Interesting read.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/6/13/22...of-development
After seeing megaprojects on Staten Island’s North Shore fail to materialize or flop after being built over the past decade, some candidates fighting to be the borough’s next generation of leadership are campaigning against high-end luxury developments.
Several City Council contenders running to represent the North Shore –– an area that’s attracted over a $1 billion in development plans, much of it incomplete or unbuilt, on city-owned land –– oppose the construction of River North, a proposed trio of towers near the waterfront and the St. George Ferry Terminal.
The resistance to the towers follows the pattern of Council campaigns across the city, with some candidates growing more critical of real estate developers and rezoning plans on luxury frontiers.
In Crown Heights, contenders are slamming the outgoing Council member for her support of a local armory overhaul. In Flushing, some Council hopefuls rallied against a large waterfront development.
Real estate developers are fighting back, launching Super PACs, targeting candidates they see as anti-business and supporting those they perceive as closer to their corner.
As Jeffrey Leb, treasurer of Common Sense NYC, a real estate-back super PAC targeting seven Council hopefuls, told THE CITY recently: “The people who were chosen to go negative on are all socialist-related. We feel that they did not have the best vision or outlook for the city.”
But Lorie Honor, who is running for Staten Island borough president, said that shared skepticism about development among Democrats like her and even some Republicans in the city’s most conservative borough is rooted in years of disappointment.
“We never get the delivery of the goods,” she said.
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