Zuccotti Park Owners, Brookfield Properties, Owe City $139,000

Mayor Bloomberg may have been on the side of Brookfield Properties during the violent raid on Occupy Wall Street in November, but now it's looking like the Mayor will want to distance himself from the owners of Zuccotti Park.

According to the city's Finance Department, Brookfield Properties and its parent company owe $139,000 in unpaid business taxes dating from 2006 to 2009.

Councilman Jumaane Williams, who was wrongly arrested this summer while attending the West Indian Parade, and was arrested again during an Occupy Wall Street protest at the Brooklyn Bridge, pointed out the blatant irony in Brookfield's financial woes:

Occupy Wall Street has been talking about economic disparity...and here's Brookfield Properties, which has worked with the mayor to keep the messengers out, not paying their share.

A spokesman for Brookfield Properties disputed the claims and said the company would be in communication with the city's finance department to work through what they deemed as an error.

Others on the list of city debtors include the Philadelphia Eagles, Rev. Al Sharpton, and the law firm Binder and Binder.

Brookfield, which reportedly owns 6.2 million square feet in midtown and 12.8 million square feet in Lower Manhattan, was at the center of controversy during the city's Occupy Wall Street demonstrations when protestors took over Zuccotti Park to pitch tents for encampment.

At the start of the protests in October, Bloomberg dismissed protestors and insisted that neither Occupy Wall Street nor Brookfield Properties were topics of the Mayor's "pillow talk." However, that quickly changed as protestors gained momentum and national attention, and Bloomberg ordered hundreds of police officers to evict protestors during the middle of the night.

 

 

Comments

[politicky]

02:49 PM on 12/07/2011

My first thought was that Brookfield was hoping that the protesters would cause damage so that Brookfield could sue the city. So many "frivolous lawsuits" that take up the court's time and manpower are brought by entities that can afford to drag it out, NOT average, everyday people looking for redress of their grievances.

[Sky Quin]

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[Jayk4444]

11:01 PM on 12/06/2011

Sources said that during the time period examined by the newspaper – 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 – the company (Brookfield) paid about $3-million in property tax into city coffers.

[Jayk4444]

11:00 PM on 12/06/2011

Brookfield is among 40,000 entities that owe the city an eye-popping $149 million in overdue business taxes dating to 2000, the Finance Department says.

The list also includes the Philadelphia Eagles, the WNBA, Heineken USA, Comcast Sports, the company that built the Trump International Building on Central Park West, the Binder and Binder law firm, the OTR Media billboard company, former City Council President Andrew Stein and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

[Jayk4444]

10:59 PM on 12/06/2011

A spokeswoman for Sharpton said he has nearly satisfied a payment agreement he had for a $261,000 debt that he ran up between 2000 and 2004 on his personal business and his former company, Rev. Al Communications.

[MrBadExample]

05:50 PM on 12/06/2011

Per the Daily News, the total unpaid business tax bill comes to around $149 M. That doesn't include the sweetheart deals the mayor and his predecessor made with Chase ($11 M/year tax abatements for jobs at Metrotech that haven't been created), the $30 M the city is losing on the Yankees/Mets parking franchises, the 200K a year the city spends for security around Fox News (a unique media deal) and the $8+ million the city doesn't get from MSG (they pay no property tax on the home of the Rangers and Knicks). And when the big guys DO pay up, there will be no penalties or interest. Bloomberg has been unabashed about his giveaways to corporate dealers, even as the city struggles to pay its teachers and hasn't had a realistic contract negotiation with the cops or firefighters in years. Bloomie needs to be called out on his hypocrisy.

[LSP]

10:54 AM on 12/07/2011

This is sickening.

[Morena]

03:25 PM on 12/07/2011

BIG DEAL!!! They're job creators!

At least that's how they spin it.

[bejayech]

12:51 PM on 12/06/2011

Rev. Al...what a guy.

[buckeye3118]

12:10 PM on 12/06/2011

Mayor Bloomberg can pay for it, since his live-in girlfriend works for Brookfield.

[DRouss3977]

11:57 AM on 12/06/2011

LOL! 1% hypocracy at its finest (or should I say worse). SHAME!

[american-dolt]

11:46 AM on 12/06/2011

Ironic

[javajava]

11:45 AM on 12/06/2011

In my Nelson voice

"Haw haw!"

[mrsentinel]

10:32 AM on 12/06/2011

See, now, if the owners charged a buck a head to these OWS losers to get into the park each day, they'd be able to pay their tax bill in a few days. LOL

Stories like this, they're just so ridiculously funny.

[buckeye3118]

12:12 PM on 12/06/2011

You don't want the OWS'ers to actually pay. It would cut into their money spent on drugs, and really 'harsh their mellow'.

[Dean Rains]

12:39 PM on 12/06/2011

right - i'm sure the hundred's of out of work moms, dads, grandparents and their children were all hittin the hash every second. good grief.

[Morena]

03:28 PM on 12/07/2011

Charge to use a public space? That is serviced via tax dollars? Posts like yours are ridiculously dim.

Privately owned public spaces_ read about it.

[mrsentinel]

03:51 PM on 12/07/2011

Hmmmm.... a public space that's privately owned? Sounds like you need to do some reading yourself, there, missy.

[mrsentinel]

10:28 AM on 12/06/2011

Ahhhhhh the irony is just soooooo..... ironic.

[terra33]

10:14 AM on 12/06/2011

OWS is dead. If they had any goals no one knows what they were. They claim to raise awareness about banks and bailouts which everyone already knew about. They are know for jamming traffic, trespessing, vandallism, drug use, public sex, filthy conditions in a public space, violence against police. They have cost taxpayers, cities and businesses millions. They claim to represent the 99% yet there actions have only harmed many of the 99%. They have achieved nothing and lost main stream support. Unlike the Tea Party who have rallied to change legislation, to stop bailouts, stop massive spending and debt that will be put on the backs of future generations (like these young OWS kids). The Tea Party is the only group who is actualy trying to help the 99% with lower taxes, lower cost for education, lower cost for HC and get government out of the business of destroying the economy through massive regulation and spending.

[buckeye3118]

12:14 PM on 12/06/2011

Your comment has marked you as a non-worshipper of PopStar MESSiah. The SEIU goons will soon be at your door. LOL

[Dean Rains]

12:40 PM on 12/06/2011

you are a lost anti-american.

[CASSIE60]

08:56 AM on 12/06/2011

At least the OWS of Zuccotti Park shined the light on, a once again wealthy entity NOT PAYING TAXES!

One of the important meanings of the movement....some people get it.

[mallen1971]

10:56 AM on 12/06/2011

Yes, it would appear they have brought Al Sharpton's tax evasion to light, so they're good for something.

[williamabn]

12:00 PM on 12/06/2011

cassie , They owe back tax's . 2006 thru 2009 only . Before and after all tax's are paid . So why do you say they paid nothing . One thing I do get is in the name its self . " Occupy " . To take over a town or city by force using the first amendment as there weapon . They camp out in parks and destroy the grass and plants , Turning them into a unusable mud hole , They leave behind filth and stench , A bill for police over time , Medical over time and sanitation expense . Not to exclude the noise and streets being blocked to thru traffic . These are fellow Americans and OWS doesn't seem to care . The are callous . As long as they get there message out , Whether you want to hear it or not . No leadership , No direction at all . Just occupy and hurt American towns and city's . Do the think the great OWS fairy god is going to appear and swoop down and smite all the wall street bankers for them ? They need to re-think they protest and quit hurting tax payers .

[Dean Rains]

12:47 PM on 12/06/2011

it's 1773, and some colonialists are fed up with the conservative inept rulers. Where do you stand - with the blind loyalists, or the people who are striving for a change, and have very little ability for impact other than throwing tea into the water...
I would argue that the irony of your description of OWD is that the current OWS is yesteryears tea party and the current tea party is a more ignorant verion of yesteryears loyalists.