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The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan

Voicing their demands at a press conference on Wednesday in Borough Hall: Assemblyman Jim Brennan, Councilwoman Letitia James, and state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery.

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Keep the Atlantic Yards status quo and lose the dough.

Brooklyn elected officials joined with a coalition of civic groups this week to demand that the state create a new, local governmental body to manage the $4-billion, state-sponsored development — or lose $205-million in city funding.

“There should be no more taxpayer money going to this project until some governmental accountability is provided,” said Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Prospect Heights) at a Borough Hall press conference sponsored by the coalition, known as BrooklynSpeaks.

The coalition wants to put the kibosh on funding for the Yards — the largest real estate project ever proposed for the borough — until a new organization is created to oversee its implementation. They say that the project has not been managed with the same level of governmental involvement as major projects in other boroughs — and that because of that, community concerns have been ignored.

“This must change,” said Councilman David Yassky (D– Brooklyn Heights).

The demand comes three months after a 200-foot-wide parapet collapsed at a building on the site, raining chunks of stone on cars and forcing the evacuation of 300 people from a shelter next door. Following the construction accident, the Empire State Development Corporation officials who currently oversee the project promised to appoint an ombudsman and construction liaison, and hold regular group meetings with local elected officials.

In the months since, the agency has hired an environmental compliance monitor and interviewed several candidates for the ombudsman position, but failed to hold group meetings with local elected officials or hire a construction liaison. An investigation of the collapse of the Wards Bakery parapet hasn’t been completed, according to reports.

Critics say that progress hasn’t come fast enough.

“We need an entity that will include local officials that represent affected communities to address [these] needs,” said Gib Veconi, a Prospect Heights resident and a member of the Brooklyn Speaks Coalition.

ESDC spokesman Errol Cockfield said that group’s proposal will be considered. “We’ll review what they have proposed,” he said. “But what is important is not the form that the governance takes, but the substance.”

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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