In fact, having it in one clump made no sense. The plan would make the park more expensive to develop and maintain, as well as less accessible to local residents. There could be only one excuse for such a design, namely, the Olympics, which would use the park land for the aquatics center and other facilities. And it just so happened that the person overseeing the City Planning Commission was Deputy Mayor Doctoroff, the founder of NYC2012.
So I was faced with an additional dilemma. I supported the community's position and wanted to help my neighbors, but if I took too strong a stand, would I be jeopardizing whatever chance I still had to keep my land and save my employees' jobs? And what if New York didn't get the 2012 Olympics after all? Doctoroff and the mayor were insisting that they had a good shot, but almost no one outside New York agreed. If the Games went elsewhere, how would my chances of keeping my business in Brooklyn be affected? What would happen to the rezoning plan? And why were Doctoroff and Bloomberg pushing so hard for the rezoning and other projects like the new stadium on Manhattan's West Side if they knew in their hearts -- as I thought they must -- that their bid was a long shot?
I realized I had to figure out what was going on before I could decide on my next step. There were some clues. What particularly caught my attention was the mayor's insistence that work on the West Side stadium begin prior to July 6, 2005 -- the day that the International Olympic Committee would announce its choice of the 2012 host city. I couldn't see why. Olympic cities often build their stadiums after getting the nod. Why was it so important that New York start building before?
Perhaps it was important because Bloomberg and Doctoroff understood that their bid for 2012 was likely to fail and they were actually angling to get the Games in 2016 or thereafter. They swore that was not the case. In fact, Doctoroff insisted that if New York didn't win the 2012 bid, it probably wouldn't even try for 2016. He said "a unique series of resources" was available now that wouldn't be around four years hence. By that, I assumed he meant the Brooklyn waterfront and the land for the stadium on the West Side.
But his assertion was absurd. There were plenty of places to put a stadium and an aquatics center -- unless you were so obsessed with doing it your way that you refused to accept any alternative. In that case, putting a stadium in Manhattan and creating a waterfront park in Brooklyn would be top priorities, and it would be important to get your ducks in a row before the July 6 decision because afterward -- if New York wasn't chosen -- all bets would be off. For openers, the mayor was up for reelection in November, and there was a good chance he'd lose.
The more I thought about it, the clearer everything seemed. Bloomberg and Doctoroff weren't really shooting for 2012. Rather, they wanted to lock in certain conditions that would ensure the Olympics came to New York on their terms in 2016 or later. They wanted to be certain, moreover, that the plan would proceed even if the mayor lost. I'm not impugning their motives here. Until it's proven otherwise, I have to believe they really do want to leave a legacy that will benefit the city after they're gone. And who knows? They may be right, though I doubt it.
If the city takes my land, my partners and I stand to gain a huge windfall. But my employees probably will lose their jobs.
In any case, I had to decide how to proceed. There was, I must concede, a financial consideration -- a potential windfall for me and my partners. If my commercial property were rezoned for residential use, its value would go through the roof. Then again, I would do just as well if the city took my land for a park. After all, were it not for the fact that the city wanted to take our land, it all would have been rezoned residential. But I would still have to live with myself afterward and, with that in mind, I wanted to do what was best not just for the business but also for my employees and the community. Unfortunately, those goals were not necessarily compatible. Although I think our giant warehouses are beautiful, I can understand why our neighbors would prefer to have a park or an esplanade or even an aquatics center. Any of those options, however, would be very bad news for most of my employees.
In the end, I decided to speak my mind even though I knew it might create problems for me down the road. When the rezoning plan came before the Brooklyn borough president, I showed up and urged him to reject it because the whole process stank. The plan had been designed to accommodate the mayor's Olympic ambitions with little, if any, regard for the true wants and needs of the communities it would affect. I later made a similar point at a City Council hearing in City Hall.
I also attended to my unfinished business with Jay Kriegel. We finally got together for another lunch, and I opened the meeting by saying, "I want to tell you what I thought when I gave you the money you asked for. I didn't believe it had anything to do with influence. All I expected was that if some decision you made was going to have a big impact on me, you would at least have the courtesy to call and notify me in advance."
"You're absolutely right," Kriegel said. "I should have called. You have every right to be angry. I apologize."
The apology took me by surprise, but I accepted it. "What I'm really mad about," I added, "is that I've been practicing archery all these months and now I've got to start over again with swimming."
Kriegel laughed, and we had a pleasant enough lunch. When I voiced my skepticism about the city's chances in the competition for the 2012 Games, he repeated the party line, insisting that New York would win. At the end of the meal, I gave him the second check for $10,000 and told him he'd get the third installment in a month. It was my way of letting him know I would keep my word even if he didn't. We parted on good terms.
Still, you might wonder why I bothered meeting with Kriegel at all. I could have called him up and told him off, and no one would have blamed me. When I was younger, I might have done exactly that. But I've learned that it does no good to vent your spleen, particularly when dealing with politicians and government officials. It doesn't even make you feel better for very long. Besides, I may need Kriegel's help someday, and he does owe me one, as I think he would agree. In politics, as in business, events can take unexpected turns. Yesterday's adversary can become tomorrow's ally. You never know how a story will end. I certainly don't yet know the conclusion to this one. I just hope I'll be able to protect my business and my employees, who now number 450, when the time comes.
