NYC Comptroller Liu's CBA task force & more to come from the DuBois Bunche Center

Last week, New York City Comptroller John Liu announced the formation of his task force on Public Benefit Agreements. (Why he chose the "PBA" nomenclature is unclear.) According to Liu's website, "The Task Force will develop recommendations on best practices and draft a framework for a more effective and equitable process to guide public subsidized economic development projects in the City of New York, including accountability and enforcement mechanisms that would apply when tax dollars, rezonings, and other public resources are used to facilitate private development."

The task force has more than 30 members, and Eliot Brown at the New York Observer says that it has "lefty bent." Norman Oder at the Atlantic Yards Report breaks down the membership "through an AY lens" and points out that three of the task force members support the much criticized Atlantic Yards CBA.

One of those three task force members is Roger Green, the executive director of the DuBois-Bunche Urban Policy Center (and former New York Assembly member). The DBC announced that it will be undertaking its own study of CBAs, which will "review the origins of the various Community Benefits Agreements to determine their effectiveness in enhancing minority business and equal employment opportunities."