Markowitz planning China trip to trade green cards for Atlantic Yards funding

By RICH CALDER
Last Updated: 6:13 PM, September 30, 2010
Posted: 3:57 PM, September 30, 2010

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s latest planned overseas trip sounds more like a punch line than official business.

Markowitz – who racks up more frequent-flyer miles on government business than most local elected officials and all of the city’s
other Beeps combined -- is seeking city blessing to travel expenses-paid to China.

His mission: fly 7,000 miles to the other side of the world to help his longtime ally, developer Bruce Ratner,
peddle green cards to rich foreigners in exchange for investing in Ratner's embattled Atlantic Yards project.

They want to use a little-known federal program to raise about $250 million for the financially troubled $4.9 billion Prospect Heights project,
which includes an arena for the NBA’s Nets, officials said.

"[Markowitz] is clearly taking full-advantage of permissible perks to boost economic investment in the borough,â€