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tel/fax:
718.362.4784
Please note our new postal address when sending
contributions to the legal fund:
121 5th Avenue, PMB #150
Brooklyn, New York 11217
About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and
there are 51 community organizations formally
aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.
DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000
subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition
signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB
to form our various teams, task-forces and committees
and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person
volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our
retained attorneys.
We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large
and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.
We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual
donors.
More about
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What Does Mayor Bloomberg Know About Atlantic Yards?
In the aftermath of yesterday's
NY Times article with a number of bombshells including confirmation
that Ratner is lobbying government officials for $100 million more in taxpayer
subisides, Mayor Bloomberg was asked at a press conference if the city would provide
that additional subsidy. The Mayor's response:
"The economics of building have changed -- they've gotten worse,
not better. We desperately need to have development and that's a very big part
of development in Brooklyn. I don't know that we have to put development money
in, but we certainly will do everything we can to work with Ratner to get those
buildings going. That's the future of this city. That's the jobs for your children.
That's the taxes to pay our teachers, and police officers, and firefighters,
today."
"I don't know if we have to put money in...", the Mayor said.
It's not clear exactly what the Mayor is saying. But it's clear that Atlantic
Yards is already
subsidized to the hilt and in this economy additional taxpayer subsidies would
be irresponsible. The project is a money pit as evidenced by Ratner's lobbying
effort for $100 million more in taxpayer dollars before even breaking ground.
Unfortunately the Mayor is misguided, the project won't help those he suggests
it will help—most of the project is tax-exempt and most evidence shows that
its net tax gain for the city would be negligible at best, and the
arena would certainly be a loss. The Bloomberg Administration should face
the reality of the market, the reality that Atlantic Yards plan was flawed and
not feasible from day one and work with the community plan—the UNITY Plan—to
develop the rail yards in Brooklyn and build truly affordable housing, rather
than continuing down Ratner's perilous road to failure.
Update: Norman Oder reminded readers of his Atlantic Yards Report back
in January 2007 that the Mayor was wrong on Atlantic Yards from the start:
Flashback
to 2004: Bloomberg asserts project would be on vacant land, rely on private
money
It was three years ago, and how things
have changed. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his weekly radio
appearance with WABC’s John Gambling on 1/23/04, addressed the announced
sale of the Nets to Bruce Ratner (and other investors) and the prospects for
the Atlantic Yards project.
...
JG: The city will spend money on this?
MB: Well, we spend--if you build a new building, we have to fix the roads
in front of the building. There’s always some expenses. Fundamentally,
the answer to your question is: this will be done with private money,
and any city monies of any meaningful size will be debt issues financed by the
extra tax revenues that come from this. So, we’re not going to
have to divert money from education, or police or fire or any other part of
the city to do this. No. It is private money in that sense.
(Emphasis added)
Well, Bloomberg was apparently referring to tax increment financing (TIF) for
the arena as well as the expected general increase in tax revenues. But that
was before the city and state each agreed to put in $100 million in cash. And
before the city agreed to devote large--though still unspecified--amounts of
its allocation of housing bonds to support the residential buildings.
And that's not all. Remember, the city's New York City's Independent Budget
Office (IBO) stated, in a September 2005 report:
Special Benefits for the Atlantic Yards Project. Under the MOU, Atlantic
Yards would receive several special benefits not available as-of-right to development
projects: capital contributions from the city and state, low-cost financing
for the arena, extra property tax savings, a low-cost lease, and property obtained
using the state’s power of eminent domain.
Posted: 9.11.08
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