This post has been read 3169 times!
Opinion February 5, 2013 By Steven E. Greer
As previously reported, the Gateway plaza Tenants Association convened a meeting last night to discuss the energy audits and what needs to be done to bring Gateway into the 21st Century of energy efficiency. The local advertising flier, The Broadsheet, published by Robert Simko who lives in Gateway, posted an online article about the meeting. Astonishingly, the most important developments of the meeting were completely left out of the article.
The author of the article was “Pulitzer Matt” Fenton, who attended the meeting and took copious notes. However, in his article, nowhere was the problem of the leaky windows sorely in need of replacement discussed. This is the big $10 Million capital expenditure that the building owner LeFrak wants to avoid spending, and has successfully avoided doing so for nearly 30 years.
The LeFrak organization has been a major campaign donor to the key elected officials in the city and state. The political clout of the organization has undoubtedly led to those officials looking the other way regarding decrepit egregious building conditions. Those same elected officials attend rallies for affordable housing and claim to be champions of the poor, but the big bucks of the special interest real estate moguls win the day.
BatteryPark.TV has previously reported on the financial conflicts of interest with The Broadsheet that lead to bias by omission in their reporting. The same entities funding the Broadsheet also make campaign donations to the elected officials referenced above, so the Broadsheet and the officials have become aligned on many topics.
Regarding the capital expenditures to Gateway Plaza that LeFrak has avoided for decades, there has been little to no coverage by The Broadsheet over the years. Likewise, the complaints about LeFrak possibly taking a profit on the electric bills have received no coverage, even though it was specifically addressed at the February 4th meeting.
Systematically, every scandal or issue that relates to LeFrak earning a profit has not been addressed in Robert Simko’s Broadsheet. Likewise, the BPCA, which pays the Broadsheet handsomely, was able to withhold from the community the opening of the $60 Million Asphalt Green complex as then CEO Gayle Horwitz tried to make Asphalt Green go away, and the scandal was not properly covered in The Broadsheet. Despite this egregious reporting, the community is mostly duped into thinking that the publication serves the interests of the community.
If you are fed up with misleading reporting, and with the special interests that win over the politicians, please post your comments below.
as i have said in the past ..30yrs of leaks…drafts…and outrageous bills……this will get us nowhere……
Ahhh now we know why broadsheet had such glowing reviews of Julie menin despite fact she has consistently championed outside interests rather than of her concerned constituents…..
Unfortunately the Broadsheet is no longer the “Battery Park Broadsheet” it once was. Local news has gone, local resident opinions are not asked and local daily life is ignored, Instead we get the “Sky at Night” and advertisements for a Doorman’s Guide. I’m sure finances are part of the reason but I do miss the old broadsheet.