"ACORN is a corrupt organization that had its silence bought by Ratner"

Don't let the videotapes fool you, the controversial community organizing outfit ACORN is about so much more than a few tax evasion and prostitution scandals. They're also apparently happy to cash in on corporate welfare and eminent domain abuse. As the New York Post's Rich Calder reports, ACORN is deeply entwined with real estate tycoon Bruce Ratner and his controversial Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn, New York:

The left-wing organization—longtime boosters of the $4.9 billion NBA arena and residential- and office-tower project—says it expects to be tapped to market and help decide who gets to live in the coveted, but long-delayed, 2,250 affordable-housing units planned for Atlantic Yards.

This, after Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner helped bail ACORN out of financial trouble last September with a $1 million loan and a $500,000 grant, according to memos.

Although contracts are not yet been signed, Ismene Speliotis, executive director of ACORN's New York chapter, told The Post her organization "expects to play a role in the marketing and lease-up" of the Prospect Heights project's affordable housing to be underwritten by the city.

The work would include community outreach and screening people to determine qualified applicants, and then scandal-scarred ACORN would be entrusted with overseeing a lottery system to choose who gets the housing. Ratner's firm is expected to manage the housing….

Patti Hagan, a Prospects Heights activist and former operative for ACORN's political arm, the Working Families Party, said she's learned the hard way that "ACORN is a corrupt organization that had its silence bought by Ratner."

As Ratner was quietly funneling $1.5 million in grants and loans to ACORN last year, his firm was reeling from the economic downtown and laying staff off and bringing in "value engineers" to shave Atlantic Yards' costs.

Critics and some project supporters began questioning whether Ratner could deliver the affordable housing and jobs he promised. But ACORN—which was embroiled in an embezzlement scandal and owed millions of dollars in back taxes—remained silent and accepted Ratner's gift.

Ratner also happens to own the New Jersey Nets, who will move to Brooklyn if Ratner builds the taxpayer-funded basketball arena that's the centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards project. So don't let anybody tell you that ACORN doesn't have friends in high places.

Read the whole Post story here. Reason on the Atlantic Yards boondoggle here.