Testimony of Samantha Imperatrice                                           Friday, May 25, 2007

Families United for Racial and Economic Equality

Before the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Mayor’s Office of Contracts regarding the transfer of and amendments to the lease for Albee Square Mall

Hello, my name is Samantha Imperatrice and work with FUREE as a policy researcher and on our Small Business Organizing project.

I have thought a lot in preparing this testimony about what are the most important points to touch upon in light of just how damaging, how unimaginative, and frankly how embarrassing to the agencies involved, the negotiated deal for the redevelopment of Albee Square mall is.  In a moment I will detail some key points, which no doubt will be mentioned by others as well, that show just how against the public interests this deal is.  But as I think through what this project really means for the future of Downtown Brooklyn and for all the community members that live, work, shop and own stores in the area, I can’t help but come back to statements that have been made to me by a representative of the NYC Economic Development Corporation. These comments go to the heart of how exclusive and offensive this process has been. 

Having had to go to unreasonable lengths to get basic information about the scheduling of this hearing and the reasons for its repeated postponements, I was eventually informed by an EDC spokesperson that, “No one was trying to deny us our day to come out and say what we have to say”. This same spokesperson took serious issue with community members’ desire to meet with HPD, the affordable housing agency with final approval over the project. I was told that I and the members of our organization needed to “spend some serious time educating ourselves about how city agencies go about doing their work”.   

Considering that community members in Downtown Brooklyn, when they are actually informed about development that will affect them, HAVE been speaking out for the past 40 years now and have not been listened to in any meaningful way;

Considering FUREE members have been denied the right to meet with both the involved agencies together and that our expressed concerns have not been incorporated into the new lease, making it clear that this was a back-room negotiated deal from day one and today is just a necessary legal requirement to give a veil of democratic legitimacy to this process; and

Considering the severity of the impacts that the redevelopment plan for the site will have for  existing communities;

We are here today to tell you that today is just the beginning of your re-education about how communities go about protecting their interests and meeting their needs.  Regardless of decision you make today we will continue to fight this project until it reflects the input of those you are actively trying to exclude.  

That said here are just some of glaring shortcomings of the deal we are being given to comment upon today:

• The purchase option in the original ground lease called for payment of fair market value. The proposed lease calls for a flat rate of $20 million.  This insultingly low cost doesn’t even represent what the lease interest for the site was valued at 6 years ago. Yet it is being described as “a pretty good economic deal for the city” by an IDA spokesperson. 
• This low purchase price has enabled Thor Equities, along with unrestricted rezoning for the site that fails to recapture any of the value it created, to drive up the purchase price for the lease interest at the expense of being able to create truly affordable housing at an acceptable, much less just percentage. All of this on our own land.
• The heavily subsidized, so-called “affordable units” are only restricted for 25 years and will not remain affordable for very long thereafter under the current regulatory guidelines for rent-stabilized units that allow for deregulation of units with rents of more than $2000. Furthermore they will be available to households earning up to $70,000/ year when the median income for Brooklyn hovers around $40,000.      
• There are no provisions included in the new lease that call for accommodations of displaced businesses. Thus, forcing the affected small business owners to shoulder this burden entirely on their own. This isn’t surprising considering the Environmental Impact Review for the 2004 Rezoning callously lists these businesses and all others facing direct displacement in the area as neither being of economic value to the city nor defining of neighborhood character. However the city has an added obligation to meet the needs of these owners since it is approving their displacement from land it controls. Referrals to the Dept. of Small Business Services are inadequate considering this agency has no funding to directly aid business owners in this particular situation.
• Lastly the new lease is being presented as a severed and amended version of the original lease when in fact it is an entirely new contract representing a radically different use for the site which raises serious legal questions that must be answered before any transfer can approved.

We are not opposed to development. In fact, the constituents that FUREE represents have been asking for public and private investment for as long as the City and large developers have been working together to create top-down planning initiatives that uproot and compromise the ability of communities to sustain themselves. What we are sick of is this lack of investment being used against us as a pretext to justify our removal.  Rather than recognize our perseverance, viability, and character as strengths to be built upon we are seen roadblocks to progress; necessary, perhaps even desired casualties. 

The redevelopment of Albee Square may be just one development site of many that are currently underway but in many ways it represents the worst that 2004 rezoning has to offer NYC and its residents.  To aim so low on our own land is to set an unacceptable benchmark for how we go about doing economic development that will take decades to overcome. If you are concerned with the integrity of your agencies, if you think that your agencies have any integrity, you will work with the community members who are here today to create a better plan.

Thank you.