Markowitz May Be Borough President...

...but his real boss is Forest City. I knew he was a low life they day he took office - his first 'act' was a cheap political stunt. Now he's purging Community Board members for being, well, good community board members. Why? Because they didn't do what Bruce Ratner wanted. Should this be getting more coverage than it should? Should people be outraged that developers are more or less controlling the borough/city/state?

from DDDB:
Markowitz Boots Board Members

The volunteer job of Community Board members is to represent the community as best they can, not to act as an extension of Borough Hall. In the Bronx, when Community Board 4 voted against the Yankee Stadium plan, many of its members were purged by Bronx Borough President Carrion (and now CB4 is finding it difficult to even function.)

That kind of purge is now happening in Brooklyn. Our view is that the role of Community Boards is to represent the community--which is what 2, 6 and 8 did--not act as puppets for their appointers.

First the Community Boards (2,6 and 8) were marginalized and bypassed by the state's override of the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). With ULURP those three boards would have had recommendation votes on "Atlantic Yards." But the Boards were left on the sidelines like pretty much every political entity outside of the Public Authorities Control Board.

So last August the Community Boards, unlike the Borough President, held hearings outside of any formal review process, to allow their districts to express their views on the project. Then they set out to formulate a position based on the the community's sentiment. Community Board 6 passed a very well reasonsed resolution against the project. (All the Boards also submitted abundant comments on the state's Draft Environmental Impact Statement.) What did some of the Community Board 6 members get for their volunteer efforts to represent their community? As expected after weeks of rumor, some of them got the boot.

From the NY Times:

Project’s Foes Shown Door in Brooklyn

The letter arrived in Marilyn Oliva’s mailbox yesterday from the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz. It thanked her for her dedication to the community as a member of Community Board 6, but informed her that her services were no longer needed.

Ms. Oliva was disappointed. She was also not alone. Though community board members’ terms are usually renewed routinely, Mr. Markowitz on Monday replaced at least five longtime members who had sought reappointment to Community Board 6, which covers the brownstone neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens.

The five members had one thing in common: they voted yes last year on a resolution denouncing Atlantic Yards, the $4 billion development project that Mr. Markowitz has spent three years and much of his political capital extolling.

Mr. Markowitz refused to comment on the reasons for his move, but there certainly seemed to be something about Community Board 6 that displeased him.
...

In the case of Atlantic Yards, Community Board 6’s resolution last September, though strongly critical, was almost purely symbolic: the project is being managed by a state agency, the Empire State Development Corporation, and is exempt from the city land-use process.

But Celia Cacace, who has been on the board since the early 1980s — long before Mr. Markowitz was elected — said that he took her aside at a community event a few months ago to criticize her and her colleagues.

“He said, ‘I’m going to get rid of everybody on the board that voted for this,’ ” according to Ms. Cacace, 71, whose term expires next year. “He says, ‘Remember, you are my appointee.’ Every time I tried to say something he totally lambasted me.”

That people are being removed from their positions because they did not carry out the wishes of a developer (and we know that marty is only a conduit for the developer) should be deeply, deeply disturbing. Now who can we expect to replace them? Pro Atlantic Yards people ...then we'll get some slick mailers informing us that our community boards approve of this big beautiful exciting project! Isn't democracy great!..oh, but never mind American Idol is on! hey, who are the Yanks playing tonight? A new macrobiotic Korean-Swedish fusion restaurant opened!

What's really disturbing here is the corruption is now out-in-the-open Latin American style - EVERYONE knows why Markowitz is doing this and he's doing it with the confidence that mainstream media (MSM) and big developers like Ratner will give him so much backing it doesn't matter. Its a 'democracy' of short term memory- developers and other corrupt officials are no doubt promising Marty if he does this they'll line up big voting blocks and give him power to grant 'favors' that he can exchange for votes.

Update: NoLandGrab adds the poignant observation:

Marginalized, then Used, then Purged

NoLandGrab adds the following to our comments on the marginalization of the Community Boards. Not only were they marginalized, but then they were used:

Missing from this account is the invitation by Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner (FCR) to the Chairpersons of Boards 2, 6, & 8 to participate in talks for the Community Benefits Agreement. This role was very limited and ended before working sessions began. Later FCR touted the Boards' participation in brochures mailed to area residents. The Communtiy Boards sent FCR a cease-and-desist letter, but the damage had been done.

Marty and FCR went around the Community Boards' official function and then un-officially used them. When the Community Boards tried to stand up for the community, Marty began the purge.