"New York Politicians Oppose Airport-Trade Center Land Swap"

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Queens Politicians Oppose Airport-Trade Center Land Swap
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
The New York (NY) Times

 
Few people in Queens took it seriously last summer when the Bloomberg
administration proposed swapping the land beneath Kennedy and La Guardia
Airports for the World Trade Center property.

But now that the city appears to be inching closer to a deal with the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site,
residents near the airports and local politicians are crying sellout.

City Hall would be giving up control of two of the "potentially greatest
economic assets" of the city, Helen M. Marshall, borough president in
Queens, said in a letter to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Monday.

The city would give the Port Authority the 5,610 acres beneath the two city
airports in exchange for the 16-acre trade center site and more than $700
million it desperately wants for its budget. The Port Authority, which is
run by commissioners from New York and New Jersey, operates the airports,
but leases the land from the city. If an agreement is reached, it is still
weeks or months away, but city and state officials say momentum for a swap
is growing.

"We're talking about nothing short of selling out Queens," said State
Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, who represents Astoria and Long Island
City, neighborhoods just west of La Guardia Airport. "We're ceding control
of a huge chunk of Queens County to New Jersey."

On Monday, Mr. Gianaris, Assemblyman Barry S. Grodenchik and four of their
colleagues introduced a bill in the Assembly that would block the city from
transferring or selling airport land. They say a companion bill will be
filed in the Senate.

"I think it's the worst land deal since the Indians sold Manhattan," Mr.
Grodenchik said. "I don't understand why we would give up almost 10 percent
of the county of Queens, and put the airports under the control of an
authority, half of whose directors are from New Jersey. They'd have no
reason to deal with us because we no longer own the land."

Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff has said the city would continue to play a
role in the Port Authority's plans for the airports, despite the sale of the
land. The city would also gain control over the development of the trade
center site, an important swath of Lower Manhattan, Mr. Doctoroff said, as
well as the insurance proceeds from the attack on the trade center and $120
million a year in rent from the developer who leases the commercial portion
of the trade center.

The city has long complained about the rent it receives from the Port
Authority for use of the airports and the fees from the trade center site.
Although the airports generated a net income of $188.4 million in 2001, the
authority paid only $13.3 million in rent. Last year, that dropped to $3.5
million. At one time, the city sought to raise the rent as high as $80
million a year.

Queens politicians and other critics of the deal agreed that the Port
Authority had grossly underpaid the city. But they said Mayor Bloomberg
should negotiate for a higher rent rather than sell the land for a one-time
windfall.

"It's an act of folly by people who think there's a big payoff in the World
Trade Center site," said Henry J. Stern, the former commissioner of the
city's Parks Department. "It's a dry hole as far as revenue is concerned
because of the monuments and the demand for open space and cultural
institutions."

Hugh O'Neil, a former Port Authority executive, also questioned the economic
wisdom of the deal.

"The city is in effect trading off a long-term increase in revenues from the
airports for greater control over the trade center site and a one-shot
contribution to its budgetary problem," said Mr. O'Neil, an economic
development consultant. "The city's making a series of assumptions about
what it gets out of the deal that I'm not certain about."


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************