City Point developers under fire

The stalled development project at the site of Downtown Brooklyn’s former Albee Square Mall is being investigated for human rights abuses as part of a global United Nations crackdown, the Brooklyn Paper reported. Last weekend, State Department officials visited the site, where Albee Square Development had been putting up its City Point tower, to look into employment and labor violations on behalf of the U.N. The developers have promised more than 100 new jobs, luxury housing and retail space and have been granted numerous tax breaks along the way. Activists argue that the developers have taken that taxpayer money and are proposing to pay those 100-plus workers less than living wages in return. Chris Camponovo, the State Department senior adviser who toured the site with activists over the weekend, will make a recommendation about whether the project proposal contains human rights violations in November, after which the issue would be brought forth before the U.N. [Brooklyn Paper]