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August 31, 2006
City kicks in more Ratner cash
The Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
The city will kick in another $29 million towards Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards, The Brooklyn Papers has learned.
The new expenditures — which will fund infrastructure improvements around the proposed basketball arena — bumps up the city’s contribution to $129 million, a slight jump in spending that project opponents characterized as unnecessary.
“This is a project of unacceptable cost [to taxpayers] and questionable benefit,” said Bill Batson, an Assembly candidate.
Batson says he uncovered the new money in a final draft of the city’s 2007 budget.
City officials declined to comment.
...
IBO spokesman Doug Turetsky couldn’t confirm Batson’s discovery, but called the latest cash infusion “not unusual,” saying, “Twenty million is a lot to you and me, but in context of a $53-billion budget, it is not a huge amount.”
NoLandGrab: When was the public supposed to find out about the additional expenditure?
The cat-and-mouse games which have dominated the relationship between project critics and the developer-governmental complex is unrelenting, with project opponents constantly having to play gotcha.
For the umpteenth time, we have to ask: if the Atlantic Yards project is so great for Brooklyn, why can't Ratner and his political backers be more upfront about the public cost?
Posted by lumi at August 31, 2006 11:11 PM