Bettina Damiani

The city is planning to finance a set of garages and lots that would add almost 3,000 more parking spaces near Yankee Stadium even though the new ballpark is going to seat 6,000 fewer patrons than the current one.

A hearing Thursday before the Industrial Development Agency, an arm of city government, drew a limited but earnest response from watchdog groups and community organizations, asserting that the more parking spaces you build, the more people will drive. They argued that instead of using public funds to encourage driving, the money should be put toward a proposed Metro-North station that reportedly needs another $35 million to come into being.

The I.D.A. will vote on whether to authorize $190 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project in May or June, according to a spokeswoman. The agency's analysis shows that the city will spend $20 million to reconstruct parkland on top of the garages and will lose another $2 million in forgone taxes on the bonds, which will be tax-free.

Eventually, the city will make more than double its money back through new taxes, lease payments and shared revenues, though it will do so over a 43-year period, the I.D.A. said; it would not release the assumptions for the revenue numbers.  read more »

If you're a real development junkie, you will remember the C.B.A. craze that took hold of the city last year, when real estate developers cozied up to grassroots activists to get projects approved and, when they couldn't find any to cozy up to, they made them up. The rumor was that Mayor Bloomberg was going to crack down because these community benefits agreements were becoming just another word for bribe.

Not so--on the cracking down part. (The bribe part is still up for interpretation.) The request for proposals that the city's Economic Development Corporation put out yesterday for the 575,000-square-foot Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx (which will likely become some sort of retail and entertainment complex) mimics provisions that appeared in the C.B.A.'s for the Atlantic Yards and Bronx Terminal Market projects, and carries the added weight of coming from an authority--the city--that could really crack down if pledges are violated.  read more »

Subsidy-watcher Bettina Damiani writes in:

"Despite the hearing notice (in six point font in the New York Post's classified) some Politicker readers may not know there's a public hearing for the proposed subsidy to Goldman Sachs for its new headquarters in Battery Park City.

"Yes, yes, the Mayor, the Governor and the Assembly Speaker announced the deal's been approved. But, don't be fooled! There has to be a hearing, which is scheduled for next Wednesday. Sadly, the law doesn't require the State to release any documents on the deal before the deal. "

Because, if Goldman Sachs doesn't need a billion and a half dollars in public money, who does?  read more »

Details on the deal here.

Reuters is reporting that a vote to give a massive package of Liberty Bond incentives to Goldman Sachs to build a tower next to Ground Zero will be postponed until at least early September, but public officials pooh-poohed the notion that the negotiations for the bonds were in any jeopardy.

The low-interest bonds are meant to encourage building downtown; there will be some criticism of Goldman Sachs' deal to get these incentives, according to Bettina Damiani of the watchdog group Good Jobs, New York. City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. gave his imprimatur to the Goldman Sachs deal yesterday. But his statement suggests there may be additional goodies beyond the ones already mentioned in press reports. To wit:

"While I have concerns regarding a provision granting Goldman Sachs an opportunity to obtain even better benefits down the road, I support the proposed agreement and Goldman Sachs' commitment to retain 8,100 jobs in lower Manhattan."

We're waiting for more details. And for a vote by the Battery Park City Authority to approve the lease, which is the last piece needed before a really big and happy press conference.  read more »

As we reported yesterday, one element of the hold-up in finalizing the deal with Goldman is the negotiation over penalty fees to be paid to Goldman by the city and state if a satisfactory, comprehensive program for ensuring security at the new World Trade Center site isn't put into place.

- Matthew Schuerman and Tom McGeveran