Anyone know much about this. One chapter of a new book on the issue:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/going-postal/Content?oid=3713528&showFullText=true
The post office is being killed for political reasons, they assert,
pointing out that the corporation with the exclusive contract to
negotiate sales for the Postal Service's $85 billion real estate portfolio is
C.B. Richard Ellis (CBRE). And that the
company is chaired by Richard C. Blum, who is the husband of US Senator
Dianne Feinstein and a member of the University of California Board of
Regents. CBRE's connection to a politically powerful family with a
history of accessing public pension funds to make private investments has
caused more than a few activists to suspect wrongdoing — even
though no evidence of any conflicts of interest tied to the CBRE
contract have been revealed.
NOTE: However now there is quite a bit of evidence of wrongdoing.
CBRE appears to have repeatedly violated its contractual duty to sell postal
properties at or above fair market values.
• CBRE has sold valuable postal properties to developers at prices
that appear to have been steeply discounted from fair market values,
resulting in the loss of tens of millions of dollars in public revenue.
• In a series of apparently non-arm's-length transactions, CBRE
negotiated the sale of postal properties all around the country to its
own clients and business partners, including to one of its corporate
owners, Goldman Sachs Group.
• CBRE has been paid commissions as high as 6 percent by the Postal
Service for representing both the seller and the buyer in many of the
negotiations, thereby raising serious questions as to whether CBRE was
doing its best to obtain the highest price possible for the Postal
Service.
cheers ken
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