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May 31, 2009
It Came from the Blogosphere...
Gothamist, Public Meeting on Atlantic Yards Derailed by Project Supporters
State Senators held a public hearing at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn on Friday to get a sense of where things stand for developer Bruce Ratner's $4.2 billion dollar dream of building a Nets arena and mixed-use towers on a 22-acre site that includes part of the MTA railyards. But it was difficult to get a sense of just how FUBAR the controversial project actually is, in part because the meeting was packed with hundreds of jeering construction workers wearing hard hats and "Atlantic Yards Now" buttons. At one point State Senator Bill Perkins futilely begged for silence, telling the crowd, "I think if we could eliminate some of the whistling and shouting..." But he was drowned out by cries of "Go, home Bill!"
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Bruce Ratner to Get New Deal From the MTA
Bruce Ratner refused to testify before the hearing of the NY State Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions about the past, present and future of the Atlantic Yards Project. It was confirmed that the MTA has offered him an even sweeter sweetheart deal and the Empire State Develop Corp will release a modified project plan in the coming months, which will require a new public hearing on the project and a new unanimous vote by the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) comprised of Governor Paterson, Assembly Speaker Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.
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The most enlightening testimony of the day came from George Sweeting of the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO), who said that the project's proposed Barclays Center Arena would be a financial loss for New York City. Since the IBO's last report in 2005 the City subsidy had more than doubled from $100 to 205 million. Sweeting said, "This change alone therefore eclipses the $25 million net positive benefit to the city that we previously estimated for the arena."
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The ESDC's Marisa Lago declared with near certainty that there will be a modified General Project Plan coming out sometime in the coming months, which will trigger a new public hearing, a new vote by the ESDC board and a unanimous vote by the PACB. This would require Governor Paterson to put his stamp of approval on the project for the first time, which would be difficult to do considering the state of the economy, budget cuts, public opposition to the project and changed political perspectives since it was first approved in 2006.
Daily Gotham, Atlantic Yards: Costing YOU Money in Two New Ways!
Bruce Ratner's gigantic Atlantic Yards project has already been costing YOU, the taxpayer, millions of dollars. You have even been asked to pay for the cost of the land! But the story keeps getting worse and worse. It seems Ratner's arena will be an ongoing money sink for New York City, and further more, some of the federal bailout money to help the MTA and keep out transit working in NYC will actually go to Bruce Ratner. This man is one of the greediest in the city! And with people from Pataki to Bloomberg to Marty Markowitz to Vito Lopez (corrupt Party Boss and the newest ally of Working Families Party) all helping him out, taxpayers are getting repeatedly screwed over.
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You know, I have an idea. Maybe Marty Markowitz, Vito Lopez and Michael Bloomberg can just rename Brooklyn "Ratneropolis." After all, so much of our money and land are being handed to Ratner by these politicians.
Posted by steve at May 31, 2009 7:01 PM