Carroll Gardens lobby: intransitive verb : to conduct activities aimed at influencing public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation
transitive verb 1 : to promote (as a project) or secure the passage of (as legislation) by influencing public officials
2 : to attempt to influence or sway (as a public official) toward a desired action
What do lobbying dollars buy developers?
As you know, dear reader, I reported last week that at least two of the developers who are intending to build in Carroll Gardens hired lobbyists and spent impressive sums of money to influence our Councilman, our Community Board 6, the New York City Planning Commission as well as other political representatives. Obviously, I wasn't the only one surprised by this. Judging from the many emails and conversations that I have had with many fellow Carroll Gardeners, the information stunned many.
I want to reiterate what I have been saying all along: I am not accusing any of our elected officials of any wrongs nor am I suggesting that they let themselves be influenced by lobbyists. I am merely pointing out that developers such as Bill Stein and the Toll Brothers would not spent so much on lobbyists if they did not expect results.
So pardon me for asking, but what results can a developer expect for $35,000 worth of lobbying? How about for $365,000 ?
When I inquired amongst people far more knowledgeable than me on such matters, the most telling answer I received was that "a lobbyist not only gets you into the room with government officials who can help your cause, he will get you seated at the same dinner table at the next fundraiser." Not bad, I'd say. Too bad Carroll Gardens residents can't afford the same.
We may not have deep pockets, but I do think that we can ask our Community Board and our elected officials to have a closed door policy towards lobbyists. As a community, we should get a conversation going and come up with ways to make sure that our politicians implement such a policy. May I suggest that they could sign a simple statement to that effect? This would level the playing field in favor of residents such as you and me. Now wouldn't that be refreshing!
Related reading:
Toll Brothers Spent $365,000 On Lobbying For Gowanus Rezoning
Oliver House Developer Spending Big Bucks To Lobby Councilman Bill DeBlasioFor Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking
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2 comments:
Our government, at all levels, also needs to disclose what has become of this money. They need to explain where that $365,000 of Toll lobby funds went.
When a community isn't given an equal voice with the outsiders invade and altering out community; where does our democracy then exist?
And isn't this type of activity one of the primary reasons we the people of this city voted for term limits? Doesn't this kind of spending on the part of powerful development companies (now being propped up by federal tax funds) lead to the entrenched city government that doesn't serve the citizens of this town?
Our local electeds have a lot of questions to answer here!
Now that the FBI is looking into de Blasio's fundraising, maybe we can get an answer about this #365,000 spent to lobby de Blasio for a rezoning, favorable to the developer and not the community he represented.
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