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July 17, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Pardon Me For Asking, Bloomberg Wants To Retract Extra Ratner Money ?
Katia Kelly summarizes Mathew Schuerman's article about the Mayor's call for 421-a reform reform:
That little sweetheart deal giving Atlantic Yards Developer "Bad Guy" Ratner even more of our tax-payers money to build his Ratnerville still needs to pass across Governor Spitzer's desk. Surprisingly, Bloomberg was not too pleased about the present form of the 421a Reform and would like to make a few changes. The most important one would be to withdraw the additional $300 million dollar tax incentive for Ratner.
Brooklyn Heights Blog, Yassky Smackskies Ratsky
BHB's intro to the Brooklyn Paper article about Yassky's criticism of Ratner's pork barrel:
Brooklyn Heights' man in the City Council, David Yassky, delivered a veritable pile driver to Bruce "A Real Nowhere Man" Ratner this week...
Queens Crap, Residents protest rape of St. Saviour's
Holy Crapner!
Abandoned by the Mayor and their local Councilmember, residents — with City Councilmember Tony Avella — go head to head with a developer and hardhats in cherry pickers to save St. Saviour's, parked cars, trees, squirrels and birds.
[OK, this one has nothing to do with Bruce Ratner, but readers may be interested in reading about one of the more egregious developer-vs.-community stories we've read in some time. A tale like this would have flown under the radar in the pre-blogosphere era.]
Affordable Housing Institute, Starrett City: be careful what you wish for
While the AHI contemplates the tug-of-war over maintaining the "affordability" of Starrett City, the Atlantic Yards price tag serves as a warning:
As Senator Schumer doubtless knows, this will take either winkling the owners out of their rights, or a great deal of money to close the cost-value gap. (Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is projected to require $1.4 billion in volume cap to produce many fewer affordable apartments.) To whom will Senator Schumer be offering money, or threatening new rent-control laws?
Brownstoner, Comfort Inn Brooklyn Bridge: Still Ugly, Now Open
The NY Times locates the new Comfort Inn Brooklyn as "near the site of the proposed Atlantic Yards complex."
Posted by lumi at July 17, 2007 7:59 AM