Pay To Rezone

Something “interesting” in the way that campaign contributions often can be “interesting”:

Among the 2006 and 2007 campaign contributors to the two city councilmen whose districts cover most of the territory to be rezoned under the city’s so-called Jamaica Plan, two groups stand out in their donations: real estate developers and trade unions.

Between $9,850 from unions and roughly $15,000 from real estate and developer interests, City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) received almost $25,000 in 2006, a year in which he disclosed $60,050 in corporate campaign contributions, according to campaign finance disclosures from the state Board of Elections.

In 2006, City Councilmen Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) declared $16,200 in donations from individuals and partnerships, of which $2,500 came from interests associated with real estate development, according to campaign finance disclosures from the state Board of Elections. His campaign’s corporate contributors that year gave a total of $17,250, of which $2,750 came from real estate groups and developers.

. . .

The Jamaica Plan would alter the permitted height, usage and density of new buildings across the 368 blocks to be rezoned under the proposal, stretching from Highland and Hillcrest avenues in the north to 110th and Sayres avenues in the south, west to the Van Wyck Expressway and east to 191st Street. In many cases, the changes allow much taller buildings along major roads and near the transit hub at Jamaica Center than exist there now.