Oder Does The Times
After years of (rightly) criticizing The New York Times for its failure to bring a critical eye and adequate resources to its coverage of the Atlantic Yards project, Norman Oder, publisher of the Atlantic Yards Report, got his own essay (that’s what The Times calls it; he calls it an Op-Ed) in the paper of…
After years of (rightly) criticizing The New York Times for its failure to bring a critical eye and adequate resources to its coverage of the Atlantic Yards project, Norman Oder, publisher of the Atlantic Yards Report, got his own essay (that’s what The Times calls it; he calls it an Op-Ed) in the paper of record. A central point of the essay, and the one that he parses further in a follow-up post on his blog, is that public officials might have thought harder about handing out hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies if they’d known that someone with unlimited financial resources–in this case Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov–would end up being the beneficiary. “All was forgotten as flashbulbs popped for Prokhorov, as was the notion that had a man worth nearly $18 billion put his hand out for subsidies, someone might have called foul.” Lest the appearance of Oder’s piece on The Times give the impression that the paper has changed tack on Atlantic Yards, it’s accompanied by another criticism-free profile, this one of Ratner, in today’s sports section, the main point of which appears to be to stir up conflict between him and Madison Square Garden chief Jim Dolan.
A Russian Billionaire, the Nets and Sweetheart Deals [NY Times]
Ratner Content to Succeed in the Shadows [NY Times]
My Time Op-Ed [Atlantic Yards Report]
Photo by gilly youner
“Even more amazingly I actually AGREE with lechacal on something!”
Oh shit. I’m waiting for a fifth dimension to open up and swallow us all.
“This deal is EXACTLY the kind that Robert Moses refused to do for the owner of the Dodgers – to his great credit.”
Yep, and what did we get. Nothing. A hole in the ground for 40 years. Thanks for that, Robert Moses.
“”Rich people do deals involving subsidies all of the time – it’s often the piece of the puzzle that makes a transaction work.”
DING DING DING!!!! Jessibaby gets the sensible person of the day award. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Me either. The anti-AY sour grapes is really a bit much, now.
Even more amazingly I actually AGREE with lechacal on something!
veteran talks but money walks, final result is what counts
Goldstein – deal was in place for 1.6mm at last minute he asked for 4.5…… fcrc gave him 3 to get it over with, he would have taken less ……. he was always thinking about this, sort of like subsidy for Pod, what comes first, results count
Oder is right as usual – but in 20/20 hind site you should keep in mind
as if the final shape of the deal could have been predicted by anyone
vast majority of subsidies tax forgiveness, forgiving something that never would happen w/o those gifts, as taxes skyhigh in nyc so they get in the way people
real estate and govt. don’t mix well, just never jibes always some disconnect
Stuckey once said they risked up to 700mm to get to this point – even if one 500 when one does that one gets a deal
Pod came along and got a good deal when others had been packaging for 10 years
This guy’s article nicely absolves the Times for not running stories like this. I guess the Times decided to just let him discredit his views on his own.
“Rich people do deals involving subsidies all of the time – it’s often the piece of the puzzle that makes a transaction work.”
DING DING DING!!!! Jessibaby gets the sensible person of the day award. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
This guy’s article reveals a complete failure to understand the basic economics of the project. Typical confused liberal interpretation of economics.
Prokhorov is not getting a “handout.” He is putting in risky equity. And it’s not like they didn’t look far and wide for someone willing to do this before settling for this guy. Without the subsidies the equity wouldn’t be willing to come in and Brooklyn wouldn’t have this project. That would be a bad outcome for everyone but the NIMBYs.
Maybe if the developers didn’t have to spend so much money fighting NIMBYs like Goldstein and dealing with delay after delay cause by the lawsuits they wouldn’t need to many subsidies.
DIBS is right. It’s time to sit down, shut the fuck up, and let them build.
He’s a hack.
Is the NYTimes still the paper of record?
Unfortunately, Oder’s IS a sadly disorganized article, missing several opportunities to spell out the extent of the boondoggle to people who haven’t followed the story too closely. He also wastes a silly amount of ink throwing mud at Prokhorov. Isn’t “Russian billionaire” synonymous with “corrupt crook”? Disappointment.