot (standing to net from the sale less than $20 million for a building it would cost $120+ million to replace).

The clock is ticking.  The library was shuttered only yesterday, the day of the delivery of Citizens Defending Libraries letter.

Citizens Defending Libraries letter to the law enforcers and pubic guardians is available here:

Wednesday, July 27, 2016,  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 

http://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com/2016/07/open-letter-to-us-attorney-preet.html

Quotes:

"It would be ridiculous to say that nothing can be done by people holding such powerful positions to protect the public and it would be ridiculous to let the library be destroyed now, only to bemoan its passing and prosecute those responsible afterwards."- Michael D. D. White, co-founder Citizens Defending Libraries

"Mayor de Blasio's failed to be present at the opening of the shrunken, sunken so-called "replacement" of Donnell, quite remarkable given how it represents and relates as a model his Heights library deal.  Is that merely practical politics or a guilty conscience?"- Carolyn E. McIntyre, co-founder Citizens Defending 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 three and a half+ years since its founding, see:

PHOTO GALLERIES- PAST EVENTS

                                                                  #   #   #

Citizens Defending Libraries
(718) 797-5207
http://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com
@DefendLibraries on twitter
backpack362@aol.com

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

January 8, 2014 letter Conflict of Interest Board letter: No "pay to play"!

You will find more added here to this page as the story develops. . . .

Monday, May 2, 2016 NY1 reported a heftily researched story about how Mayor de Blasio’s “pay to play” campaign contributions violate a January 8, 2014 letter (issued eight days into the de Blasio administration) from the city's Conflicts of Interest Board, the agency overseeing ethical conduct for local elected officials that specifically restricted pay to play contributions to de Blaios’s Campaign for One New York. . .  Prominently mentioned amongst a number of violations is a $5,000 donation from developer David Karmer’s Hudson Companies in February of 2014 while Kramer and Hudson were hoping that de Blasio would do what de Blasio eventually did: Sell Brooklyn’s second largest and most important library to Kramer for a fraction of its value so that Kramer could build a tower of luxury condominiums while shrinking the library down to just 42% and moving much of the publicly visited space underground.

Does this make clear why de Blasio and friends are being investigated right now?

You can view the NY1 story here or read the text of it.

See: NY1-  Mayor's Nonprofit May Have Violated Directive from City's Conflict of Interest Board, By Courtney Gross, Monday, May 2, 2016

But that’s not all!: Kramer and his development team with their library deal pending to be decided by de Blasio’s administration were previously bundling campaign funds and sending them de Blasio’s way with a fundraiser held October 24, 2013.  Kramer’s architect is Jonathan Marvel’s firm, Marvel Architects.  Their fundraiser was apparently a joint one.

See:  Noticing New York- WNYC Reports Mayor de Blasio's "Furiously Raising Funds"- Including From Developers "Lurking Behind The Curtain" of Library Real Estate Sales- And WNYC's Money? Saturday, June 6, 2015.

From the NY1 play to pay report

Forest City Ratner, neighbor to the library and involved as a gatekeeper in the Brooklyn Heights Library sale transaction is also mentioned in the NY1 report as a pay to play player.

The "pay to play" contributions must be evaluated in the context of it's being reported that David Kramer's Hudson Companies and his development team didn't deliver the best bid.  According to a recent New York Post article the Kramer bid was inferior to others in various respects and was lower than two other bids, twenty percent below the market and $6 million (12%) below one of the higher bids.  Given that the deal selling the library for a minuscule fraction of its value could net perhaps only $20 million (if even that) the obvious sacrifices of public value are huge.  Further, the Post reports Kramer "was not going to be the winning guy pre-de-Blasio.”

See:  New York Post- Developer with ties to de Blasio scores job, despite being outbid, By Aaron Short, February 21, 2016

It seems that word has gone out that the jig is up and a worried Marvel Architects has just recently gotten busy expunging evidence of their collection of funds for de Blasio while planning to snare the sweet deal plundering the public’s property.

Marvel Architects has simultaneously gone searching to delete pages from its website about the October 24th 2013 joint fundrasier with Kramer as well as its tweet-with-picture about the event.

Unfortunately for Marvel, Kramer et al, the internet is something of a time machine and its is not as if they weren’t already being watched.  We were waiting to pick our time to share this.  (The now you see it, now you don't nature of the internet can be treacherous, but it is not completely obliging when it comes to expunging things.)

Here are the web pages Marvel just hastily deleted from its website:

Web page evidence of pay to play campaign contributions deleted from Marvel Architects' website as de Blasio fundraising comes under scrutiny-  Jonathan Marvel and David Kramer were on the "host committee" according to the details you can read on this page.  Reading who was there it must have been a night!$$$$

A related page on Marvel Architects' website that was also deleted.

What Marvel wants you to see if you go looking for the fundraising page now:

Sorry, but your page can't e found!-  But on the internet you can't hide and it can be found.

For those of you who know Twitter, it is pretty weird, pretty far out there and pretty desperate to go search to delete your two-and-one-half year old Tweets.  But that is what Marvel Architects felt compelled to do at the same time it was deleting its web pages.  Here is the tweet of the de Blasio fundrasing it wanted to scrub from the internet.

Up until not many days ago the link to it used to be:


https://twitter.com/marvelarch/status/393493291410264064

If you'd like a better look at the actual picture tweeted (same one that was on the webpages) you can see de Blasio standing right next to David Kramer below.

Maybe for good measure Marvel Architects also thought it would be a good idea to block Citizens Defending Libraries co-founder Michael D. D. White (also on Twitter) from seeing its tweets (see below).  But taking that measure, whatever it was supposed to accomplish, was rather too late- That's not the way the internet actually works.

"You are blocked from following @Marvelarch and viewing @Marvelarch's tweets."

 

The Googled up ghost of @Marvelarch's deleted tweet.

This, of course, is probably not actually the sort of destruction of evidence that's illegal when a criminal case is being pursued, but for the onlookers it has a delicious similarity of flavor, a sending up of smoke signals that perpetrators have realized that conduct crossing the line needs to be hidden.

There is more that we hope gets investigated.  The other day we asked NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer about how the BPL's trustees selling an extremely valuable library without bothering to appraise it value to the public as a library from the public's perspective (it would cost more than $120 million to replace and is being sold to net next to nothing) should be a red flag for auditors, an indication of fraud and bearch of fiduciary duty.  That's when Comptroller Stringer observed a connection (presumably in theme) of the library sale to Kramer and the nursing home deal being investigated where the de Blasio administration essentially gave away a nursing home by selling the restrictive covenant that created and ensured it while de Blasio reaped what looks like these same kind of pay to play contributions.

We hope that there is also an investigation into how, with the Library deal pending, de Blasio and his Deputy Mayor for Development Alicia Glen raided NYC Department of Education Funds (in still unspecified but sizeable amounts) to push Karmer's real estate deal along.  How far do pay to play contributions go?  With the question of mayoral control of schools again in the balance in Albany that is a good question.

(Footnote: Meanwhile, City Councilman Steve Levin, who at one point said he had to put through the library sale over his constituent's objections because of de Blasio, is sidestepping his responsibility to insist on transparency respecting the transaction.)

NYC Comptroller's Office Letter to Deputy Mayor Glen on the Brooklyn Heights Library

Citizens Defending Libraries is very pleased to have a letter from NYC Comptroller Scott M. Stringer's office to the the Mayor's Office, Mayor de Blasio's Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development expressing concern that the proposed sale of the Brooklyn heights Library does not maximize public value and fails to address the needs facing the Brooklyn Public Library.

As seen in this video, at NYC Comptroller Stringer's December 3rd Brooklyn Town Forum Comptroller Stringer heard expression of concerns from the community and responded with his own expression of concerns about the proposed sale and drastic shrinkage of the Brooklyn Heights Library, Brooklyn's central destination Business, Career and Education library in Downtown Brooklyn.

VIDEO:  Stringer: Serious Concerns w/Brooklyn Heights Library Plan (click through for best view)


Here is the letter:

* * * * *

City of New York
Office of the Comptroller
Scott M. Stringer


ALAINA GlLLIGO
First Deputy Comptroller
Executive Office


December 9, 2015

Alicia Glen
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Re: One Clinton Street- Brooklyn Heights Library- C 150399 PPK and C 150500 PQK

Dear Deputy Mayor Glen:

I am writing to share several concerns regarding the sale of the Brooklyn Heights Library (BHL). The proposal would dispose of city-owned property, currently operated by the library, in exchange for off-site affordable housing, $40 million for the library's capital needs, and a new library valued at approximately $12 million.

Libraries are vital resources - enriching our lives through education and connectivity and providing ladders of opportunity for New Yorkers of all ages. As a result, it is essential that government ensure the sustainability of these anchor institutions for future generations.

However, there are serious questions regarding whether the proposed sale of BHL is the most effective way to reach this goal in line with the needs of the community. Of particular concern are the following:

    •    The lack of a comprehensive public plan to address the capital needs of the library system;
    •    Questions about whether the plan secures fair and full market value for the property;
    •    The potential loss of services at this branch, both temporary and permanent;
    •    The siting of affordable housing offsite; and
    •    Questions over whether the project will produce good jobs and a safe work environment.

I believe that the Brooklyn Public Library has a responsibility to speak to these concerns prior to moving forward with the proposed project.

Capital Needs

City-owned authorities, non-profits, and agencies are increasingly leveraging the value of real estate to fund capital needs. While these strategies can be a useful tool to support public facilities and neighborhood needs, communities have a right to understand and participate in the development of these plans when they involve publically owned properties.

As a result, it is critical for entities to create and disseminate comprehensive long term plans prior to the disposition of their properties. These plans can help entities chart a path toward financial stability by exploring various methods-- including long-- term leases-that generate consistent revenue.

BPL has stated that it has $300 million of outstanding capital needs across its system, which includes the Central Library, Business Library, and 58 neighborhood branches. I strongly support efforts to find creative solutions to meet those needs. However, to date, BPL has not provided the public with a comprehensive capital plan that explains how the one-time revenue from the sale of BHL will fix those needs. Indeed, the projected revenue from the BHL plan will cover less than one-fifth of the stated need and will not increase revenue to the library over the long-term.

It is simply unsustainable for the City to rely solely on the disposition of property to cover capital needs without fixing the systematic causes for the capital gap.

As a result, the library's comprehensive capital plan should include:

1.    Which real estate strategies it considered from full disposition to long term leases;
2.    The financial gaps this plan intends to fill and how the revenue will prevent these gaps in the future;
3.    Additional properties (if any) that it intends to sell; and
4.    The amount of development it anticipates in these neighborhoods.

Only through this public disclosure can the community and elected officials understand the potential benefits and pitfalls of this plan.

Value

In many communities, there is a dearth of available publicly owned land that can be used to fulfill neighborhood needs. It is therefore essential that any sale of public land must be in the public's best interest and that the public receives the highest value possible, in both use and dollars.

Some groups have expressed concern that the City is selling the property for significantly below market value, even after taking into account BPL's estimate of the value of the new Brooklyn Heights Branch ($10 million) and the interim library ($2.7 million).

For major developments across the City, like those in Hudson Yards, the City has engaged independent appraisers to value properties in order to price complex issues like air rights.

The City should take a similar step here to ensure that BPL is getting full and fair market value for this public asset.

Services

Finally, I share the concerns expressed by many stakeholders concerning the potential reduction in the library's usable space and the shift of essential services to less accessible locations.

While the proposed plan includes a new library, the total space available for public use is being reduced. Currently, the Brooklyn Heights branch and the Business Career Library has approximately 32,000 SF of library, office and circulation space. As proposed, the new branch will have only 21,500 SF, with at least 18,500 SF open to the public. This reduction in size will limit the volume of services that can be provided at the site and limits flexibility for new or expanded services in the future.

The reduction in space will also require the relocation of the Business and Career Library to the Central Branch. While these services won't be discontinued, their relocation will have a detrimental effect on many members of the Brooklyn community. Unlike the Brooklyn Heights Library, which is 0.2 miles from the accessible subway station at Borough Hall, the closest accessible station to the Central Branch is approximately 1 mile from the nearest accessible stations at Atlantic Terminal and Prospect Park.

Given the greater accessibility of the Brooklyn Heights branch, BHL should be considered for more services, not fewer.

Conclusion

Our public libraries are essential to the well-being, education, and advancement of our populace and we must do everything in our power to ensure that they are maintained in sound fiscal health. At this time, I remain concerned that the proposed sale of the Brooklyn Heights Library does not maximize public value and fails to address the ongoing capital needs facing BPL.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.


Sincerely.
Alaina Gilligo
First Deputy Comptroller

* * * * *

On the whole it's a good letter for which Citizens Defending Libraries is very grateful, and we know the Comptroller's Office faced a deadline producing it.

We have a few quibbles we must raise and at least one thing to add to the concern list.

On the subject of getting "market value" we have been straining to remind people that "tear-down" market value (which we are apparently not getting) is far less than value of an up and running asset to the public.  The first in regard to this sale is somewhere in the $52 to maybe $60 million neighborhood, the second in the case of this library is, we think from the public's point of view, far closer to the library's replacement cost in the vicinity of $120+ million.  The BPL has been particularly assiduous in side-stepping assessment of the latter. . .

. . .We think the letter does say this when its says any sale "must be in the public's best interest and the the public receives the highest value possible, in both use and dollars." nonetheless, this is something that we are seeking to be ultra clear about given the consequences that could flow from not bearing the difference in value in mind.

We also find the BPL's disregard for books, core to its mission, frightening, and something that echoes problems at the NYPL and its inability and unwillingness to provide straight, correct and non-misleading information about its book counts (per the recent New York Times article).  Further, as the NYPL's slowly emerging 990s are showing, there is a huge unpublicized expense to keeping books off-site.  In that regard, space for books in the Brooklyn Heights Library is important, including the two underground half-floors that also enable the library to fulfill its qualifications as a Federal Depository.

Ergo, we are not quick to dismiss the value of much of the space at the library, including the two underground half-floors that are very comparable to the seven floors of stacks at the 42nd Street Central Reference Library (with capacity for 3 million books) that are very controversially empty at present.

So, in terms of space valuable to the public we include the underground book storage space.  The above ground space at the library is just under 38,000 square feet and we areloath to par it down to to any 32,000 subcomponent as if nearly 6,000 square feet of it (or the underground space) might not be quite valuable.  We know that BPL president Linda Johnson disparages the space saying that the staircase is too large (like in City Hall?), but space has a way of being used: Today, we counted (and photographed) about eight strollers and one scooter tucked away into the stair space that would have to have gone somewhere.  Upstairs, the stairway area, with a window, was a nice place for one young woman to make a phone call about her notes (away from disturbing readers) while looking out the window beside the display case.

The fact that we are taking the time to be exacting about these issues of public value at stake should not detract from the fact that we think this is an excellent letter expressing especially profound insurmountable concerns and it encourages us as we look forward to working more with the Controller's office in the future.  We especially like the inclusion of the handicapped accessibility issue.