MHR Mtnngerttmt, Inc. 

545 Broadway, 2”d Floor 

Brooklyn: New York 11206 

Telephones (718) 387.1331 

My name is Maria Rosado; and, I am the president of MHR 

Management, a real estate management company based in 

Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I am here to speak on behalf of the proposed 

merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group. 

My testrmony is based on my experience with Citibank’s Community 

Development and their commitment to the neighborhoods where we 

manage low and moderate-income properties. Through the HEP 

Program, we were able to borrow $10 Million Dollars from Citibank to 

renovate 12 buildings in Bedford-Stuyvesant. We have already 

completed seven buildings; and are preparing to initiate phase two of 

this restoration work. 

Although this venture is modest, it is one of many projects that are 

necessary to revitalize the well being of an important community. 

Many families, for the first time, see the reality of investment in the 

metamorphosis of their apartments, their homes, and their 

neighborhood, It is tangible evidence of the commitment already 

made; and suggests a grander, more stable future for communities 

already following this dynamic duo. 

Everyone benefits from an enlightened acquaintance. Investment, 

loans, insurance, and financial re-education will follow a natural 

progression from those already persuaded. And, just as surely, as a 

new home engenders real hope, conservation, and commitment, an 

educated partner will see the need for savings, insurance and reinvestment in and beyond their self -interests. 

This merger, I believe, WIII put all of the needed tools for financial 

stability within reach of communities previously under-nourished in 

this area, It IS only right that we have an opportunity to learn from the 

Biggest and the Best 

Thank you 
Monogemenl !&once lo NonproM OrgonizoRons 

TESTIMONY TO THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK 

RE CITIBANK’S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES 

Donna Panton, Executive Director 

June 25, 1998 

The Nonprofit Connection provides management assistance to nonprofit, communitybased organizations throughout New York City. For the past 21 years, we have worked 

with these nonprofits to improve their administration and operations in order to enhance 

the effectiveness of their services. 

Citibank has supported our work since 1977 with grants totalling $125,000. 

Since our clients are the human service, arts and community development 

organizations that build and strengthen the communities and neighborhoods of New 

York City, the goal of my statement today is to present three partnership initiatives that 

The Nonprofit Connection has undertaken with Citibank’s support, and to urge that 

these kinds of programs be strengthened, should the merger be approved. 

First : Citibank has helped The Nonprofit Connection expand the services we provide in 

the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island -- boroughs that historically have been 

underserved by foundations and corporate funders. Citibank funded us to provide 

workshops and technical assistance, and gave grants to the organizations themselves 

to pay for technical assistance services to improve fundraising, board development, 

financial management, strategic planning, program design and other areas of operation, 

Second: In 1993 and 1995, Citibank funded two series of planning workshops for senior 

managers of community-based organizations that receive support from by the bank. 

These workshops helped groups -- many of whom had never formally planned their 

programs and operations -- to understand the process and to apply strategies that 

would increase their effectiveness and strengthen their position vis-a-vis the funding 

community. 

Third: Since 1996, The Nonprofit Connection has received funding to conduct the 

Citibank Community Development Institute, a five-month course aimed at helping 

community development corporations (CDC’s) strengthening their sustainability -- in 

other words, helping them develop their internal capacity and plan economic 
The Nonprofit Connection 

Page 2 

development projects. As you know, CDC’s play a critical role in community 

revitalization and in the creation of opportunity for businesses and low-income 

residents. 

Specifically, the Institute helped these CDC’s to: 

- Review the needs of their constituents 

- Strengthen staffing and administrative procedures 

- Refocus programs 

- Utilize market analysis and create marketing plans to maximize the potential 

success of new initiatives 

- Prepare and submit economic development projects for financing 

Twenty-five CDC’s have participated in three separate Institutes conducted for 

organizations from Brooklyn, from Queens and Staten Island, and from the Bronx and 

Upper Manhattan --which is currently underway. As a direct result of this participation, 

eight CDC’s have raised over $1.5 million from private and public sources to support 

new administrative and program initiatives. We are discussing with Citibank the 

possibility of extending the program to Westchester County in the fall. 

Specific economic development projects developed or refined through the Institute 

include: 

- Merchant organizing 

- Commercial and retail strip development 

- Advice and incubator services for small businesses 

- increased access to credit and capital for local businesses and home buyers 

- The development of for-profit ventures including: a funeral parlor, a book store, a 

residential weatherization business, thrift shops, home health care services, and 

food service delivery 

In addition, the CDC’s were able to develop or strengthen relationships with Citibank: 

- Four of the Brooklyn groups were awarded first-round grants in Citibank’s 

Partners In Progress program, which provides substantial funding for economic 

development projects 

- A number of other groups developed new relationships with community relations 

officers that helped them to access Citibank funding for the first time 

Benefits also accrued to Citibank itself: 

- Staff from the Foundation and the community development and loan 

departments served as speakers and advisors 

- Branch managers, loan officers, and mortgage analysts had an opportunity to 

meet with people involved in community building and learn about the work of the 
The Nonprofit Connection 

Page 3 

CDC’s when they attended sessions where Institute participants presented their 

projects 

Participants in the Citibank Community Development Institute: 

&Q2!@ 

January-May 1997 

ACCION New York 

Astella Development Corporation 

Central Brooklyn Partnership 

Cypress Hills Local Development 

Corporation 

East Williamsburg Valley Industrial 

Development Corporation 

Erasmus Neighborhood Federation 

The Fifth Avenue Committee 

Ftatbush Development Corporation 

Midwood Development Corporation 

Neighbors Helping Neighbors 

Pratt Area Community Council 

South Brooklyn Local Development 

Corporation 

Queens and Staten Island 

September 1997-January 1998 

Jackson Heights Development 

Corporation 

Jamaica Business Resource Center 

Northfield Local Development 

Corporation 

Rockaway Development 8 

Revitalization Corporation 

West Brighton Local Development 

Corporation 

The Bronx and Upper Manhattan 

March-July 1998 

Audubon Partnership 

The Bronx Council for Economic 

Development 

Citizens Advice Bureau 

Harlem Congregations for 

Community Improvement. Inc. 

Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council 

The Point Community Development 

Corporation 

Women’s Housing and Economic 

Development Corporation 

In closing, let me say that Citibank has had considerable impact on community 

development initiatives in New York City -- through its support of CDC’s; community 

development financial institutions; arts, educational and human service organizations; 

and technical assistance organizations like The Nonprofit Connection. 

We hope that the new corporate entity -- if it is realized --will expand this commitment 

to community building, particularly here in New York. 
TESTIMONY 

OF 

PETER J. KIERNAN, ESQUIRE 

Chairman, Brooklyn Sports Foundation 

Before: 

Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, 

Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System. 

Regarding: 

Citicorp and Travelers Group 

June 25,1998 
Good evening. I am Peter J. Kiernan, Chairman of the 

Brooklyn Sports Foundation. I am grateful for this opportunity to 

testify regarding the proposed merger of Citicorp and the Travelers 

Group. 

My testimony is about Citicorp and the very positive, significant 

and generous contributions Citicorp has made in respect of the 

Brooklyn Sports Foundation. 

The Brooklyn Sports Foundation (the “Foundation”) is a duly 

organized Section 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit foundation. Its 

fundamental purposes are to address and solve the lamentable 

dearth of amateur sports facilities in Brooklyn. Brooklyn has more 

then 2.3 million residents. It has a school age population of nearly 

500,000. However, its sport facilities are completely inadequate. For 

example. there are more than 100,000 kids per outdoor track, and 

about 500,000 kids per indoor track in Brooklyn. That does not leave 

much room to run. 
Organized sports play a key role in nurturing, in socialization, in 

education, and in building healthy bodies and a healthy society. 

Learning how to play by the rules; learning how to set goals and how 

to measure progress against those goals; and learning how to win 

and how to lose are among life’s most important lessons. Society 

has the obligation and the need to provide the opportunities for such 

lessons to be taught and experienced. The Foundation, predicated 

on the behalf that sports can be an antidote to racism and crime, 

began a sustained effort in 1987 to maximize the opportunity for 

youths to participate in organized sports. I am pleased to report that 

final design is underway for Sportsplex, a sports complex to be 

located in Coney Island featuring an arena seating 12,500. (Currently 

the largest public assembly space in Brooklyn is 2,500.) The 

Foundation will develop and operate Sportsplex. 

The Foundation enjoys the support and participation of 

Brooklyn’s business, academic, religious, and athletic communities. 

None of the Foundation’s support has exceeded that of Citicorp in 
terms of financial contributions, personnel time and talent, and 

reputational stake. 

Sportsplex will be located in Coney island for a variety of 

reasons not the least of which is that what once was a wold famous 

location symbolizing an era of recreation, fun and harmony has 

become a dreary example of abandonment, decay, and urban 

segregation. Citicorp recognized that while Brooklyn desperately 

needs sports facilities, it also needs economic development. Citicorp 

recognized that Coney Island is not simply a vestige of a foregone 

economic era, made obsolete by air conditioning and interstate 

highways. Rather, Coney Island is a choice repository of economic 

opportunity. Coney Island has land, transportation, human resources 

and a tradition of entrepreneurship Citicorp prominently associated 

itself with a determined effort to demonstrate that public capital 

funding of a sports complex on public land in Coney Island will 

generate private economic development on ancillary private land. 

Citicorp prominently committed itself to the notion that development 

of an adjunct to New York City’s education infrastructure can be good 
economics and, conversely, that good economic development can be 

very wise education policy. 

Since 1997 the State and the City of New York have pledged 

more than $70,000,000 in cash and land to Sportsplex. Ancillary 

private commercial development of $lOO,OOO,OOO has been 

announced and an additional $20,000,000 for a minor league 

baseball stadium in a revitalized Coney Island has just been 

approved More than $25,000,000 in direct annual tax revenues has 

been forecast to result. Hundreds of permanent jobs will be created. 

A major expansion of the subway terminus in Coney Island has 

begun. All of this is given impetus by Sportsplex and to Coney Island 

all of this will be to the early 21”. Century what the Coney Island 

amusement parks were to the early 20rh. Century. 

Citicorp continues to assist this effort broadly. In doing so it 

gives genuine definition to the phrase “corporate citizen.” It gives far 

more than just money, facilities and talent. It gives the weight of its 

credibility and its commitment to proactive public policy. And Citicorp 

never asks for anything in return. 
Thank you for your attention.