Almost there
The New York Senate’s Corporations Committee approved C.B. 1 member Anthony Notaro’s nomination to serve as a member of the Battery Park City Authority Board. Next, his nomination, which came from state senator Daniel Squadron and which was approved by Governor Patterson, must go through the Finance Committee before the final vote on the Senate floor.
Menin to Con Ed: How Dare You!
C.B. 1 Chair Julie Menin has sent a letter to the Public Service Commission asking for an investigation into the utility’s claim that if the L.M.D.C. turns over $150 million in unspent funds to the Performing Arts Center to be built near ground zero, then the utility will raise rates for its Lower Manhattan customers.
“My argument was that the money has been sitting there for years. Con Ed already received $161 million. Are they entitled to this money in perpetuity? If Con Ed has a legitimate claim to this money, then prove it,” Menin told the Downtown Express.
Further, Menin added that only the Public Service commission has the right to raise rates and that Con Ed’s attempt to intimidate the community will not be tolerated and should be explored.
More Menin, L.M.D.C. beware
At next week’s L.M.D.C. board meeting, on which Julie Menin serves as a gubernatorial appointee, the chair of C.B. 1 told the Downtown Express she is going to stand up and demand a formal request for expression of interest, or an RFEI, as it pertains to Tower 5.
“I don’t know how it will be received, but I’m going to do it,” said Menin when asked how she felt such a move would be received by the board. “I’ve felt for a long time that L.M.D.C. doesn’t have a plan in place for Tower 5. They should be issuing a RFP now. We should be developing that tower, in my opinion, as a mixed use, 80/20 residential and hotel.”
Menin said the building at 130 Liberty Street will be down soon, and that in this economic climate, there must be a plan.
“I’m going to demand that we act,” she said.
Death Threats
C.B. 1 member Paul Hovitz received a death threat recently concerning his board’s resolution approving the Cordoba Initiative’s building of a community center and mosque at the old Burlington Coat Factory two blocks from Ground Zero. The caller told Hovitz he was “going to die a terrible death.”
Funny thing is, Hovitz actually abstained from the vote.
