A Ratner cameo in New Republic essay, Why Lying Is So Easy for Trump

From Ben Adler's New Republic essay Why Lying Is So Easy for Trump: For New York developers, blatant deception isn't just good for business--it's completely legal:

Bait-and-switch tactics are an everyday practice in Trump's industry. The real estate mogul Bruce Ratner dangled star architect Frank Gehry before city officials when seeking approval for the arena that would anchor his enormous Atlantic Yards development in downtown Brooklyn. Once the deal was in place, however, Gehry was booted off the project and a cheaper design was swapped in. And more than four years after the arena opened, local residents are still waiting for the eight acres of parks that Ratner pledged to create.

I'd say that it's not "eight acres of parks," but rather "open space," and it's long been known it would take a while. The clear lie--part of what I call the Culture of Cheating--is describing the "park" as already in existence, as in promotional web pages and sponsored posts.

Adler gets a blind but irresistible quote from one real estate broker and property manager in New York: "Everybody in this business is a fucking liar."

Note: Politico columnist Jack Shafer wrote about America’s First Real Estate Presidency last December, including:

Not all real estate lies are lies. Many are mere exaggerations, as when a landlord hypes a property’s sun-drenched patio that upon inspection turns out to be a grimy air shaft. Through his career, Trump has exaggerated the way other people breathe.