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Foes scream at Regina: ‘Myer, Myer, pants on fire!’

By Andy Campbell
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper / Mike McLaughlin
Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation President Regina Myer is withholding the names and proposals of bidders to renovate the Tobacco Warehouse — and foes are crying foul.

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Brooklyn Bridge Park officials have brushed aside a demand by local elected officials to allow public scrutiny of a raft of proposals to turn the old Tobacco Warehouse into an arts and community center.

Last month, state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D–Brooklyn Heights), Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D–Boerum Hill), Borough President Markowitz and others demanded that Regina Myer, the president of the park development company, reveal the names of companies seeking the Tobacco Warehouse renovation contract.

But Myer, who had promised transparency in the bidding process, declined to cough up the bids, worrying some locals that the Tobacco Warehouse project will fail to generate enough revenue for the park’s annual maintenance budget to allow park developers to abandon their plan to include housing inside the sprawling park.

Myer said that the bidders would be revealed on Nov. 15 — before she and the board of directors picks a winner. But the elected officials say that such a timetable won’t leave enough time to fully vet the proposals. And Myer did not say whether the public will have input over her and the board’s selection.

That didn’t satisfy Squadron.

“The responses need to be released immediately so that the public has time to look over them,” he said on Tuesday.

At issue — besides the park development’s ongoing battle with its own promise of transparency — is the Tobacco Warehouse, a restoration project that will house arts, education and civic tenants, yet not add to the $15-millon annual maintenance budget of the larger waterfront development.

Critics say that the decision to take the Tobacco Warehouse out of the revenue column likely means that housing — which Myer vowed to find alternatives to — will remain part of the plan.

©2010 Community Newspaper Group

←Fearless Parenting: Let’s hear it for the Tooth Fairy!

Reader Feedback

Steve from Bklyn Hts says:
Aw, c'mon! Mayor Bloomberg says she walks on water, so clearly she's only doing this in the public interest, like all his other appointees. The fact that it shuts the public out and benefits the interests of developers who want this "park" to return to Hizzoner's original purpose--the most expensive and exclusive front lawn in the history of the world--is just accurate. I mean, coincidence!
Nov. 10, 2010, 6:27 am
Joey from Clinton Hills says:
are they replacing it with a Quonset Hut?
Nov. 10, 2010, 12:12 pm
Mr. B from Brooklyn Heights says:
You article suggests that the Tobacco Warehouse ever was, or ever could be, a serious source of potential revenue to cover the park's operating expenses. That is total nonsense.
Nov. 18, 2010, 12:22 pm
Anon says:
Wrong Mr. B. The Tobacco Warehouse has produced millions - all going to Ms. Regina's group and the Conservancy over the past 5 years (at least). Not that it alone can pay for the park but it could have been part of the revenue stream. Just like the River Cafe - also off the table thanks to Myer and the city - they renegotiated the contract just as alternatives to housing were being considered - to remove that potential source of income. Someone smell a rat?
Jan. 6, 2011, 8:51 pm

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