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March 1, 2012
Barclays has lesson for arena advocates
Edmonton Journal
by Paula Simons
Edmontonians are debating the merits of a proposed new arena...
But as Battle for Brooklyn, an award-winning documentary film by Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley illustrates, it's easy for municipal politicians and civic boosters to get swept up in the excitement of glitzy arena proposals without considering all the economic and social costs.
"No arena or stadium ever ends up being a net benefit," Galinsky says. "How much public investment is there per job? When is that money going to come back? There's a cost to these things, and who's going to bear it? The public."
Galinsky's film, which plays in Edmonton this Sunday as part of the Global Visions Film Festival, documents the fight between the developers of the Atlantic Yards project, Forest City Ratner, and a group of feisty Brooklynites opposed to the project.
...It's like a giant shell game, as municipalities scramble to lure or retain pro sports teams with shiny new facilities, promising taxpayers wonderful economic and social benefits, which may or may not materialize. And the more a community like Newark or Brooklyn or Edmonton suffers from an inferiority complex, it seems, the more vulnerable it is to the pressure and the promise.
"I think it's because we're all so easy to roll over and we don't pay attention," says Galinsky.
"We look at our politicians and we think, 'They can't be that out of their minds.' And then it turns out that they are."
Posted by eric at March 1, 2012 9:49 AM