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Liberty Bonds
Comments on the LMDC's "Draft Assistance Plan for Individuals" -- 3/15/02 Testimony from City Council hearing on LMDC -- 2/25/02
Good Jobs New York
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Liberty Bonds at-a-glance! Click here for breakdown of city and state allocations.
LIBERTY BOND NEWS
4/19/04 -- A mixed-use Forest City Ratner project involving Pace University and NYU Downtown hospital is seeking up to $243 million in commercial Liberty Bonds to fund retail space, a parking garage, an art gallery, a hospital and a dormitory. Up to $131 million in Liberty Bonds for housing are being sought to finance a luxury apartment tower. The NYS Liberty Development Corporation is expected to issue a declaration of intent for the commercial bonds Thursday, May 20, 2004.
Read about this project in The New York Times (5/19/04) and (4/20/04), The New York Post, and the Downtown Express.
3/15/04 -- NY State Housing Finance Agency to Hold Public Hearing
2/19/04 -- NY State Housing Finance Agency to Hold Two Public Hearings:
11/8/03 -- A public hearing on proposed allocation of $110 million in Liberty Bonds for a 400-unit apartment at 90 West Street will be held on November 24th at 10:00 am in the main Conference Room of the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC) at 110 William Street, 10th floor.
10/7/03 -- The NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC) held a public hearing on a 476 unit apartment building to be constructed with $140 million worth of Liberty Bonds at 63 Wall Street. Click here to read GJNY's testimony.
8/21/03 -- The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) approved $200 million in Liberty Bonds for a controversial Rockrose development at 2 Gold Street, announcing that the HPD investigation into possible abuses of subsidies at its 45 Wall Street property had been closed. HDC also gave preliminary approval to another Rockrose project for $175 million in Liberty Bonds at Pearl Street. Click here for details about this and other pending Liberty Bond projects at HDC. Read about this board meeting in the Bond Buyer.
7/21/03 -- Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, and HUD secretary Martinez announce plans to allocate $50 million of the LMDC's funds to subsidize moderate income units in Liberty Bond projects. They estimate that approximately 300 units will be generated through this funding.
Read about the Liberty Bond Housing Coalition's response in: New York 1, WABC-TV, the Daily News, the New York Post, and the New York Sun
7/21/03 -- The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) postpones voting on the 2 Gold Street Liberty Bond project in response to pressure from the City Council. One additional Declaration of Intent for Liberty Bond financing is approved for 15 Broad Street/23 Wall Street, the J.P. Morgan property formerly part of the New York Stock Exchange deal.
7/17/03 -- Councilmember Weprin and SEIU 32BJ hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall to urge that the HDC vote on 2 Gold Street be postponed pending an investigation into possible tax break abuses by the project developer, Rockrose Development Corporation, at a different property.
Read a statement from Good Jobs New York on behalf of the Liberty Bond Housing Coalition.
The Downtown Express publishes an editorial urging the Mayor and the Governor to make better use of Liberty Bonds by using them to build more affordable housing.
6/12/03 -- Liberty Bond Housing Coalition members hold press conference and stage a silent demonstration at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's June board meeting. Participants urged the LMDC to commit funds to make Liberty Bond financed housing developments mixed-income.
Click here for photos.
6/11/03 -- Building service workers' union SEIU 32BJ held a rally outside 45 Wall Street, the Rockrose property found by the union's researchers to have been "double-dipping" -- receiving subsidies as a residential building at the same time as collecting penalty fees for holding the building empty for commercial use as part of the now- defunct New York Stock Exchange deal. The event was preceded by a New York Times article describing the union's claims.
6/4/03 -- HDC approves first City-sponsored Liberty Bond Housing project with no affordable units (3% fee charged to build affordable elsewhere in NYC): Approximately $78 million to go to a residential building at 90 Washington Street.
Board also gives preliminary approval to six additional Liberty Bond projects, bringing the total amount proposed by the Mayor to over $1 billion, more than his $800 million allocation under the legislation. HDC officials say that Liberty Bonds will be issued on a first come first serve basis.
HDC board was never told that six groups testified against the project at a public hearing.
5/5/03 -- The Liberty Bond Housing Coalition testifies at the first public hearing on City-allocated bonds. Click to read testimony by:
Read Daily News article on these projects. 4/19/03 -- The first proposals to allocate the City's portion of Liberty Bonds for housing were announced by the New York City Housing Development Corporation in a public hearing notice. (Previous allocations of Liberty Bonds for housing came only from the State's portion.) The two projects under consideration for Liberty Bonds got preliminary approval through an HDC Declaration of Intent in December 2002. Click for publicly available details on 2 Gold Street (a/k/a 95 Maiden Lane) and 90 Washington Street. 3/12/03 -- The New York State Housing Finance Agency board voted to approve $48 million in Liberty Bonds to finance a 91 unit residential development on Front Street in the historic South Street Seaport section of Lower Manhattan. As with the first three Liberty Bond projects approved by HFA, this project will contain 95% market rate units and a 5% set aside for tenants making 150% of the Area Median Income, or about $94,000 a year for a family of four. Rents for these five units range from $1,767 to $2,448 per month. The approval occurred without any discussion of the Liberty Bond program between board members, the dollar amount involved, or the fact that members of the public expressed their opposition to the project at a public hearing on March 10th. The item was instead grouped with two other unrelated items and passed as a bundle. Additionally, documents describing the projects, which had been available to members of the public at previous HFA board meetings, were not made available. 3/10/03 -- The following Liberty Bond Housing Coalition members testified at the HFA public hearing on the Front Street project:
Written testimony was submitted by:
12/10/02 - Mayor Bloomberg announces a plan for housing that calls for using Liberty Bonds and other subsidies to make 20% of units affordable to middle income families. Read about it in the Mayor's Vision for Lower Manhattan.
11/13/02 -- The Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) gives final approval to the two projects that had been shelved over the summer by Assembly Speaker Silver.
9/18/02 -- Speaker Miller and the City Council announce Liberty Bond housing proposal that includes low and middle income apartments.
9/17/02 -- Community Board 1, in contested vote, approves two Liberty Bond housing projects deferred by the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB).
8/14/02 -- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver puts a temporary hold on two of the three proposed luxury apartment projects at Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) meeting.
Contact Speaker Sheldon Silver to thank him and encourage him to insist on more low and moderate income units for all Liberty Bond housing projects.
Read coverage of PACB meeting in: Newsday, The New York Times, GlobeSt.com
8/7/02 -- Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg announce a joint city and state plan for all $8 billion in Liberty Bonds, including $1.6 billion for housing
8/7/02 -- The NY State Housing Finance Agency unanimously passed three proposals to build luxury housing with Liberty Bonds in an emergency meeting held Wednesday, August 7th. Read the Coalition's News Advisory.
Read news coverage of the HFA board vote in: The New York Times, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Post, The Daily News, GlobeSt.com, Hoy.
The New York State Housing Finance Agency has held two public hearings on the three proposals for luxury housing developments.
Public Notices: June 12th & June 25th
For the Press:
Comments -- June 25th public hearing:
Read news coverage about this hearing in The Crain's Insider
Comments -- June 12th public hearing: Read news coverage about this hearing in the New York Sun.
Good Jobs New York is a joint project of the Fiscal Policy Institute and Good Jobs First. |
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