Bronx BTM Meeting: “Still Fighting Mad”

The Daily News is reporting on today’s meeting between Bronx pols, EDC and the BTM merchants. The sub-head: “Ousted Merchants push for relocation plan.” The funniest comment (aside from our own of course) is from our dependable straight man Michael Sherman of EDC. When queried about the possibility of building a new market the EDC folks say that a sticking point is the issue of comparable rents. Sherman’s hilarious comment: “We want a return on our investment.”

If EDC does build a market for the BTM merchants it will, in fact, be the only development that does a fair return for the City since it won’t be coming from the heavily subsidized Gateway project. In addition, given the EDC position (“we will not consider the construction of a new market”), it is hard to see just what the agency plans.