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December 15, 2009
"Junkyard Bonds" get tossed in garbage truck, but are state officials listening? What about the "loophole" allowing the BALDC to avoid scrutiny?
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder has (surprise!) extended coverage of yesterday's "Junkyard Bond" protest.
Well, it was a very clever idea for a demonstration: dump Forest City Ratner's "Junkyard Bonds"--illustrated with images of developer Bruce Ratner and Governor David Paterson, plus the corporate logos of bond ratings agencies and the underwriter--into a garbage truck to illustrate their questionable quality and the many doubts about the procedure behind them. Wall Streeters walked by with bemusement as a few dozen protesters gathered, followed by cameras.
But is anyone in charge listening? Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), which organized the demonstration (complete with garbage truck from Crown Container, a business fighting eminent domain in Willets Point) held outside at noon yesterday outside ratings agency Standard & Poor's in Lower Manhattan on Friday sent a letter to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
The letter asked that they investigate both the bond structure and "bad faith acts committed by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in its advocacy for Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project and Columbia University's expansion, particularly in pursuit of eminent domain for these two entities."
Related coverage...
Brownstoner, Junk Yard Bonds Get Trashed
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn put on some good theater when it organized the ritualistic throwing of mock Atlantic Yards Arena Bonds into the back of a garbage truck outside S&P's headquarters in downtown Manhattan yesterday, but the action was aimed at raising awareness about some serious issues.
Blogs 12 Brooklyn, Trash Talk
From News 12 reporter Heather Abraham's blog.
Angry neighbors didn’t just trash talk the bonds that will pay for the Atlantic Yards project, they literaly threw them away. Of course, they were fake bonds. But the point of the demonstration was to show that the bonds were garbage.
Posted by eric at December 15, 2009 11:02 AM