PAUL NEWELL SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CORPORATE WELFARE ON BEEKMAN STREET

Lower Manhattan, New York, July 2, 2008 -- Appalled by the recent news that Forest City Ratner had threatened to halt construction on the Beekman Street school if the city did not come through with a 20-year tax break, 64^th District State Assembly candidate Paul Newell said he blames Speaker Sheldon Silver, who recruited Ratner for the project, for delaying the construction.

"We have been waiting for this school for far too long to allow it to be held up at the whims of Bruce Ratner's development schedule," said Paul Newell. "Once again, Shelly Silver has sided with his big money donors over the interests of Lower Manhattanites. The corporate welfare of millions of dollars in unwarranted tax breaks to Bruce Ratner is an insult to New York City's children in this time of fiscal belt tightening."

Newell will be holding a brief press conference Thursday, July 3, 2008 at noon in front of the Beekman Tower at the corner of Beekman and William Streets.

Construction on the Beekman Street school, planned for the lower levels of the Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan, started in October 2006, but its anticipated opening has already been delayed several times. The elementary school isn't slated to open its doors until the fall of 2011.

State laws regulating 421-A tax abatements changed June 19, and under the new provisions, Forest City Ratner will only have been eligible for a 10-year tax exemption, not a 20-year one. Community Board members were forced to grant the abatement because they did not want to risk the future of the project. "We don't want to do anything to jeopardize the financing of the school," Julie Menin, Chairperson of Community Board 1, told the Downtown Express.

"Our children's education is too important to be auctioned off to one of Sheldon Silver's biggest campaign donors to the tune of $60,000 in soft money contributions," said Newell.

This week, Jennifer Berkley joins the Newell Campaign as Communications Director. Berkley, a former journalist, devoted the last year and a half to Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in New York. Originally from Brookline, Mass., Berkley, 33, lives on the Upper East Side.

For more information, please contact Communications Director Jennifer Berkley at 917-843-5669 or Campaign Manager Evan Hutchison at 646-415-8273.

Community Organizer and Health Education Activist Paul Newell is running for State Assembly in District 64 against Speaker Sheldon Silver. Newell, 33, was born and raised in Lower Manhattan.

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