Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The Barclays Center yesterday (late) released its August 2026 event calendar to community members. It includes 12 ticketed events: seven New York Liberty games and five concerts. Angela Yee Day Also, the free annual Angela Yee Day, the "block party" hosted by the radio personality, will be held on Sunday, August 12, from noon to 5 pm, though the Community Notice (above) suggests that amplified sound will start at 6 am. (Sound checks at 6 am on the day of rest?) Image from Threads Note that, while it's not mentioned on Power 105.1's announcement on Threads  ( or the image above) , the radio station's announcement on Facebook states that the event, as in past years, is  " in partnership with The Social Justice Fund," i.e., the arm of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, the charitable platform for the owners of the Brooklyn Nets and the arena company. (More coverage of the Social Justice Fund .) The event involves: live performances and music; free hair bra...

OK, it's time for the annual look at the foregone property taxes for the Barclays Center and the other major New York City sports venues.  While the non-paid taxes for the Brooklyn arena had risen from $53.7 million to $123.6 million, as of last year, as I  reported , this year, there's been a slight reversal, to $122.7 million, as indicated in the screenshot below, according to the New York City Department of Finance's  Annual Report on Tax Expenditures . That, of course, dwarfs the $5 million a year "invested"  since 2020 by the Social Justice Fund of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, the philanthropic venture of the arena company owners By contrast, as shown in the screenshot below, the tax exemption for Citifield, home of the New York Mets, rose from $159.7 million to $165 million and the exemption for Yankee Stadium (NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation), home of the New York Yankees, rose from $129.5 million to $133.3 million. They get their tax break via th...

In its first major new initiative in a while, the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund yesterday  announced  a new citywide small business loan program, a partnership with The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), Chinatown-based Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, and the State of New York. The  NYC Elevating Business Loan Program , a $5.5 million initiative, includes $1 million from the SJF, $500,000 from TAAF, and $4 million from Empire State Development (ESD), the state's economic development authority. (It's also the Barclays Center's landlord, given a tax-exempt site.) Loans, at 8%, can range up to $100,000, coupled with free financial counseling and multilingual training services, in Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. A launch at Barclays The program was announced in a  press release  yesterday, which came after a ceremony the night before during a Brooklyn Nets game at the Barclays Center, as shown in the photo below. So it again sh...

The political publication City & State New York recently published its annual  The 2026 Brooklyn Power 100 , with the subheadline, "The political hierarchy of Kings County." Last July--less than a year ago--the publication ranked Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai #43, which I thought was too low. After all, they'd sold a slice of holding company BSE Global to the Koch family at at high valuation, and sold a slice of the New York Liberty to several investors at another high valuation. More importantly, and also unmentioned, the Tsais had begun to build a Brooklyn "ecosystem" of media and entertainment. So I still think their ranking is low, especially since the associated philanthropic enterprise, the Social Justice Fund, has won them many allies, even if its spending claims aren't documented . Indeed, though I hadn't noticed it at the time, BSE Global bought a City & State advertisement (see below) saluting the honorees, with trademarks for its holding...

So, is the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, in the former Modell's store across Flatbush Avenue from the Barclays Center, a place for social uplift? Or for pursuit of profit? Probably more of the latter, though BSE Global, which operates the center (and owns the arena company and the Brooklyn Nets/New York Liberty), surely wants to emphasize the former. Consider: the Training Center last Dec. 6 hosted an event for more than 60 youths sponsored by Common's Free to Dream initiative, in partnership with the Brooklyn Nets and the Social Justice Fund established by BSE Global owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai.  (See NetsDaily's  Common and the Social Justice Fund team up to help Brooklyn , which noted that some students came from Paterson, NJ.) View this post on Instagram A post shared by FREE TO DREAM™ (@iam_freetodream) Cross promotions It involved "inspiring keynotes, interactive workshops, and a premium game-day experience at the Barclays Center,...

Previewing the July event calendar distributed to neighbors by the Barclays Center, I noted that on July 27, a "Belong Brooklyn" event was likely a concert sponsored by the Social Justice Fund (SJF) of arena company (and team) owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai.  Indeed, though it's gotten relatively little publicity, on July 16, the Brooklyn Steel Pan Féte on was announced by the SJF on  Twitter/X and Instagram , and perhaps other socials. It's not on the are na web site . It hasn't even been mentioned in BK MAG , which is owned by the Tsai's BSE Global.  Do they not want people to attend? Or have they already announced it directly to a few community groups? Do they not want to alert neighbors there might be noise and crowds? Two different announcements The poster promises "hands-on workshops, youth orchestras, brake drummers, soca music, stilt walkers, carnival all-stars, food trucks, and more!" Interestingly enough, the graphic (top right) advertisi...

Eater on Jan. 29 reported, as part of a longer roundup, New grant fund gives $50,000 a piece to several Brooklyn food businesses : A new grant program backed by the co-owner of basketball teams the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty Liberty, along with Brooklyn arena Barclays Center announced the awardees of its funds this week. Revitalize Brooklyn — from co-owner of the Nets, Clara Wu Tsai’s Social Justice Fund — selected nine businesses based in the borough. These include Williamsburg cafe Buddies Coffee, Bed-Stuy bakery Fan Fan Doughnuts, Williamsburg butcher shop Meat Hook, frozen dumpling business Mimi Cheng’s, Greenpoint bakery and coffee roaster Paloma, and packaged overnight oats company Spoonful. Each business will get $50,000. The other recipients, unmentioned, are in the fashion sector, cited below. Note that the Social Justice Fund of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation is referred to as Clara Wu Tsai's project. That takes the focus off her husband, more controver...

In recent weeks I've written about the possible--er, likely--extension of the You Belong Here"/"We Belong Here" neon art (or is it marketing?) installation outside Barclays Center past the end of 2024, which is three years and two months after it was installed on a "temporary" basis. It was installed by the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund, launched by the owner of the Brooklyn Nets and arena company in the wake of 2020 protests, with a purported $50 million commitment over ten years. The signage, to me, serves both as art and advertising, as I wrote for The Indypendent in December 2021, encouraging people to buy tickets for arena events. If it's also supposed to be a "visual reflection" of the couple's philanthropy, as explained below, it's likely they'd want it up for a full decade. Getting to an extension An extension is apparently an internal decision by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authorit...

So, the "You Belong Here"/"We Belong Here" neon art installation over the Barclays Center transit hub was unveiled Oct. 23, 2021 for at least three years, as I reported . Will Tavares Strachan's artwork, part of "Belong/Brooklyn," an initiative of the the Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund (SJF), stay longer? Well, it's permitted through the end of the year, not 36 months, as I'd supposed. And while state officials told me no renewal request has been received and the SJF didn't respond to my query, I wouldn't bet against it. Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the larger project, told me that, if/when a request for extension is received, approval is an internal matter, not subject to public comment. That suggests an easy process. Upon the installation, the SJF stated , it "will be on long-term view at the entrance of Barclays Center, atop the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays C...