Members of community boards throughout the city are crying foul over a revelation in today’s Post about the city spending $7 million in taxpayer money on a state-of-the-art office building for one of Brooklyn’s sleepiest boards.
“That’s unreal. Where is this place going to be built? Park Avenue?” said a member of one Queens community board.
Not exactly.
But Brooklyn Community Board 18’s new 4,000-square-foot brick building at Paerdegat Basin in Georgetown has design touches like an arched roof and all the trimmings, including a security system, private parking area, fancy tiling and an audio system for the board’s large meeting room. And CB 18’s only employees are state Sen. Carl Kruger’s longtime girlfriend and sister.
It’s a costly “giveback” to the community board and the embattled Brooklyn Democrat for his backing nearly two decades ago of a $357 million city sewage-overflow storage plant, which is just now being built at Paerdegat Basin, officials said.
“This is disgusting?” said a member of one of Brooklyn’s busiest community boards. “How do you justify giving 4,000 square feet of space to one of the city’s least active community boards that isn’t even on the heart of the borough?”
It’s rare for community boards to have dedicated city-owned space. Most rent offices from the private sector, are advised not to exceed 1,500 square feet of space, and host public meetings at larger spaces, city officials said.
But the city is paying the price now for a deal the former Dinkins administration cut in the early 1990s while Kruger chaired CB 18 and the DEP project was before it.
“This is unbelievable,” said former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, who now heads the watchdog group New York Civic. “It’s a transaction that totally smells of the sewers.”
Stern said it’s common for communities to get “givebacks” – like new schools and parks – for being burdened by large city construction projects. But he said the only people really benefiting in this matter are Kruger and his cronies. He said the city should make the building a community center that the community board would use – but not control.
Both Kruger and his girlfriend, CB 18 District Manager Dorothy Turano, have said the new offices are necessary because since 1977, the board has worked out of a converted two-room apartment at the Glenwood Houses, a low-income housing project in Canarsie.
“The only people who aren’t afraid to come visit our [current] offices are the Police Department,” Turano said. “This new space – half of which is for a meeting room — will benefit the community more than anyone else.”
Turano, who in previous interviews with the Post has called Kruger her “partner,” said she believes her “relationship with Carl [Kruger] had nothing to do with him” continuing to push hard to get the new offices opened.
Besides Turano, Kruger’s sister, Marlene Berger, works for the board as its secretary.
Memos between the DEP and Kruger’s staff over the past three years obtained by the Post show just how much interest Kruger, the target of an FBI corruption probe into alleged influence peddling, has in the offices – and how much power he has at CB 18.
“Senator Kruger is requesting on behalf of Community Board 18 access to the meeting room where deliveries will be made and items stored,” said Jason Koppel, Kruger’s chief of staff in an April 8, 2009 email to the DEP’s Denise Hubbard. “The community board takes full responsibility.”
The DEP and Koppel also exchanged emails about Kruger touring the building, the project’s timeline and potential lease agreements.
“It’s obvious that he feels he has a personal stake in this project,” said one city official.
Kruger told the Post that the community board won’t be paying rent for its new offices — saving taxpayers money on rent — and that relocating will open up apartment space at the Glenwood Houses.
“This is a win-win for everyone,” said Kruger, who blamed project delays for skyrocketing costs.
Although the DEP plant to improve Paerdegat Basin and Jamaica Bay’s water quality is still being built, the CB 18 offices on the site at Ralph and Flatlands Avenue were recently completed. But its move-in is being held up over a dispute between the board and DEP over who’s responsible for maintenance.
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