Judge halts Broadway Triangle deve

Vito Lopez

The city’s investigation into the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council — a non-profit founded by Assemblyman Vito Lopez, allegedly plagued by fraud — is hindering the group’s effort to develop a huge city-owned plot of contaminated land called the Broadway Triangle, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Attorneys for the city asked a Manhattan judge to lift her stay on development, despite the concurrent investigations into the site’s developer, and the state’s decision to delay funding for housing contracts on two city-owned sites within the triangle. Ridgewood Bushwick and its nonprofit partner, the United Jewish Organizations, were awarded the rights to develop 1,895 units of housing on a 31-acre brownfield near the former headquarters of Pfizer in South Williamsburg almost two years ago. The plan was approved by the city, despite protests from community members who sued to stop it. At the same time, federal investigators were probing the records of Lopez, regarding how government subsidies could be used to fund brownfield redevelopment programs such as the Broadway Triangle. Thanks to the judge‘s reluctance to move forward, the Broadway Triangle now remains on hold. [Brooklyn Paper]

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