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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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Ratner Says He Can Do Taxable Bond, So Why Not?
This week's NY
Times article with a number of bombshells includes the uncertainity around
the $800 million tax-exempt arena bond that Forest City Ratner wants to issue.
There is a very enlightening comment from Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco:
...that financing plan for the arena, known as Barclays Center, is
dependent on a favorable ruling by the Treasury Department in the coming weeks
that would allow Mr. Ratner to use tax-exempt bonds and a final victory over
court challenges. If he is barred from using tax-exempt bonds, his costs will
increase substantially for what would already be the most expensive arena in
the world.
...
Joseph DePlasco, a spokesman for Bruce Ratner, said his company had drawn up
documents for a tax-exempt bond offering that would enable them to move quickly
after the Treasury Department issued its ruling. But, he said, Forest
City and Goldman Sachs were also confident that they could obtain taxable financing,
if needed.
(Emphasis added)
We've asked this before, and
we'll ask again: If Forest City Ratner admits it can build its arena
with taxable bonds and can obtain taxable bonds, then why, exactly, are
they pursuing the triple-tax free bond? The answer is, of course, that the developer
will take advantage of every government tax break or handout even as they admit
they don't need to. This is because their project is about making a super profit
rather than the public good, despite the PR campaign that tries to tell you otherwise.
Posted: 9.12.08
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