After a longer than anticipated hiatus, The Bronx Breakdown is back this week with an Armory-centric post this lovely Friday afternoon. Enjoy.

The video above was taken during the rally for responsible development of the Kingsbridge Armory. It features a spoken word artist known as Ricardo doing a piece about why the Armory is important to the community and the community’s resolve to have it serve as resource for residents.

The bids for the Amory are in. We know a little about which groups have submitted proposals and the front-runner, as we’ve mentioned here before, is a group of investors who want to turn the hulking 600,000-square-foot building into a state-of-the-art regional ice sports center, complete with a 5,000-seat arena and eight other ice rinks for hockey and figure skating (maybe some curling?).

The reason this group is the front-runner is because they appear to have the funding to build their project without public assistance. This is a good thing because government can use those funds for other worthwhile ventures. But, on the other hand, it’s going to leave community activists like Ricardo and others from the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) without much leverage.

When Related Companies won the bid to redevelop the Armory three years ago, they gladly accepted tens of millions of dollars in city subsidies, mostly in the form of tax breaks. KARA and Community Board 7 (though not always in agreement) used these subsidies as a reason why Related should sign a binding Community Benefits Agreement that would several amenities and aspects that, well, benefited the community. The argument was simple: We (taxpaying citizens of NYC) are giving you all of this money to build something that will make you (Related) money. What are you going to give us in return?

Related never got close to signing a proper benefits agreement because KARA (backed by Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.) demanded that the agreement include guarantees of living wage jobs for all employees who would eventually work at the new retail mall Related wanted to create inside the Armory. Related wouldn’t budge on this, saying it would put them at a disadvantage when trying to sign up retail tenants. In other words, if a business could open across the street and not pay a living wage, why would they decide to take a lease in the Armory, where they would be required to pay a living wage.

(That’s, of course, why legislation was introduced requiring developers who receive city subsidies pay a living wage. Speaking of which, it appears the Council came to a final agreement of the bill this and it’s supposed to be voted on soon. The Partnership for New York City, a leading business group, which had supported an earlier compromise on the bill, now says it doesn’t like the bill because it doesn’t include a loophole that would allow the city to exempt certain projects from the legislation. Either way, Bloomberg isn’t a fan of it and will likely veto the bill as soon as it hits his desk.)

Aside from the living wage hold-up, however, Related was willing to sign a benefits agreement that would have included things like more community access and space, job training, a local farmers market and even a “peace atrium,” the grandiose and idealistic pet project of the late Ozzie Brown of Community Board 7.

Related probably wouldn’t have even agreed to the outlines of a benefits package without feeling the need to justify their hefty city subsidies.

In the next go around, if a development group emerges that doesn’t need public assistance (like said hockey group), it’s going to be much more difficult to wring benefits without the kind of leverage the community held with Related.

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.