Nets on the Net: 12/21/09 Civil Disobedience Edition
In a sign that opponents of the Atlantic Yards development are going to continue to disrupt the progress of this project, despite the recent legal victories and financing handed over to developer/Nets owner Bruce Ratner, patrons at Freddy’s Bar in Brooklyn, which is slated to be knocked down for the Nets new arena, chained themselves to the bar in protest.
Meanwhile, on the legal front, opponents are jumping on recent statements by New York state Senator Bill Perkins, who said the bonds issued for the project, may not be legal. From Saturday’s Atlantic Yards Report:
Had the bonds been issued by an Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) subsidiary, they could be repaid via for payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), but the issuance would have had to have been approved by the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), Perkins wrote in a letter. However, in an apparent effort to avoid the PACB, the ESDC created the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC), and that murky entity–which issued $511 million in bonds–should not possess a property tax exemption, the letter said.
Here are some photos from the chaining event. There’s also some video from YouTube:
And this is where the anti-Ratner folks lose me - you either have to throw 100% support behind them, or they troll your boards and leave petty, stupid comments. I've expressed inifinte more opinions on this blog about the game of basketball than this real estate action.
But let me just add that the people fighting this project have lost as many battles as the Nets have on the hardwood. And while the Nets aren't mathematically eliminated yet, I'm not banking on them making the playoffs - are you honestly banking on stopping this project at this point?
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