The New York city council’s initial hearing on the Brooklyn Nets arena proposal generated more heat than light – and believe me, a council chamber packed to overflowing with New Yorkers can generate plenty of heat. Members of the council’s economic development committee hammered representatives of the Economic Development Corporation and developer Forest City Ratner fairly hard, particularly on issues of community benefits and on the overall costs and benefits of the project to the city. The answers, though, were generally less than illuminating:
EDC president Andrew Alper, asked how much the city and state would be asked to contribute: “We don’t know yet.”
What city and state legislative oversight would there be for the project? “It depends in part on the nature of the financing.”
What benefits would the city be getting from the project? “Dramatic benefits … The public will know [how much] as soon as we have it.”
How many of the jobs created would be expected to go to community residents? “The ultimate answer is hard to say.”
Alper did let slip two new pieces of information. The arena alone, he said, is now projected to cost $630 million (previous estimates were in the $400 to $500 million range). Furthermore, Alper promised that the total public subsidy will be limited to “the fiscal impact of the arena and the team.” Given that Andrew Zimbalist’s report has the fiscal impact of the arena limited to $12.8 million a year ($257 million in present value), this would barely cover infrastructure costs to clear land for the project, let alone make a dent in a $630 million arena bill.
Mostly, though, it was a day for exchanges like the following, between Manhattan councilperson Christine Quinn and Forest City VP Jim Stuckey:
Quinn: Could you give me a range of [how much public money is] being proposed for this? Is it more like one to ten million? Is it the billions? Is it the hundreds of millions?
Stuckey: It’s certainly not in the billions, and it’s certainly not in the one-to-ten.
Q: Would you say it’s more like in the tens of millions or the hundreds of millions?
S: I don’t really know the answer. I don’t think it would be in the tens of millions.
Q: So probably the hundreds of millions.
S: I think that’s fair.