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November 22, 2006

ESDC EIS snafu leaves Nets arena MIA

Get this: The proposed Brooklyn arena for the New Jersey Nets could have its approval delayed until 2007 - not because of opposition from state assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, as some had speculated, but because of a state clerical error. Seems the state-run Empire State Development Corporation neglected to include all the public comments into its final environmental impact statement as required by law before certifying it last week.

The ESDC says it's now conducting a "quality control review" of the FEIS - hopefully something involving a gorilla - but by the time it's been reprinted, re-reviewed, and recertified, it's likely to be January, and Gov. George Pataki will have given way to incoming Gov. Eliot Spitzer. While Spitzer isn't an opponent of the plan, he has said he has unspecified questions about its financing - which isn't exactly surprising, given that what we don't know about this project could fill volumes.

Add in that more and more Brooklyn elected officials are calling for the project to be delayed so it can be downsized, and it seems likely that Silver will do that anyway, especially if it only means putting off a vote of the state Public Authorities Control Board for a few weeks until Spitzer is in charge. All of which means that these guys are probably going to start getting a lot of phone calls from lobbyists in the near future.

COMMENTS

The nets arena in brooklyn will be built enough already with this.

Posted by dan on November 23, 2006 11:30 AM

No it won't get built!

Posted by Daniel F. on November 24, 2006 06:13 PM

Yes it will get built.

Posted by dan on November 25, 2006 12:27 AM

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Park/2326/wabbit1.html

Posted by Neil on November 25, 2006 04:22 AM

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