Former Edison Properties boss pushed real estate agenda with mayor

UPDATED, 12:48 a.m., Dec. 15: One-time Edison Properties boss Stephen Nislick — who is also an animal activist and supporter of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s horse carriage ban — is pushing his real estate agenda with the administration. The company owns roughly 40 parking lots and garage across town as well as other developments, according to Crain’s. Nislick, who is now a consultant at Edison, met with the mayor in January 2013, not to discuss horses, but to talk about transportation and parking issues, the website reported. Edison is a proponent of extending the 7-train to Secaucus, N.J., where the company owns a parking lot right next to the transit hub.

Nislick co-founded a political action committee — New York City Is Not For Sale — that spent more than $1 million to help defeat Christine Quinn, who was then de Blasio’s main opponent and didn’t support the horse carriage ban. Edison is not associated with that PAC or animal protection groups that Nislick is involved with.

A spokesperson for the mayor told Crain’s that the meeting between de Blasio and Nislick in 2013 was about “parking rules and regulations, specifically things like parking minimums.” Developers have lobbied to city to try to cut down parking mandates. In May, the mayor said his administration would re-examine those mandates. [Crain’s] — Claire Moses