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June 7, 2007
RATNER'S $2B GOV'T SUBSIDY
The NY Post
By Rich Calder
Continuing the Post's storied tradition of not crediting other sources when they get scooped, today the paper took note of a breaking story on Atlantic Yards Report, but gets some key points mixed up:
More than half of Bruce Ratner's $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn will be funded by government subsidies, a blockbuster court disclosure reveals.
The developer expects $1.4 billion in tax-exempt bonds to finance the project's 2,250 units of affordable housing, according to a state document obtained by project opponents through the courts and posted online yesterday.
NoLandGrab: The article gets it wrong and then, in the next breath, gets it right.
The TAX-EXEMPT BONDS are not considered a direct GOVERNMENT-FUNDED SUBSIDY. Norman Oder explained yesterday that the eventual cost to the taxpayer is approximately 15% the value of the bonds.
The significance is that Ratner is getting low-cost financing for more than half of the project cost, $1.4 billion of which is the tax-exempt housing bonds, a substantial benefit for building some "affordable" housing.
Also, the document wasn't "OBTAINED" by project opponents. It was submitted in an affidavit in the "environmental" lawsuit on behalf of one of the parties to the suit, the Public Authorities Control Board. The document was there for anyone to read — Norman Oder just reads faster than most.
Posted by lumi at June 7, 2007 6:43 AM