I got this press release from Develop Don’t Destroy this morning in my inbox about constitutional Rights v. Naming Rights. Ratner has announced a naming rights deal with Barclays Bank. From Develop Don’t Destroy:
BROOKLYN, NY — The NY Post announced today that developer Bruce Ratner has reached a lucrative arena naming rights agreement with London-based Barclay Bank.
Lost in this highly speculative agreement to brand the publicly funded* arena proposed in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, is that the construction of Barclays Arena depends on the outcome of the federal eminent domain lawsuit filed in October. The suit claims that the use of eminent domain to clear out homes to pave the way for the arena is unconstitutional. Currently 12 individuals (homeowners, tenants and business owners representing 26 residents) are plaintiffs on a federal lawsuit which says that the seizure of homes by New York State for Bruce Ratner’s "Atlantic Yards" and its arena is unconstitutional.
The arena cannot be built without the taking of those homes.
“Barclays Bank and Bruce Ratner are grossly jumping the gun since this publicly funded arena cannot be built without my home. And currently a federal court has begun reviewing the constitutionality of the taking of my home and the homes of my neighbors. Of course this lawsuit throws into question the value of these highly speculative naming rights,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesperson Daniel Goldstein. “This lucrative, yet speculative, naming deal is yet another sweetheart deal for Ratner. The public funds the arena construction and Ratner makes the profit on the bank’s logo."
The public would entirely fund the construction of Bruce Ratner’s Barclays Arena. The arena construction is to be paid for by triple-tax-free bonds (government and the public don’t yet know how much that bond debt service is but the last arena construction cost estimate was $637 million). The debt service is to be paid in the form of Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT). So while Ratner does not pay property tax, which would normally go into the city treasury, instead he pays an equivalent payment towards the arena bond. It’s as if government allowed you to forego your taxes and use that money to renovate your bathroom AND help pay off your mortgage. But we don’t publicly fund bathroom renovations or mortgages.
“Barclays Arena. That almost sounds like Brooklyn Arena…but not. It goes to show that, once again, ‘Atlantic Yards’ has nothing to do with Brooklyn and everything to do with lucrative deals for Bruce Ratner,” concluded Goldstein.
I closed my Barclay’s Acct. November 15, 2007 and was given a close out amount. I paid it and went merrily on my way.
6 MONTHS later my credit rating has dropped 100 points! For Non-payments.
The Reason, we learned… There was an additional $28 dollars in fees assessed that close out month. I NEVER received any mail or phone calls from Barclays. Instead they assessed monthly late charges and accrued interest.
After multiple calls we were told to write to the address below.
Executive Office
C/O Office of the President
PO Box 8885
Willmington DE, 19899
By a Manager. Our “Manager’s” customer service number is:
36476
He told us we were out of luck and he had the power to make our life hell. Even though we had in “Good Faith” closed the account and paid off the balance that their customer service person gave us.
My personal advice based on my personal experience is to beg you for your own sake…. Don’t do Business with these people!
je suis je suis ahmat mahamat depuis la republique centrafricain je veux l adress du directeur pour lui demaner pour il a arretté mon virement de £ 1 000 000.00 de la barclays a la banque populaire maroco centraricain .
merci de votre bonne comprehension
AHMAT MAHAMAT
email mvad_ca_2000@yahoo.fr
c est urgent
Scott – Ratner is getting a very good deal – no question. The problem with your argument is that it is dishonest. If the deal does not happen, schools will not get the money that is now going to Ratner because it does not exist. The additional tax revenue that is being used to subsidize Ratner only exists if the deal happens.
The public is getting triple-dipped here.
First, for the initial subsidies, layouts and funding for the Atlantic Yards project.
Second, for tax breaks customized for Ratner.
Third, for PILOTs, which have a checkered past throughout the country. Often, the projects never make enough money to pay off the loans.
What’s worse about PILOTs — especially those this big — they never allow taxes to go into the public coffers.
DDDB, FFFP and the other 50 organizations fighting the Ratner project are in favor of developing the site. Smarter, more diverse development wouldn’t require PILOTs — hence, tax reveunes could actually go to schools, transit, social services.
Thanks posting this…
best,
Scott Turner
Coordinator
Fans For Fair Play
http://www.fansforfairplay.com
Sorry – just one more point. The government does allow you to forgo taxes and use that money to renovate your bathroom AND help pay off your mortgage. Its called the mortgage interest deduction.
The press release is somewhat misleading. I agree that there are significant public subsidies going into this project, probably too much given the economic benefit. However, the pilot payments represent the net additional tax revenue generated by the development. If you don’t have the development, there is no additional tax revenue. It is a common economic development tool that has a lot of value. The public is not any worse off, from a tax and budget perspective, than if the project had not happened at all.