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Phil Reisman: Echo Bay suit is Forest City v. the people

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http://www.lohud.com/article/20140215/NEWS/302150065

"Forest City Residential Group is going to squeeze cash out of New Rochelle any way it can. The developer wants $2 million from the city — or else.

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The figure represents most of the money Forest City claims it paid for planning and designing the so-called Echo Bay project, a controversial waterfront redevelopment scheme that was ultimately rejected by the City Council.

In its quest to get its money back, Forest City has sicced its lawyers on the city. Mark Weingarten, an attorney with the powerful Democratic law firm of DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr (the DelBello stands for Alfred B. DelBello, the former Westchester County executive) fired off a three-page letter to City Manager Chuck Strome. It’s packed with angry modifiers and adverbs, accusing the city of “peremptorily, willfully, arbitrarily and without any rational basis” and so on.

Cutting through the legal prose, Weingarten basically contends that the city screwed over the developer.

Weingarten said Forest City’s actual “out-of-pocket” costs amounted to an exact $3,166,210.15. However, under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, the city is apparently obligated to pay no more than $2 million.

The billable hours it took to compose that monumental letter must’ve cost Forest City a pretty penny all by itself, but they’ve got the right guys on the case: a law firm that effectively spreads campaign donations around like magic fairy dust and, it seems, has an interest of one kind or another in just about every town in Westchester County.

Weingarten ends the letter with “Please be guided accordingly.” In other words, coughup the dough, or we’ll see you in court.

In its final incarnation, the Echo Bay deal entailed the construction of 285 residential units, some retail space and a public park on an 11-acre parcel. The deal fell apart for several reasons, not the least of which was that it gave too many tax breaks to Forest City, an outfit that is infamous for getting its way. The public at large thought the deal stunk — and they directed much of their ire at Mayor Noam Bramson, who strenuously backed the project and also accepted $17,500 in campaign contributions from Forest City consultants going back to 2012. At times it looked as if Bramson had a citizens revolt on his hands.

Forest City’s hardball reputation was earned by other large-scale, mixed-use development projects in the metropolitan region, namely Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Ridge Hill in Yonkers. One of the loudest critics has been Cause of Action, a Washington, D.C.-based government accountability group, that produced a three-part report on Forest City’s tactics.

In the case of New Rochelle’s Echo Bay, Cause of Action concluded that the developer used political contributions and lobbyists to secure a “sweetheart deal.” When the city finally rejected the deal, Cause of Action commented that the city’s citizens “have delivered a stunning rebuke to cronyism that benefits the politically connected at the expense of the taxpayers.”

But it’s not over, as the Weingarten letter clearly demonstrates.

Last week, WVOX, the influential local radio station, concocted an imaginary interview with Bramson in which he replies “no comment” to every difficult question, e.g., “Mr. Mayor … how do you feel about Forest City Ratner now?”

And there was this question: “When they sue the city — or threaten a lawsuit — aren’t they, in effect, really suing the people of New Rochelle?”

Well, no comment. But the answer is yes, of course, they are really suing the people of New Rochelle. The public be damned — the old story.

So this is what happens to a fiscally beleaguered but proud city with a desperate need to improve its underperforming downtown and broaden its tax base. Throw in the acute anxiety that is caused by the worst economic depression since the 1930s, add a dash of hubris from an earnest but out-of-touch mayor and the situation is just begging for a fast-talking outfit like Forest City to come knocking.

All you have to do is sign on the dotted line, they whispered."

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