February 7th, 2018

To: Empire State Development

Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation
President, Marion Phillips

From: Jaime Stein

Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation
Board of Directors, Mayoral Appointee

Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation Board of Directors Letter of

Resignation

Dear Mr. Phillips,

I am writing with the intention to resign from the Atlantic Yards Community Development
Corporation Board of Directors.

January 2018 represents the completion of my three years of service on the Board as the New
York City Mayoral Appointee. I had accepted the position with a commitment to serve just one,
three year term. I thank you, Empire State Development staff, the Mayor and all Directors for
their professionalism and the opportunity to serve.

In the past three years, I have observed a few challenges which I offer here for both your
consideration and the consideration of my replacement. In general these comments call for
greater transparency and accountability to the public from the Developer, ESD and the AYCDC
Board.

Since the beginning of my service, I have remarked that many of the daily quality of life issues
surrounding the project such as; dust, noise and traffic have persisted since the project’s
beginning over 10 years ago. There are many existing attempts to stave off this concern; the
Atlantic Yards Watch, 311 and the AYCDC Incident Log, but all of these place the onus of
monitoring and reporting on the public and do not resolve issues in real time. With an estimated
timeframe of 20+ years for project completion, these existing systems need to be overhauled to
include the public, local elected officials, City agencies, ESD and impacted community boards.
In speaking with members of the community I have learned new frameworks are being
pursued to improve coordination, monitoring and reporting with the help of the Brooklyn
Borough President’s Office and Brooklyn Community Board 2. I urge the Board and ESD
to engage in these initiatives.

I have observed a persistent need for greater transparency regarding details of the project. The
Board serves a necessary role in asking for clarification and details on mitigations, monitoring
and daily quality of life issues. However, we are a volunteer Board with limited time and access
to project details. Oftentimes we are asked to make decisions with very limited time and
information. The best example of this which I can point to is the renewal of the HDR contract for
monitoring of the project. The Board was asked to vote on this contract renewal (without the
opportunity to review the full contract) just weeks before it was going to expire. As this was a 10
year contract and the Board had been active for almost 3 years, I have difficulty understanding
why and strongly disagree with the excessively brief process for the contract renewal.

I believe review of the contracts for the Environmental Monitor as well as the Owner’s
Representative are a pivotal moment for not just the Board but the public and the project overall.
They represent an opportunity to review and improve monitoring, coordination and response in
a public and transparent way which can address the persistent quality of life issues surrounding
the project. The project has changed in the last 10 years and renewing the same contracts for
another 10 years fails to recognize those changes as well as the long term and complex nature
of the project. ​For the upcoming contract reviews, I urge the ESD to submit to the Board
(and public) a detailed timeline of the contract reviews and provide an opportunity to fully
examine the existing contract and make recommendations for their improvement.

There is a great deal of monitoring that is going on within the project but much of it is unseen by
the public eye. In a recent request for HDR’s Mitigation Matrix (an item within the appendix of
their quarterly reports) I was struck by the thorough accounting of the many mitigations called
for in the project. ​It is essential that HDR’s Mitigation Matrix be made publicly available
and that the Board have the ability to request accounting and details of each mitigation
and its progress. I consider this type of transparency and accountability as low hanging
fruit for building the public’s trust.

Lastly, as you know, I have put forth principles and ideas for engaging both the Board and the
public in the development of Site 5. In general these ideas emphasize the allocation of
sufficient time and resources for the Board and public so that the project can successfully move
forward in the most informed and transparent way. I urge ESD and the Board to utilize this
approach in all major decisions not just for a future Site 5 SEIS. In closing, it is my view the
Board can provide a crucial foothold for the public to engage the project. If the Board is not
given the resources and information that they need, the overall public engagement in the project
is diminished.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Jaime Stein
AYCDC Board of Directors,
Mayoral Appointee 2015 - 2018
Cc: Members of AYCDC Board, The Offices of Mayor Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough
President Eric Adams, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, State Assembly Member Walter
Mosley, City Council Member Laurie Cumbo, CB2 District Manager Robert Perris, CB8 District
Manager Michelle George, CB6 Assistant District Manager Ty Beatty