Blue Spot

Feds block Starrett City sale - AM New York

What does it take to pry 6,000 affordable New York City apartments out of the hands of a billion-dollar developer? Brute political force _ and a well-charged cell phone.

The decision Friday by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson to block the $1.3 billion sale of Starrett City _ the nation's largest federally subsidized rental housing complex _ came after plenty of old-fashioned political arm-twisting.

Jackson said Rep. Edolphus Towns, a Brooklyn Democrat whose district includes Starrett City, "must have called me 150 times. He just did not stop."

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