By Stephanie Greenwood and Bettina Damiani
Federal monies for the post-9/11 reconstruction of Lower Manhattan are skewed towards big business and high-income neighborhoods, our investigation finds. Community priorities such as affordable housing, job creation, and local transportation are being ignored. Probing the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) — the entity formed to distribute Federal cash aid — we found an agency that lacks transparency and has given numerous grants to companies with ties to LMDC board members.
They’re in the Money; We’re in the Dark is the most recent in Good Jobs New York’s “Reconstruction Watch” series that evaluates the allocation of Federal economic development resources in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center.