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December 17, 2009
Curious omissions of the BALDC in most press coverage of the arena bond sale
Atlantic Yards Report
There was a curious omission in most of the press coverage of the sale Tuesday of bonds for the Atlantic Yards arena: the issuing agency, the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC), an entity that deserves a lot more scrutiny.
The press release didn't claim that Forest City made the sale, but rather announced "pricing" and omitted mention of the BALDC, which, as a government-created not-for-profit corporation, is able to issue tax-exempt bonds to save the developer well over $100 million.
(When the tax-exempt bonds were supposed to total $678 million--rather than $511 million, as it turned out--the New York City Independent Budget Office estimated the savings to the developer at $193.5 million.)
Some--as I delineate below--ignored the role of the LDC completely, while others omitted its name, perhaps taking a cue from the New York Times, which, in initial CityRoom coverage, declared that developer Bruce Ratner sold the bonds, later adding "and a local development corporation."
Click through to see who made the grade — and who didn't.
Posted by eric at December 17, 2009 12:16 AM