Two Trees increases lobbying dollars fivefold

Two Trees Management
has spent $400,385 on lobbying in
2007 and 2008, more than five times what the company spent in lobbying
between
2002 and 2006. Two Trees’ Dock Street project, which includes a middle
school and housing, entered the public review process last year, during
which the company spent $225,484 to lobby the School Construction
Authority,
the mayor’s office, the Department of City Planning, Borough President
Marty
Markowitz, Community Board 2 and the City Council. According to the
Brooklyn Paper,
city officials originally said a middle school wasn’t needed in Dumbo,
but after the
lobbying, the city put the school into its five-year construction
plans. Markowitz’s hearing on the project will be held
tonight at
Brooklyn Borough Hall.