Swayed by a developer’s plan to include a new middle school in a controversial condo project, the city agreed to spend $43 million funding it “without doing its due diligence” and reviewing alternate sites for new classroom space, a local councilman charges.
Councilman David Yassky cited internal city e-mails and memos showing the School Construction Authority was less than truthful when it insisted as late as last June that there is no need for a new school in the tony DUMBO-Brooklyn Heights area.
Instead, internal memos and e-mails show the agency had already decided weeks earlier to let father-son developers David and Jed Walentas include a middle school in their planned 18-story apartment tower rather than consider alternate sites for a school proposed by neighborhood groups and Yassky.
“The SCA is supposed to aggressively try getting the best deal for citizens, but this proves they only seriously looked at one proposal,” said Yassky (D-Brooklyn), who represents the area.
The $200 million Dock Street plan did not include a school when it was shot down during the city’s land-use review process in 2004. Critics contended then, as now, that it would block historic views of the Brooklyn Bridge.
But the resubmitted plan has won favor among some people in the waterfront neighborhoods because of the resurgence of a local elementary school, PS 8, which in the last five years has seen a sharp up-tick in neighborhood kids enrolling.
Parents of those children want a nearby middle school for their children to attend after they graduate the K-6 school. And while the SCA says it looked at other sites to ensure the most cost-effective school is built, documents suggest otherwise.
For instance, an e-mail dated Dec. 8 from SCA Executive Director Lorraine Grillo to another staffer shows the lack of attention a Water Street site suggested by Yassky actually received compared to the Walentas’ plan for nearby Dock Street in DUMBO.
“Now I know that if we don’t do the Walentas project that we don’t really want to do anything else over there, but I think we have to follow up on this just so we can say that the Walentas project is such a good deal,” the e-mail says.
Yassky said he “wants answers” as to why the SCA and some other city officials have been so supportive of the Dock Street project. But other critics say the answers lie in following the money.
Records show the Walentases’ firm, Two Trees Management, spent $409,323 lobbying the city since Jan. 2007, with much of the money going towards trying to sway support for the Dock Street project.
Officials for the company – including the Walentases – have also dished out $29,700 in campaign donations over this period to Councilwoman Melinda Katz and another $19,800 to Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Katz, a Queens Democrat running for comptroller, heads the council real estate committee, which must eventually decide whether to put Two Trees’ request for a necessary zoning change before the full council, which Quinn heads, for final approval.
Department of Education spokesman William Havermann said the Dock Street project “is the most economical option” for a neighborhood school because DOE “would receive the land and the core and shell of the school building at no costs,” saving taxpayers “tens of millions of dollars.”
Although the City Council routinely supports the wishes of the local council member on land use matters, it remains split on this project despite Yassky’s objection.
Laura Bailyn, the project manager for Two Trees, defended the donations to Quinn and Katz, saying the firm “is proud to support” elected officials “who we believe are doing a good job.”
She said “we are honored to have the opportunity to provide neighboring families with the first-class school they deserve.”