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February 17, 2009
It Came from the Blogosphere...
Reason.com, Got Them Taxpayer-Funded, No-Revenue, Multimillion-Dollar Sports Stadium Blues
Surprise! Those grand promises politicians and team owners made to taxpayers in their pitches for publicly-funded sports stadiums? They aren't panning out.
...But even if state governments eventually wise up to these ripoffs, there's always the feds. Just as things were looking gloomy for New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner's plan to build a $4.2 billion, Frank Gehry-designed, mixed-use facility and basketball stadium in Brooklyn, Ratner found new hope: He has hired former Sen. Al D'Amato's lobbying firm to procure a cut of the stimulus package President Obama signed into law today.
GANGBOX, CONSTRUCTION DOWN 34% IN NEW YORK CITY, THANKS TO THE MELTDOWN
The recession has not only rocked New York’s financial markets. It’s also adversely affecting new building starts and putting some projects on hold.
...The $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn is another mixed-use project rumored to be in trouble. It was slated to include office, retail, apartments and a new arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team. Joe DePlasco, spokesman for developer Forest City Ratner Companies says an eminent domain court case is holding up that project, which had hoped to break ground last fall.
“Once the case is resolved and we are confident we will win it, we have to close with MTA, get funding and begin,” DePlasco says. He declined comment when asked if the slowing of the project was due to a lack of financing.
NoLandGrab: Did Ratner-flack DePlasco say "once the case is resolved and we are confident we will win it," or "once the case is resolved, and we are confident we will win it?" There is a difference. And of course he said nothing about the financing.
TrafficCourt [RetailTraffic blog], Stimulus For Atlantic Yards?
Does a new arena and retail complex count as infrastructure? Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz seems to think so.
Evan Weiner at MCNSports.com, All sports business eyes turn to Florida, Arizona and Detroit
The stimulus package is designed to pump money into states, cities, towns, villages and municipalities for infrastructure development and repairs. Things like energy projects, road reconstruction which would create jobs. There also could be stadium/arena construction although that would seem to be on the low priority end behind building and repairing bridges and retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient. In New York, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner, a political operative under New York City Mayors John V. Lindsay and Ed Koch in the 1970s, is turning to former New York Senator Al D'Amato's lobbying firm to help him get stimulus money in an attempt to get the stalled Atlantic Yards-Brooklyn Arena project moving.
The Cross Pollinator, New York State is a political sewer infested with rats
Atlantic Yards makes a cameo in this post about new Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the his-'n'-hers rifles she keeps under the bed.
Charles Schumer: In Wall Street’s pocket, loves Atlantic Yards
Gowanus Lounge, GL Analysis: The NY Times Finally Tackles Coney Island
Another AY cameo, this time in the context of the Coney Island fiasco.
Mr. Bagli also points out the fact that the city could use eminent domain to get Mr. Sitt’s land, but that tactic would only result in years of legal battles that could make the Atlantic Yards litigation look speedy.
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Ratner Wants Bailout Money for Atlantic Yards
Check out the press release on the Develop Don't Destroy Website about Ratner's efforts to secure some federal bailout money for the ailing Atlantic Yards project. DDDB charges that this would turn Atlantic Yards into "the poster child for misuse and abuse of the recovery bill."
Posted by eric at February 17, 2009 4:27 PM