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November 10, 2009
Bruce Ratner Finally Admits It: "This isn't a public project"
Reason Online
By Damon Root
Finally something we can all agree on:
Last month, New York’s highest court heard oral arguments in Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corporation, which centered on the state’s controversial use of eminent domain on behalf of real estate tycoon Bruce Ratner, who wants to build a basketball stadium, a hotel, and some office and apartment towers in central Brooklyn. As I’ve previously argued, it’s a blatant case of eminent domain abuse.
And as it turns out, Bruce Ratner himself agrees with that judgement. In a startling interview with Crain’s New York Business, Ratner finally admitted what his critics have maintained all along: “This isn’t a public project.”
NoLandGrab: Even Bruce is confused: it's a "public project" when he wants the state to use eminent domain to take property, override the local zoning and secure massive subsidies, but it's a "private project" when he doesn't want to answer any questions about the program, financing, profitability, timeline and purported "public" benefits.
Atlantic Yards Report, Is Atlantic Yards a public project , a private one, or "public-private"? Well, the latter, but Forest City Ratner's in the driver's seat
Norman Oder's explains that things are a little more complicated:
So, AY is a public project when it comes to public purposes and the pursuit of eminent domain. It is a public project when it comes to the use of PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) to build a sports arena on tax-exempt land.
It's a public-private project when the state gives Forest City Ratner to do things--like build a deck over the Vanderbilt Yard--that it's unwilling to do. It's a public-private project when Forest City Ratner seeks access to scarce housing bonds.
But it's a public-private project with the private entity in charge when the private entity draws the map of the "blighted" project site, the private entity controls the pace, and the private entity chooses not to show what anything looks like.
Posted by lumi at November 10, 2009 7:04 AM