A $100,000 Graduation at Nets Arena?
The Brooklyn Paper got a hold of an audit conducted for the state that reveals that Forest City Ratner was planning on charging outside organizations $100,000 to rent the Nets arena for graduation ceremonies and other non-sporting events--while the company had once promised to make it available to community groups for "a reasonable rate." A Nets official said the actual rate may vary.
The audit also says that Forest City expects to clear $400 million a year in "pure profit," according to the community weekly.
- Matthew Schuerman Update: Norman Oder had this first.
This graduation story was in Atlantic Yards Report on Dec. 20:
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2006/12/100000-arena-graduation-ceremony.html
The reason why I think this is outrageous is that NY State is going to use eminent domain to take private property (and public streets and a state-owned railyard) and yet the public will not benefit. What school, public or private, will be able to use this property? The land will still technically be owned by the state, yet the public will be shut out.
If we had elected officials serving the voters, then they would demand that the public get access to publicly-owned land. But they are too busy making sure that London-based firms insure the profit of Cleveland-based firms.