« Walkathon Pics - Here they are!!! | Main | Instead of the Times's railyard photo, consider some alternatives »
October 23, 2006
When is a net not a Net?
Field of Schemes
Neil deMause emails back and forth with the Empire State Development Corporation's Jessica Copen to get some answers about the recently released economic impact analysis memo.
The catch is that the analysis still doesn't show the net effect of the project.
The problems, as I've noted on the Village Voice website, include that there's no indication whether the numbers were adjusted for the substitution effect (money spent at Atlantic Yards might otherwise be spent elsewhere in the city) and leakage (money going to the Nets is less likely to recirculate in the local economy). The memo also states that all Nets players would be expected to live in New York state (and 30% of those in New York City), which is odd, considering that plenty of players on the city's existing teams choose to live in the New Jersey suburbs.
Finally, there's no way to tell how much of the "new" economic activity associated with the larger development would be cannibalized from elsewhere: Would the companies moving into the "Miss Brooklyn" office tower just be relocating from other parts of the city? Would the families moving into the new housing bring their own new jobs with them? The memo is silent on such matters, so it's impossible to say. It's just another indication of how economic impact documents are more art than science - or perhaps a careful blending of the two.
Posted by lumi at October 23, 2006 8:49 AM