Absolutely despicable. Real surprising that a spoiled billionaire like Bloomberg supports a big business heist like this.

I expect he wants to drive the bulldozer.

the city taxpayer is providing far more than 105 million, including 100 million to reiumburse ratner for his arena block land purchases made in 2004-2005 under the threat of eminent domain.

and the Mayor’s numbers are pulled out of thin air, or you know where.

AND LFRANK can work out the remainder of his contract as a HERRING VENDOR at the new arena!

I am just glad the court made the right decision.

Bravo for the court system,bravo for the city in the

support for this project.This whole area has been an

isolated,non-productive dead area for years,finally

we can see in the horizon some opportunity for this

community to get some jobs and developments.

thank you……..

Bloomberg has been supporting this project from the start, so this is nothing new. As usual, he makes the claim that there is no money to help the public sectors yet he won’t mind spending even more on having new sports facilities or even helping his other rich buddies. He has already abused taxpayer dollars for new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees, though he did fail on having one for the Jets. Obviously he wants that same amount for the Nets. It really shows how corrupt he is yet he can still win another term all because money talked durring the last election. For the next couple years don’t be surprised if someone is saying, “Don’t look at me, I voted for Thompson.” Ironically, both Andy Spano and John Corizine were called out for their acts of corruption and got voted out, while Bloomberg got to keep his office no matter what, and it’s all because he has the money to do so. Of course Bloomberg also supports the Columbia expansion and destroying industry at Willets Point, which is other places of eminent domain abuse.

yeah, the city surely needs those junkyards at Willets Point when the whole metro area is in a housing crisis.

@DG
When are you moving?

Net Income, it’s not just eminent domain abuse at Willets Point, it’s also the fact that they are being neglected the very needed infrastructure their taxes are paying for. It has been that way for them for almost 40 years as a way the city has been saying that they aren’t welcomed anymore. If they were just given the sidewalks and sewage, that place would have developed itself. Ironically, Parkside Reality will get the needed infrastructure that the long time business owners have been fighting for only because they are seen as progress while they are not. One last thing, that area is not blighted either, because there are many hardworking businesses there hence none of the buildings are abandoned. Bloomberg once again wants to remove the people who work so hard just to have a playground for the rich take their place. I suggest reading New York for Sale by Tom Agnotti to show how much gentrification is taking over once vibrant areas.

I don’t care. It’s a disgrace and I hope the bulldozers move from Atlantic Yards to Willets Point then to the Morningside Heights. It’s called urban redevelopment and I suggest you visit Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai if you want to see the competition.

I have already stated on previous topic on this, that construction booms don’t always eqaul progress. I guess you haven’t heard that Dubai is now facing massive debt problems and that’s due to always trying to build the latest everything. They may have the quantity of skyscrapers, but not the same quality of NYC. If you love Dubai so much, then I suggest you move there. As for the Columbia expansion, it’s not in Morningside Heights, it’s in Manhattanville, which is north of that.

I grew up bý Willets Point. Blight would be an improvement,

None of those areas are blighted. Only the developers, the politicians, and their cronies say that. They are not fighting to leave the rail yards undeveloped, they do happen to support an alternative plan known as the UNITY. That project will only be built on the rail yards itself, be paid for privately with no subsidies, be more within a reasonable scale of the area, give more promising jobs to the people, and offer real affordable housing for the low income compared to Ratner’s plan, which is nothing more than a playground for the rich. Many of the local councilmembers support the UNITY plan. Ironically, that plan goes better with PlanNYC 2030 than does what Ratner wants. As Yogi Berra once said, “It’s not over until it’s over.”

NYC does not need another arena with the vast majority of city residents staunch Knicks fans already.

Daniel Goldstein and others should be applauded in their efforts to keep their properties agains the big city machine and crooks like Ratner and Bloomberg.