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April 2, 2010
Banks, Basketball, and Property Rights
Through eminent domain, the future home of the NBA laughing-stock Nets will soon be the former home of proud Brooklyners.
Pajamas Media
by Scott Bullock
Institute for Justice senior attorney Scott Bullock represented the plaintiffs in the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court case.
On March 11, Barclays Capital took out a full-page ad in the front section of the Wall Street Journal to declare that it is “proud” to celebrate the groundbreaking for the new Barclays Center in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn. If Barclays had even a modicum of respect for private property rights and the free market, it would be deeply ashamed.
The future home of the NBA laughing-stock Nets will soon be the former home of proud Brooklyners. These folks are losing their homes and businesses through eminent domain for a basketball court and other private development projects of billionaire developer Bruce Ratner.
Ratner did not have much difficulty courting virtually the entire New York political establishment to his side. All he had to do was claim that a sports arena and luxury residences would generate more tax revenue than neighborhood pubs and modest condos. With the promise of extra taxes, officials became all too eager to declare this up-and-coming neighborhood “blighted” and condemn the properties on Ratner’s behalf. Ratner also succeeded in hiring the scandal-ridden ACORN to provide political cover for the development project by loaning the group $1 million and giving it $500,000 outright. And because the Nets have been hemorrhaging money, Ratner also partnered with Mikhail Prokhorov, the unscrupulous billionaire Russian playboy, who now owns a share in the Nets and in the arena.
Is this what Barclays meant by the “teamwork and excellence” mentioned in its ad?
NoLandGrab: Two minor corrections — there's no way in hell that Bruce Ratner is a billionaire, and ACORN was already bought off prior to the million-dollar loan and half-million-dollar "grant."
Posted by eric at April 2, 2010 11:49 AM