August 26, 2006: Vol. 29, No. 33

Who got to Hillary?

That was the question on the minds of Brooklyn insiders — and conspiracy theorists — after the New York junior senator’s stunning flip-flop last week from her initial opposition to a state plan to build luxury housing and open space on the Brooklyn waterfront.

As reported in The Brooklyn Papers two weeks ago, Clinton first came out against the “housing-in-the-park” scheme, saying that the plan was “disingenuous” and “yet another luxury housing project.”

What followed was “a sense of surprise and confusion among local electeds,” said one source, who asked to remain anonymous.

But just one week later, after at least five big-time Brooklyn pols called her, Clinton did a sudden about-face, saying she supported the park and had come to understand that private luxury housing was “necessary.”

Borough President Markowitz’s office, state Sen. Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn Heights), Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D-Park Slope), City Councilman Bill DeBlasio (D-Park Slope) and Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy president Marianna Koval — all staunch supporters of the plan — confirmed they contacted Clinton or her senior staff after the senator’s first comment.

After the barrage of phone calls, Clinton sent a letter to Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation President Wendy Leventer that suddenly supported the waterfront development — acknowledging that her flip-flop came as a result of “information provided to me.”

A coincidence? Local opponents to the plan think not.

“The letter uses the exact phraseology not of Clinton, but of the handlers of this botched plan,” said Judi Francis, the president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund, which is suing to block the construction of housing in what is supposed to be a public park.

The controversial project calls for a 1.3-mile waterfront development and recreation area stretching from DUMBO to Brooklyn Heights that is supposed to be self-sustaining thanks to fees levied on the residents of the luxury housing.

Clinton condemned that very aspect of the plan on August 9 at a campaign stop in Sunset Park. She questioned the notion of self-sustainability, and even recommended that reporters read the autobiography of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist who fought luxury housing in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park.

After The Brooklyn Papers reported Clinton’s comments, local officials went ballistic — diplomatically speaking, of course.

“I called to giver her a fuller view of the project,” said DeBlasio.

Other officials were more tight-lipped.

Connor spokesman Marty Algaze speculated that “Senator Clinton was caught off guard. She can’t be an expert on everything, particularly on local issues. They obviously clarified their position in the letter she sent out.”

Project opponents didn’t see it as a “clarification,” but as a desperate act of political expediency.

“Hill should be ashamed of herself for selling out…those of us who have worked for 20 years to build a real park without a single backward glance,” said Roy Sloane, a Cobble Hill community activist who was involved in an earlier version of the park plan.

“It’s a good thing for Wangari Maathi that Hillary isn’t an elected official in Nairobi — or she’d be looking at luxury housing in her park, too!”

Hillary Clinton’s staff had no comment.

©2006 The Brooklyn Paper