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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

If bonds won't be used to build AY infrastructure, there would still be a huge funding gap

The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) said yesterday, in response to my report, that, though it "was at one time considering additional tax exempt bonds for infrastructure financing," it ultimately "decided not to pursue that type of financing."

(It was the plan as recently as September, given the 9/11/09 date of the Inducement Resolution adopted by the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation.)

Still, as I wrote yesterday, the 2009 Modified General Project Plan, passed by the ESDC in September, budgeted $717 million for project infrastructure, with $205 million coming from government funds but no particular source for the rest.

So, where's the money going to come from?

Private sector builds infrastructure?

Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, testified at the 5/29/09 state Senate oversight hearing, "It is only by moving forward with projects such as Atlantic Yards that use a few million dollars from the public sector to leverage billions of dollars from the private sector that we'll be able to create the jobs and build the infrastructure to ensure the future of New York."

The direct subsidy figure is $305 million, while there would be hundreds of millions of dollars more in indirect subsidies, according to the New York City Independent Budget Office.

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