Following Up with the Kaz Project

Before publishing my previous post, reporting the intel from tonight's Economic Development Committee meeting, I emailed Don Moore, chair of the selection/review committee of the HDC Board, the committee tasked with reviewing the proposals and recommending a developer for the Kaz redevelopment project, asking him to comment on the report that "the Board has elected to stall the selection of a preferred developer." I regret that I did not give him adequate time to respond. An hour after I published that post, I received this response from Moore and permission to share it on Gossips:

I knew Sheena would be away but did not review her statement. In that she described the Kaz review process as "stalled," her description is accurate. "Elected" implies nothing more than a round of conversations about whether we had the time and attention, and whether it would be responsible to the city and to the firms that bid on the project, to continue with additional site visits until we had a clearer picture of the city's concerns and interests.

It was my task as chair of the review committee to continue to schedule HDC board members for site visits to the developers' completed projects in Peekskill, Watervliet, Schenectady, and Saratoga. These were to have occurred last week and this week. Each of the sites had been visited by board members and by Sheena, but additional visits were needed so that everyone who wanted to visit the sites would be able to do so.

In light of Tom [DePietro]'s objections to our approach to Kaz development and his initiative to explore dissolution of an LDC, and the time and consideration that were needed for our board chair to develop a considered response, postponement of the visits and consideration of the project is the responsible position to take. So, yes, it is fair to say the Kaz project is stalled while everyone takes a step back to assess what happens next.

 COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK