Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2008 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DOWNTOWN–NORTH BROOKLYN AWP/18 pages • Vol. 31, No. 8/9 • Feb. 23/March 1, 2008 • FREE INCLUDING CARROLL GARDENS, COBBLE HILL, BOERUM HILL, DUMBO, WILLIAMSBURG AND GREENPOINT RATNER KILLS MR. BROOKLYN By Gersh Kuntzman EXCLUSIVE right now,” said Yassky (D– The Brooklyn Paper Brooklyn Heights). “Look, a lot of developers are re-evalut- Developer Bruce Ratner costs had escalated and the num- ing their numbers and feel that has pulled out of a deal with bers showed that we should residential buildings don’t City Tech that could have net not go down that road,” added work right now,” he said. him hundreds of millions of the executive, who did not wish Yassky called Ratner’s dollars and allowed him to to be identified. withdrawal “good news” for build the city’s tallest resi- Costs had indeed escalated. Brooklyn. dential tower, the so-called In 2005, CUNY agreed to pay “A residential building at Mr. Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Ratner $86 million to build the that corner was an awkward Paper has learned. 11- to 14-story classroom-dor- fit,” said Yassky. “A lot of plan- “It was a mutual decision,” mitory and also to hand over ners see that site as ideal for a said a key executive at the City the lucrative development site significant office building.” University of New York, which where City Tech’s Klitgord Forest City Ratner did not would have paid Ratner $300 Auditorium now sits. return two messages from The million to build a new dorm Then in December, CUNY Brooklyn Paper. and lab for City Tech and given raised Ratner’s fee to $307 Bruce Ratner The CUNY official said the him a prime plot at the corner million with no explanation. dorm and lab would still be of Tillary and Jay streets where “Ratner’s ‘Mr. Brooklyn’ light of the nation’s ongoing built — but no longer as a he reportedly hoped to build the deal gets sweeter,” The Brook- credit crunch (see story below) public-private partnership. 100-story, Renzo Piano-de- lyn Paper headline read. and his own shaky finances, “We’ll build it in partner- Bruce Ratner has pulled out of a plan for signed building. Still, it’s likely that Ratner said Councilman David Yassky. ship with the state Dormitory Brooklyn’s tallest building. “Both sides agreed that the willingly got out of the deal in “He may be overextended Authority,” the executive said. / Jeff Bachner / Jeff The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Non-Brooklynite Leigh-Taylor Smith was crowned Miss Brooklyn on Saturday by Miss Fed cash crunch threatens New York 2007 Elisabeth Baldanza. True “Miss Brooklyn”s are pictured below. ‘affordable’ A’Yards homes Miss B’klyn By Dana Rubinstein area bounded by Tillary, Fulton ing. To finance those units, Rat- Forest City Ratner did not re- in the process, experts said. The Brooklyn Paper and Jay streets and Flatbush Av- ner will need $1.4 billion in sub- spond to a request for comment Although Ratner hasn’t even Thousands of affordable enue Extension. sidies over several years, accord- about how it would line up fi- applied for the money, the presi- is from … housing units — including “We’re at risk of seeing less ing to state documents. nancing for its affordable hous- dent of the city’s Housing De- some of the 2,250 rentals that affordable housing than” origi- And that money is not avail- ing units given that other devel- velopment Corporation says he’s nally planned, he continued. able, experts say. opers are having such difficulty not worried about Atlantic Yards. Bruce Ratner promised to in- “Given the scale of the proj- cluded in his Atlantic Yards The trouble is most worri- “It’s highly unlikely Forest City getting these coveted loans. some to supporters of Atlantic Ratner will be able to get the Then again, the developer has ect … we’re not concerned that Manhattan mega-development — will the money won’t be there,” not be built due to a huge Yards, the 16-skyscraper-and- amount of subsidies that would go approached neither the city nor Marc Jahr told The Post last Bachner / Jeff shortfall in federal subsidies arena project, whose main sell- with the amount of affordable the state about affordable housing ing point was its proposed 2,250 housing,” said Councilman David bonds. Most developers have al- week. By Mike McLaughlin available for low-cost housing units of below-market-rate hous- Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights). ready held such talks at this stage See RATNER on page 7 The Brooklyn Paper creation, The Brooklyn Paper There she is … Miss Manhattan?! has learned. The Miss Brooklyn pageant — a stepping stone to the Miss It would take between $6 and The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn America crown — reappeared after a 16-year absence last $7 billion in federal grants to week and was plunged immediately into controversy because build all the proposed affordable Julya Vekstein Park Slope the winner is a queen who’s not from Kings. units in all of the pending proj- Bonds bombshell killing projects Leigh-Taylor Smith, 22, captured the sparkling tiara Satur- ects in the state — roughly five day afternoon and promptly whisked it across the East River, times more money than is avail- A shortage of federal money designed lower-priced apartments in Downtown forcing the borough to wait at least another year before it can able, according to Mike Slattery, The plainer to spur the development of affordable Brooklyn. But what exactly is going crown one of its daughters with top honors. the senior vice president at the Ex housing may endanger up to 3,000 on? Let The Explainer explain: “This is fantastic!” Smith said, seconds after the crown was Real Estate Board of New York. settled atop her perfectly coiffed brown mane. Indeed, in 2007, the feds There were only seven contestants, but the Miss Brooklyn only granted $1.33 billion in How does the process work? can circumvent some neighborhood op- What will happen to the units if pageant was every bit the precursor to Miss America, ranking such bonds — and those num- A developer who includes affordable position by including below-market-rate the bonds aren’t there? the belles on their appearance in a swimsuit and evening wear, bers won’t change significantly units in his or her development can apply units. Also, several Bloomberg adminis- Some of them won’t get built. their talent in a song-and-dance number, and their intelligence in 2008. to the city or state for tax-exempt bonds. tration initiaives gave more incentives for in interviews with four judges (thankfully, none of the competi- “There’s a lot more demand developers to build affordable, thereby Can Bruce Ratner really back How many bonds are available? tors said she’d work for “world peace”). for affordable housing projects putting further strain on the system. away from that promise? The judges lobbed some softballs at the contestants — these days and there’s not Developers in New York State are seek- “What do you do on your downtime?” asked one judge — but ing $6 billion to $7 billion in such bonds Yes, if he writes a $500,000 check — a enough money available,” said Didn’t Ratner promise 2,250 went after others with curveballs. Joe Chan, the president of the this year, yet only $1.3 billion is available. small amount for his $3.6 billion company affordable units at Atlantic — to the housing group, ACORN, which One official wanted to know whether women who’ve had Downtown Brooklyn Partner- Bachner / Jeff cosmetic surgery should be disqualified from such pageants, ship, the quasi-governmental Why such big demand? Yards? signed Ratner’s Community Benefits Partly because developers know they Yes. Agreement in 2005. the equivalent of asking should baseball players who use group that oversees the redevel- steroids be banned from the major leagues. opment of the long-languishing “I don’t think so,” said Theresa Tokarowski, explaining that some women choose surgery to “be more comfortable” or “cor- The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn rect problems.” Nicole Clark The talent portion of the program ranged from tap-dancing East Flatbush to opera arias to a comedic bit about a Jewish secretary who embarks on a hip-hop career. Hil’s B’klyn superdelegates to rescue “I’ll be the first rapper with an exclusively clerical content,” joked Julya Vekstein, a Park Sloper. sponsibility to balance the nation outright. She got laughs, but it was Smith who tore the roof off the By Mike McLaughlin Kumble Theater at Long Island University on Flatbush Avenue needs of their district, The Brooklyn Paper That’s when the 795 superdelegates — Extension, where tickets were going for $30 a pop. Smith’s rendi- state, party and country,” Two of Brooklyn’s superdelegates say party leaders, members of Congress and tion of “Nobody Does it Like Me,” from the musical “Seesaw,” she said. other political insiders — come into play. they’ll vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton at was amazingly appropriate (given its inappropriateness, that is). She refused to take any Many have longstanding ties to the Clinton “It’s about being incapable of being a lady at all times,” the Democratic convention even though questions and did not say family — indeed, one superdelegate is for- the majority of voters in their districts Smith said. It was an odd choice for Smith, whose main quali- anything beyond her statement. mer President Bill Clinton — and they fication for being Miss Brooklyn — other than her looks, talent cast ballots for Sen.