That task force is now meeting. But its meetings are closed to the public.
Why? Liu's spokesperson Scott Sieber says that public benefit agreements are a "sensitive issue" and "The comptroller's office feels it's important that the Task force members are able to have candid conversations." While the Task force will be meeting monthly, they aren't planning to hold any public hearings, according to Sieber.
But whether the task force operates behind closed doors or in full view, some question what the 35-member body can actually achieve. Though the Comptroller serves as a board member of the New York City Industrial Development Agency and the Capital Resource Corporation, which review developers' requests for public subsidies, altering the city's land use practices is a tall order.
Liu has pledged to work with the mayor and the Council "to implement a new approach" to public benefit agreements. Yet one Council member requesting anonymity is skeptical that Liu or the Council has the authority to set standards for the agreements or alter the public approval process. The only means of implementing changes, the official asserted, is through revision of the city's charter or administrative code. But the mayor, who has commissioned a charter revision commission, would be unlikely to support a move that weakens his power over land use.
Despite the qualms about Liu's approach, many agree that community benefit agreements bear examination.
A community benefit agreement is a contract between a developer and a community coalition that sets forth the benefits the developer agrees to provide the community in exchange for their support of the project. Community benefit agreements address issues like affordable housing, quality jobs, local hiring and neighborhood improvements.
Proponents of community benefit agreements argue that they be can effective in ensuring that developments that receive tax exemptions, low-interest loans, preferential utilities rates and other public subsidies also provide tangible benefits to communities.
Critics of community benefit agreements say the deals are easily co-opted by a few special interests that exclude key stakeholders in the community, preventing the wider population from really benefiting. Critics also argue that too often the agreements can be broken by developers with little consequence.
"I've come to believe they should be used only very, very sparingly, and many benefits that are negotiated should really be part of public policy," says Ronald Shiffman, co-founder of the Pratt Center for Community Development. He helped form the West Harlem Local Development Corporation, which signed a community benefit agreement with Columbia University. Shiffman contends that "Instead of determining the best means and methods of planning and developing the area, zoning and planning were for sale. Columbia used its resources and lobbyists to influence the political and professional establishment."
Columbia spokesperson Victoria Benitez contends, however, that the university has "worked diligently with the West Harlem Local Development Corporation and its broadly representative board to develop a robust community benefits agreement that all stakeholders anticipate will result in a significant, long-term investment in a wide array of local health, education, social and economic needs as determined by members of the community themselves."
Tom Angotti, a member of Liu's Task force and the Director of the Center for Community Planning and Development at Hunter College, believes that strengthening the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure—the public approval process for land use and zoning changes—is an alternative to relying on community benefits agreements. Angotti argues that community boards also need more funding, diversity, and power in local development decisions—an issue at the heart of much testimony to the charter revision commission.
