Mayor de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York slush fund now looks even shadier than ever.
As The Post reports Thursday, several big-wig players who forked over major bucks to the mayor or his fund stand to gain from de Blasio’s Brooklyn-Queens streetcar project.
Really, does he have any ideas that don’t reward friendly fat cats?
Two Trees Management, Forest City Ratner, the Durst Organization, Broadway Stages, the World Wide Group and the Park Tower Group all have real-estate interests near the planned route. Once the project’s done, the value of sites by the tramline are bound to soar.
And each firm — or parties with ties to them — gave handsomely to the CONY fund or to de Blasio’s campaign. That includes donations of more than $265,000 to the Campaign for One New York.
The tram plan has real appeal. But developers have long dreamed of a waterfront tram, yet couldn’t get other mayors to sign on.
Something swayed de Blasio.
It all fits a troubling pay-to-play pattern:
- De Blasio keeps embarrassing himself with failed bids to kill the carriage-horse trade — to please a key political donor.
- He tried to cap the growth of Uber to please the big givers of the taxi industry.
- He’s given special access to old-pal lobbyists. Surprise: That can mean special favors, like the unusual permit for a concert promoter’s event on Randall’s Island.
The watchdog Common Cause this week filed a formal demand for a probe of whether the mayor uses CONY to end-run city law. It specifically flagged the cash from the real-estate industry, among others.
The Post’s latest scoop shows how urgently that probe is needed.