MEDIA ADVISORY
Press Conference:
Community Groups from Across City Demand End to “Pay to Play” Real Estate Deals; Provide Examples of Potentially Shady Arrangements, Call for Further Investigation
Date/Time: Wednesday, May 4th @ 1pm
Location: City Hall Steps, Manhattan
Contact: Linda Cronin-Gross, Sonya Landau, LCG Communications – 718.853.5568; linda@lcgcommunications.com, sonya@lcgcommunications.com; Ken Frydman, Source Communications – 917.626.4270; ken@sourcecommunications.net
On Wednesday, May 4th @ 1pm, a group of community groups from across the City will hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall to demand an end to the “pay to play” relationships between real estate developers, lobbyists and City and State government and to demand further investigation. The groups are each fighting against projects whose developers have hired top lobbyists and/or have donated heavily to various City/State elections or other coffers. The groups are protesting an ongoing quid pro quo system that makes it nearly impossible for communities to effectively oppose developers whose money has already guaranteed they have the ear (and favor) of the City and the State.
The groups will present examples of other real estate deals that they fear are shady and will call for US Attorney Preet Bharara to further investigate the connections among real estate developers, lobbyists and campaign donations, a federal Moreland Commission to review the ethics and legality of real estate deals, and other actions.
Community groups (list in formation): Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund, Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, Crown Heights South Association, Landmark West!, LES Dwellers, New Yorkers for a Human-Scale City, NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan, Save Cobble Hill, Save Gansevoort, Save Our Seaport, Save the View Now, Tribeca Trust
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