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June 1, 2009

It came from the Blogosphere...

Joshing Politics, Atlantic Yards Continues To Be A Debacle

This past Friday state lawmakers tried to have a discussion about the controversial Atlantic Yards development. Ratner's supporters however, decided that they'd rather create a ruckus than anything that resembled a civil discourse.

Brownstoner, Recapping the State Senate Hearing on Atlantic Yards

After more than five years since Atlantic Yards came onto the public radar screen, the State Senate finally got around to holding a hearing on Friday, and from all reports it was the standard spectacle-over-substance event that has come to define the process. The auditorium at Pratt was filled with BUILD employees dressed up as construction workers who persisted to disrupt the proceedings with only a few reprimands from State Senator Bill Perkins, who was running the show.

Curbed, It Happened One Weekend: Half-Price Yards

Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner might end up paying the MTA only half of the $100 million he was supposed to pony up for the Vanderbilt Rail Yards land, the Post reports. Meanwhile the Times wonders if the Nets will ever play in Brooklyn, and if ground is broken on the arena by December 31 (the deadline to sell tax-exempt bonds), they very well might. Hurry up, good seats are still available!

Field of Schemes, Nets crystal ball says: Reply cloudy, ask again in December

The New York state senate held a hearing on Ratner's Atlantic Yards project on Friday, but that didn't shed much light on things, unless you had a burning desire to find out what it sounds like for a roomful of construction workers to blow whistles at the same time.

The Local [Ft. Greene/Clinton Hill], The Day: Backwards and Forward

If you’ve still yet to apprise yourself of what happened at Friday’s jam-packed much-heat-relatively-little-substance state senate committee hearing on Atlantic Yards at Pratt, Norman Oder has condensed his 9,695-word exegesis from Friday night down to Powerpoint size.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, A Civics Lesson for Bruce Ratner's Bruce Bender

Here we'd like to give a civics lesson to Bruce Bender:
The hearing on Friday was not a debate. It was a Senate oversight hearing by the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions. The way government works is that legislative committees hold hearings to oversee government action. The hearing was to get answers to scores of questions arising from the Atlantic Yards project.

Unfortunately Mr. Bender's corporation and his boss Bruce Ratner didn't deign to testify at the hearing and explain, over/under the din of the disruptions Bender orchestrated, what jobs, housing and tax benefits his imperiled project would bring.

American Chronicle, Detroit, New Jersey Mentioned As Boozer Possibilities

Are the Nets in the running for Utah Jazz all-star forward Carlos Boozer?

New Jersey would be a surprise destination for Boozer. The Nets went 34-48 last season and owner Bruce Ratner reportedly has lost tens of millions in recent years while trying to move the team to a development in Brooklyn.

The Nets ranked 25th in the NBA in attendance (15,147) and are expected to do everything to cut costs from reduce the number of assistants coaches on Lawrence Frank's staff to field a consolidated summer-league entry with another team.

Nets Daily, Ratner, MTA in “Intense Negotiations” over Yards

In an effort to expedite construction of the Nets’ new arena, the MTA appears willing to give Bruce Ratner a break on the price of the railyards at the center of his Atlantic Yards project. Ratner originally agreed to pay $100 million for the rail yards, but now wants to cut that number in half, and pay in installments. The MTA is on board and in “intense negotiations” with Ratner to get it approved this month.

NoLandGrab: The next time any government entity or NY pol has "intense" negotiations with Ratner will be the first time any government entity or NY pol has "intense" negotiations with Ratner. Pardon us if we think our definition of "intense" might differ from theirs.

Posted by eric at June 1, 2009 3:20 PM