20 questions, One Response

No Land Grab Reproduces and Brooklyn Papers Editorial:
April 13, 2007
Questions Ratner still hasn’t answered

The Brooklyn Paper, Editorial

20 questions (this is the short list) posed by Brookliyn Papers that Bruce Ratner finds questionable:

20Questions.jpg

1.

Explain how the Nets arena will be financed so there is no confusion.
2.

Explain why the 30-year public revenue projections for Atlantic Yards dropped from $1.5 billion to $943 million over the summer.
3.

Explain how a company plan to close part of Fourth Avenue and divert Flatbush Avenue–bound traffic onto Pacific Street will help solve gridlock.
4.

Disclose how many people are currently employed at Metrotech and the Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls? [The figures were vital to a story about why Ratner’s jobs projections have historically fallen short.]
5.

Please give us the same company statement that FCR sent to Metro, a free daily, regarding stories about a possible delay in the Atlantic Yards construction timeline.
6.

Explain why FCR ranked third on the list of biggest state lobbyists last year.
7.

Explain how much money FCR has spent on local philanthropy in Brooklyn. Naomi Village: In the heart of the Poconos
8.

Disclose how much money Ratner’s partners in the “Community Benefits Agreement” have received so far.
9.

Please comment on reports that FCR’s arena partner, Barclays Bank, profited from slavery, the Holocaust and apartheid.
10.

Explain how Bruce Ratner felt after being hugged by Courier-Life Publications reporter Steve Witt.
11.

Explain why virtually none of the investors in the Nets are based in Brooklyn.
12.

Comment on the negotiations that took place between the city and FCR regarding a possible downsizing of the project.
13.

Comment on a report that Atlantic Yards would be the densest Census tract in the country.
14.

Tell us how many gallons of sewage the project will send to the frequently over-capacity Red Hook treatment plant.
15.

Comment on the latest lawsuit filed against FCR [repeatedly asked].
16.

Explain the public subsidies that are underwriting the 2,250 units of below-markeet-rate rentals that are part of Atlantic Yards.
17.

Explain whether those units will be side-by-side with the market-rate units or in other buildings.
18.

Comment on a judge’s decision that a deal between FCR and developer Shaya Boymelgreen was “improper.”
19.

Comment on a court victory by a resident of the Atlantic Yards footprint who claims he was arrested at FCR’s behest.
20.

Explain why a full business plan was never provided to state authorities.

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The predicted response "no comment" - why is it a major corporation taking BILLIONS from taxpayers, stealing people's property, and aggressively proposing an ill conceived project can get away with ignoring any public scrutiny? This is one of the strangest mysteries of this whole debacle.