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New Leadership at ESDC Could Mean New Scrutiny of Atlantic Yards Project
Crain's reports that Governor Paterson, as promised, has un-restructured
the Empire State Development Corporatin (ESDC) from former Governor Spitzer's
apparently unwieldy restructuring of the state economic development agency which
oversees Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan.
The Atlantic Yards project is now on its third ESDC head. Her name is Marisa Lago
and she'll become the CEO. More from Crain's
Gov.
appoints head of Empire State Development
Marisa Lago will become chief executive of the state's development agency, and
her appointment is expected to streamline the organization's hierarchy.
Gov. David Paterson today continued the restructuring he had promised for the
state’s development agency, naming a single chief executive to run day-to-day
operations statewide.
Marisa Lago was introduced at a midtown press conference as president and CEO
of the Empire State Development Corp. Upstate and downstate ESDC presidents
will report to her, unlike in the Spitzer administration, when the agency was
bifurcated with two chairmen reporting to the governor. Mr. Paterson had frowned
on that arrangement, saying it diluted authority at the agency and led to confusion
about who was in charge.
Ms. Lago, the former head of development for the city of Boston and a veteran
of two mayoral administrations here, has spent the last seven years in international
finance as global head of compliance for Citi Markets & Banking. She will
be based in New York City and work under unpaid ESDC Chairman Robert Wilmers,
who described his role today as “largely strategic” rather than operational.
Mr. Wilmers, who was appointed by Mr. Paterson in June, runs Buffalo, N.Y.-based
M&T Bank.
Dennis Mullen, a Rochester, N.Y., development official and former head of Birds
Eye Foods, was also announced today as upstate president of ESDC. A search for
his downstate counterpart is continuing as the acting downstate chief, Avi Schick,
prepares to leave the agency next month
...
It is not a surprise to us, given our experience watchdogging the ESDC's handling
of the Atlantic Yards project, that the state's economic development agency isn't
sure how much it spends on its "economic development" mandate:
Mr. Wilmers said that when he accepted his post, “my first thought
was to find out how much we spend on economic development.” More than two months
later, he admitted, “I still don’t know the answer.”
The agency has also been trying to hold businesses accountable for the job creation
they promise in exchange for receiving grants and tax breaks from ESDC. Spitzer
administration officials complained that the rationale behind the agency’s handouts
was often questionable and follow-up was virtually nonexistent.
Remember that Forest City Ratner promised 10,000 office jobs when it announced
its project in 2003. Today, if the thing ever gets built, it is
likely to only produce about 375 new office jobs.
Since the Atlantic Yards project is stalled,
lacking in financing and has numerous contracts remaining to be signed prior to
the project moving forward, now is the time when the ESDC can
examine—really for the first time—its handouts to Forest City Ratner. There is
no need to wait for follow-up.
Posted: 8.22.08
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