« Development, Displacement, Leisure: Capital and Community Interests | Main | Affordable? U.N. Puts a Questioning Eye on New York’s Housing »
October 23, 2009
It came from the Blogosphere...
Runnin' Scared, Meadowlands to Swap Nets to Newark for Concerts?
Neil DeMause follows up on the latest Nets-to-Newark developments.
Rumors of the Nets moving to Newark to join the Devils are as old as Jason Kidd's knees, but hoops-by-the-Ironbound may finally be a reality, as early as next season. After the Newark Star-Ledger reported yesterday that unnamed team sources were saying the Nets would consider a temporary relocation to Newark while awaiting their new Brooklyn digs, today's Bergen Record followed up with actual quotes from a real person — or as real as you believe "New Jersey's economic czar" to be — saying that talks are underway between the state and the Devils to ease a Nets move.
...This could help solve what's a potentially huge and underreported issue for the two Jersey arenas: How to handle the arena glut that is suddenly afflicting the tristate area now that the Pru (or The Rock or whatever cloying nickname you prefer to its official corporate moniker) has joined the Meadowlands and MSG as a local venue, and which will only worsen if the Nets' Brooklyn arena ever gets off the ground.
...The bigger question on everyone's lips, meanwhile, is likely to be: Would this really be a temporary move, or is it a signal from Nets owner Bruce Ratner that he's backing away from his Brooklyn dreams?
NoLandGrab: It would appear that a Newark move, even on an interim basis, would help the Nets' bottom line, especially if the state waives the relocation fee. However, to DeMause's last point above, the Nets have sworn up and down that they wouldn't play in Newark, even as a stop-over.
Gothamist, Russian Billionaire Thirsts For Expensive Wine, Mediocre Basketball
What better to follow up a meeting with a handful of NBA owners than a $19,000 lunch? That’s right, nothing, which is why Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who is looking to purchase the floundering New Jersey Nets and bring then into Brooklyn, stopped into Nello on the Upper East Side Wednesday with a few friends, the Post reported.
Their check included $825 for three orders of truffle tagliolini; $600 for four orders of truffle carpaccio; $210 for three orders of veal chops with mushrooms; and $72 for six large waters. Yes, $72 for six large waters.
The award for best blog comment goes to NannyState:
"Note to Ratner: if you want top dollar for your shitty team, just roll them in truffles."
MultifamilyInvestor, Down Goes Tishman: The Top 5 Repercussions of the Stuyvesant Town Decision
New York State's Court of Appeals just ruled that Stuyvesant Town landlord Tishman Speyer owes tenants more than $200 million in rent rebates. Might Tishman seek an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court?
The best theory in my mind invokes the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment: Private property shall not be taken for a public use, without just compensation. The owners can advance the novel argument that their money, and the value of their buildings, are being taken from them without being properly compensated. It’s a long shot, but with so much money on the line, somebody could turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse. An interesting and unintended consequence might create unlikely bedfellows: Both owners who support this argument, and detractors of the Atlantic Yards project cloak themselves in the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Opponents of Atlantic Yards have protested the project in part because the City of New York has invoked eminent domain to take private property for a developer.
NetsDaily, Deal Close to Put Nets in Newark Next Season
The Record reports the Devils and the NJSEA are close to a deal that would divide up entertainment and sports events between the Prudential and IZOD centers, sending the Nets to “The Rock” and major concerts to the IZOD. Under the deal, which has yet to be finalized, the Nets would move to Newark for the 2010-11 season and stay until Barclays Center opens, presumably in 2012. The Nets had no comment on the report.
NetsAreScorching, NETS ON THE NET: 10/23/09 EDITION
The NBA expect to vote on Mikhail Prokhorov’s ownership stake in the Nets before the end of the year.
Prokhorov is a big-time spender. The NY Post also spies on his eating habits.
The Neighborhood Retail Alliance, Not Everyone's a Fan
Yesterday we expressed our thanks to the Village Voice for its recognition of our work-and that of this blog-on behalf of small business, But not everyone is a fan, and the Atlantic Yards blog responded to the award with the following riposte: "WTF? Can't the Voice look beyond his SAT words--words the press should know--and consider the contradictions: NYC Lobbyist Search shows (click on graphic to enlarge) Lipsky working for Willets Point United and Tuck-It-Away, which are fighting eminent domain in Willets Point and West Harlem, respectively, while working for the Atlantic Yards Development Company and Forest City Ratner, which are hoping to gain from eminent domain in Prospect Heights."
Our good friend Norman Oder is upset because the Voice didn't go into a greater in-depth evaluation of our record? What the AY foes fail to realize, is that their fight over the Ratner project is not the sine qua non of deciding whether someone deserves either credit or opprobrium-and, if it's more in-depth analysis that they're looking for, well, there simply isn't enough room to detail all that we've done for small businesses over the past 28 years.
NLG: No one really cares who gives what award to whom, but Richard Lipsky likely will never acknowledge that his shilling for Atlantic Yards does a detriment to the small businesses he otherwise ably promotes. Lipsky's AY blind spot is clearly as big as his wallet.
Interactive Journalism, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn hosts Walkathon against Atlantic Yards
The roughly two hundred protesters marched for more than two miles through the neighborhoods that will be affected by the arena.
Cafe Habana & Habana Outpost, $40,000 Raised in DDDB Walkathon!
Yup, the walk-a-thon was a great success, almost 200 people marched through Brooklyn that day marking the fifth annual walk to raise funds for their lawsuit against the Atlantic Yards development.
...March on Brooklyn, march on..!
NLG: We should note that Cafe Habana/Habana Outpost owner (and DDDB Advisory Board member) Sean Meenan contributed generously to the Walkathon's success.
Posted by eric at October 23, 2009 4:07 PM