July 18, 2008
One Mystery Solved, One Mystery Remains
The Footprint Gazette
See that lil nubbin there in the photograph? That's new. That wasn't there in the time before AY. That was just installed last week or so. What does it mean? It's not a button. I know cause I pushed it. I think it's a magnet or some sort of tracking device.
...
I wish it was one of those things near store entrances that "bings" when someone walks in. Maybe it is actually. Maybe some FCR base command unit gets a "bing' when we come and go.Maybe every time we walk out Marty Markowitz gets a little less sad about the Dodgers leaving.
...
Sometimes a man in a uniform comes and touches it.Well, that mystery remains. But a different mystery was solved! The mystery of "why is my apartment always filled with dust and why does it constantly shake and vibrate and reverberate with clanging" was solved!
I made a video that shows the nasty culprit:
Posted by lumi at 5:55 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Here's what they're saying:
ANGRYNYER, Bloomberg’s latest racist rezoning disaster in the making.
One New Yorker detects a pattern with all of the land-grabbin' megaprojects:
Why hasn’t Bloomberg been called on this racist rezoning agenda? Harlem, LES, Atlantic Yards, Willets Point, Dutch Kills… all minority areas.
NoLandGrab: Wonder how these projects have actually affected diversity in the city overall. Unfortunately, if it has, it will be too late by the time someone has some real figures.
The View from the Bleachers, New York Times Weighs in on Yankee Stadium
Hey, we aren't the only ones not holding our breath waiting for the day that the NY Times "asks a few more serious questions about the Atlantic Yards project before it’s too late."
It seems that quite a few of my more recent posts have been along the lines of “I’m a New York sports fan who has serious reservations about new New York sports stadia.” Especially with two projects in particular: Atlantic Yards, and the new Yankee Stadium.
Now, in today’s New York Times, Tommy Craggs has weighed in with a criticism not only the cost of the new stadium in the Bronx, but whether it is necessary at all....
The irritating irony of this, as with many other building schemes in New York, is that the Times only pays lip service to the opposing voices to these projects, usually when the deal is done and dusted and it’s too late to turn back.
Culture of Congestion [The NY Sun], Battery Park City on a Weekday Evening
Among New York's mega-projects-in-progress, I'd thought that Brooklyn Bridge Park on Brooklyn's East River waterfront was doing okay financially. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, all is not so well, according to a Daily News article that appeared recently:
But rising costs, bureaucratic delays and ongoing legal battles have caused the price tag to double — sparking fears that not all the amenities will be built. Some 1,200 luxury condo units are still in the works along the park and will make payments in lieu of taxes to pay for the park's upkeep.
(I've blogged about the pros and cons of BBP here.) I just hope it doesn't go the way of Hudson Yards, the World Trade Center, Moynihan Station, and Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 5:03 AM
July 16, 2008
I.R.S. Could Crimp Bloomberg's Big Plans
NY Observer
by Eliot Brown
The Observer's lead real estate reporter takes an in-depth look at New York City's furious efforts to preserve tax-exempt financing for its favorite son, Bruce Ratner.
As the Bloomberg administration scrambles to get its development projects in the ground amid a slowing economy and a waning political term, two major planned initiatives the city has championed face a formidable hurdle: the Internal Revenue Service.
For the financing plan for the Atlantic Yards housing and sports arena complex in Brooklyn, and for one being considered for the planned middle-income-housing mega-complex at Hunter’s Point South in Queens, the city would need a favorable ruling from the I.R.S. or face substantially higher costs for both projects. Negative rulings from the federal agency could result in tens of millions of dollars in added costs, putting up new obstacles to major developments that have already seen ambitions scaled back.
For both projects, the city wants to use tax-exempt financing, a method that lowers costs substantially—perhaps more than 15 percent—with the bulk of the savings coming out of federal tax revenues.
And, at least in the case of Atlantic Yards, the I.R.S. is rather wary, as it has called the financing method a “loophole” that it has ordered closed.
NoLandGrab: We haven't rooted this hard for the IRS since "The Untouchables."
Posted by eric at 11:18 AM
July 15, 2008
Sports economist Zimbalist criticizes "bogus" economic impact studies, fails to look in mirror
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder follows up on yesterday's appearance by sports economist Andrew Zimbalist on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show, and all we can say is that for the sake of his professional reputation, the Professor is lucky that Brian didn't open the phones to the speed-dialing AYR blogger.
So there he was, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, on the Brian Lehrer Show yesterday to talk about the All-Star Game, and suddenly he had to defend his public statements supporting the Yankee Stadium deal and his not-peer-reviewed study endorsing Atlantic Yards.
Had there been an equal debate, Zimbalist would have been flattened. He continued to insist that the Yankees deserved praise for paying for their stadium, without acknowledging the host of special benefits to the team. He continued to insist that Forest City Ratner was using only as-of-right benefits for Atlantic Yards, despite ironclad evidence to the contrary.
And when challenged to resolve the inconsistency between his criticism of the West Side Stadium deal and his support for Atlantic Yards, he became defensive and suggested that the former might have emerged a decade ago, when it was actually several months after he issued his report for Forest City Ratner.
NoLandGrab: Like "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence," "sports economist" is obviously an oxymoron.
Posted by eric at 10:33 AM
Marty's On The Block
The Footprint Gazette
While it sometimes seems that Brooklyn's Borough President is everywhere at once, there's one place he's not.
Recently I was leafing through a copy of Brooklyn!!, the free newspaper distributed by the borough prez's office that tends to show up in our apt. building foyer, and as I was gleefully perusing the various Brooklyn vignettes portrayed on its pages I came across the section called "Marty's On The Block." Now there's a headline I was excited to find! Finally we'll get a little attention from our borough president.
Full of hope, I scanned all the little pictures trying to find the scene where Marty Markowitz is explaining to Bruce Ratner how he had made a terrible mistake in facilitating the misery of so many nice people in and around the proposed site of the Atlantic Yards project. Well I couldn't find that shot, so maybe there's a picture in here somewhere where he's asking the utilities companies to please stop shutting off the water and gas of the tenants in the footprint. Yikes! That shot's not there either. Well jeez, there's like 25 pictures here, there must be one where he asks the construction workers to refrain from harassing the good people of Prospect Heights by slamming their backhoes into the ground so early in the morning.
Posted by eric at 10:00 AM
July 10, 2008
MCMLV-Redemption At Last And The Plot Thickens
Random Fandom Red Sox NYC
O'Malley tries to get clearances to build Atlantic Yards. Robert Moses found ways to block this.
NoLandGrab: Moses blocked it, alright, but we're pretty sure Walter O'Malley never uttered the name "Atlantic Yards." That moniker is purely a Bruce Ratner marketing invention.
Posted by eric at 3:07 PM
Closing Bell: Ward's Bakery Rubble
Yesterday, "Closing Bell" on Brownstoner featured a current view of the Ward Bakery demolition.
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Brownstoner also posted on the filing of the appeal of the lawsuit challenging the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement ("Appeal Over Atlantic Yards Suit is Filed").
The comments section features the prerennial debate between those who don't know what they are talking about and those who are sure that those-who-don't-know don't know what they are talking about, versus those who don't care and those who have too much time on their hands (at least we think).
Posted by lumi at 6:22 AM
Fat and Sad and Caught in a Fire
The Footprint Gazette
Never mind having to carry gear around the Green Monster, FoGazy wonders how emergency services are supposed to access his building, and what 7 a.m. construction activity is doing to his health.
As it turns out, our building almost never catches on fire, which is great, but we have had a few gas leaks in the last couple years where firemen did have to rush into our building to take care of business. I am pretty sure if we had an emergency now we'd have to fend for ourselves. Fancy that, our building at risk and city agencies can't help.
Also in the hazardous to our health category is the fact that at 7am sharp every weekday morning our building starts shaking and echoing with sounds reminiscent of a Jurassic robo-battle. My work also requires me to work late many nights, so sleeping in is how I get my z's. The ruckus makes that difficult so I consistently sleep less than is optimal. According to a recent NYTimes article sleep deprivation can lead to high blood pressure, depression, being over-weight and diabetes. Meaning I'll be too fat and sad to get out my building when it catches on fire.
Posted by lumi at 5:40 AM
July 9, 2008
When Worlds Collide, Kevin Powell stays Real
Brooklyn Born
Original Brooklynite and blogger Um from Brooklyn encounters Congressional candidate and Atlantic Yards critic Kevin Powell at the Afro-Punk skate park over the recent holiday weekend.
Kevin Powell did share (in addition to his skater cred) his opposition to the current Atlantic Yards project. Making my vote for him more likely although it would be great if anyone had been asked to vote on Atlantic Yards at all.
NoLandGrab: "UBB" has some wise words for all of us to live by in the "About Me" section of his blog.
Posted by eric at 9:01 AM
Appeal filed in case challenging AY environmental review; hearing will be in September
Atlantic Yards Report
The last (for now, at least) major legal obstacle to the Atlantic Yards project moved forward one major step Monday as Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) and 25 co-plaintiff organizations appealed state Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden's January 11 dismissal of a challenge to the project’s environmental review.
(A new eminent domain case is expected to be filed in state court after being dismissed in federal court, where it was aimed because plaintiffs felt that venue offered a better shot. Another case in state court challenges the project timetable.)
While courts typically give much discretion to evaluating agencies, it will be interesting to see whether (and how) the state appeals court agrees that it’s OK to designate a building built at less than 60% of allowable development rights as blighted, or that it was legitimate to consider a professed ten-year project buildout as legitimate in the face of a mountain of evidence--including the construction schedule attached to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)--to the contrary.
(The insta-snarks at New York magazine’s web site said the appeal was the work of “Atlantic Yards haters.” It might be equally said that the appeal was the work of "haters-of-government-fudging.")
NoLandGrab: More snark from Atlantic Yards-hater haters at Curbed.com.
The appeal brief contends that the FEIS submitted by former Gov. George Pataki's Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) was fatally flawed; success in this case would not necessarily block the project but would require a new EIS and a new vote by the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB).
Along with the ESDC and PACB, defendants in the case include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and developer Forest City Ratner (FCR). A response from the defendants is expected in August and oral argument will be held in September; the defendants had requested that oral argument be held in the spring.
The NY Sun, Atlantic Yards Opponents File Appeal
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Another Atlantic Yards Appeal Challenges Environmental Review
Posted by lumi at 5:16 AM
Tish's Footprint rap goes viral
The Daily News caught wind of Letitia James's rally speech, which was remixed and distributed by The Footprint Gazette:
NY Daily News, Ready to go viral
The revolution will be downloaded.
A local blogger has created a minor sensation by mixing a rousing anti-Atlantic Yards speech by councilwoman Letitia James with a guitar riff and drums.
Since Thursday, "The Letitia James Remix" had been downloaded more than 3,000 times from Prospect Heights blog The Footprint Gazette and other sites.
...
"Now it's official - I'm the coolest council person," said James (WFP-Prospect Heights)...
NoLandGrab: It took a remix for Letitia James to finally come clean and admit what we've known all along, that she is way cooler than the snivelling wonks and wannabees that typically skulk around council chambers.
The Footprint Gazette, In the news
We did it. We became part of the story. It's every bloggers dream... And it's nice to get a little recognition for my work. You know what would be even nicer? Having access to running water when I wake up.
NLG: No running water? That makes"FoGazy" this summer's hottest blogger.
Posted by lumi at 4:44 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Center Hold, Your Friendly Neighborhood
NYC makes one blogger's list of candidates of Best Planned Cities, with a few caveats, gratis the New York Department of Shitty Planning:
[T]he truth is that New York’s planning department has been heading down hill since the 70’s and 80’s saw development of government housing projects in all 5 boroughs. Schools have attempted to improve by segmenting themselves into smaller, more focused institutions but are facing the same problems their behemoth predecessors endured. And the biggest building project New York has seen in decades, Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards Project, is an ostensible humanist project at best.
In the wake of this weekend's column by Michael O'Keeffe in the Daily News, two different blogs note that sportswriters seem to have the sharpest eye for political commentary:
Washington Square Park, NY Daily News: “Kiss my grass, Mayor Bloomberg” by Michael O’Keefe
I’m impressed by sports writers. They inject passion and reflect on history in a way that, for the most part, political writers and media covering City Hall don’t. If politics was covered the way sports is, perhaps more people would know what was going on and the world … our City … would be a different place.
DDDB.net, The Sportswriter Gets it Right
It's interesting that among mainstream New York newspapers, it's often the sports writers who have most pithily summed up the Atlantic Yards and Yankees deals for the corporate welfare exercises they are. As noted below, city columnist Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News deftly skewered the Yankees job promises last week. And then in the Sunday Daily News, sportswriter Michael O'Keeffe followed up with this observation about the state of big-money sports in the City of New York.
Note: Juan Gonzalez covers local issues for the Daily News, not sports.
Posted by lumi at 4:25 AM
July 8, 2008
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: DDDB and 25 Co-Plaintiffs File Appeal in Lawsuit Against the Empire State Development Corporation, MTA & PACB
Plaintiffs Seek to Overturn Supreme Court Decision on Suit Seeking to Annul Fatally Flawed Environmental Impact Statement and Approval of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards Proposal
NEW YORK, NY- Late yesterday, twenty-six co-plaintiff groups filed their appeal [PDF] in New York State Appellate Court seeking to overturn Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden's January 11th ruling. Their appeal challenges the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and approval of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal. The appeal alleges that the FEIS submitted by former Governor Pataki's Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) was fatally flawed on substantive and procedural grounds. Annulment of the FEIS would require the undertaking of a new and credible environmental impact analysis by Governor Paterson's ESDC, and a new vote by the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) for the 22-acre real estate development project proposed in Prospect Heights and Park Slope, Brooklyn. Defendants on the suit include the ESDC, the PACB, the MTA and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC).
The plaintiffs believe that the case, DDDB et al. v ESDC et al., was wrongly decided, on a number of grounds, by the lower court. The appeal focuses on the plaintiffs' charge that the lower court erred in numerous respects, including the following:
- The State's determination that the project site is "blighted" was illegitimate, and manufactured by the developer to take valuable private property via eminent domain.
- The State had no authority to approve the Barclays Center Arena because it is not a "Civic Project" as defined under the Urban Development Corporation Act (UDCA) .
- The State violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) by failing to consider the possibility of terrorism and other security breaches on the Project.
- The State violated SEQRA by grossly misrepresenting the project's construction timeline, thereby minimizing the project's impacts, and not requiring adequate mitigation.
- The State violated SEQRA when it failed to adequately study alternative locations for the proposed Project, including locating the arena in Coney Island.
- The PACB violated SEQRA by approving the project without considering its environmental impacts and failing to make its own SEQRA findings.
"The ESDC's rush to reach the pre-determined outcome of its Atlantic Yards review before the end of the Pataki administration led to a fatally flawed environmental review, and violations of its statutory procedures and responsibilities," said lead attorney Jeffrey Baker of Young, Sommer, Ward, Ritzenberg, Baker & Moore. "Our appeal seeks to overturn the Supreme Court ruling from January, and annul the environmental review and approval of 'Atlantic Yards' by Charles Gargano's Empire State Development Corporation, the Public Authorities Control Board, and the MTA, necessitating an urgently needed fresh look from Governor Paterson, his new ESDC and MTA, and the PACB, which has two new members on the three-member board since the approval of the project in December, 2006."
The legal appeal has broad support from the community with co-plaintiff groups representing all of the communities surrounding the project site, and well beyond, including: Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), the 41-member coalition Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods (CBN), New York Public Interest Research Group/Straphangers Campaign (NYPIRG), Sierra Club, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), Fort Greene Association, Society for Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill Association, Crown Heights North Association, Park Slope Neighbors, Fort Greene Park Conservancy, and Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, as well as fourteen other community organizations and block associations.
All legal papers filed can be found here: www.dddb.net/FEIS/appeal
A summary of the original complaint can be found at: www.dddb.net/FEIS/summary.php
The co-plaintiffs are:
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Inc.
Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, Inc.
NY Public Interest Research Group/Straphangers
Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID)
Sierra Club
Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association
The Brooklyn Bear's Gardens Inc
Bergen Street-Prospect Heights Block Association, Inc.
Boerum Hill Association
Brooklyn Vision, Inc.
Carlton Avenue Association
Carroll Street Block Association (5th to 6th Ave)
Crown Heights North Association, Inc.
Dean Street Block Association (4th to 5th Ave)
East Pacific Block Association
Fort Greene Association
Fort Greene Park Conservancy
Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus
Park Slope Neighbors
Park Place-Underhill Avenue Block Association
Prospect Heights Action Coalition
Prospect Place-Brooklyn Block Association
Society for Clinton Hill
South Portland Avenue Block Association
South Oxford Street Block Association
Zen Environmental Studies Institute
DEVELOP DON'T DESTROY BROOKLYN leads a broad-based community coalition
advocating for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them.
We oppose Forest City Ratner's "Atlantic Yards" proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
We are supported by over 4,000 individual donors from the community.
www.developdontdestroy.org
Posted by eric at 1:40 PM
July 7, 2008
"Song of Brooklyn" a flawed oral history, ends with... AY
Atlantic Yards Report
No joke, Bruce Ratner gets nearly the last word in Marc Eliot’s "Song of Brooklyn." Norman Oder is critical of the "oral history" of Brooklyn's reliance on printed (not oral) material, and put off when misty-eyed nostalgia is favored over a truer examination of Brooklyn's diversity.
Then we get to... Atlantic Yards, and a mangled analysis of tax revenue and timeline. We get secondhand quotes from Markowitz, from Daniel Goldstein (called "Goldman" in the book) of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), from DDDB supporter actress Rosie Perez, and New York magazine writer Chris Smith, from his August 2006 feature article.
A New York Observer article by Mark Lotto offers another quote--again, not really oral history--about how every generation bitches about the one that came next. And the final quote comes from Bruce Ratner; it appeared originally in the first edition of the egregious Brooklyn Tomorrow:
“We are fortunate that we have the resources and the vision to leave behind a city that is greater than the one we inherited... Brooklyn, in many ways, is a model for the change our city is experiencing. Twenty years ago, when Forest City Ratner opened in the downtown area, we were called foolish. Many thought the area, long in disarray, could not be developed and would not attract jobs. Today Brooklyn is celebrated as a world-class destination, the home to diversity in all of its glory, with great food, parks and cultural attractions. We are proud to be part of both our borough’s past and its future."
I strongly doubt Bruce Ratner ever spoke those words aloud.
Eliot’s conclusion: “And that may be the prevailing sentiment.”
A reader has to wonder how he reached that conclusion: Did he toss a coin?
Posted by lumi at 4:28 AM
July 6, 2008
Kiss my grass, Mayor Bloomberg
NY Daily News
by Michael O'Keeffe
News sports columnist Michael O'Keeffe wonders why the City of New York refused to grant a permit for a 2004 Iraq War protest on Central Park's Great Lawn, but is more than happy to accommodate a Bon Jovi concert sponsored by Major League Baseball.
But given how Bloomberg has consistently put the greed of the sports teams - especially the Yankees, Mets and Nets - over the needs of ordinary citizens, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
As Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez pointed out last week, City Hall is backing a Yankee request for $366 million in additional tax-exempt financing to complete the new Yankee Stadium - a very expensive handout for a private business that employs a tiny number of New York residents.
Lawyers for Willets Point businesses, meanwhile, say the city has refused to provide even basic services to the neighborhood for years. So is it coincidence or conspiracy that the city has decided to use eminent domain to throw out the junkyards and body shops just as the Mets are putting the finishing touches on their nearby new stadium?
Bloomberg, meanwhile, has been a shameless cheerleader for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, which has become an international synonym for a shameless corporate land grab.
Posted by eric at 12:50 PM
July 4, 2008
Get The Hell Off My Lawn
Dedicated to Forest City Ratner:
Oh get the hell off of my lawn
Didn’t wanna write no country song
But you left me no choice, now go on git goin’.
Posted by lumi at 4:44 AM
From Texas or Russia, Ohio or Colombia, Finding Themselves in New York
The NY Times
Folks from all over the world make NYC their home — one worries about Atlantic Yards and the like:
Nicole Guishard has lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, for the past five years — ever since her student internship in physical therapy turned into a full-time job. Born in Columbia, Md., she likes living in the close-knit neighborhood. But Ms. Guishard, 33, worries that the feel of the neighborhood will be compromised by large new projects like Atlantic Yards. “There’ll be way more traffic, and way more people in the subway,” she said.
NoLandGrab: Curiously, though every new local development project increases the burden on our infrastructure, Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project is different. The project's Environmental Impact Statement determined that there would be little adverse impact on traffic and the subways should Atlantic Yards be built.
Posted by lumi at 4:24 AM
July 3, 2008
A Bird’s Eye View of the Atlantic Yards Site
Gowanus Lounge
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Here to close out our broadcast day on this day before the day before the long Fourth of July weekend and the true, official start of summer festivities, is a view from above of the Atlantic Yards site. It’s interesting because you don’t often get the perspective from this side from above. This is the segment of the site where the Frank Gehry office building and arena would go, showing the current status of site clearance.
Posted by lumi at 4:17 AM
July 2, 2008
Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls...Not These, At Least
Fans for Fair Play
That's not a rainbow FFFP sees through the mist... it's Atlantic Yards.
Not a day goes by without a clear example of why Bloomberg's New York is such a maddening, offensive and increasingly soulless place to live.
For today's example, we offer you this:
Olafur Eliasson's "Waterfalls" -- four Erector Sets leaking water into the East River -- cost $15 million (say that with a Dr. Evil voice, especially over the $2 million in public money). The vampiric steward of our decaying city (above, right) blathered something about $59 million being generated for the city's coffers. That's government officials like Bloomberg's go-to excuse for wasting money and resources. All of NYC's new stadiums (and the one not going up in Brooklyn). Big "because we can" fartworks like this or last year's "Gates" in Central Park. The Bon Jovi concert just announced for the Great Lawn, where Mayor Mike's construct is that what's good for white rock'n'roll fans isn't good for RNC demonstrators.
...River water tumbling meekly off scaffolds isn't nearly the problem that the Atlantic Yards is, of course. Dopey and disappointing as Eliasson's efforts are, they're not really hurting anyone. Well, not counting whoever could've used the $2 million the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation stuffed in Eliasson's pocket, likely at the mayor's behest.
Part of the problem is timing, as it always is with Atlantic Yards. The economy's crashing, so Ratner asks for more public money for his failing luxury-condo development. The AY arena is a billion-dollar money pit, so Ratner declares his Nets are "rebuilding," sports-world code for "we'll really blow the next few years."
...Ratner, emboldened by state officials he counts as both pals and sugar-daddies/mommies, keeps pushing Atlantic Yards as though it's still 2003, when the economy, at least, wasn't one of the dozens of reasons the Atlantic Yards superblocks are such a bad idea on so many levels.
Posted by eric at 5:35 PM
Kavanagh to Question New York City Industrial Development Agency on Failure to Control Yankee Ticket Pricing
Kavanagh Will Question Agency Officials at Public Hearing on Yankee's Request for Additional Public Financing
Yonkers Tribune
At a public hearing today Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) will continue his efforts to protect sports fans and taxpayers by questioning the New York City Industrial Development Agency on its failure to control ticket pricing at the new Yankee Stadium—a venue that has so far received $920 million in tax-exempt bonds to aid in construction.
"We're pouring hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-free bonds into a facility that no average New Yorker will be able to afford to get into. It's crazy." said Kavanagh, a member of the State Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions and Committee on Cities which are jointly holding the hearing with other Assembly Committees. "We need a law to require affordable tickets at the new Yankee Stadium, the new Shea Stadium, the Atlantic Yards Arena, and other venues around the state that seek public money. We have a responsibility to ensure that public money is used for public benefit."
Kavanagh and 30 of his Assembly colleagues recently introduced legislation (A11692) that would limit ticket price increases by sports franchises that receive public subsidies for their facilities and require that a percentage of tickets at these facilities be sold at prices affordable to people of modest means.
NoLandGrab: Better yet, how about just eliminating the subsidies?
Posted by eric at 4:07 PM
PRESS RELEASE: INSURGENT ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE PAUL NEWELL SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CORPORATE WELFARE
Silver Sides With Developer Forest City Ratner On Tax Abatement Against Community Board Wishes
Lower Manhattan, New York, July 2, 2008 -- Appalled by the recent news that Forest City Ratner had threatened to halt construction on the Beekman Street school if the city did not come through with a 20-year tax break, 64th District State Assembly candidate Paul Newell said he blames Speaker Sheldon Silver, who recruited Ratner for the project, for delaying the construction.
"We have been waiting for this school for far too long to allow it to be held up at the whims of Bruce Ratner's development schedule," said Paul Newell. "Once again, Shelly Silver has sided with his big money donors over the interests of Lower Manhattanites. The corporate welfare of millions of dollars in unwarranted tax breaks to Bruce Ratner is an insult to New York City's children in this time of fiscal belt tightening."
Newell will be holding a brief press conference Thursday, July 3, 2008 at noon in front of the Beekman Tower at the corner of Beekman and William Streets.
Construction on the Beekman Street school, planned for the lower levels of the Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan, started in October 2006, but its anticipated opening has already been delayed several times. The elementary school isn't slated to open its doors until the fall of 2011.
State laws regulating 421-A tax abatements changed June 19, and under the new provisions, Forest City Ratner will only have been eligible for a 10-year tax exemption, not a 20-year one. Community Board members were forced to grant the abatement because they did not want to risk the future of the project. "We don't want to do anything to jeopardize the financing of the school," Julie Menin, Chairperson of Community Board 1, told the Downtown Express.
"Our children's education is too important to be auctioned off to one of Sheldon Silver's biggest campaign donors to the tune of $60,000 in soft money contributions," said Newell.
This week, Jennifer Berkley joins the Newell Campaign as Communications Director. Berkley, a former journalist, devoted the last year and a half to Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in New York. Originally from Brookline, Mass., Berkley, 33, lives on the Upper East Side.
For more information, please contact Communications Director Jennifer Berkley at 917-843-5669 or Campaign Manager Evan Hutchison at 646-415-8273.
Community Organizer and Health Education Activist Paul Newell is running for State Assembly in District 64 against Speaker Sheldon Silver. Newell, 33, was born and raised in Lower Manhattan.
Posted by eric at 11:27 AM
ATLANTIC YARDS RATNERVILLE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
ATLANTIC YARDS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Weeks beginning June 30th, 2008 and July 7th, 2008In an effort to keep the Atlantic Yards Community aware of upcoming construction activities, ESD and Forest City Ratner provide the following outline of anticipated upcoming construction activities.
Please note: the scope and nature of activities are subject to change based upon field conditions. All work has been approved by appropriate City and State agencies where required.
In addition to the activities described below noise attenuation and vibration monitoring measures are underway in connection with the Memorandum of Environmental Commitments dated 12/08/06.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our project Ombudsperson at: 212-803-3233 or AtlanticYards@empire.state.ny.us.
Long Island Rail Road/Vanderbilt Yard Work
- Continue excavation and installation of tiebacks in Southeast Gas Station (block 1121, lot 47).
- Continue construction and debris removal from block 1121.
- Continue hauling soil from block 1121.
- Completion of north foundation for cable bridge.
- Completion of south foundation for cable bridge.
- Completion of temporary access ramp structure.
- Drill coffer dam piles at Carlton Avenue Bridge, Pacific Street elevation.
- Prep west abutment of trestle for concrete placement.
- Continue drilling trestle piles.
- Continue trenching for cable duct-bank
Abatement and Demolition Work
All work described below will comply with the additional oversight and protocols by the Department of Buildings (DOB) that were established on April 30, 2007.
- Demolition is underway at 800 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 25) and will continue throughout this two week period.
- Demolition will begin at 195 Flatbush Avenue (block 1127, lot 1) within this two week period.
- Demolition will resume at 585 Dean Street (block 1129, lot 81) within this two week period.
Utility Work
All utility work scheduled to take place in Flatbush Avenue will only take place at night (between 10PM and 6AM) as mandated by DOT.
- The first of three phases of upgraded water and sewer installations is underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year. Work will continue on Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth Avenues and on Sixth between Pacific and Dean Streets. Night time work began on Flatbush Avenue at Dean Street and continued north along Flatbush. Work is complete on a new sewer chamber on Dean Street near Flatbush.
- Transit ducts on Flatbush Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Dean Street will be relocated. This work is expected to continue over the next three months. All work taking place in the sidewalk will occur during the day. Pedestrian walkways will be maintained.
Private Utility Work
The work described below is managed and contracted by the respective private utility companies, as indicated.
- ConEd will be installing conduits on Dean between Flatbush and 6th Avenues and working on a feeder at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.
- Verizon will be splicing cable on Pacific Street between Flatbush and 6th Avenues and at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.
- Time Warner Cable and Keyspan will be working at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.
Posted by eric at 11:15 AM
Does the Future of Atlantic Yards Really Hinge on LeBron?
Gotham Gazette [The Wonkster], Can Lebron James Save Bruce Ratner?
A little background for the non-SLAM Magazine-reading set: The James here is Lebron, who is buddies with rap mogul and Nets minority owner Jay-Z. The Nets’ principal owner is Forest City Ratner, which wants to move them to an as-yet unbuilt, 18,000-seat, Forest City-developed, Frank Ghery-designed arena in Atlantic Yards by 2010. James, arguably the world’s most marketable athlete, becomes a free agent in 2010. He currently plays in Cleveland, which we’re told is a much less interesting and exciting place than New York.
Could James’ apparent interest in Brooklyn have any impact on Atlantic Yards?
Bleacher Report, Please No More LeBron to New York Talk
Is anybody else as sick as me with the oversaturated coverage of LeBron’s supposedly inevitable move to one of the New York teams come 2010? It’s good to dream, but can someone please tell me when this became fact?
...Yi brings China with him, which, in turn brings a lot of money. Keep in mind New York has the biggest Chinese population in the U.S. There is plenty of money to be made overseas in China. Naming rights money, shoe deal money, endorsement deals, suite money for the new arena.
Because of Yi, Nets games will now be seen on 50 plus stations in China. Three hundred million Chinese play basketball and one billion watch NBA games. Some months the NBA brings in more revenue from China than it does in North America.
This move had to be done. The Nets were losing $40 million a year, the heaviest debt-to-assets load of any professional sports team, according to Forbes magazine.
NoLandGrab: With the Nets, real estate comes first, with marketing a close second. Putting a winning team on the floor, well....
NY Daily News, With inexperienced roster, Nets front office looks to add veterans
However, Thorn, Vandeweghe and owner Bruce Ratner have admitted they are not willing to sacrifice the future just to give the Nets a better chance in the upcoming season. Although no executives have said so, speculation is that the Jefferson trade, which brought 20-year-old 7-footer Yi Jianlian and veteran forward Bobby Simmons to New Jersey, was all about setting up a possible run at future free agent LeBron James.
NLG: No Nets' executives have said so because saying so would be tampering.
Posted by eric at 10:37 AM
June 30, 2008
Where are they now: Jim Stuckey
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Where is Stuckey?
We found Jim Stuckey!
...Where is he now? Where has he gone to face those challenges? He is now partner at Verdant Properties, where his profile touts his service for Forest City Ratner and the Atlantic Yards stewardship.
...Mr. Stuckey should feel free to use DDDB as a reference for his work doing "sustainable, harmonious development"...we have much to say about his efforts with that Atlantic Yards proposal.
Atlantic Yards Report, Former FCR executive Stuckey aims to cash in on insider info
The more important asset Verdant brings, however, may be the inside track. To quote the company's web site:
With over three decades of proven experience, and relationships with property owners and tenants; brokers and appraisers; architects and attorneys; title companies and accountants; and, lenders and investors – the principals of VERDANT PROPERTIES, LLC™ frequently learn of opportunities to acquire properties long before their competitors, and often times, these assets are never publicly marketed.
(Emphasis added)Remember, Forest City Ratner was anointed developer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard 18 months before an RFP was issued.
Posted by eric at 9:55 AM
FCR consultant Zimbalist adds millions to AY subsidy total, calls for ULURP hearings (not quite)
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder points out some glaring inconsistencies in the positions of sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, which seem, not surprisingly, to correlate with the source of his paycheck.
Andrew Zimbalist, the sports economist Forest City Ratner hired to produce a dubious study of Atlantic Yards costs and benefits, mostly dismissed a very big thing: the economic value of the tax-exempt bonds used to build the arena. And when writing about a very similar financing plan for the West Side Stadium, he called such bonds the equivalent of a public contribution.
So, would the $800 million in tax-exempt bonds for AY count as a public subsidy? Not under Zimbalist's logic, given that, in a 1/22/06 New York Times op-ed, he blessed a similar financing plan for the new Yankees Stadium, contrasting it with the West Side Stadium by noting that "the Bronx is already in a tax abatement zone."
But maybe that's not quite right--and it deserves scrutiny as the State Assembly takes up tax-exempt financing for the Yankees, if not the Nets, during a hearing on Wednesday.
There's increasingly less justification for such tax exemptions. Just as the city's longstanding 421-a tax exemption for outer-borough residential construction recently got an overhaul, given that the residential market had long since improved in certain neighborhoods, so have there been recent calls to reform the city's Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program (ICIP), on which the AY arena tax exemption would rely.
Posted by eric at 9:35 AM
To federal regulators, ESDC claims Forest City Ratner has "acquired" 85% of AY site
Atlantic Yards Report
Perhaps Forest City Ratner "owns or controls 86 percent of the land needed for Atlantic Yards," but that didn't stop the project sponsor, the Empire State Development Corporation, from telling a little white lie to federal regulators:
According to the "Atlantic Yards Chronology" (p. 6 of this PDF): Forest City Ratner Companies ("FCRC"), the developer of the Project, has already acquired approximately 85% of the project site.
NoLandGrab: Well, at least the ESDC didn't lie when it identified Forest City Ratner as "the developer of the Proejct."
Posted by lumi at 4:19 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Gowanus Lounge, Ward Bakery Destructoporn, Black Chair Edition
We offer this photo that was dropped into our GL Photo Pool by Tracy Collins for the absurdity of the black chair sitting there in the rubble. Mr. Collins’ body of work is a must for anyone interested in the neighborhood where the big project may rise.
The Footprint Gazette, This just in...
"Ratner is..."
Two graffiti can't be wrong.
Krispy Kruller's All Nite Sugar Palace, Brooklyn Represent!
The controversial Atlantic Yards project is beginning to stick to Jay-Z, who is a minority owner of the NJ Nets.
Now, I'm not a big fan of Jay-Z. I don't like his music; I don't like his role in the Atlantic Yards project, but you gotta admit, this is pretty funny. One of the Gallagher twins from Oasis didn't want Jay-Z playing at Glastonbury, because it's traditionally a rock concert, it's no place for rappers, etc.
So what does Jay-Z do?
WARNING: Like Atlantic Yards, it's not pretty. Unless you're tone deaf, you may want to skip this link.
uacash.com, США: жить в центре города уже не модно
В связи с этим, в 2008 году в центрах некоторых крупных американских городов были приостановлены масштабные проекты, например, проект Brooklyn Atlantic Yards стоимостью в 4 млрд долларов, который включал в себя постройку стадиона для New Jersey Nets и квартир общей площадью 750 тыс. кв. м.
In connection with this, in the centers of some large American cities were in 2008 stopped scale projects, for example, the project Of brooklyn Of atlantic Of yards by cost in 4 billion dollars, which included building stadium for New Of jersey Of nets and apartments with the total area of 750 thousand sq. m.
Posted by lumi at 3:50 AM
June 28, 2008
CBA Block Party Cancelled
The Community Benefits Agreement Third Anniversary Block party, expected to take place yesterday, was cancelled. Did someone forget to buy the balloons, or did it turn out that Thursday is a better party night? Three different blog entries try to figure out what happened:
The "brutally weird" block party scheduled for yesterday--on a to-be-demapped AY footprint block--by Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) signatories was canceled without public explanation yesterday. Apparently Forest City Ratner and its surrogates recognized that 1) it was bad form and 2) block parties usually involve residents celebrating their block, and there weren't any of them. (Image from DDDB.)
Well, there was some largesse distributed. As told to DDDB and to me by an eyewitness, CBA signatory BUILD (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development) and Forest City Ratner representatives "were out in front of the [homeless] shelter at 603 Dean handing out pizza, drinks and Nets tote bags to shelter residents." The shelter is on the block just below the block where the party was to be held.
The Real Deal: Ratner's Atlantic Yards block party cancelled
Three years ago today, Forest City Ratner entered into a community benefits agreement for its Atlantic Yards project, promising affordable housing and work for local and minority businesses to help build Brooklyn's biggest-ever development. A block party planned for today to celebrate the anniversary has been canceled.
The party was to be in the footprint of the struggling Atlantic Yards project, on Pacific Street between Vanderbilt and Carlton avenues. Delia Hunley-Adossa, chairwoman of the Atlantic Yards Community Benefit Agreement, said the block party had been planned for months, but was canceled after the U.S. Supreme's Court decision Monday not to hear an eminent domain petition presented by property owners and tenants challenging the government's ability to seize their homes. The ruling followed a string of legal losses for the project's opponents.
"We wanted to be sensitive to the community that the decision came down Monday," said Hunley-Adossa, who works with both the developer and the community.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn: Offensive Atlantic Yards "Block Party" Cancelled
Developer Forest City Ratner’s partners and surrogates announced last Monday afternoon that they planned to hold what they claim to be a “block party” to “celebrate” the third anniversary of what experts have called a toothless, illegitimate “Community Benefits Agreement” (CBA) for the developer’s Atlantic Yards proposal.When the time came today for the party today nobody showed up. Our eyewitness sources tell us the "block party" was cancelled. But no worries, we got this eyewitness report that: "BUILD and FCR (Forest City Ratner) were out in front of the [homeless] shelter at 603 Dean handing out pizza, drinks and Nets tote bags to shelter residents."
Posted by steve at 7:34 AM
Atlantic Yards Camera Club
A Walk Around the Blog
Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn and Tracy Collins of Not Another F*cking Blog share their thoughts on photoblogging and talk about the Web Cam that is documenting the demolition at the Atlantic Yards site.
Posted by steve at 6:52 AM
June 27, 2008
The balance of power?
The Brooklyn Paper
Editorial
At its core, the issue in this case is New York State’s insistence that Bruce Ratner’s basketball arena, office and housing mega-project will bring about a “public benefit.” The declaration of such a “public benefit” enables the state to use its eminent domain power to seize the 11 properties from their owners and give them to Ratner.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that when states condemn private property for a public benefit, they do not violate the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
But in its most-recent ruling on such takings — the 2005 Kelo decision — the High Court declared that the “public benefit” cannot merely be a pretext for handing over one person’s land to another person.
In a word, the benefit must be real.
But who determines if the public actually benefits from a development? In its brief to the High Court, state officials said that only the state itself has the power to make that determination.
The 11 plaintiffs in Goldstein v. Pataki allege that a corrupt and cronyism-riddled Empire State Development Corporation simply used the pretext of public benefit to hand over properties so Ratner could make millions. Two federal courts have declined to examine this claim, saying that judges have no role in hearing challenges to a state’s determination that a project is a “public benefit.”
So, if a state agency says that a project is a “public benefit,” it is, de facto, a public benefit.
But what if the so-called “public benefit” isn’t a benefit at all?
Posted by eric at 9:55 AM
RESOURCES: Documents Related to Proposed IRS Regulations on Tax-exempt Bonds
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn compiled resources concerning the "Proposed IRS Regulations on Tax-exempt Bonds" which, depending on how the Internal Revenue Service rules, will have a big effect on the financing structure of Bruce Ratner's controversial and heavily subsidized Atlantic Yards project.
This page should be particularly interesting and helpful to reporters and bloggers covering the story — and Larry Penner.
Posted by lumi at 5:02 AM
Pole-a-rized
Dope on the Slope
The combination of weird angle, polarizing filter, and oblique late afternoon sun gives this picture a twilight zone quality. It's the light pole at the corner of Pacific and Vanderbilt next to the Vanderbilt Railyards.
I took this photo while strolling around with Brit in Brooklyn. We noticed a taut monofilament line stretching from the pole to the fence surrounding the project site. What could its function possibly be? Hanging banners?
NoLandGrab: "Hanging banners" for today's Ratner-Zone Block Party, to be celebrated on a block that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is planning to demap?
Posted by lumi at 4:57 AM
Digging the Yards
From Brit in Brooklyn
Bruce Ratner isn't the only one who digs Atlantic Yards.
Photo's from an evening walk around the Atlantic Yards footprint.
Posted by lumi at 4:42 AM
empty seat
Photo, by Tracy Collins, via flickr Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
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Front row seat in the Ratnerville demolition playhouse.
Posted by lumi at 4:14 AM
June 26, 2008
Everyday Chatter
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York
I picked up this Forest City Ratner advertisement disguising itself as a magazine on a bench outside St. Mark's Church today. It came from the NY Post. One of the stories is called "Feeding the Need to Shop." Another refers to the Coney redesign as a "new day dawning at the shore." The gentrification of Flatbush is hailed "Old Nabes Take On New Life." Brooklynites, here lies your grim future:
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NoLandGrab: Judging from the looks of that "stacked shoe box" design, this must be the much-anticipated Summer 2008 edition of Brooklyn Tomorrow.
Posted by eric at 4:27 PM
Karl Fischer bunker beds
Restless
Bruce Ratner rates a (dis)honorable mention in a blog post about ubiquitous NYC architect Karl Fischer, complete with a humorous rendering of a Gehry-less Atlantic Yards (click image to enlarge).
Real estate magnate Bruce Ratner's problem is that he thinks too big. If he had quietly bought a block at a time and hired Karl Fischer, Atlantic Yards would be done by now (right). Instead, it's every other block of Williamsburg that gets an arbitrary eyesore from the napkin doodles of The Master.
NoLandGrab: Thanks, but we think we'll get our Prospect Heights fried chicken at Bob Law's Seafood Café.
Posted by eric at 3:23 PM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Supreme Court Won’t Hear AY Case, State Court Next for Plantiffs
News from Task Force Members Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn: The US Supreme Court has denied the petition to grant a hearing to to eleven property owners and tenants challenging developer Forest City Ratner’s legal rights to use eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards development project. Now, the plantiffs will file an action in New York state court.
The Privatopia Papers, SCOTUSblog » A new vote for property rights?
Mystery Reader sent this SCOTUSblog piece by Lyle Denniston speculating about Samuel Alito being a balance-tipping fifth vote in favor of property rights.
DMI Blog, Vann Bill Demands Developer Disclosure
In light of recent controversial, high profile development projects like Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards, one of the most vexing questions facing neighborhood stakeholders is, how do you ensure that developers feeding from the public trough do the right thing when pursuing a large development project in a low- and moderate-income area? Community Benefit Agreements, like the hotly controversial one generated between ACORN and Forest City Ratner for the proposed Nets stadium and surrounding development, has been one way for community-based organizations to assert some minimal control over the kind of impact that powerful, deep-pocketed, politically connected developers have on the city.
In this same spirit, Council Member Al Vann today announced new legislation that would compel developers receiving public subsidies accountable to disclose what kind of demographic and economic impact their projects would have on the surrounding area.
NoLandGrab: Having closely watched the environmental disclosure process for Atlantic Yards, it seems that further disclosure requirements might result in another invitation for developers to lie about the impacts and benefits of their projects.
Posted by lumi at 4:11 AM
Pissing on the Footprint Pt. II
The Footprint Gazette confirms the "official epidemic" of street pee within the borders of Atlantic Yards project and begins to contemplate payback.
NoLandGrab: This street pee epidemic was brought to you by the letters F, C, and R and the number 4-billion dollars.
Posted by lumi at 3:51 AM
June 25, 2008
OVERHEARD
Re: Invitation to Community Benefits Agreement Block Party
Friday, June 27, 2PM—4PM
Pacific St. between Vanderbilt and Carlton Avenues.
"Only in the Atlantic Yards project can you find a group of people celebrating with a 'block party' on a block that will be demapped."
Posted by lumi at 8:44 PM
Chicago, Say No to the Olympics!
Gapers Block
by Ramsin Canon
A warning to Chicagoans to reject the 2016 Olympics includes a reference to the "now-infamous and loathed Atlantic Yards development," and offers up a link to our favorite project watchdog.
There could be a continued dilution of any top-down negotiated "Community Benefits Agreement," as happened in New York City in the now-infamous and loathed Atlantic Yards development, as reported by In These Times' Michael Gauss. In that case, developers sought political cover by enticing a community group (in that case, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN) into a backroom deal that left plenty of room for developer wiggle room.
Posted by eric at 12:18 PM
Atlantic Yards: 20 Court Decisions v. 20-ish Lies
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
DDDB has had enough of Forest City Ratner's false claim of being 20-0 in Atlantic Yards court decisions, and in return, they've compiled a list of 20+ prevarications promulgated by the developer.
Without lying, we now list for you 20 Atlantic Yards lies from the Forest City Ratner team and Bruce Ratner—there are plenty more but we are striving for symmetry (we failed). In no particular order:
- There will be 50% affordable housing in Atlantic Yards. (LIE, do the math: 6,430 units, 2,250 so-called "affordable")
- There will be a public open space on the arena roof. (LIE)
- There will be a private green roof on the arena. (LIE)
- Ratner spokesman Loren Reigelhaupt: “When it comes to sharing information with the public and governmental bodies, there’s no such thing as too much, as far as we are concerned." (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards will take 10 years to build. (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards went through a rigourous public process. (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards will create 15,000 construction jobs. (LIE)
- Atlantic Yards will create 10,000 permanent jobs. (LIE)
- "The $6 Billion Lie." (LIE)
- "Arena development to begin at the end of 2004, with completion set for summer of 2006." (LIE, see page 5)
- Arena will open in 2008. (LIE, see page 14)
- Arena will open in 2009. (LIE)
- Arena will open in 2010. (LIE)
Posted by eric at 9:41 AM
Ratner's central party planning committee invites you...
The participants in Bruce Ratner's "Ye Olde*" Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) have officially transformed themselves into Brooklyn's finest Party Planning Committee.
Instead of doing what community groups say, Ratner supporters do what we DO. When Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods and Brooklyn Speaks hold a rally with local politicians, Ratner's crew holds their own rally. And now after the Dean St. Block Association has a block party, Ratner supporters are throwing their very own "block party."
We must be doing something right, because we appear to be getting under their skin. We can't wait for Bruce's "Blockbuster Bake Sale" (featuring FREE cookies?).
Atlantic Yards Report calls it "brutally weird" and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn deemed it a "joke."
We wonder if Bruce Ratner's party planning committee can't find something more important to do.
* That faux-parchment thingie still cracks us up.
Posted by lumi at 6:46 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Footprint Gazette, Another Glimpse Into Our Future?
My fears regarding my own apt. were realized this weekend for a number of families in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Construction alongside their building caused long cracks to it's foundation. The tenants were told to grab only a few light items and then vacate. 'Light' because anything heavy might cause the building to shift.
inversecondemnation.com, Note to Self: Avoid June 23 at the Supreme Court
Though we usually ignore the stupidsticious, the headline is funny in a black humor sort of way.
Posted by lumi at 6:11 AM
June 24, 2008
City approval for Atlantic Yards? The Daily News rewrites history
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder corrects some of the factual irregularities in today's Daily News editorial:
From a Daily News editorial today, headlined Yes, in their backyards:
No, these were all about snarling an extraordinarily beneficial project, approved up and down by the city and state....Approval by the unelected Empire State Development Corporation and the "three-men-in-a-room" Public Authorities Control Board, with no official role for the city at all, is hardly "up and down."
Also, the editorial refers to "22 down-at-the-heels acres in the heart of Brooklyn," as if Forest City Ratner were doing some kind of favor to the public. Rather, developer Chuck Ratner calls it "a great piece of real estate."
Posted by eric at 4:17 PM
Supreme Court won't hear Nets case
Field of Schemes
Subsidized-stadia critic Neil deMause splashes a little cold water on those celebrating yesterday's pass by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the lawsuit against use of eminent domain to clear land for Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project, which would include an arena for the New Jersey Nets. The plaintiffs say they'll now file a similar suit in state court, but that's considered an even longer shot to succeed.
Don't expect the steamshovels to power up just yet, though: A pending appeal of a state case challenging the project's environmental review is still set to be heard in September, and yet another state lawsuit (by tenants on the site) has just started working its way through the courts. Add in that developer/Nets owner Bruce Ratner is still uncertain how much of the project he can afford to build, that the proposed financing plan might be illegal under new IRS regs, and that local elected officials are demanding a moratorium on new demolition until Ratner can confirm that all the promised housing will be built, and Atlantic Yards' prognosis still needs to be considered "questionable."
Posted by eric at 3:25 PM
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal By Atlantic Yards Opponents
NY1
The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected an appeal from tenants and property owners who face eviction to make room for the Atlantic Yards development.
The group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn had hoped to stop the skyscrapers and new arena for the Nets from moving forward, arguing that the use of eminent domain was unconstitutional.
They say the government's power to take the property is in violation because the project benefits the developer more so than the public. But the justices did not agree.
...Community members say they will now file an action in state court to make their case.
article/video [dialup/broadband]
Posted by eric at 2:38 PM
Atlantic Yards News: NY Papers Applaud Supreme Court Decision in Atlantic Yards Favor
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"In Atlantic Yards Favor?" We think they meant "In Atlantic Yards's Favor," but yes, the Supreme Court (excepting, at minimum, Justice Samuel Alito) did do Atlantic Yards a favor in not taking Goldstein v. Pataki. And the Daily News and the Post did Forest City Ratner a favor, too, by penning editorials that saved the company's PR department from having to come up with something of their own.
Yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court decision put an end to the federal lawsuit opposing Atlantic Yards by challenging eminent domain, eliminating what was potentially the most serious remaining legal hurdle for the project. The New York Post and Daily News weigh in today with editorials applauding the decision and calling for Atlantic Yards to move forward.
For press coverage of the decision, please visit our [they mean their] website.
Posted by eric at 1:13 PM
Yes, in their backyards
NY Daily News Editorial
In its typically understated fashion, the Daily News (aka, Errol Louis) gloats on its editorial page about yesterday's Supreme Court boost for Atlantic Yards.
Opponents of the $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project got unceremoniously stuffed yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was a fitting end to a grand legal hoax perpetrated by a handful of not-in-my-backyard naysayers.
The high court tossed the case without comment, adding to the legal defeats suffered by the development's foes. On the merits, their arguments were losers. But the merits had nothing to do with these court battles.
No, these were all about snarling an extraordinarily beneficial project, approved up and down by the city and state, in endless time-consuming litigation in the hope that delay might prove fatal. And four years of nonsense have at least been damaging.
Presented in headier times by builder Bruce Ratner, the Atlantic Yards plan was conceived as turning 22 down-at-the-heels acres in the heart of Brooklyn into the home of an arena for the pro-basketball Nets, plus 6,000 units of housing, much of it priced to be within financial reach of poor and middle-class New Yorkers.
Now, Ratner is facing the challenge of an economic downturn and tightened credit markets. And his victory in the Supreme Court over 11 - count them, 11 - holdout property owners may prove hollow. He says he's committed for the long term. Let's hope so, because the Atlantic Yards would be great for Brooklyn and the city as a whole.
NoLandGrab: "Four years of nonsense?" Has it been that long since the Daily News first opined in favor of Bruce Ratner's monolithic boondoggle? As far as we can see, the greatest damage has been that done to the News's reputation; the paper once prided itself on being the champion of the little guy.
And as far as a "grand legal hoax perpetrated by a handful of not-in-my-backyard naysayers," here's what Mr. Louis had to say recently about city plans to relocate a homeless-intake facility into his neighborhood:
"And that is why we must be prepared to go to war - with protests, lawsuits, the whole nine yards - to prevent the city from magnifying its proven incompetence into the collapse of an entire neighborhood."
Indeed!
Posted by eric at 12:00 PM
NYC Donut Report's Got Beef with SCOTUS
NYC Donut Report!!
The "International donut reporter" takes a break from chronicling the world of tasty deep-fried dough to mourn the Supreme Court's refusal to hear Goldstein v. Pataki and what it could mean for the future of everything that makes New York City — and especially Brooklyn — great.
If you love the quirky independent donut shops that we cover on this Web site, then you ought to detest the Supreme Court's refusal on Monday to take up the case of Brooklynites who are being forcibly evicted from their homes and businesses to make way for tacky high-rise condos. The court has now cleared the way for real-estate developers all over the city -- and indeed across the country -- to use the power of eminent domain not to build roads and other works that serve the public good, but instead to build condos, malls and office towers to make money.
The power of eminent domain, now used just to turn a profit. This ruling gives the developers yet another incredibly powerful weapon in their campaign to literally demolish all the homegrown donut shops, dive bars, corner bodegas, independent bookstores, hole-in-the-wall burger joints, art-house theaters, Chinese apothecaries, junk shops, wig emporiums, dumpling houses, Bulgarian discos, peep shows, Gray's Papaya hot dog joints, word-of-mouth supper clubs, cutthroat Korean ping-pong gyms, stinky fishmongers, brownstone stoops, rent-stabilized apartment buildings, chrome diners, kebob carts, basement barber shops, cramped jazz clubs, wholesalers of obscure items and taxidermy shops -- in short, to destroy all the things that make New York distinctive -- and replace them with condo developments and "festival marketplaces" you could just as easily find in Denver or Scottsdale.
The trends in Brooklyn are especially not good. The Coney Island that you and I know as one of the great symbols of Americana is about to be utterly sterilized. Acres and acres of gross condo towers are going up in the Atlantic Yards project that Antonin Scalia and his cronies are so enthused over. And what's the third big project going on in the borough? Why, it's funny you should ask. They're going to reopen -- and double the size of -- the Brooklyn House of Detention.
Shopping malls, million-dollar condos, overblown arenas for the New Jersey Nets to suck in, a massive prision smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood -- it's all the same to the developers. They all make money, and they all have no purpose but to make money.
Posted by eric at 10:01 AM
In state court case, questions of “condemnation blight” and "reasonable" efforts to proceed
Atlantic Yards Report
All the Atlantic Yards legal action wasn't taking place in Washington yesterday, and Norman Oder has an exclusive:
On Monday morning, when most Atlantic Yards watchers were waiting to learn whether the Supreme Court would hear the AY eminent domain appeal (it said no), another legal drama was playing out in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, before State Supreme Court Justice Jane Solomon. Tenants, nearly all with rent-stabilized leases, in two buildings, are charging (lawsuit, follow-up) that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) is violating a provision of the Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL) that requires disposition of properties within a decade.
Solomon seemed skeptical of the main thrust of the argument made by attorney George Locker, who has filed two previous cases on behalf of the 13 tenants, who live in two Forest City Ratner-owned buildings within the footprint of the planned arena block.
Then again, she did seem somewhat sympathetic to Locker’s effort to paint the footprint as suffering from “condemnation blight,” a state of suspended neglect, and that the project has changed enough to require a public hearing.
The petitioners seek to annul State Funding Agreement agreement Law and also to order the court to require another public hearing, based on the law establishing the ESDC.
Posted by eric at 9:33 AM
NY Post editorial twists its way to an AY hooray
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder pokes some holes in the logic in today's pro-Atlantic Yards New York Post editorial.
The New York Post editorial board goes through some interesting gyrations in its editorial today, headlined A WIN FOR ATLANTIC YARDS. The newspaper opines:
Atlantic Yards, to be sure, has never been a perfect project. For starters, Ratner has relied heavily on special subsidies and tax breaks.The Post itself has estimated the tab at $2 billion. Doesn't that imply some effort at a cost-benefit analysis?
Posted by eric at 9:11 AM
A WIN FOR ATLANTIC YARDS
NY Post Editorial
Downtown Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards redevelopment got a huge and welcome shot in the arm yesterday - courtesy of a favorable decision from the highest court in the land.
...Atlantic Yards, to be sure, has never been a perfect project. For starters, Ratner has relied heavily on special subsidies and tax breaks.
And, of course, the state is threatening to use its eminent-domain authority (a power we've argued should never be used lightly) to acquire some of the land - sparking the court case in question.
Still, at the end of the day, the city can't afford to leave neglected, run-down or under-built areas languishing.
Posted by eric at 9:05 AM
June 23, 2008
Supreme Court denies AY eminent domain appeal; state case would be more of a long shot
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder offers a sober assessment of the chances of an eminent domain victory for Prospect Heights plaintiffs in New York State court, while enumerating the many significant challenges still facing the Atlantic Yards project.
The Supreme Court's decision, announced today, to reject the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case, Goldstein v. Pataki, is certainly a setback for project opponents, though the case was always a long shot.
Remember that the decision does not mean that the cases below were decided correctly, just that the appeal didnt present enough issues of law--conflicts in the interpretation of the 6/23/05 Kelo v. New London decision--to merit review.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn indicates that it will organize a case to be filed in state court. That is surely more of a long shot than the federal case, but even that case might delay key elements of project--the acquisition of property via emiment domain and the opportunity to issue bonds for construction--by several months. Then again, some of the 11 plaintiffs in the federal case may feel increasing pressure to settle.
Posted by eric at 12:36 PM
High Court Won’t Hear Appeal on Atlantic Yards
City Room [The New York Times]
by Sewell Chan
The United States Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by 11 New York City property owners and tenants whose homes and businesses are scheduled to be taken over by the government and demolished to make way for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
Without comment, the justices refused to hear the plaintiffs’ argument that the seizure of their property would violate the United States Constitution. In February, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a trial judge’s dismissal of the landowners’ and tenants’ suit.
However, the plaintiffs, including Daniel Goldstein, the leader of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, which opposes the Atlantic Yards project, vowed to continue their legal fight by turning, once again, to the state courts.
...The Supreme Court’s decision today was a victory for the developer Bruce C. Ratner and for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who supports the project. At the center of the $4 billion development plan, which 16 high-rise office and apartment towers, is a basketball arena intended to house the New Jersey Nets. Brooklyn has not had a professional major league sports team since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.
Lawyers for the mayor and other governmental defendants in the case argued that the project “serves multiple undisputed purposes,” including the transformation of blighted neighborhoods in Brooklyn. But in fact the area has already been rapidly gentrifying. Moreover, the faltering economy could slow down the construction of the project, doing what opponents of the project have so far failed to achieve in court.
Posted by eric at 12:00 PM
Supreme Court Won't Hear AY Eminent Domain Case
Brownstoner
The Supreme Court announced today that it won't grant a hearing to a group that sued over the planned use of eminent domain for Atlantic Yards. Eleven property owners and tenants wanted to appeal a lower federal court's dismissal of an eminent domain case and have the High Court clarify constitutional limits on private-home seizure. Now that the eminent domain case is toast on a federal level, the plaintiffs are going to file suit in state court, according to a press release from Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.
Posted by eric at 10:59 AM
Court won't review NBA Nets arena project
Associated Press
The Supreme Court has turned down property owners and tenants facing eviction to make room for a new NBA Nets arena in Brooklyn.
The justices rejected an appeal that was intended to stop development of the Atlantic Yards project. Eleven property owners and tenants said that using the government's power to take the property, called eminent domain, violates the Constitution because the project would primarily benefit the developer, not the public.
Developer Bruce Ratner says he wants to build 16 skyscrapers, an 18,000-seat arena for the professional basketball franchise and thousands of apartments. The area currently is occupied by a rail yard, industrial buildings, and some businesses and homes.
NoLandGrab: Actually, the goal of the appeal was to send the case back to the Federal District Court for trial, where the goal would have been to stop the project. That playing field now shifts to State court.
Posted by eric at 10:43 AM
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: Supreme Court Denies Eminent Domain Petition From Owners & Tenants Facing Property Seizures for Atlantic Yards
11 Property Owners and Tenants Will Take Their Case to NY State Court To Challenge the Improper Use of Eminent Domain Under New York State Law
BROOKLYN, NY— The United States Supreme Court denied the petition to grant a hearing (cert petition) to eleven property owners and tenants who asked the court to hear their appeal on the Second Circuit Court’s dismissal of their challenge to the use of eminent domain for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The petition asked the Court to address the appropriate constitutional limits on the government’s power to seize private homes for the benefit of powerful real estate developers like Bruce Ratner.
The Court’s denial of the petition in Goldstein et al. v. Pataki et al. does not affirm or deny the plaintiffs’ arguments, nor is it the end of the legal road for the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs, fighting to prevent the seizure of their homes and businesses for the benefit of Forest City Ratner, will now pursue their eminent domain challenge in state court under New York State law.
"We are, of course, disappointed that the Court declined our request to hear this important case. This is not, however, a ruling on the merits of our claims. Our claims remain sound. New York State law, and the state constitution, prohibit the government from taking private homes and businesses simply because a powerful developer demands it. Yet, that is what has happened. Recent events have revealed that the public, and the Public Authorities Control Board were sold a bill of goods by Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation. We now know that Ratner’s project will cost the public much more than it will ever receive," said lead attorney Matthew Brinckerhoff of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP. "Now we will turn to the state courts to vindicate our rights. We will soon file an action in New York state court under state law as we were expressly permitted to do by the rulings of the federal courts."
Besides the eleven plaintiffs on Goldstein et al. v. Pataki et al. there are approximately 30 other residents and business owners in the project’s footprint whose properties would be seized for Forest City Ratner’s benefit.
Ironically, today is the 3rd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s extremely controversial 5-4 decision in the eminent domain case Kelo v. The City of New London. The plaintiffs in the Brooklyn case did not seek to overturn Kelo, but rather utilize the majority and concurring opinions to make their case.
The petition and all lower court briefs and decisions in Goldstein et al v. Pataki et al can be found at: http://www.dddb.net/eminentdomain.
Posted by eric at 10:33 AM
Atlantic Yards: This Generation's Penn Station?
Atlantic Yards Report
Writing a few thousand words a day on Atlantic Yards Report is not enough, apparently, to keep Norman Oder busy.
I have an overview article on Atlantic Yards in Places: Forum of Design for the Public Realm, a journal published three times a year by the Design History Foundation, with the goal that "designers, public officials, scholars and citizens can discuss issues vital to environmental design, with particular emphasis on public spaces in the service of shared ideals of society."
The "Dispatch," headlined Atlantic Yards: This Generation’s Penn Station?, was assigned months ago. Fortunately, the final production deadline was stretched long enough into May to incorporate mention of the new designs and professed timetable announced in March.
...Will AY be seen as "this generation's Penn Station"? It's too soon to tell exactly what kind of change it may galvanize. It is clear, however, that the city and state, even as they pursue projects that inevitably stir controversy, are doing more to ensure a fair bidding process and to consult with communities.
To download a PDF copy of Atlantic Yards: This Generation’s Penn Station?, click here.
Posted by eric at 9:14 AM
New Plan to Govern Yards
The Courier-Life Publications' coverage of the call by local elected officials for more governance for Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project includes the latest "no comment" from the developer:
Posted by lumi at 4:05 AM
June 22, 2008
On Dean Street, block party, block not-party, and some new brew
Atlantic Yards Report
The Dean Street Block Association held a block party yesterday afternoon between Sixth and Carlton avenues, though the activities (food, stoop-less sale, face painting, more) were held east of the first five houses, which would be part of the Atlantic Yards footprint.The view west of Sixth Avenue on Dean Street, however, looks like less of a party. The construction equipment was quiet, but, as the Footprint Gazette can tell you, that was just a respite.
Atlantic Yards has spawned much creativity in terms of music, writing, photography, art, and filmmaking. Add to that list Dean Street resident Nick Friend's Shadow of the Yard beer, a vanilla-flavored brown ale that was spotted at the block party. The palatable brew is produced in limited quantities unsuitable for a sports facility.
Posted by amy at 10:46 AM
June 21, 2008
Get The Hell Off My Lawn
shankbone
Every weekday beginning at 7am in one corner of Prospect Heights Brooklyn there is deafening construction that rattles the whole block. Bruce Ratner is convinced he's going to build an arena there. We were here first. So I say "Get The Hell Off My Lawn"
link
NoLandGrab: Footprint Gazette has been very busy this week with the multimedia productions! The hits keep coming...
Posted by amy at 11:10 AM
Thompson has his say
Courier via YourNabe.com
Stephen Witt covers William Thompson's visit to Fort Greene/Clinton Hill.
Opposition to the Atlantic Yards project was immediately brought up by long-time community activist Ruth Goldstein, who is also on the board of Development Don’t Destroy Brooklyn – the controversial anti-Atlantic Yards organization.Thompson responded that he originally supported the project because of the community benefits agreement between Atlantic Yards Developer Forest City Ratner and several organizations from the community.
Further, Thompson said he liked the affordable housing mix in the massive $4 billion project.
“Right now I don’t know what Atlantic Yards has become,” said Thompson. “I’m concerned that the project [as proposed] can be done and I’m taking a second look.”
NoLandGrab: Development Don't Destroy Brooklyn would probably very much like for Thompson and other politicians to take a closer look at Atlantic Yards. Any kind of look at all is sure to turn up a wealth of information. Development Don't Destroy Brooklyn points out that Thompson's flip is part of a turning tide of opinion about Atlantic Yards, and adds this about Stephen Wittment:
On a side note, only a pro-Atlantic Yards reporter (working for Rupert Murdoch) would call DevelopmentDon't Destroy Brooklyn controversial while never modifying Forest City Ratner with anything other than "developer."
Posted by amy at 10:47 AM
June 20, 2008
Atlantic Yards Opposition Seeks Further Approval
GlobeSt.com
by Natalie Dolce
The proposed $4-billion Atlantic Yards project has had many hurdles presented in a number of court challenges over the past year, and opposition to the project has continuously called for a "time out," as GlobeSt.com previously reported. On Thursday, one such opposition group, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, and its attorney Jeffrey Baker of Young, Sommer, Ward, Ritzenberg, Baker & Moore LLC, sent a letter to the Public Authorities Control Board regarding the "increase in cost" of Forest City Ratner Cos.' Atlantic Yards Barclay's arena and the development project as a whole.
The letter demands that the PACB--comprised of Gov. David Paterson, Speaker Sheldon Silver and Majority Leader Joseph Bruno--exercise its "statutory obligation to approve the financing and construction of the project." When asked about financials surrounding the project, a Forest City Ratner spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that they have "no comment at this time," and also says that they have no comment regarding the DDDB letter.
NoLandGrab: Hmmm, a double no-comment from Forest City Ratner. Guess they forgot that "when it comes to sharing information with the public and governmental bodies, there’s no such thing as too much, as far as we are concerned."
And we wonder if the members of the PACB declined comment, too, or if GlobeSt. just forgot to seek it.
Posted by eric at 10:09 AM
What we talk about when we talk about Atlantic Yards (& eminent domain)
Atlantic Yards Report
Ha! Jeremiah Moss, Norman Oder will see your paltry 693-word report on Wednesday's New York Public Library panel discussion on eminent domain, and raise you 2,351 words! All in!
It’s hard to talk about Atlantic Yards in public. Relatively few people know enough of the facts. Debates among opponents and proponents are rare, most recently non-existent. So a panel discussion at the New York Public Library Wednesday night, which contained its share of AY criticism, might be seen as one flip side of some of the public meetings managed well by project proponents.
It wasn’t only about Atlantic Yards, but when we talk about Atlantic Yards the topic extends to questions of gentrification, neighborhood change, and the proper parameters of public debate. And it led at least one audience member to wonder about the absence of a devil’s advocate. (Other accounts of the evening from Jeremiah's Vanishing New York and Lithuania-based curator Simon Rees.)
The program and the exhibit
First, some background. The blurb for the program, titled EMINENT DOMAIN: THE AMERICAN DREAM ON SALE, suggested an idea torn in different directions, about urban renewal and the power of social bonds:
The current exhibition at The New York Public Library, Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City, features the work of five contemporary New York–based photographers... whose works intersect and resonate with current concerns about the reorganization of urban space, and its public use, in New York City. Artist Glenn Ligon offers the literal narrative of his own housing in the city. In addition to proposed regulations that threaten First Amendment rights to photograph in public places thus becoming a form of privatization of public space, questions also arise with the current private/public arrangements that characterize much of modern urban development, particularly the legal power of eminent domain, or the taking of private property for public use.Ok, so the exhibition is called “Eminent Domain” but isn’t really about it. But the panel was assigned to “discuss the use of eminent domain and how urban renewal is changing the cityscape of New York City” and “Atlantic Yards, a hotly contested developer driven project in Brooklyn, will serve as a focus through which the evening will begin.”
NoLandGrab: "Brokeland2003" raises a good question in a comment appended to Oder's post, in response to a question raised at the event by someone wondering why there was no "devil's advocate" on the panel:
"Why must the NYPL have a so-called "balanced" panel (whatever that is) but nobody complains when Crain's holds panel after panel with Doctoroff clones?"
Posted by eric at 8:45 AM
Given 50% arena cost increase, DDDB asks PACB to reconsider AY approval
Atlantic Yards Report
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) yesterday asked the three-member Public Authorities Control Board (PACB)—comprised of Governor David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno—to revisit its approval of the Atlantic Yards project, given “the dramatic increase in cost of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards arena and the development project as a whole.” The effort relies on an untested area of state law.
The PACB, which in 2006 derailed the planned West Side Stadium, is not supposed to evaluate the overall merits of a project, just whether the state’s investment is a sound one. DDDB contends that the nearly 50% increase in the price tag for the arena over 15 months—$637.2 million as approved in December 2006, but $950 million in March 2008—means the PACB should take another look. (The state has pledged $100 million of the project’s cost, estimated at $4 billion at time of approval but certainly significantly higher at this point.)
...I asked DDDB attorney Jeffrey Baker if anyone has successfully made this challenge and, if so, what was the increase in the cost of the project at issue. “As far as I know there is no case law directly on point on this issue with PACB,” he responded.
...Baker noted that the “source of the nearly $320 Million of additional construction costs has not been identified, and it is utterly unclear how the arena PILOT can be paid towards the bond based on assessed property taxes.”
The latter is a reference to a rule that says PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) cannot exceed the maximum amount of foregone property taxes. In terms of Atlantic Yards, those taxes may be significantly dwarfed by the potential arena bond.
What if PILOTs curtailed?
Indeed, the PACB’s approval, as with the KPMG study that led to the ESDC’s approval, was predicated on the use of PILOTs to pay off the arena bonds. Should the Internal Revenue Service be successful in curtailing the use of such PILOTs, that would strain the financial model significantly. The cost increase adds another strain.
Posted by eric at 8:28 AM
The Footprint Gazette: Exclusive and Block Party
A Footprint Gazette Exclusive!
A Footprint report from the future.
One tenant was heard saying "It's not great. Getting to work is kind of a pain, but it beats the hell out of having a basketball arena in the neighborhood. That would be just awful."
Every day is a block party on my block. Ride the swaying building! Play who can withstand the diesel fumes! Mud fight! And other block party classics are the norm over here.
Posted by lumi at 4:47 AM
Are Downtowns in Danger of Going Downhill Again?
Business Week
The myth of the Atlantic Yards scaleback, which had been in the cards for years, makes it into an article about stalled construction in downtowns across the nation.
[S]ince the end of last year, as property values across the country continue to soften and credit markets tighten, downtown development is slowing. "There is no more 'build it and they will come' mentality. Retail development follows population growth," said Scott McIntosh, senior economist with the National Association of Realtors.
Already this year many of the more prominent development deals, such as Bruce Ratner's $4 billion Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project, anchored by a new stadium for the New Jersey Nets and 8 million square feet of apartments, are being scaled back.
NoLandGrab: Initially the "scaleback" was announced to great fanfare, since it was a pr move to satisfy criticism that the project was too big. Politicians who support the project could point to the "scaleback" and tell voters that developer Forest City Ratner was addressing community concerns.
This pr manu