However, CBAs are inefficient at getting people in local neighborhoods what they want and need. For example, CBAs established in New York City have failed. In the Atlantic Yards CBA, IRS documents revealed that one of the participants was bankrolled and that the CBA only consisted of a minority of the people living in the area and did not provide and accurate representation of the community’s needs. Often, the CBA consisted of elected officials rather than community organizations and thus appropriate discussions were not held in negotiations. Furthermore, CBA agreements take away the rights of participants from speaking out against developers. If the public that had agreed speaks out against the developers, the developers have the right to withdraw from their duties of the agreement, taking away the benefits of the community.
The video below explains the struggles CBAs face in enacting regulations on develops. In Detroit, developers are able to purchase land for very cheap, in one case for $1 even though the land was valued at $3,000,000, and design and implement it as they please. Although the local community attempted to establish community benefits board and committees, the city council continuously placed them in a waiting period. Even though the residents of Detroit were able to gain enough signatures to establish a CBA that could legally coerce developers to provide community benefits, the council enacted a competing act that did not hold developers legally liable to providing the community with what it wanted.
