Norwood News

John Liu, the Democratic and Working Families Party nominee for comptroller who will take office in January unless one of his three challengers scores an epic upset in the general election, visited the Norwood News on Aug. 18.

His campaign was the only citywide campaign to reach out to request a meeting with the paper.
Following is an excerpt of the interview, with particular emphasis on Liu’s answers to questions about local development issues.

On the Croton Filtration Plant project and other local developments …
The filtration plant fiasco is a glaring example of mismanagement where the goals and timetables are not clearly laid out in advance, but there’s a fancy announcement on the part of the mayor and … wholesale promises of jobs … and nobody is keeping an eye on the actual delivery of these promises.

As comptroller, I would have a huge amount of leverage through the powers of the office to ensure that the original promises made are actually kept and, to the extent that we see serious lapses in the fulfillment of these commitments, to put these promises on a clear timetable, with marked milestones along the way, to actually ensure that the promise of jobs, the promises of housing and other so-called community benefits items are actually delivered.

On Yankee Stadium …
With Yankee Stadium, it’s about some of the financial estimates that went into supporting the project, it’s about the level of subsidies, it’s even about issues like what happened with the promises of box seats for the city, the expense of 100 parking spaces. Those are all details that I would review with a powerful microscope.

On subsidies and tax breaks for developers …
I do not see a general need for that. I think when it comes time to balance our budgets and when sales tax is being increased and senior centers are being cut back, that when it comes to hard choices, eliminating those tax breaks have to be a part of that equation as well. And I’ve made it a part of my platform that … a lot more light needs to be shone on agencies like the EDC [Economic Development Corporation] like the IDA [Industrial Development Agency]. …  There’s a huge lack of transparency when it comes to what the IDA, EDC and there are a couple of other obscure entities within city government that need a great deal of sunlight to be shone on them and I will certainly provide that sunlight.

Ed. Note: Liu’s opponents are Republican Joseph Mendola, Conservative Stuart Avrick, Libertarian John Clifton, and Salim Ejaz of the Rent is Too High party. The election is Nov. 3.