Neil deMause: The Website

More on the New York Yankees’ latest demands for city-backed bonds…

When the rich want to get richer off the public till, one trick is to make the theft so boring that only a trained accountant could understand it without dozing off. If Ken Lay had tried to pump up Enron’s stock by, say, floating rubber checks, he would have been tabloid fodder from Day 1; instead, nobody noticed until it was too late, largely because manipulating “stranded costs” and other nuances of the electricity markets made even regulators’ eyes glaze over… [read more]

With the cost of the New York Yankees’s new stadium project running close to $2 billion, the team has asked the city for another $350 million in city-backed tax-exempt bonds to help raise money for the project. I break down the numbers for the Village Voice, and also examine whether the whole thing might be illegal:

Next time you’re tempted to conclude that New York’s state legislature is entirely useless, remember this: State Assemblymember Richard Brodsky broke the news on Tuesday that the Yankees are looking to get an additional $350 million in city tax-exempt bonds for their new stadium, currently under construction in the Bronx.

“The explosion of public debt issued by obscure semi-public and private institutions is reaching unmanageable proportions,” declared Brodsky, chair of the committee overseeing public authorities. “The Yankee Stadium financing may or may not be a good thing, but it certainly should be done in the light of day.”

In the interest of daylight, then: The $350 million the Yanks are seeking would be on top of the $940 million in city bonds the team already got in 2006… [read more]

It’s hard to find much to add to a story that begins with a young couple trying to evict 15 families so they can turn their apartment building into a mansion, but I give it the old college try anyway:

The Battle of 47 E. 3rd St. - the five-story East Village tenement whose landlords want to turn it into a private mansion - has everything: a five-year legal battle; architectural plans for remaking entire apartments into a home gym and nanny’s quarters; tenants and landlords duking it out by plastering dueling Web addresses (economakis.com and 47e3.org, for those interested) in their windows… [read more]

A brief item on the Voice site on a Coney Island fixture quitting the local development board in protest of the city’s revised plans for redeveloping the famed amusement strip:

Six weeks after Mayor Bloomberg abruptly revamped his Coney Island rezoning plans to include fewer outdoor amusements and more 30-story hotels, Sideshows by the Seashore director and “mayor of Coney Island” Dick Zigun has quit the board of the Coney Island Development Corporation, the city-spawned agency in charge of the redevelopment plans.

“The [original] CIDC Plan promised a world class tourist attraction with an entertainment core: lots of rides complimented by year round nightclubs and enclosed waterparks,” wrote Zigun in his resignation letter, which he posted to his own Coney Island USA’s message board… [read more]

From an article in amNewYork (Newsday’s free daily) on how European tourists don’t tip enough at New York restaurants:

Some restaurants have wizened up and now put gratuity right into the bill.

Unless they’re talking about really old restaurateurs, amNewYork’s editors need to wise up and get a dictionary. Not to mention an article for “gratuity,” which isn’t a collective noun like “coffee.” Two grammatical errors in one sentence - now that’s giving readers their money’s worth.

Soaring food prices, like soaring oil prices, are hitting hardest those who can least afford it, as well as the emergency food providers set up to help them:

With the price of a loaf of bread approaching that of a gallon of gas - isn’t it about time a refrigerator manufacturer follows Chrysler’s lead and offers a guaranteed price on groceries? - some in the media have begun to look at the effect on the nation’s 35 million people already suffering from recurrent hunger.

The unsurprising answer: “It pretty much sucks,” says Joel Berg… [read more]

NOTE: After I submitted my op-ed yesterday morning, Crain’s NY ran an excellent article with an in-depth look at how soup kitchens and food pantries are straining under the load. (Money stat: “The Food Bank For New York City, which provides the majority of food supplies for the city’s 600 pantries, is witnessing the sharpest decline in donations in a quarter of a century.”) Highly recommended reading.

Another opening day at Coney Island - this time, it was the beach being opened for the summer - and another rainy day. Also this time, protests:

Another sign that the weather gods hate Coney Island this year: Rainclouds and bitter winds met this morning’s official ceremonies marking the reopening of the beach for the summer season. “It’s a beautiful sunny day!” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape taunted a crowd of schoolchildren shivering under a tent on the boardwalk. “Do you want to go swimming?” (For the record, the weekend is supposed to be much nicer.)

A few yards away, bare to the elements, several dozen protestors from the nascent group Save Coney Island — principal instigators: Coney Island USA’s Dick “Mayor of Coney Island” Zigun, Coney Island History Project’s Charles “Mr. Coney Island” Denson, and the Lola Staar Boutique’s Dianna “Lola Staar” Carlin — carried on a steady stream of songs, chants, and jeers to call attention to what they charge is the city’s sellout of Coney’s traditional amusement district… [read more]

The Metro website is still apparently running on autopilot, so you’ll need to consult the PDF version to see my column from this Monday. The topic, once again, is all the ways New York City spends money without telling anyone:

Last Monday, I noted in this space that while the city council is raked over the coals for handing out millions of dollars in “member items” to favored groups, the mayor doles out billions from the city budget with even less oversight. Over the next three days, the following news items appeared:

When Mayor Bloomberg and then-Gov. Pataki cut a deal in 2005 to give Goldman Sachs about $400 million for a new downtown Manhattan headquarters, they also agreed to give the firm another $321 million if there were delays rebuilding Ground Zero. No one involved thought to mention this to the public… [read more]

I weigh in on stadium financing in two far-flung corners of the nation today: In the Whittier Daily News I analyze a report by Los Angeles sports promoters on the economic impact of sports in Southern California (key quote: “I could teach my 5-year-old to make that calculation”); in the St. Petersburg Times, I’m one of four stadium experts giving their take on the Tampa Bay Rays’ latest stadium finance plan (key quote: “It’s not a financing plan. Rather, it’s a PR document that leaves out most of the important details”). You can read my even longer critique of the Rays plan at fieldofschemes.com.

I neglected to post here about this Monday’s Metro NY column, but then, Metro has neglected to post it to their site yet, either. (Or update their site at all this week, for that matter.) You can read the PDF version here; a taste of what it’s about:

If you’re a New Yorker frustrated with the workings of our local government it’s hard not to be gleeful at news that lawyer Norman Siegel has sued for a judicial inquiry into the city council “Slushgate” scandal. The suit, based on a 19th-century city charter provision enacted after legendary account-padder Boss Tweed funneled half the city treasury to his cronies, is a longshot; still, it’s fun to picture council speaker Christine Quinn being hauled before a judge to explain why she thought allocating council funds to nonexistent groups was a bright idea.

Cheap thrills aside, though, many budget watchers say the council scandal is penny-ante stuff compared to the tried and true way for elected officials to spend money with little to no public oversight: the New York City budget… [read more]